This article does not receive scheduled updates. If you would like to help our coverage grow, considerdonating to Ballotpedia.Contact our team to suggest an update.

Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

School choice in the U.S.

Charter schools in the U.S.

Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

Common Core, or theCommon Core State Standards Initiative, is an American education initiative that outlines quantifiable benchmarks in English-language arts and mathematics at each grade level from kindergarten through high school.^[1]

These benchmarks were developed by a working group assembled by theNational Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers from 2008 through 2009. Since their finalization in 2009, the Common Core standards have drawn attention from groups concerned about several different elements included in the reforms, such as the impact of standardized testing onacademic achievement.

Standards

The Common Core State Standards Initiative outlines standards in English-language arts (ELA) and mathematics that stress literacy andcollege and career readiness. These standards also define the content that should be taught at each grade level from kindergarten through 12th grade.^[1]

English-language arts

The ELA standards feature four essential components, though Common Core emphasizes that "the processes of communication are closely connected":^[2][3]

• Reading
• Writing
• Speaking and listening
• Language

Though Common Core does not specify that students need to write in cursive, states may choose to adopt cursive as an optional part of their English-language arts curriculum. Seven states opted in to this additional component, includingCalifornia,Idaho,Indiana,Kansas,Massachusetts,North Carolina andUtah. Indiana, however, withdrew from Common Core entirely on March 24, 2014.^[4]

Mathematics

The mathematics standards mandate the teaching of eight specific skill sets, with the goal of making sure each student can do the following:^[5]

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
• Model with mathematics
• Use appropriate tools strategically
• Attend to precision
• Look for and make use of structure
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

The standards for kindergarten through sixth grade include operations and algebraic thinking, numbers and operations in base 10, measurement and data, and geometry. In grades six through eight, students are to learn the number system, expressions and equations, geometry, and statistics and probability. The six conceptual categories for high school students to understand are number and quantity, algebra, functions, modeling, geometry, and statistics and probability.^[5]

Implementation

Implementation of Common Core standards takes place at the state level, which theNational Governors Association recommended in its 2008 report "Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education." The report notes that "because benchmarking is also—and most critically—about improving policy, states must take the lead."^[6] This state-level focus arose because state education officials already possess authority over assessments, curriculum development and teacher standards. At the time of publication, the NGA found that 16 states had already adopted standards akin to Common Core as requirements for high school graduation.^[6]

Another reason for the report's focus on state implementation was a concern about public perception;federal involvement in education standards has proven controversial. TheUnited States Senate rejected history standards developed under the presidential administrations of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton by a 99-1 vote in 1995. This overwhelming rejection primarily resulted from concerns that the federal government would exceed its constitutional limits in dealing with educational issues.^[7] Parents and education advocates also protested implementation of theNo Child Left Behind Act in 2001 due to the frequency and types of tests mandated by the law.^[8]

Each state handles its own timelines and budgetary concerns during implementation of Common Core standards. The recommended timetable for implementation (from the initial approval by state officials to the conducting of evaluations based on Common Core standards) is three years. This schedule can be difficult to follow, since implementation requires professional training, curriculum adaptation to meet standards and evaluation development. Legislators and education officials also have to determine if there is sufficient funding to handle implementation.^[9]

Adoption of Common Core standards

From state to state, the authority to adopt new education standards belongs to a different public official or government body. Though most states leave such decisions to the state board of education, others give that power to achief state education officer or leave the final approval to thestate legislature. The map below details which authority was in charge of adopting Common Core standards in the states.^[10]

The map above displays which authority adopted the Common Core standards in each state. Red:State Board of Education Yellow:Chief Education Officer Blue:State Legislature Gray:Did not adopt the Common Core standards

States that adopted

A total of 43 states had adopted the Common Core standards as of July 15, 2014.Alaska,Nebraska,Texas andVirginia had not adopted the standards.Indiana,Oklahoma andSouth Carolina adopted the Common Core standards but repealed them in 2014.Minnesota had only adopted the English-language arts portion of the Common Core standards.

Forty states adopted the standards in 2010, five states adopted Common Core in 2011 andWyoming adopted it in 2012. The map below details when states adopted the Common Core State Standards.^[10][11]

The map above indicates the year in which each state adopted the Common Core State Standards. Orange:Adopted in 2010 Yellow:Adopted only English and language arts standards in 2010 Blue:Adopted in 2011 Green:Adopted in 2012 Red:Adopted in 2010 but repealed in 2014 Gray:Did not adopt the Common Core standards

Testing

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers logo

TheNo Child Left Behind Act requires that states assess their students' progress in math and reading once a year. Students in grades three through eight are all required to be tested, and they must be tested once more between grades 10 through 12.^[12] The 2014-2015 school year was the first time all states that adopted the Common Core standards used standardized tests aligned with the standards to test their students. A range of tests were administered; some were state-specific, while others were created by public agencies or consortiums. Other than state-specific tests, the most common tests taken in the 2014-2015 school year were administered by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.^[13]

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium logo

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is a public agency that "created an on-line assessment system aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), as well as tools for educators to improve teaching and learning," according to its website.^[14] The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers "is a consortium of states working together to develop a set of assessments that measure whether students are on track to be successful in college and their careers," according to its website.^[15]

ACT logo

Some states had their students take the ACT or an ACT-affiliated test. Those in high school took the ACT (a college admissions and placement test), while those in grades three through eight took the ACT Aspire (an assessment exam intended for younger age groups).^[16] According to its website, ACT is a company that develops "Summative, Interim, and Classroom testing solutions to help craft well-informed student pathways to college and career." Though only a few states used an ACT-affiliated test for the 2014-2015 school year, many states passed legislation to switch to this test for the 2015-2016 school year.

The map below details the tests used by states for the 2014-2015 school year.^[13]

The map above displays which standardized tests were used in each state during the 2014-2015 school year. Red:State-specific assessments Orange:Smarter Balanced Yellow:PARCC Dark green:ACT affiliate Light green:Combination of state-specific assessments and an ACT affiliate Pink:Combination of state-specific assessments and Smarter Balanced Purple:Combination of state-specific assessments and undecided test Dark blue:Combination of Smarter Balanced and an ACT affiliate Light blue:Combination of Smarter Balanced and undecided test Gray:Undecided

Reaction

Public reaction

Despite a majority of states adopting Common Core, public backlash against Common Core standards has become a frequent occurrence. On September 19, 2013, a group of parents inCalifornia protested the state's adoption of Common Core when Secretary of EducationArne Duncan visited their city.^[17] Duncan later drew criticism in November 2013 when, in speaking to a group of state school superintendents, he described the opposition to Common Core as "white suburban moms who—all of a sudden—their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were."^[18] On November 18, 2013, some parents inSouth Carolina andNew York chose to keep their children home from school as part of a "National Common Core Protest Day" to demonstrate opposition to Common Core's "one-size-fits-all" curriculum and standardized testing methods.^[19][20] On December 8, 2013, the Buffalo Teachers Federation protested outside the residence of a state education regent in response to Common Core implementation and its emphasis on continually testing students.^[21]

Polling

Several of the firms that conducted this polling separated their inquiry about Common Core into two separate questions. The first question asked if the respondents had heard of Common Core prior to the pollster asking about it. The second question asked what the respondents thought of Common Core. Seven of the nine pollsters did not ask the respondents who had not heard of Common Core what they thought of the reforms. In those cases, the "No opinion/Not heard of" column adds together both the respondents who answered that they had not heard of Common Core in the first question with the respondents who answered that they had no opinion of Common Core in the second question, and uses the total number of poll participants to determine the percentages.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted in June 2014 included the "not heard of" respondents in the "approve/disapprove" follow-up question, thereby making it impossible to determine what percentage of respondents had not heard of Common Core prior to the pollster's questions. As a result, the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll's published data includes only the percentage of respondents who stated that they approved, disapproved or had no opinion on Common Core. This may explain the disparity between the percentages for that poll and the other polls.

The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll conducted in December 2014 did not ask respondents if they had heard of Common Core. They asked respondents for their opinion on Common Core based on what they had heard about it. As a result, the data published by Fairleigh Dickinson University includes only data on whether the respondents approved, disapproved or had no opinion on Common Core.

Celebrity reaction

Several celebrities and well-known figures have weighed in on the debate over Common Core. Stand-up comedian and actor Louis C.K. criticized the new curriculum on Twitter and added that its implementation "feels like a dark time."^[22] Actors Chuck Norris and Matt Damon and singer Regina Spektor have also leveled public criticisms at Common Core. Norris argued that the reforms would increase the power of the federal government over education, while Damon suggested that the new standards reduce teacher autonomy in the classroom. Judy Blume, Maya Angelou and Jules Feiffer signed a public letter with more than 120 other children's book authors and illustrators to denounce the increased use of standardized testing.^[23][24]

In contrast, former professional basketball player Isiah Thomas wrote an article extolling the risingacademic performance standards brought about by Common Core.^[25] The personal foundations of actress Eva Longoria and musician John Legend have funded television advertisements promoting the new standards.^[26]

Supporters and critics

Supporters

Supporters of Common Core standards promote the idea that American schools need more rigorous standards to stay competitive in the global economy. They also argue that ineffective education costs taxpayers more money and that better standards could prevent the need to spend money on things such as remedial courses for high school students. Military members in favor of Common Core have said it gives them peace of mind to know that their children will have the same educational experience as they move from state to state. Other supporters say Common Core gives teachers, parents, students, community members and political figures the information they need to help students achieve success, as the standards set a clear progression of learning for each grade. A number of business leaders have spoken in support of Common Core, saying that a widening skills gap has made it difficult to fill jobs.^{[27][28][29][30][31][32][33]}

Critics

Criticisms of Common Core standards range from concerns about excessive government involvement to concerns about the impacts of standardization and mandatory testing on student success. Some critics believe education should be decided at the local level, allowing school districts to have control over curriculum instead of the state or federal governments. Others criticize the relationship between the standards and bureaucrats without educational backgrounds and worry that such involvement could damage public education. The privacy of testing data has also been cited as a concern, especially from parents. Though states are not required to use systems to track student data, critics have noted the possibility of education officials data mining student information if states do decide to use tracking systems. A further concern regards the GED test, which changed to reflect the Common Core standards in 2014. Critics fear that incorporating the standards has made it harder to pass the test, as not everyone who takes the GED has encountered the standards before. While 500,000 people passed the 2013 GED, only 55,000 had passed the 2014 exam by December.^{[34][35][36][37][38][39]}

Candidate stances

2016 presidential candidate stances on Common Core

See also:2016 presidential candidates on education

Democratic candidates

Click [show] on the right to see the stances of former Democratic candidates.

