In their article, "The Common Core is a Change for the Better," Gardner and Powell (2013) make an argument in support of implementing the Common Core to improve teaching and student learning. They opine the Common Core will enable students to become more college and career ready and state the Common Core standards will provide…

NCSS Executive Director Susan Griffin was chair of the Task Force of Professional Organizations that worked with the Social Studies Assessment, Curriculum, and Instruction Collaborative (SSACI) of the Council of Chief State School Officers to initiate and guide the development of the "College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social…

The adoption of the Common Core State Standards by 46 states and the District of Columbia represents a dramatic departure in U.S. education. In the past, national efforts to improve education have been directed by the federal government and have emphasized resources or organizational structure. In contrast, the Common Core State Standards in math…

While the 2011-2012 school year offered educators a sketch of the Common Core State Standards and how they would impact teaching and learning, this year that painting takes shape. Many states and districts are well on the way to implementing the standards--but the process is complex, especially for the school leaders who shoulder the task of…

This webinar explored several elements of teacher preparation pathways, including the history, popularity, and quality of various routes to certification, as well as the impact of these various pathways on teacher quality and retention and student achievement. This Q&A addressed the questions participants had for Dr. Grossman following the…

On September 17, 2013 (Constitution Day), the C3 Framework was released under the title "The College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History." The C3 Project Director and lead writer was NCSS member Kathy Swan, who is…

The authors comment on Porter, McMaken, Hwang, and Yang's recent analysis of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics by critiquing their measures of the focus of the standards and the absence of an assessment of coherence. The authors then consider whether the standards are an improvement over most state mathematics standards by discussing…

People dislike the Common Core for several different reasons, and so it is important to disaggregate the sources of opposition and to assess and then to dispel some of the myths that have built up around it. It also is important to understand the unusual political alliances that have emerged in opposition to Common Core implementation and how they…

In 1983 California enacted a comprehensive bill containing dozens of education reform provisions (Senate Bill 813). A sample of 17 secondary schools was selected in order to understand if a number of state-level education reform features could be implemented locally. The major study findings listed below are described in greater detail in the…

In response to a critical nursing shortage in the state of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Practical Nursing (PN)/Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) Articulation Project Coordinating Committee was formed in spring 1990 to develop a proposal for program articulation. A curriculum matrix was designed and adopted for use by five regional subcommittees which…

This summary report describes efforts to bridge developments in the use of technology in delivering higher education services with the traditional roles and responsibilities of state agencies, accrediting bodies, and institutions (Project ALLTEL). Designed to suggest policies and procedures to states and accrediting institutions charged with…

This document's purpose is to establish the minimum standards for approval of programs for education of gifted students in Arkansas. Guidelines are included to: (1) enable school districts to establish equitable criteria for identification of gifted and talented students; (2) establish programs which will lead to appropriate educational…

Rather than abandon bilingual education programs that have not met expectations, there is a need to assess implementation procedures in bilingual programs to determine whether or not they foster success or failure. Areas to be examined for insights and improvement include: (1) present policies concerning the goal of bilingual education and current…

Ontario public school systems are responsible for ensuring that Ministry of Education documents, such as subject guidelines, are implemented in their schools. This paper describes an implementation plan developed and used in Simcoe County by a large rural school board with modest program support staff. Four distinct phases characterize this…

By June 1983, California enacted Senate Bill 813, a sweeping, comprehensive education reform program that contained over 80 education policy and program reforms. The state legislature asked the research team to analyze schools that were effectively responding to reform stimuli and to identify how Senate Bill 813 aided, hindered, or was irrelevant…