Report: State Education Agencies and Higher Education Partnerships on Common Core Still Evolving

(September 19, 2013, Washington, D.C.) The Center for Education Policy (CEP) at The George Washington University has released a new report titled Year 3 of Implementing the Common Core State Standards: State Education Agencies’ Views on Postsecondary Involvement. The report presents results from a national survey of state education agencies (SEAs) about the degree to which they collaborate with institutions of higher education on the transition to implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Highlights from the survey, which received responses from 40 SEAs, include:

• Only 16 SEAs reported that they have forged formal partnerships with institutions of higher education in their state around the standards;
• A majority (37) of the SEAs indicated that they either currently work with or plan to work with educator preparation program faculty to align academic content with the CCSS;
• Twenty-seven of the respondents said that aligning the content of college- and university-based educator preparation programs with the CCSS is a challenge, while 9 said that this is either not within the SEA’s authority or simply not an SEA activity; and
• Twenty-five SEAs said that institutions of higher education work directly with PK-12 districts and/or schools on the CCSS transition, and institutions in 19 states are assisting with the development of CCSS-aligned K-12 instructional materials.

The report includes observations made by CEP researchers who attended the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) 2013 State Leaders Institute. There, AACTE state chapter leaders agreed that further work is needed to ensure that CCSS materials are suited for the needs of faculty. Despite these challenges, 24 SEAs said that higher education-based preparation programs in their states have revised or will revise curriculum to reflect the CCSS.

“AACTE members have made it a priority to ensure that the Common Core standards are infused into teacher preparation program curriculum,” said Jane West, Ph.D., senior vice president of policy, programs and professional issues at AACTE, who is cited in the report. “These survey results illustrate the unique challenges and governance structures within and across states that can hinder progress. Educator preparation programs are committed to working with SEAs, school districts and all education stakeholders to support each other in implementing the standards and assessing student performance.”

See the full report here.

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AACTE: Serving Learners
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education is a national alliance of educator preparation programs dedicated to the highest quality professional development of teachers and school leaders in order to enhance PK-12 student learning. The 800 institutions holding AACTE membership represent public and private colleges and universities in every state, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam. AACTE’s reach and influence fuel its mission of serving learners by providing all school personnel with superior training and continuing education. For more information, visit www.aacte.org.