Hillary Clinton Clinton spoke of her support for national standards like Common Core in an interview withNewsday. She explained her opinion that the problem with Common Core was the implementation: "I think the way they rolled out the Common Core and the expectation you can turn on a dime... They didn't even have, as I'm told, they didn't even have the instructional materials ready. They didn't have any kind of training programs. Remember a lot of states had developed their own standards and they'd been teaching to those standards. And they had a full industry that was training teachers to understand what was going to be tested. And then along comes Common Core and you're expected to turn on a dime. It was very upsetting to everybody."[40] When visiting a community college in Iowa in 2015, Clinton responded to a question about Common Core standards: "When I think about the really unfortunate argument that’s been going on around Common Core, it’s very painful, because the Common Core started off as a bi-partisan effort — it was actually nonpartisan. It wasn’t politicized, it was to try to come up with a core of learning that we might expect students to achieve across our country, no matter what kind of school district they were in, no matter how poor their family was, that there wouldn’t be two tiers of education."[41] Martin O'Malley See also:Martin O'Malley presidential campaign, 2016 While serving as Maryland governor in June 2009, O'Malley worked with State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick to adopt theCommon Core State Standards Initiative.[42] Bernie Sanders See also:Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, 2016 On March 26, 2015, Sanders voted against Sen. Amendment 515, which would allow states to opt out of Common Core standards.[43]

Republican candidates

President Donald Trump

• In a January 11, 2016 interview withThe Wall Street Journal,Donald Trump said he would do “tremendous cutting” of the federal government. Education policy, he said, should be returned to the states, and he said he would end theCommon Core education standards, which conservatives view as federal overreach. “Education should be local and locally managed,” said Trump.^[44]

• Asked about theCommon Core during a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt in February 2015, Trump said, "I think that education should be local, absolutely. I think that for people in Washington to be setting curriculum and to be setting all sorts of standards for people living in Iowa and other places is ridiculous."^[45]

Click [show] on the right to see the stances of withdrawn Republican candidates.

Jeb Bush See also:Jeb Bush presidential campaign, 2016/Education Jeb Bush's education foundation has advocated theCommon Core State Standards Initiative. In October 2013, he said, "I understand there are those opposed to the standards. But what I want to hear from them is more than just opposition. I want to hear their solutions for the hodgepodge of dumbed-down state standards that have created group mediocrity in our schools. Criticisms and conspiracy theories are easy attention grabbers. Solutions are hard work. Be a problem solver."[46] At aGOP summit inNew Hampshire in April 2015, Bush discussed Common Core and the federal government, saying, "We don’t need a federal government involved in this at all."[47] According toPolitico reporter Marc Caputo, Bush did not use the term "Common Core" during a February 2015 educational policy speech. Bush said, “I’m for higher standards. And I’m for creating real restrictions of the federal government’s role in this. So you can alleviate people’s fears that you’re going to have some kind of control by the federal government of content or curriculum or even standards. I’m against the federal government being involved in demanding that assessments be done in a certain way.” Bush also called the public education system “government-run, unionized monopolies.”[48] In July 2014,Bloomberg Business reported, "Bush’s nonprofit Foundation for Excellence in Education in Tallahassee has stepped up its support of Common Core. Foundation director Patricia Levesque has written opinion articles defending the initiative, using student gains inFlorida as evidence the educational model works."[49] Chris Christie See also:Chris Christie presidential campaign, 2016 andFact check/Chris Christie "supported Common Core"? In a May 28, 2015, speech at Burlington County College inPemberton, N.J., Christie came out againstCommon Core. He said, "It's now been five years since Common Core was adopted and the truth is that it's simply not working. It has brought only confusion and frustration to our parents and has brought distance between our teachers and the communities where they work. Instead of solving problems in our classrooms, it is creating new ones." New Jersey was one of the first states to adopt Common Core, which are national standards that outline skills every child should learn at each grade level. Christie voiced his support for the standards early in his first term, according toNJ.com.[50][51] In response to concerns from parents and legislators, Christie issued an executive order creating a commission to study the effectiveness of all testing in New Jersey's K-12 schools, according to a July 14, 2014, press release. The commission was tasked with studying the "volume, frequency, and impact of student testing occurring throughout New Jersey school districts, including those administered for college admission, college credit, and college pathways."[52] The commission was also expected to study the effects of implementing Common Core education standards.[52] Christie expressed his support forCommon Core on August 7, 2013, stating, "We are doing Common Core in New Jersey and we’re going to continue. And, this is one of those areas where I have agreed more with the President than not."[53] Ted Cruz See also:Ted Cruz presidential campaign, 2016 During a February 2015 speech to a Florida conservative organization, Cruz spoke against Common Core: "We should repeal every word of Common Core," he stated. "We should get the federal government out of the business of curriculum."[54] On February 27, 2015, Cruz told an anti-tax organization that he opposes Common Core standards, describing them as "national standards being dictated from Washington."[55] He continued on to say, "There is no remedy when they are dictating what's being taught to your kids." Carly Fiorina See also:Carly Fiorina vice presidential campaign, 2016 During anIowa campaign event on December 7, 2015, Fiorina discussed issues that are important to the tech industry. She said, “Having led the world’s largest technology company, I know what it will take for America to lead in this realm. We must have a president who understands technology — both as a tool and as a weapon.” She also criticized the federal government’s involvement inSTEM education, noting that initiatives likeCommon Core andNo Child Left Behind have only increased the size of government bureaucracy and not helped students gain the knowledge required to enter the tech industry. Fiorina said businesses should take a more proactive approach in identifying students who are interested in technology and helping them develop their knowledge and skills by offering “mentorship, internships, college scholarship and, ultimately, jobs,” as Hewlett-Packard did when she was CEO of the company. She said, “Everyone needs a helping hand. We have the talent, but we have to invest in it.”[56] On August 19, 2015, Fiorina suggested the Common Core was too heavily influenced by companies. “Common Core may have started out as a set of standards, but what it’s turned into is a program that, honestly, is being overly influenced by companies that have something to gain - testing companies and textbook companies. And it’s becoming a set of standards not on what a kid has to learn, but instead on how a teacher has to teach and how a student should learn, and that kind of standardization is always going to drive achievement down, not up,” Fiorina said.[57] Lindsey Graham See also:Lindsey Graham presidential campaign, 2016 Graham opposesCommon Core Standards. In 2014, he introduced S.Res.345, which would have allowed states to establish and define their own "academic standards and assessments."[58] Mike Huckabee See also:Mike Huckabee presidential campaign, 2016 On his 2016 presidential campaign website,Mike Huckabee said theDepartment of Education should be abolished and that "[e]ducation decisions are best made by the most local government." Huckabee also expressed his opposition toCommon Core.[59] Bobby Jindal See also:Bobby Jindal presidential campaign, 2016 A federal judge ruled againstBobby Jindal on October 21, 2015, in his lawsuit against the Obama administration alleging the Department of Education was “illegally coercing states to use” theCommon Core education standards.[60] On September 16, 2015,, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana ruled againstBobby Jindal’s claim that the implementation ofCommon Core curriculum inLouisiana violated the 10th Amendment. “The evidence supports the finding that participation in both programs is completely voluntary and not unconstitutionally coercive,” said Judge Shelly Dick.[61] In February 2015, Jindal laid out a national education reform plan. He wrote, "How should lawmakers and citizens cultivate a thriving education ecosystem and improve the lives of their fellow Americans? By holding education policies against three criteria: 1. Parent choice; 2. Limited government; 3. And educator freedom." His plan proposed increasing the number of school vouchers, reforming the tenure process for teachers and eliminatingCommon Core.[62] In August 2014, Jindal filed a lawsuit against theObama administration, "claiming that theDepartment of Education has illegally manipulated grant money and regulations to force states to adopt the controversialCommon Core standards," according toFox News. Jindal said, "The federal government has hijacked and destroyed the Common Core initiative. Common Core is the latest effort by big government disciples to strip away state rights and put Washington, D.C., in control of everything."[63] According toPolitico, "Jindal once supported the standards and tests, and his state has participated in a number of Obama administration education policy initiatives. Louisiana received more than $17 million through Race to the Top, and it has a waiver from No Child Left Behind, allowing the state to avoid some of the more onerous provisions of the law."[64] John Kasich See also:John Kasich presidential campaign, 2016/Education American Principles in Action gave Kasich a grade of F for his position on theCommon Core,The Hill reported on August 19, 2015. In an interview on the same day, Kasich said, “If I were not president, but if I were King of America, I would abolish all teacher's lounges, where they sit together and worry about 'woe is us.'" A spokesman later explained his comments, saying, “He thinks teachers have far more support in their communities than they sometimes give themselves credit for and they shouldn't pay attention to the small number of pot-stirrers in their ranks who try to leverage problems for political gain.”[65] George Pataki See also:George Pataki presidential campaign, 2016 George Pataki spoke exclusively about his education policies during an interview onGirard at Large in April 2015. Pataki said, "Education has always been a state and local issue. It's not a Washington issue, and the idea that we're going to have one national testing system imposed on students in every community across America is wrong. I opposedCommon Core. I think it's a terrible idea. I'm for standards, but those standards should be imposed locally and at the state level."[66] Rand Paul See also:Rand Paul presidential campaign, 2016 In a 2014 interview on FOX News, Paul opposed theCommon Core. Paul said, “I don’t think really the curriculum ought to be nationalized. I think each state can handle education better than the federal government. The same way that the federal government doesn’t know whether you are a good teacher or not, they also don’t know what curriculum is the best. I think more innovation would be by giving more freedom to the states and localities. So, I’m for less federal control of education and more local control.”[67] Rick Perry See also:Rick Perry presidential campaign, 2016 In June 2013,Rick Perry signed legislation inTexas that prevented the state from implementingCommon Core education standards.[68] Marco Rubio See also:Marco Rubio presidential campaign, 2016/Education On January 21, 2016,Marco Rubio criticizedJeb Bush for not joining theRepublican fight against theCommon Core. He told reporters, “On the issue of Common Core, while we were off and many conservatives around the country were fighting against the Obama agenda, Jeb was nowhere to be found. In fact, he spent most of his time traveling the country trying to push Common Core onto our local school districts and across the country. And in some instances even criticized the conservative movement on some of these things.”[69] In July 2013, Rubio stated his opposition toCommon Core. He said, "Common Core started out as a well-intentioned effort to develop more rigorous curriculum standards. However, it is increasingly being used by the Obama Administration to turn the Department of Education into what is effectively a national school board. This effort to coerce states into adhering to national curriculum standards is not the best way to help our children attain the best education. Empowering parents, local communities and the individual states is the best approach,” according to theTampa Bay Times.[70] Rick Santorum See also:Rick Santorum presidential campaign, 2016 In an April 2014 op-ed,Rick Santorum expressed his opposition toCommon Core Standards. He wrote, "What troubles me the most is how fast these standards were adopted and how little transparency there was in the process. Not one state legislature voted on the Common Core standards. In the forty-five states where they have been adopted, it was by an act of the governor, the state secretary of education, or the state board of education. The people most affected by this enormous policy change—parents and teachers—never had a chance to weigh in."[71] Scott Walker See also:Scott Walker presidential campaign, 2016 In July 2014, Walker asked "members of thestate Legislature to pass a bill in early January to repealCommon Core and replace it with standards set by people in Wisconsin."[72]

