Educational standards describe what students should know and be able to do. They come in two flavors: content standards and performance standards.

When someone refers to fourth grade math standards they are speaking of a content standard: shared expectations about what is taught in fourth grade. When they talk about reading at an 8th grade level they are referring to a performance standard: how well a student in 8th grade is expected to read.

It is easy to confuse a standard with the curricular materials and approaches that schools, teachers, or publishers use to teach the standard. This confusion blossomed into the political realm in 2014 as school communities struggled to choose and use new books, materials, lessons, and tests that matched Common Core standards.

This lesson demystifies the Common Core, but first it helps to take a step back. What are education standards and why are they so important?

History of education performance standards

The story of performance standards likely began in China. In the Sui Dynasty, written exams were made part of the selection process for civil service positions, introducing the idea of merit to the process. It was an important reform that reduced the power of local authorities to appoint their relatives.

The Sui Dynasty proved short-lived by standards of Chinese history, but the big idea stuck: set specific expectations and use tests to measure against them. From college admissions tests in Korea to the bar exam in America, tests of academic performance under time pressure have become central to how the world thinks about meritocracy, as Nicolas Lehman describes in his bestselling book The Big Test. For better or worse, tests provide an efficient basis for weeding out candidates by rating and ranking them.

Creating tests based on standards

Which came first, the standard or the test?

In the early decades of the history of the United States, education was not yet viewed as a function of government, or even as an expectation for all students. Over time, each state developed systems separately, creating a mishmash of approaches and expectations, as discussed in Lesson 1.7. Schools differed massively from one place to the next. Standards weren’t a thing.

The modern standards movement in the U.S. emerged partly as a response to the 1983 publication of "A Nation at Risk," an influential report that criticized American competitiveness and strongly advocated for higher universal expectations in U.S. education. Within a few years of its publication, content standards in many subjects were being hammered out by expert panels. National tests known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were expanded to enable state-level comparisons. 

In 2000, George W. Bush advocated as part of his campaign for president that every state should have clear and measurable expectations for all students and that those expectations should be raised in a gradual and predictable way. Every child should be tested every year against those rising expectations, with predictable consequences for schools that fail to meet them for all students. Congress passed this vision into law in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

Teaching Common Core lessons

The states began the No Child Left Behind era with varying expectations for their students. Some states, like California, had comparatively high expectations. Other states had low standards. Schools in each state were teaching similar things, but with different definitions of success and in an inconsistent sequence. Educators broadly agreed that it was weird for different states to have different expectations, but what could be done about it? Education is a state responsibility, not a federal one. Anyway, the NCLB law required states to gradually increase their expectations, and one school district after another was failing to meet them. Teachers felt blamed for failing to accomplish the impossible.

The Great Recession of 2008 dramatically undercut education funding, which forced teacher layoffs and put the rising expectations of NCLB even further out of reach. Congress passed a federal stimulus package (ARRA) to shore up education budgets.

Times of crisis can be opportunities for change. The measure included a competition, Race to the Top, that offered states a way to compete for additional funds if they pledged to adopt educational standards aligned with a national consortium. It worked. Suddenly, state education leaders had an uncomplicated explanation for why they needed to update their old standards: for the money. Common Core was born.

Facts galore
were such a bore.
Teach us more,
Common Core!

California joined the vast majority of states in adopting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts and in mathematics. After a sometimes-difficult transition, these standards now are well documented and in familiar use. In 2013, the state extended this set of essential standards by adopting the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as well.

Standards influence curriculum

Standards have the power to change what happens in classrooms because they influence curriculum, including textbooks, learning materials, and tests. The state of California expects school districts to make sure that the materials they use are aligned with the standards.

Are some textbooks better than others? Of course. But for all the hype, there is little hard evidence that it makes any difference, especially for math textbooks. Many teachers pick and choose their instructional materials from the internet, especially if they dislike the textbook. The web is awash in learning materials, including free resources such as OER Commons and paid resources such as Teachers Pay Teachers.

The wild marketplace of learning materials makes it hard to know what works. How can a district know that the content taught in each fourth grade math class covers the standards expected of fourth grade math?

One answer is to clamp down. Some districts have gone so far as to provide teachers, quite literally, with scripts. Briefly popular in the early 2000s, scripted curriculaspecify exactly what to teach each day, and provide wording for teachers to use in explaining concepts. This approach to curriculum has some admirers and many critics. Generally, a scripted curriculum appears to reduce the disadvantages of being assigned to an inexperienced teacher and supports consistent explanations from one class to the next. But these curricula often proved dull for teachers and students, and experienced educators tended to ignore them.

How are Common Core standards in California different?

Unlike past educational standards, the Common Core standards are content standards, not performance standards. They define what students should be taught in each grade level, but not how to teach it or test it. Compared to past standards, the Common Core standards place less emphasis on memorizing detailed lists of grade-level trivia. Instead, the standards place greater emphasis on critical thinking skills.

(Jargon decoder: In English language arts these habits of mind are called capacities. In mathematics, they are referred to as principles. You're welcome.)

The Common Core explicitly aims to prepare students for college and careers by the time they leave high school. The idea was to begin with the end in mind (college and career readiness) and then map back to kindergarten.

Have the Common Core standards "worked" in the sense of making students better-prepared for college and careers? This is a question that will take time to work out. The old standards were clunky, narrow, and inconsistent, so there is little reason to pine for them. But as Lesson 1.6 established, change in education is slow. There is no evidence that adopting the standards has led to a sudden breakthrough.

The politics of Common Core

The shift to Common Core standards demonstrates that it is possible, though politically difficult, to spur changes in the American education system.

The Common Core standards were developed as a project of the states, through the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

How to read the Common Core standards

Ahem. The best way to understand the standards is to, well, sit down and read them.

Basic background information is available at the website of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. A good place to start for California-specific information is the Common Core page on the California Department of Education website. 

The National PTA has created short guides in English and Spanish that explain the standards for each grade level. Similarly, GreatSchools has prepared a useful set of videos about milestones for grades K-5.

Standards define expectations. Are these expectations sufficient? In the next lesson, "Academic Rigor: Is School Challenging Enough?" we will explore the debate about whether expectations can be too high.

Edited January 2020
December 2020
August 2022.