Common-Standards Watch: Our New Map Tracks States' Movements
By Catherine Gewertz — April 01, 2014 1 min read
Today's post marks a turning point in our coverage of the common standards: the revision of our widely followed map of state adoptions.
Indiana made us do it. As you probably already know, because my intrepid colleague Andrew Ujifusa reported it last week, Indiana has become the first state to officially reverse its adoption of the Common Core State Standards. So our map must now show not only adoptions but un-adoptions.
Okay, so un-adoptions isn't a word. But you get the point. We're not talking here about the many anti-common-core debates that have cropped up in state legislatures again and again, which die in committee or never get enough traction to change a state's official embrace of the common core. (Andrew's anti-common-core bill-tracker shows those bills.)
We're also not talking about states that add some of their own stuff to the common core. We're talking about full-scale, official reversals that mean the common core is no longer in force in a state. That's what happened in Indiana. That's why we needed to revise our map to keep you abreast of the national state of play on the standards. And we'll continue to do so as the landscape changes.
Here is where things stand now:
Quite a change from when we first launched our map in July of 2010, when New Hampshire marked the half-way point in what was then a growing tidal wave of common-core adoptions.
We began reporting on the adoptions in February of 2010, when Kentucky became the first state to do so, four months before the final, official standards were released (they made their decision based on drafts they'd reviewed). By November of 2011, with Montana's adoption, 46 states and the District of Columbia had adopted the standards. Ever since, we've been saying "all but four states" have adopted them. Now, with Indiana's move, we'll get accustomed to saying "all but five states."
How will those numbers change in the coming months? Our map will keep you posted.
Catherine Gewertz
Senior Contributing Writer, Education Week
Catherine Gewertz was a writer for Education Week who covered national news and features.
A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.
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