2015 school board candidate stances on Common Core

See also:Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey analysis

TheSchool Board Elections project provides comprehensive, nonpartisan information on school districts, school board elections, school board candidates andK-12 education policy to voters. As part of this effort, a survey was distributed to school board candidates running for election in the1,000 largest school districts by enrollment in 2015. The standard 12-question survey covered a range of important issues that impact most American public school districts.

The survey included a question about the candidates' stances on implementingCommon Core standards. Respondents could choose between four multiple choice options, including "other," which allowed candidates to write an answer in their own words. The graph to the right shows the percentage of candidates who chose each option. Three participants did not answer the question.

A plurality of candidates chose to write an original response to the question. After that, candidates were most likely to say that the Common Core standards required modifications. A total of 15.9 percent of candidates thought the standards should not be implemented, and another 15.9 percent said the standards should be implemented.

When answering in their own words, many candidates expressed the opinion that the Common Core standards should be regularly evaluated and improved. Others said there needed to be more professional development opportunities for staff teaching the standards. A number of candidates gave answers onhow they thought the standards should be implemented rather than onwhether they should be. Some candidates thought that school district officials should be in charge of choosing which standards are used; others thought that those decisions should be left to higher levels of government, such as astate department of education.

Timeline

2016

• September 21, 2016: New York releases its draft of the state's math and English standards, revealing it intends to steer away from Common Core standards. According toChalkbeat, over half the standards were changed. Although New York was one of 45 states to adopt Common Core, it has since begun to step away from the standards, especially since one in five students opted out of the testing.^[73]
• September 8, 2016: Oregon Common Core test scores are released, showing that student achievement for the 2015-2016 stayed constant, with a little improvement. 55 percent of students were proficient in language arts, and 42 percent met standards in mathematics. According to the report, most grades saw an overall performance increase, as well as disabled students, those living in poverty, English-language learners, and historically under-served students.^[74]
• August 1, 2016: New York Common Core test results for 2016 are released, revealing that both test scores and the number of students who opted out of the tests in grades three through eight have increased. A summary released by the New York State Education Department stated that 37.9 percent of students passed ELA exams in 2016, compared to 31.3 percent during the 2014-2015 school year. In math, 39.1 percent of students passed the exam in 2016, while that rate was 38.1 during the 2014-2015 school year. The opt-out rate increased minimally, raising one point from 20 percent in 2015 to 21 percent in 2016. The 2015 opt-out rate, however, was almost four times larger than the amount of students who didn’t take the test during the 2013-2014 school year.^[75]
• July 12, 2016: Illinois decides to stop administering the Common Core-aligned PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) test to high school students, instead giving juniors the SAT college exam paid for by the state. The announcement was made after the test was administered just twice, resulting in low test scores and thousands of students not showing up to take the exams. According to school administrators, the PARCC "took away from key instruction time...as tests piled up in the spring." Other exams given during that time include advanced placement tests for honors students and college entrance exams. These tended to eclipse the PARCC amidst the busy testing season, as many students didn't take it seriously. "There was no element of skin in the game for the kids -- they didn't know why they had to take the exam," Argo Community High School District 217 Superintendent Kevin O'Mara said.^[76]
• June 21, 2016: A South Dakota judge ruled in favor of the state in a lawsuit brought forward by two parents after the state adopted Common Core and implemented assessments called Smarter Balanced. The lawsuit alleged that the state could not adopt statewide testing in partnership with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium because it had not been approved by Congress. The lawsuit also challenged the use of adaptive questioning on the computer-based tests, alleging it violated a South Dakota law that required all students to take the same assemssment. The judge ruled against the parents and gave the state permission to implement its chosen educational standards.^[77]
• May 31, 2016: In May 2016, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education presented its new statewide standards to replace Common Core. Lawmakers passed House Bill 1490 in 2014 calling for the end of Common Core in the state. The department brought together a working committee of parents and educators to create the new curriculum. Public comment was collected, and adjustments were made accordingly. The biggest changes were moving the history curriculum from fourth grade to third grade and reinstating cursive writing curriculum in third grade classrooms. The new standards were begin being taught in the 2016-2017 school year. Students will be tested on the new curriculum starting in 2018.^[78][79]
• May 3, 2016: North Dakota's Superintendent of Public Instruction Kristen Baesler released a statement in May 2016 confirming that North Dakota public schools would replace Common Core curriculm. The replacement curriculum will be written by two committees of educators. The curriculum will then be reviewed by three committees made up of parents, elected officials, and business leaders. The new curriculm is expected to be implemented in Fall 2017.^[80]
• April 15, 2016: Tennessee officialy ended the state's adoption of Common Core by approving new standards in English and Math. The new standards are called the Tennessee Academic Standards and will be implemented in the 2017-2018 school year.^[81]
• March 17, 2016: One month prior to Common Core testing in the state, the New York State Education Department made changes to the standardized tests. Students in 3rd-8th grade are now seeing fewer questions in the English and mathematics portions of the exams. The state is also suggesting that teachers offer untimed tests for both the ELA and math assessments. The change came after thousands of parents throughout the state opted their children out of the Common Core-aligned tests in 2015.^[82]
• March 11, 2016: According to researchers from the nonprofit education agencyWestEd, California teachers, principals, and superintendents "view the Common Core as more rigorous and more relevant to students than the previous state standards, but disagree over how well the Common Core has been implemented."^[83] Although most superintendents and district leaders said they believe they were successful in implementing the new standards, teachers disagreed, expressing doubts about their principals' ability to help the district transition well to using Common Core. Teachers also said they are having trouble acquiring instructional materials that meet the new guidelines.
• February 17, 2016: A bill aiming to repeal Common Core standards in Kansas passes out of the House of Education Committee.^[84] If passed,House Bill 2676 would cause school districts in the state to develop math, reading and science standards to replace the Common Core ones in place. The bill could be heard on the House floor this week.
• February 4, 2016: LouisianaGov. John Bel Edwards (D) announces he will not continue former LouisianaGov. Bobby Jindal's (R) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education over Common Core standards.^[85] Jindal originally filed the lawsuit in 2014, arguing that the federal government was illegally pressuring states to adopt Common Core standards. Edwards commented on the lawsuit, saying "It does not benefit students to continue to use time and resources to pursue litigation that no longer has any bearing on classrooms in Louisiana."^[86]
• January 22, 2016: A group of Massachusetts residents file an appeal of a proposed ballot question (End Common Core Massachusetts) that would eliminate Common Core standards in the state.^[87] The group stated that the ballot question "Should not have been certified by the attorney general's office because it does not meet the constitutional requirements for a ballot question."^[87] More specifically, they argued that the aim of the question is not to make a constitutional amendment or new law, but rather to revoke a vote made by a board: the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's vote to adopt Common Core.

• January 15, 2016: The New York City teacher's union spends $1.4 million in TV ads thankingGov. Andrew Cuomo (D) for deciding not to use student test scores for teacher evaluations.^[88] This stood in stark contrast to the union's actions the previous year, when the United Federation of Teachers ran ads criticizing the governor for tying test scores with teacher performance evaluations.

• January 6, 2016: Republicans in Kentucky introduce a bill that would create a state-based system to supervise standards and assessments, subsequently ousting Common Core.^[89] According to Senate Education Committee Chairman Mike Wilson, they hoped to "boost the number of students deemed college and career ready after graduating from high school." The bill was to be a top priority for Senate Republicans in their 60-day session that began on January 4, 2016.^[89]

2015

• December 21, 2015: The Montana Common Core test results are released, showing that 38 percent of students scored proficient in math and 45 percent were proficient in English.^[90] Students were tested in the spring of 2015 using the Common Core aligned testSmarter Balanced. However, 18 percent of the state's schools were not assessed due to technical problems with the test.^[90]

• December 19, 2015: West Virginia repeals Common Core standards.^[91][92] The state's board of education approved a new set of standards planned to take effect on July 1, 2016. The standards were "developed based on findings presented by West Virginia University following the Academic Spotlight community review which included input from more than 5,000 individuals and generated more than 250,000 individual comments."^[91]

• December 10, 2015: President Obama signs the Every Student Succeeds Act into law.^[93]

• December 9, 2015: The Senate passes the Every Student Succeeds Act by a vote of 85-12.^[94]

• December 2, 2015: The House of Representatives passes the Every Student Succeeds Act in a 359-64 vote. The bill would make Common Core optional for states and prevent "any federal agency from incentivizing, requiring, or conditioning the receipt of federal funds on the adoption of Common Core standards or any other set of specific academic standards."^[95] It would also minimize federal educational oversight and increase state authority to determine standards, testing and accountability.^[95]

• December 2, 2015:End Common Core Massachusetts submits 80,000 certified signatures to Secretary of State William Galvin’s offices in order to put an anti-Common Core question on the 2016 state ballot.^[96] The group's aim was to remove Common Core from Massachusetts' education standards and return to the state's previous ones.

