Learn More About the Common Core State Standards

• Common Core State Standards Initiative Homepage

• NYU Steinhardt Education Policy Breakfast Series:
• Common Core Standards, Part 1: Goals, Aspirations and Concerns - November 2012 
• Common Core Standards, Part 2 - February 2013

Common Core in Adult Basic Education (ABE) in Other States

• Indiana - AmplifyAE 
• Kentucky

Critiques of the Common Core 

• Diane Ravitch's Blog: A site to discuss better education for all 
• Common Core Standards: Ten Colossal Errors - Education Week: Teacher by Anthony Cody 
• Speaking Back to the Common Core - a chapter by Thomas Newkirk 
• Four Video Presentations by Dr. P. David Pearson from the Common Core Standards Webinar Series
1. Research and the Common Core: Can the Romance Survive? (55 minutes) - This presentation considers the research foundations of the Common Core ELA Standards, especially as it pertains to comprehension. Professor Pearson begins with the research underlying the Standards themselves and then considers the research evidence underlying content of follow-up documents such as the Publisher's Criteria (produced by CCSS writers). Pearson then describes defensible positions which educators can take in keeping policies and practices grounded in the Standards themselves and not in supplementary recommendations that did not go through the rigorous review of the Standards themselves. 
2. Q&A on Prior Knowledge (three minutes)
3. Q&A on Sequencing of Grade Levels (less than 3 minutes)
4. Q&A on Close Reading (less than 3 minutes)   
• Unwrapping New York State’s New “Common Core” Tests–Its Contents and Costs
• "Who's minding the schools?"by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, NY Times, June 8, 2013