• November 17, 2015: Massachusetts' Board of Elementary and Secondary Education votes to develop a new standardized test rather than implement a Common Core Standards Initiative test.^[97] The state had been piloting the test derived from Common Core standards, the Partnership for Assessing College Career Readiness test (PARCC), for two years. The new test, unofficially referred to as the "MCAS 2.0," was planned to be a hybrid between the test the state had been using for 18 years (the MCAS) and the PARCC.^[98] According toNPR's Ann Ruth, of the 26 states that adopted the PARCC test, Massachusetts was the 20th to drop it.^[97]

• November 11, 2015: A group of teachers and educators in Missouri is given the task to come up with a new set of educational standards to replace those of Common Core.^[99] A bill passed in July of 2014 by MissouriGov. Jay Nixon (D),House Bill 1490, allowed educators and parents to create new standards for the state. It set a deadline of October 1, 2015, for the creation of the standards, to be implemented in the 2016-2017 school year. HB 1490 called for eight groups of educators and parents in the state to develop new standards for students. They were divided into different subjects—English/language arts, mathematics, science and social studies—as well as into K-5 and 6-12 grades.^[100] The groups presented their work to thestate board of education for review on October 1, 2015. There was also a public hearing on October 26, 2015, for further discussion with state residents and the Missouri Board of Education.^[101]

• October 26, 2015: The Arizona Board of Education votes to repeal the implementation of Common Core standards.^[102] The motion was brought forward by Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas and the board passed it in a vote of 6-2. The vote did not immediately sever the Common Core standards from Arizona classrooms, but new standards were expected to be in place by 2017.^[103]

• October 20, 2015: Test scores from New Jersey show that few students passed a Common Core-aligned test that was given the previous school year.^[104] Less than half were fully proficient in the math exams, and the highest passing rate was 52 percent for the English tests. Common Core standards were adopted in New Jersey in 2010, and the 2014-2015 school year was the first during which students were tested accordingly.

• October 12, 2015: Aparent survey released by theEducation Post reveals that parents supported standardized testing but were unsure that it benefited their children.^[105] Results showed that 44 percent of parents thought standardized tests were fair, while 38 percent said they were not and 18 percent were unsure.^[106] Further, 44 percent of parents said they believed standardized tests have a positive impact on schools, compared with 30 percent who felt that the impact is negative and 25 percent who were unsure. However, 49 percent of parents thought their children take too many tests and 40 percent were of the opinion their children take the right amount. You can read a full breakdown of the survey and resultshere.

• September 29, 2015:New York Gov.Andrew Cuomo (D) launches the Common Core Task Force to review the state's education standards and come up with recommended changes. The task force was also charged with ensuring that standardized tests align with the state's curriculum, coming up with ways to shorten and reduce the number of standardized tests, and examining "the impact of the current moratorium on recording Common Core test scores on student records."^[107]

• September 16, 2015:New York Commissioner of EducationMaryEllen Elia announces that the state's standardized tests for the 2015-2016 school year would be shorter than they were for the 2014-2015 school year. This was the second time the state's standardized tests were trimmed down, and a spokeswoman for theNew York Department of Education said the tests would be further shortened for the 2016-2017 school year as well. The announcement came after the state released its 2015 test scores. They revealed that 31 percent of students had passed the English assessments and 38 percent had passed math. As of the announcement to shorten the upcoming tests, the state had started two separate evaluations of the Common Core standards and its related assessments.^[108]
• September 9, 2015:
  • TheKansas Department of Education releases the results of the state's Common Core-aligned test. The results showed that 42 percent of students testedcollege- and career-ready in English and language arts, and 34 percent tested college- and career-ready in math. The results showed that a lot of students inKansas were struggling, according to Brad Neuenswander, an employee of the Department of Education. This was the second time students took a Common Core-aligned test, but it was the first time the state analyzed the results, as the previous test was thrown out due to technological problems.^[109]
  • California's Common Core-aligned test results from the 2014-2015 school year are released. Overall, 44 percent of students met or exceeded English standards, and 33 percent met or exceeded standards in math. The results showed a large gap among different groups of students. Asian students scored highest, with 72 percent meeting or exceeding English standards; 61 percent of white students, 32 percent of Latino students and 28 percent of African-American students met or exceeded those standards. In math, "69 percent of Asians, 49 percent of whites, 21 percent of Latinos and 16 percent of African-Americans met or exceeded standards." These results were lower than results from the state's previous standardized tests.California Superintendent of Public InstructionTom Torlakson, however, said the results from the two tests could not be compared.^[110]

• September 3, 2015:
  • New York Gov.Andrew Cuomo (D) calls for a re-evaluation of the state's Common Core standards. He called the standards "flawed" and said he was partly motivated to call for a review of the standards due to the state's large testing opt-out movement in the spring of 2015. Cuomo said that "standards will only work if people—especially parents—have faith in them and their ability to educate our children. The current Common Core program does not do that. It must."^[111]
  • The Common Core-aligned test results forGeorgia are released. They reported that less than 40 percent of students in each grade level were proficient in math and English. The state's former exam had passage rates of 80 or 90 percent, but education officials said that the previous test set lower expectations than any other state. Before the results came out, they cautioned that the state would probably see lower scores. In a statement,Georgia Superintendent of SchoolsRichard Woods (R) said, "These results show a lower level of student proficiency than Georgians are used to seeing, but that does not mean Georgia students know less or that teachers are not doing a great job - it means they've been asked to clear a higher bar."^[112]

• September 2, 2015: A ballot question askingMassachusetts voters whether or not the state should use Common Core standards is approved as constitutional. Supporters of the ballot question were next required to gather enough signatures to get it on the ballot. A total of 60,000 signatures were required to qualify.^[113]

• August 28, 2015:
  • Oregon state data reveals that 21school districts in the state did not meet federal testing requirements. States were required to test 95 percent of all students in English language arts and math, as well as 95 percent of students in specific groups such as low-income or special needs. Those 21 districts had less than 95 percent of their students test in at least one subject area. The state ofOregon also did not meet federal requirements. Though 95 percent of students were tested overall, only 93 percent of African American students and 93 percent of special needs students were tested. If theU.S. Department of Education were to decide to withhold federal funding from the state due to the unmet requirements, Oregon was at risk of losing as much as $344 million. As of August 2015, the U.S. Department of Education had not yet withheld funding from any state or district based on testing participation requirements.^[114]
  • Connecticut releases the results of Common Core-aligned testing. Statewide, 40 percent of students met or exceeded achievement levels in math, and 55.4 percent of students met or exceeded achievement levels in English.^[115]

• August 25, 2015:Nevada reaches a $1.3 million settlement with Measured Progress, the creator of the state's Common Core-aligned tests. Widespread technical problems left many students unable to finish the federally required tests. TheNevada attorney general said that the settlement would be refunded to theNevada Department of Education in both cash and services.^[116]

• August 18, 2015: A poll conducted by Education Next shows support for federal testing but little for the opt-out movement. Approximately two-thirds of the public and parents voiced support for standardized testing, while teachers were split on the decision. Only about one-third of parents and teachers supported opting students out of testing, and only a quarter of the public showed support of that movement.^[117]

• August 17, 2015:
  • Results from the new Common Core-aligned tests show that students inWashington met state expectations and exceeded national expectations, according toWashington Superintendent of Public InstructionRandy Dorn. The students who were in 11th grade at the time of the test, however, tested at a lower rate. Only 26 percent of those students tested proficient in English and 14 percent were proficient in math. These scores were partially dragged down because students who opted out of testing received a zero grade. Dorn urged parents to encourage their students to take the tests.^[118]
  • North Carolina's Academic Standards Review Commission releases a draft of recommendations for the state's education standards. The full draft can be foundhere. The commission's final report was due by the end of 2015.^[119]

• August 12, 2015:
  • The state ofNew York releases the results of the Common Core-aligned standardized tests that students took in the spring of 2015. According to the data, over 200,000 students opted out of the testing, a total of 20 percent of students in the state. The test results showed that students in grades three through eight who took the tests improved in both English language arts and math. The improvements in English were slight; 31.3 percent of students tested proficient in 2015 compared to 30.6 percent in 2014. Students showed more improvement in math, with 38.1 percent of students testing proficient in 2014 compared to 36.2 percent in 2015.^[120]
  • Arkansas Gov.Asa Hutchinson (R) sends a letter to theArkansas State Board of Education recommending a list of changes to the state's education standards. The changes came from a review of the Common Core standards conducted by the governor's council. One suggested change was to no longer use the name "Common Core standards."^[121]

• August 5, 2015:New Hampshire receives another one-year waiver from theNo Child Left Behind Act. Because of this, the state would have its 11th grade students take the SAT exam instead of the Smarter Balanced assessments for the 2015-2016 school year. The state's move came after the SAT was redesigned to testcollege and career readiness.^[122]

• August 4, 2015:Tennessee Gov.Bill Haslam (R),State Senate SpeakerRon Ramsey (R) andState House SpeakerBeth Harwell (R) appoint 10 members to the state's K-12 education standards review board. The members included a university dean, principals, teachers, school administrators and a former county board of education member.^[123]

• August 3, 2015: Recently appointedNew York Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia announces she would be reviewing the Common Core standards with a group of teachers, parents andNew York Department of Education officials. "I do think it's important to look at the standards to make sure that they really are on point for what we want students to be able to do when they leave high school," said Elia.^[124]

• July 16, 2015:
  • TheUnited States Senate votes 81-17 to pass the Every Child Achieves Act, an overhaul of theNo Child Left Behind Act. Though the bill maintained federal requirements for testing students in math and reading, it gave states more power and flexibility to hold districts accountable for student achievement. The bill would have to be reconciled with a similar bill passed by theU.S. House of Representatives and signed by PresidentBarack Obama before it could be passed into law.^[125]
  • Delaware Gov.Jack Markell (D) vetoesHB 50, a bill designed to give parents the right to opt their children out of Common Core-aligned state assessments and to inform them of those rights prior to administering the tests. TheDelaware House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 31-5, and theDelaware State Senate passed it with a 15-6 vote. Both votes were veto-proof majorities, suggesting that thestate legislature could repeal the veto when it reconvened in January 2016.^[126][127]

• July 9, 2015: TheNew York Department of Education awards a $44 million contract to Questar Assessment Inc. to develop new Common Core-aligned, computerized state assessments. Pearson Education, the company that had provided the state's standardized tests since 2011, bid on the contract but lost to Questar. The contract with Questar gave teachers more responsibility in developing the tests, according to state officials.^[128]

• July 8, 2015:
  • TheU.S. House of Representatives passes a bill to prohibit the federal government from requiring or encouraging any specific academic standards, including Common Core. The bill also gave more control over assessments to states and school districts. The bill passed 218-213, with noDemocrats voting in favor due to a portability measure included in the bill. The measure allows federal money to follow students if they leave low-income schools for other public school options.^[129]
  • TheWest Virginia Department of Education launches a new website to seek comments on the state's Common Core standards. A bill to start a formal review of the standards failed to get passed in the spring of 2015, so school district officials partnered with the Department of Education to seek feedback directly from the public.^[130]
  • TheMissouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education cuts ties with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium due to language in the most recently passed budget prohibiting the department from spending any money on the consortium. The state planned to stop using the Smarter Balanced Assessments for the 2015-2016 school year.^[131]

• July 6, 2015:Nevada posts a "Notice of Award" to issue a $51.5 million new testing contract with the Data Recognition Corporation. If approved by the state's board of examiners, the contract would start in August 2015 and continue through August 2019. The Data Recognition Corporation would provide testing services for a state-specific exam, the Nevada Ready Student Assessment System. During the 2014-2015 school year, the state used the Smarter Balanced Assessments.^{[13][132][133]}

• July 1, 2015: TheOhio Department of Education chooses the American Institutes for Research (AIR) as its new Common Core testing provider afterGov.John Kasich (R) signed a bill banning the state from spending anymore money on PARCC Common Core testing. AIR provided Ohio's science and social studies tests for the 2014-2015 school year and planned to continue to provide those (in addition to the Common Core-aligned math and language arts tests) for the 2015-2016 school year.^[134]

• June 29, 2015:
  • Louisiana Gov.Bobby Jindal (R) signs three education bills. One requires public hearings to be held in the state's six congressional districts to review revised education standards from theState Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). A second bill changes the state's Common Core-aligned testing, requiring that less than half of the test questions come from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). A third bill adds additional committees to the review of educational standards, allowing legislative committees to accept or reject changes to education standards suggested by the BESE in package form.^[135]
  • Ohio Gov.John Kasich (R) signs a bill banning the state from spending any money on PARCC Common Core testing and calling on theOhio Department of Education to find a new test provider. The new law came after a committee created byState Sen.Peggy Lehner (R) conducted a survey that received negative feedback on the tests from across the state.^[136]

• June 24, 2015:Oregon Gov.Kate Brown (D) signsHouse Bill 2655 into law, allowing parents to more easily opt their children out of state testing for the 2015-2016 school year.^[137]

June 22, 2015: The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm, files a lawsuit against theNorth Dakota Gov.Jack Dalrymple (R) and other state officials, claiming that the state's implementation of Common Core standards was unconstitutional. The lawsuit stated that the standards, as well as the tests aligning with them, violated federal laws banning federal control of public education. It also said that the Smarter Balanced Consortium, a group providing Common Core-aligned testing for states, was in violation of theConstitution as it was "an interstate compact which Congress did not authorize."^[138]

• June 16, 2015:Maine Gov.Paul LePage (R) signs a bill requiring the state to pull out of its partnership with the Smarter Balanced Consortium, which provided Common Core-aligned state testing for the 2014-2015 school year. The state was left to find a new testing provider or develop its own tests for the 2015-2016 school year.^[139]

• June 11, 2015: TheOregon State Senate passesHouse Bill 2655 to allow parents to opt their children out of Common Core-aligned testing for any reason. The bill also protects schools and school districts from any consequences related to having a large number of students opt out of testing by requiring the state to publish two performance ratings. One would follow the regular model requiring 95 percent of students be tested, and the second would rate the school without any penalties based on the results of those who did take the test. The state received a warning from the federal government that such a bill could jeopardize Oregon's federal education funding, but those who voted in favor of the bill said they doubted the federal government would withhold any money. Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education Deborah Delisle said the bill was one of the most extreme opt-out measures in the country.^[140]

• June 8, 2015: The Common Core Review Council established byArkansas Gov.Asa Hutchinson suggests that the state switch from Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing to ACT or ACT Aspire testing. The council said they recommended the switch due to the ACT's national recognition and comparison between all states, its relevance to students and its shorter time length for testing. Gov. Hutchinson said he reviewed and approved of the recommendation and instructed theArkansas Department of Education to take steps toward entering into a contract with ACT.^[141]

• June 7, 2015:West Virginia Superintendent of SchoolsMichael J. Martirano speaks with theWest Virginia's Joint Committee on Education in defense of Common Core standards. He said the state's previous standards were too broad and shallow and that they left students unprepared for college or the workforce. “It’s unconscionable we are graduating young people across the country, not just in West Virginia, who are not prepared for college courses,” said Martirano. He said Common Core was critical to help better prepare students.^[142]

• June 4, 2015:Missouri Gov.Jay Nixon (D) signsHouse Bill 2, an appropriations bill cutting funding for the Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced Assessments. Students in the state took those assessments at the end of the 2014-2015 school year, but they were not to take them again for the 2015-2016 school year since the $4.2 million needed to pay for the tests was cut from the budget. Instead, theMissouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was granted $7 million to develop new tests.^[143]

• May 29, 2015: The case against theU.S. Department of Education, which was started by a lawsuit filed byLouisiana Gov.Bobby Jindal (R) over Common Core standards, concludes testimony.U.S. DistrictJudge Shelly Deckert Dick presided over the case. Gov. Jindal's lawsuit accuses the U.S. Department of Education of illegally using federal funding and other regulations to force states to adopt Common Core standards, also accusing the department of trying to establish a national curriculum.^[144]

• May 28, 2015:New Jersey Gov.Chris Christie (R) announces his opposition to Common Core standards during a speech at Burlington County College inPemberton, N.J. “The truth is that it’s simply not working,” said Christie, leaving formerFlorida Gov.Jeb Bush (R) as the lastRepublicanpresidential hopeful to support the standards.^[145] Christie also announced that New Jersey would be pulling out of Common Core. He said that a panel of teachers, educators and parents would develop new standards for the state that would be "even higher and come directly from our communities."^[146]

• May 21, 2015:Oregon Gov.Kate Brown (D) signsHouse Bill 2680 into law. The law delayed the state's ability to rate schools based on statewide standardized assessments, which aligned with Common Core standards.^[147]

• May 20, 2015:
  • TheLouisiana State Senate passesSenate Bill 43 with a 36-1 vote. It passed from theLouisiana Senate Education Committee on May 14, 2015. The bill gives the governor and the education committees of bothstate legislative chambers the ability to accept or reject any changes to the state's education standards, but it does not give those offices the ability to change any recommended standards.^[148]
  • TheWisconsin State Legislature's Joint Finance Committee approves a proposal submitted byGov.Scott Walker (R) prohibiting theWisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction from requiringschool districts to follow Common Core standards.^[149]
  • Ohio SenatorKris Jordan (R) introduces a bill to eliminate Common Core standards in the state. The only sponsor of the bill, Jordan said it was designed to stop federal involvement in the state's education system. “I just don’t believe that Washington has helped our education system since it started to get involved in the late ’70s,” said Jordan.^[150]

• May 14, 2015:Senate Bill 43 passes out of theLouisiana Senate Education Committee. If passed into law, the bill would require that any action taken by theState Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to create new education standards be subject to review by the education committees of bothstate legislative chambers. The bill was part of a three-bill compromise aimed at bridging the divide between Common Core opponents and supporters in the state.^[151]

• May 13, 2015:LouisianaHouse Bill 373, which sets up a review process for the state's Common Core standards and includes the possibility of adopting new standards, passes out of theLouisiana House Education Committee. If signed into law, the bill would require theState Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to start reviewing the standards July 1, 2015. It would also require the board to include public review. The bill set up a timeline for the new standards to be shared in February 2016 and adopted in March 2016, giving the governor the power to accept or reject the new standards. The bill was part of a three-bill compromise aimed at bridging the divide between Common Core opponents and supporters in the state.^[152]

• May 11, 2015:Tennessee Gov.Bill Haslam (R) signs a bill passed by theTennessee State Legislature creating two committees to review the state's English and math standards in order to recommend new ones. The new law required that the committees' recommended standards be implemented by the 2017-2018 school year.^[153]

• May 4, 2015:Mississippi Superintendent of EducationCarey Wright announces that theMississippi Department of Education would start its own review of Common Core standards. The department planned to solicit comments from the public on the standards and then have them reviewed by a panel of educators in order to propose changes to theState Board of Education.^[154]

• April 30, 2015:Tennessee's inquiry into Common Core standards wraps up and shows that 56 percent of the reviews were in favor of keeping the standards. The six-month review process allowed participants to say they would like to “keep it,” “replace it,” or “remove it” in regards to the individual standards within Common Core. A total of 2,262 people participated in the review of the standards, with 51.5 percent of them identifying as teachers.^[155][156]

• April 27, 2015:
  • New York State Assembly SpeakerCarl Heastie (D) calls the large number of students opting out of state testing assessments a "concern" and says that state lawmakers would have to take a "macro look" at the issue of classroom testing.^[157] The group United to Counter the Core released a statement with the preliminary count of students who had opted out of testing in 2015. With 76 percent of school districts reporting, 193,000 students opted out of English and language arts testing; with 45 percent of school districts reporting, 151,000 students opted out of math testing. This was an increase from 2014, when 47,000 students opted out of English and language arts testing and 67,000 refused to take math tests.^[158]
  • TheArizona State Board of Education votes 9-1 to create a review committee for the state's Common Core standards. The committee had 17 members, includingArizona Superintendent of Public InstructionDiane Douglas. The other members were teachers, business owners, parents and college deans. The committee was to hold public hearings on the standards and oversee the creation of new ones.^[159]
  • West Virginia House of Delegates memberMichael Folk (R) files a lawsuit against the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium funding in the state. After filing with theBerkeley County Court, Folk released a statement calling the Common Core-aligned testing "unconstitutional." He said it takes money away from schools and time away from teaching.^[160]

• April 23, 2015:Mississippi Gov.Phil Bryant (R) vetoes a bill passed by theMississippi State Legislature that called for the creation of a commission to make recommendations on education standards. Bryant said he was committed to repealing Common Core standards inMississippi and, because the bill did not do that, he could not sign it into law.Lt. Gov.Tate Reeves (R) had supported the bill. He said that though the bill did not directly repeal Common Core standards in the state, the governor's veto ensured that the standards would remain in place.^[161]

• April 21, 2015: TheTennessee State Senate votes 27-3 to passHouse Bill 1035 to create state-specific standards to replace Common Core in 2017. The bill next moved to thegovernor to be signed.^[162][163]

• April 20, 2015:
  • TheTennessee House of Representatives passes a bill to create state-specific standards in place of Common Core.^[164]
  • With a 61-37 vote, opponents of Common Core in theLouisiana House of Representatives fail to move out of theHouse Education Committee a bill that would have changed the method of adopting state education standards.^[165]

• April 17, 2015: At theNew HampshireGOP summit, formerFlorida Gov.Jeb Bush (R) announces that he supported a bill to prevent setting curriculum standards at the federal level. Bush was previously an ardent supporter of Common Core standards, but his standing on the issue had become less rigid. “We don’t need a federal government involved in this at all,” Bush said at the summit.^[166]

• April 14, 2015:
  • Common Core-aligned testing begins inNew York, and school districts see an increase in the number of students opting out of taking the test from 2014. In some districts, over 50 percent of students opted out of testing, with the largest numbers of opt-outs occurring in Long Island, Westchester and Buffalo. Some school district officials voiced concern over the opt-outs, as districts could be penalized at both the state and federal levels if less than 95 percent of students participated in testing. New York State United Teachers started a robocall campaign a few days before the test began to remind members that they could opt out their children. TheNew York Department of Education said standardized testing helps ensure that the state's most vulnerable students do not get ignored.^[167][168]
  • Delaware Gov.Jack Markell (D) announces that four of the state's universities called the Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced Assessment taken by 11th graders in the state "a good measure of college readiness." The University of Delaware, Delaware Technical Community College, Delaware State University and Wilmington University said they would all use Smarter Balanced Assessment scores in lieu of placement exams to determine if students need to take remedial classes when starting college.^[169] Those four universities joined others across the country that already used Common Core-based testing to determine class placements for incoming students, including over 100 inCalifornia, 49 inWashington, 24 inOregon, 10 inHawaii and 6 inSouth Dakota.^[170]

• April 7, 2015:
  • A study reports that students in Kentucky, the first state to implement Common Core standards, "made faster progress in learning" than students in states using older standards. The study was conducted by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and supported by theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The study looked at ACT test scores in Kentucky, where all 11th grade students were required take it. The study examined the school year immediately before Common Core standards were implemented, the year just after and the year two years after. The students in the years after Common Core was implemented made more progress in terms of academic proficiency than those who took the test beforehand.^[171]
  • A group of teachers, parents and students boycott the Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced tests in theSeattle School District. They group expressed opposition to the idea of teaching students in order to pass a test. During testing for the 2013-2014 school year, around 30 students refused to take certain portions of the test. The district estimated as many as 150 students would refuse portions of the test for the 2014-2015 school year.^[172]

• April 3, 2015:Nevada Attorney GeneralAdam Laxalt tells school districts in the state that it is up to them to determine if students can opt out of criterion-referenced tests (CRTs). Laxalt said the state law did not make such tests mandatory. Laxalt was asked to interpret the law byNevada Superintendent of Public InstructionDale Erquiaga in order to let school districts know their options.^[173]

• April 1, 2015: TheNevada State Assembly holds a hearing on a bill that would repeal Common Core standards in the state. Nevada phased the standards into the classroom gradually, and they were only fully implemented in the 2014-2015 school year. According to theNevada Department of Education, it would cost the state $110 million to repeal Common Core and go back to the state's former standards.^[174]

• March 31, 2015: Both theMississippi State Senate and theMississippi House of Representatives pass a bill to create an 11-member commission to make recommendations on education standards to theState Board of Education. The bill went toGov.Phil Bryant (R) to sign.^[175]

• March 30, 2015:
  • TheArizona State Senate rejects a bill repealing Common Core in the state. The vote was 13-16, with someRepublicans joiningDemocrats to vote against the bill. The Senate rejected a similar bill in 2014 and in February 2015.^[176]
  • Karen Magee, the president of New York State United Teachers, calls for a boycott of the state's Common Core testing, scheduled to occur in April 2015. She said the tests were "not valid indicators of student progress," urging parents to opt their children out of testing. Under a new state education reform plan, the results of these tests were intended to impact teacher evaluations. Merryl Tisch, the chancellor of the State Board of Regents, said the tests “provide an important source of objective information.”^[177]
  • District Court JudgeTim Kelley throws out a lawsuit alleging that theLouisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education violated the state's Administrative Procedures Act by adopting Common Core, as it did not provide enough legislative oversight or give enough public notice. The lawsuit was brought byGov.Bobby Jindal (R) and 17state legislators.^[178]

• March 23, 2015:
  • While outlining his education policy agenda,Arizona Gov.Doug Ducey (R) calls on theState Board of Education to review the state's Common Core standards "in their entirety." Ducey said that "at the end of the day the standards need to come from Arizona and they need to help us achieve our objectives."^[179]
  • Weeks before students in the state are scheduled to take Common Core-aligned tests for the first time,New York Gov.Andrew Cuomo (D) proposes using student results in teacher evaluations. He suggested that 50 percent of the Annual Professional Performance Reviews for teachers be tied to their students' results despite opposition from teachers unions.^[180]

• March 20, 2015:
  • TheArkansas State SenateEducation Committee approves a bill barring theState Board of Education from renewing the PARCC exams for more than one year after the 2015-2016 school year. The bill moved to the full Senate.^[181]
  • Louisiana Gov.Bobby Jindal (R) announces that he would support legislation to repeal Common Core. He proposed that the state temporarily revert back to its former standards while creating new math and reading standards with input from local school boards, state education officials and theLouisiana State Legislature. No specific bill to repeal Common Core had been filed in the State Legislature. State Board of Education President Chas Roemer called Jindal's announcements a "political plan" and said the governor "is only concerned about one thing: his own politics."^[182]

• March 17, 2015: TheWisconsin State Senate passes a bill to delay reporting Common Core-aligned test scores from the 2014-2015 school year. The bill moved to theWisconsin State Assembly after passing on a voice vote with no debate. If passed by the Assembly, no test results would be used from the 2014-2015 school year to measure a school's performance or to evaluate teachers.^[183]

• March 11, 2015:
  • TheSouth Carolina State Board of Education votes unanimously to replace Common Core standards with new standards approved by the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee, officially repealing the standards in the state.^[184]
  • TheCalifornia Board of Education votes unanimously to suspend the Academic Performance Index, a system measuring schools on a statewide level, for the 2014-2015 school year.California Superintendent of Public InstructionTom Torlakson said the Common Core-based tests were too different from previous state tests and needed more time to be implemented. Students would still take the Common Core-aligned tests, but the scores will only be recorded at school and district levels.^[185]

• March 10, 2015:
  • TheArizona House of Representatives votes to pass a bill allosing parents to opt their students out of Common Core testing. The bill moved to theArizona State Senate for consideration.^[186]

• March 9, 2015:
  • The South Carolina Education Oversight Committee votes 11-1 to approve new state education standards to replace Common Core. The standards next needed to be approved by theState Board of Education before school districts can start using them for the 2015-2016 school year.^[187]
  • A bill to repeal Common Core standards inWest Virginia is altered by theSenate Committee on Education to require a year-long study before the standards can be repealed. Fully repealing Common Core would cost the state $128 million over a four-year timespan. The new bill sets up public town hall meetings across the state and sets up an online forum. The meetings and forum will seek input on the standards.^[188]
  • TheArizona House of Representatives postpones a debate on a proposal to repeal Common Core standards in the state. The debate was delayed due to the absence of oneRepublican member of the House. The proposal also sought to take away theState Board of Education's ability to adopt new standards.^[189]

• March 4, 2015: TheOhio State Senate passes an amended bill seeking to ban the use of test scores to keep students from getting promoted to the next grade or receiving class credit. The original bill was unanimously approved by theOhio House of Representatives.^[190][191]

• March 2, 2015:
  • TheIdaho State Senate Education Committee votes to hold Resolution 105 in committee. The resolution sought to change Common Core standards to more state-specific standards.^[192]
  • Hundreds of students inNew Mexico walk out of school in protest of the state’s Common Core testing. The student protesters said they believed that the testing was taking away from their overall education and that the results were unfairly used to evaluate teachers. Thegovernor’s office said that annual testing was required by federal law and that the new Common Core test was developed by educators. Schools inPennsylvania andNew York, which were also administering Common Core-aligned tests for the first time, saw thousands of students opt out of testing.^[193]
  • New educational standards forSouth Carolina pass out of the Academic Standards and Assessments Subcommittee with a vote of 5-0 and one abstention. The new standards moved on to the Education Oversight Committee and theState Board of Education. If passed by both bodies, the new standards would be on schedule to replace Common Core standards for the 2015-2016 school year.^[194]

• March 1, 2015:RepublicanGov.Bobby Jindal,Sen.Ted Cruz, and neurosurgeonBen Carson speak on the need to repeal Common Core at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Former Gov.Jeb Bush (R) stood alone in maintaining support of the standards.^[195]

• February 28, 2015: TheWest Virginia House of Delegates passes a bill to repeal Common Core. The bill next moved on to theWest Virginia State Senate and was put on double reference. Passage by both the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Finance Committee would be required before such a bill could move to the floor.^[196]

• February 27, 2015: TheNo Child Left Behind Act reauthorization bill is pulled from consideration byU.S. House leaders after a number of conservative amendments were dropped from the bill by the House Rules Committee.^[197]
• February 24, 2015:
  • TheSouth Dakota House of Representatives rejects an attempt to put a Common Core repeal bill on the legislative calendar. The House Education Committee voted twice previously to reject the repeal bill, butRep. Daniel Kaiser (R) used a procedural maneuver known as a smoke-out to force the full House to vote on the bill's consideration. The vote was 39-31 against.^[198]
  • A bill seeking to repeal the Common Core standards inMontana moves to aHouse Appropriations Committee hearing. It passed a second reading on February 21, 2015. If passed into law,HB 377 would repeal Common Core and create a council to set up new education standards for the state.^[199]
  • AMissouri judge rules that the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) is an “unlawful interstate compact to which the U.S. Congress has never consented.” Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled that SBAC’s existence and operation was unconstitutional due to theU.S. Constitution’s Compact Clause and that Missouri’s participation with SBAC was also unconstitutional. The ruling declared that paying any membership fees to SBAC was illegal and that no taxpayer funds could be disbursed to SBAC either directly or indirectly.^[200]

• February 23, 2015: TheArizona State Senate votes 19-10 against a bill that would have let school districts in the state adopt their own academic standards and not be required to follow Common Core.^[201]

• February 18, 2015: TheArizona House of Representatives Education Committee approves a bill to repeal Common Core as well as limit the powers of the state'sBoard of Education to adopt new standards. The bill was approved by the committee with a 5-2 vote along party lines, withRepublican lawmakers in favor.^[202]

• February 16, 2015:
  • FourArizona lawmakers introduce bills seeking to change the state's stance on Common Core and Common Core-aligned testing. Two of the bills proposed eliminating Common Core entirely, one recommended creating assessment options that school districts can choose from, and one allowed parents to opt their students out of testing.^[203]
  • Wisconsin Gov.Scott Walker (R) submits plans to scrap the state's Common Core-aligned standardized test by 2016 in his biennial budget. He proposed that the state choose a different exam and that it let districts choose between that new exam and a state-approved alternate. Some school district officials in the state said ending the exam would do more harm than good, as resources, time and energy had already gone into preparing students for the Common Core-aligned test. According to school officials, if the exam were scrapped after its first year, educators would not be able to build on its results.^[204]

• February 12, 2015: A bill prohibiting theNew Hampshire Department of Education andState Board of Education from requiring Common Core standards passes theNew Hampshire State Senate by voice vote.SB 101 moved to theNew Hampshire House of Representatives for consideration. If passed into law, the decision to implement Common Core standards would fall to the local level.^[205]

• February 11, 2015:
  • TheUnited States House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee passes legislation prohibiting theU.S. Department of Education from attempting to "influence, incentivize or coerce" states to adopt Common Core standards either directly or indirectly. The committee's bill also sought to reduce federal requirements that states allocate a certain amount of funding toward education in order to receive federal funds and eliminated over 60 federal education programs. The bill passed from the committee on a party-line vote, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposing.^[206]
  • TheOhio House of Representatives unanimously passes a bill prohibiting schools from holding students back based on the results of the state's first year of Common Core-aligned testing. The bill also banned schools from sharing student test scores with outside sources. The bill moved onto theOhio State Senate for consideration.^[207]
  • TheMississippi State Senate passes a bill to create the Mississippi Commission on College and Career Readiness. If the bill were to also pass in theMississippi House of Representatives, the commission would be tasked with recommending new educational standards for the state. Some state senators opposed the bill because the commission could onlyrecommend new standards and not force theState Board of Education to adopt those new standards. The bill passed 31-16.^[208]
  • Arkansas Gov.Asa Hutchinson (R) calls for the formation of a Council on Common Core Review. The 16-member council was to be headed byLt. Gov.Tim Griffin (R). An online application was made available for anyone in the state to apply for a seat on the council.^[209]

• February 10, 2015: FourteenLouisiana school districts begin trying to minimize the penalties schools might encounter if large numbers of their students opt out of required standardized testing in March 2015. Each of the 14 districts passed resolutions aimed at preventing such students from receiving zero grades, as their schools and school districts would also receive zero grades in turn. Four members of theLouisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education requested a special meeting to discuss the possibility of some students opting out of testing, but Board President Chas Roemer said the topic would be discussed at the board's regular meeting on March 5, 2015.^[210]

• February 9, 2015:Louisiana Gov.Bobby Jindal (R) reveals a 42-page proposal to reform education in the U.S. at the national level, which included details about repealing Common Core, diminishing federal authority, expanding school choice options and broadening administrative freedom in education. The proposal was published by Jindal's nonprofit think tank America Next.^[211]

• February 2, 2015: Over 200 parents, educators and business leaders attend a debate on a bill to repeal Common Core standards inNorth Dakota. A number of educators and school administrators spoke against the bill and in favor of Common Core, while the bill's sponsor,Rep.Jim Kasper (R), along with three out-of-state Common Core opponents spoke against the standards. If passed, the bill would require North Dakota to withdraw from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium by July 1, 2015. The bill would also create an interim legislative committee to appoint a group to develop new standards for the state by 2017.^[212]

• January 31, 2015: Fourschool districts in California submit a class action complaint insisting that the state pay for the costs related to implementing Common Core standards, specifically costs related to Smarter Balanced Assessments, the new statewide testing system that required computers for grades three through eight as well as 11. TheSanta Ana Unified School District, one of the schools that submitted the complaint, projected that costs from testing, devices, bandwidth and infrastructure would come to over $24 million. The state originally gave school districts $1.25 billion for Common Core training, materials and computers in 2013, and $26.7 million was given to districts for high-speed Internet in 2014. Another $100 million was allocated for school districts with Internet needs in 2015.^[213]

• January 30, 2015:
  • The Colorado Board of Education votes 5-2 to endorse a bill that would remove the state from Common Core standards and assessments. If passed, the bill would also offer districts more testing flexibility in addition to reducing the number of state assessments. The state would also be required to update its standards periodically.^[214]
  • Louisiana Gov.Bobby Jindal (R) issues an executive order allowing parents to opt out of the state's spring standardized tests. The executive order also asked theBoard of Elementary and Secondary Education to authorize alternative tests to the Common Core-aligned Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers standardized tests. Under the state's accountability scoring system at the time, schools received a zero for each student who did not take the state's standardized test. The scoring system determined district, school and teacher performance, all of which could be tied to monetary awards. According to theLouisiana Department of Education, the 2015 tests were supposed to determine a baseline from which school districts are expected to grow.^[215]

• January 29, 2015: TheMississippi Senate Education Committee passes a bill directing the state to adopt new standards, remove any reference to Common Core in those standards, adopt a new testing system aligned with the new standards, withdraw from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers consortium, and create the Mississippi Commission on College and Career Readiness to help with the new standards. A similar measure passed in the fullMississippi House of Representatives. The Senate bill moved to the full Senate for consideration.^[216]

• January 27, 2015: The Study Commission on the Use of Student Assessments inNew Jersey, a task force created by executive order to study the effects of Common Core and standardized testing in the state, holds the first of three sessions to hear public testimonies. The others were held on January 28 and January 29.^[217]

• January 25, 2015:Ohio GovernorJohn Kasich (R) says in a Fox News interview that attacks on Common Core standards bySenatorRand Paul (R),Louisiana GovernorBobby Jindal (R),Wisconsin GovernorScott Walker (R) and formerArkansas GovernorMike Huckabee (R) were bogus, wrong and dishonest. He said their opposition to the standards stemmed from political reasons rather than idealogical ones.^[218]

• January 22, 2015:
  • TheMississippi House of Representatives passes a bill to remove the term "Common Core" from their state standards while still using the standards. The bill to rebrand the Common Core standards in Mississippi to "Mississippi College and Career-Ready Standards" passed with a vote of 95-21. The House also passed a measure that would allow school districts to develop their own curriculum to teach the newly named standards.^[219]
  • State lawmakers introduce a Common Core repeal bill to theKansas State Senate. If passed, the bill would require Kansas to return to its former standards as of July 1, 2015, and it would ban any "education entity" from spending money on materials or training linked to the Common Core standards. A similar bill was introduced twice before, in 2014 and 2013, but was never passed.^[220]

• January 20, 2015: RepublicanU.S. SenatorsRob Portman,Pat Roberts,Chuck Grassley andJim Inhofe introduce a bill called the Learning Opportunities Created At the Local (LOCAL) Level Act. If passed, the bill would prohibit the federal government from getting involved in a state's education standards in any way, including through the use of incentives, mandates, waivers or grants.^[221]

• January 19, 2015:Mississippi State SenatorsMichael Watson (R) andAngela Hill (R) file a bill to repeal Common Core standards inMississippi. The bill also called for the formation of a governor-appointed advisory board—including teachers, administrators, specialists and parents—to create new state standards.^[222]

• January 16, 2015: TheMississippi State Board of Education votes to withdraw from the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), the Common Core-aligned testing consortium. State education leaders announced that they would request proposals for assessments from other entities starting in the 2015-2016 school year.^[223]

• January 13, 2015:
  • Wisconsin GovernorScott Walker (R) announces his intention to no longer require school districts in the state to implement Common Core standards in his State of the State address.^[224]
  • Nevada AssemblymanPhilip O'Neill (R) hosts a public forum on the Common Core standards inCarson City. The event was live-streamed to a similar gathering inLas Vegas. The forum was led by James Milgram and Sandra Stotsky, opponents of the standards. Both served on the Common Core Validation Committee when the standards were being created, but neither signed off on the standards. Supporters of the standards, including a number of officials from theNevada Department of Education, also spoke at the forum.^[225]

• January 6, 2015: A "Stop Common Core" rally is held outside theMississippi State Legislature on the first day of their three-month session. The opponents of the Common Core standards held signs asking state lawmakers to repeal the standards.^[226][227]

• January 5, 2015:Louisiana GovernorBobby Jindal (R) appoints Mary Harris to the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Harris publicly announced that she supports repealing the Common Core state standards soon after her appointment, which made her the fourth of 11 members on the board to oppose the standards.^[228]

2014

• December 16, 2014:
  • TheWest Virginia State Legislature holds a legislative hearing to hear arguments both for and against Common Core standards. The state adopted the standards in 2010 but did not fully implement them into the classroom until the 2014-2015 school year.^[229]
  • Wisconsin GovernorScott Walker says he plans to remove “any mandate or requirement that requires a school district to abide by Common Core standards.” This statement showed a possible change in tactics compared to his earlier call for theWisconsin State Legislature to repeal the standards.^[230]

• December 10, 2014: The National Council on Teacher Quality releases a report saying most states had failed at preparing new teachers to teach Common Core standards. The report praised states that raised admissions standards to get into teaching programs but said that many states fell short of what they should have been doing to prepare teachers. The report found that many states inadequately tested new teachers before putting them in the classroom, with only five testing high school teachers on their specific subjects and only 14 testing elementary school teachers on the science of teaching children how to read.^[231]

• December 2, 2014: Brad McQueen, a teacher in theTanque Verde Unified School District inArizona, sues theArizona Department of Education andArizona Superintendent of Public InstructionJohn Huppenthal. In the lawsuit, McQueen claimed he was retaliated against when he publicly spoke out against Common Core standards. The retaliations mentioned in the lawsuit included McQueen's removal from state committees he was paid to serve on, notes added to his permanent personnel file that could affect future employment and "intimidating" confrontations from Arizona Department of Education officials. Huppenthal was named in the lawsuit because he knew of his staff's conduct and allowed them to continue, McQueen said. The Goldwater Institute—which filed on McQueen's behalf—said the teacher's First Amendment rights had been violated. The superintendent of the Tanque Verde Unified School District said the lawsuit had not affected McQueen's work in the classroom.^[232]

• December 1, 2014:
  • U.S. SenatorDavid Vitter (R) announces that he now opposes implementing Common Core standards inLouisiana. Vitter had previously publicly supported the standards, but he said after hearing from "literally thousands of parents, teachers, and others," he changed his mind. The senator and Louisiana gubernatorial candidate said he believed the standards represented too much federal intrusion and were causing too much frustration in schools. He said the state should implement its own standards.^[233][234]
  • Mississippi Lieutenant GovernorTate Reeves (R) calls for thestate legislature to repeal Common Core and develop its own standards. His public statement put Reeves on the side ofGovernorPhil Bryant (R), who had said he believed Common Core is a "failed program."^[235]

• November 24, 2014: Oklahoma earns back itsNo Child Left Behind Act waiver. The state lost the waiver in August when it repealed Common Core standards and reverted to its former state standards, which were deemed not rigorous enough by theU.S. Department of Education. The waiver was reinstated after the state proved that its former standards were rigorous enough to properly prepare students forcollege and career readiness. The state planned to use their former standards until 2016, when it planned to implement new state standards.^[236]

• November 20, 2014: Attorney Caroline Lewis Wolverton for the Obama administration requests that the lawsuit brought against theUnited States Department of Education by Gov.Bobby Jindal (R) and a number ofLouisiana state legislators be thrown out. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick said she needed time to consider the request before dismissing the lawsuit.^[237]

• November 17, 2014:Mike Bell (Tennessee) (R), andDolores Gresham (R), two state senators from Tennessee, file a bill to repeal Common Core. The bill was modeled after a similar bill theNorth Carolina State Legislature passed earlier in 2014. If passed, it would leave behind Common Core and devise new state standards.Lieutenant GovernorRon Ramsey (R) applauded the bill.^[238][239]

• November 11, 2014: TheGeorgia Department of Education releases a revised version of the Common Core State Standards for public comment. Following the announcement, leadership for both the Georgia Association of Educators and Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education stated that the revisions were not extensive.^[240]

• November 6, 2014:Louisiana GovernorBobby Jindal (R) files paperwork to join a lawsuit against theLouisiana Department of Education and theLouisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), which was started by a group of 17 state legislators from theLouisiana House of Representatives. The lawsuit alleged that theLouisiana Department of Education failed to sufficiently advertise the Common Core State Standards to the public before beginning implementation.^[241]

• November 5, 2014: TheRules and Reference Committee of theOhio House of Representatives votes 7-2 to approve a bill to repeal the Common Core State Standards inOhio. The bill therefore moved out of committee and could now be voted on by the fullOhio House of Representatives if the majority's leadership decided to bring the bill to the floor.^[242]

• October 22, 2014:
  • Tennessee GovernorBill Haslam (R) announces a public review period for the Common Core State Standards inTennessee. This announcement moved up the state's regular schedule for education standards review by two years. Earlier in 2014, Haslam announced that the state would withdraw from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing consortium. He also signed a bill delaying the implementation of Common Core by one year, despite his personal support for the standards.^[243][244]
  • Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett criticizes the timeline for implementation of Common Core-aligned examinations inIllinois. The examinations, which were developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), were first implemented during the 2013-2014 school year as a pilot program. Byrd-Bennett called for another year of pilot program status for the tests, but she acknowledged that the state administration had already rejected her requests for a delay.^[245]

• September 18, 2014: TheMississippi State Board of Education votes to approve a one-year, $8.3 million contract with Pearson PLC to provide Common Core-aligned testing services inMississippi. The board came to the decision after a four-year contract with Pearson PLC fell through due to theMississippi Department of Education's failure to solicit bids from other vendors.^[246]

• September 10, 2014: FormerU.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett publishes an editorial inThe Wall Street Journal endorsing the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Bennett, who served duringPresident Ronald Reagan's administration, stated in his opinion piece that "[c]ommon, voluntary standards are a good, conservative policy." He did, however, criticize what he referred to as "federal overreach" and added, "We should not allow [Common Core] to be hijacked by the federal government or misguided bureaucrats and politicos."^[247]

• September 8, 2014:Pennsylvania GovernorTom Corbett (R) issues a statement requesting a "continued public review" of Common Core inPennsylvania (known as Pennsylvania Core). Corbett denounced the standards in his statement and claimed that they were "nothing more than a top-down takeover of the education system" by the federal government, further labeling it "Obamacare for education."^[248] Pennsylvania Core was a revised version of Common Core, approved by thePennsylvania General Assembly with the support of Corbett's administration in 2013.^[249]

• September 5, 2014:Connecticut GovernorDannel P. Malloy (D) writes a public letter to theU.S. Department of Education requesting that 11th-grade students not be required to take a Common Core-aligned statewide standardized test. Malloy argued that high school juniors inConnecticut already take multiple standardized exams, such as the ACT and SAT, and claimed that those students are "overtested."^[250]

• August 28, 2014: TheU.S. Department of Education announces thatOklahoma has lost its waiver from the requirements ofNo Child Left Behind Act. The waiver was lost because Oklahoma withdrew from the Common Core State Standards without implementing new and sufficiently rigorous standards as a replacement. As a consequence of losing the waiver, Oklahoma would need to provide both tutoring services andschool choice options to students starting in the 2014-2015 school year in certain districts. AlthoughIndiana also withdrew from Common Core, its new standards were deemed rigorous enough by theU.S. Department of Education to receive a one-year extension on its No Child Left Behind Act waiver.^[251]

• August 27, 2014:
  • Louisiana GovernorBobby Jindal (R) files a lawsuit against theU.S. Department of Education claiming that it used federal funds and regulations to promote the adoption of the Common Core State Standards among the states. The lawsuit argued that the federal government's use of the $4.35 billionRace to the Top fund "effectively forces States down a path toward a national curriculum."^[252] The department required Phase 2 applicants for Race to the Top grants to commit to "adoption of a common set of K-12 standards" and also spent $372 million to help develop Common Core-aligned exams.^[253][254] After the lawsuit was filed, Jindal issued a statement arguing that the federal government "hijacked and destroyed the Common Core initiative. [...] Common Core is the latest effort by big government disciples to strip away state rights and put Washington, D.C., in control of everything."^[255]
  • TheSchool District of Lee County School Board inFlorida votes 3-2 to opt out of statewide standardized tests, which aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Superintendent Nancy Graham criticized the ruling and stated, "This will hurt children." Board member Don Armstrong, who voted for the withdrawal, argued, "Sometimes it takes an act of civil disobedience to move forward. [...] We cannot allow the fear to hold us back." The board did not decide on a replacement for the examinations or determine whether its ruling would impact area charter schools. After the vote, board attorney Keith Martin acknowledged that the consequences of the vote were unclear and thatGovernorRick Scott (R) could decide to remove the school board from power since the Common Core-aligned tests were state-mandated.^[256] The School District of Lee County was theninth-largest school district in Florida, serving 83,895 students during the 2011-2012 school year.^[257]

• August 19, 2014: JudgeTodd Hernandez of the19th Judicial District rules againstGovernorBobby Jindal (R), who filed a lawsuit against theBoard of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) on July 29, 2014. The lawsuit against BESE claimed that it had improperly delegated its constitutional authority to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and that BESE had violated state contracting law when purchasing Common Core-aligned testing materials. Jindal's lawsuit came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Choice Foundation on July 22, 2014, and joined by BESE on July 29, 2014, which sought to stop Jindal's executive order to withdrawLouisiana from Common Core and to suspend contracts to buy Common Core testing materials. Hernandez's ruling lifted Jindal's suspension on the purchase of testing materials and argued that the governor had failed to produce evidence that BESE had violated state law. Jindal's chief of staff, Kyle Plotkin, indicated that the governor intended to appeal the ruling.^[258]

• July 31, 2014:
  • U.S. SenatorDavid Vitter (R) announces his support for the Common Core State Standards Initiative. This announcement put Vitter at odds withGovernorBobby Jindal (R), who was suing and being sued by theLouisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education over the issue of Common Core.^[259]
  • The Libertas Institute inUtah files a lawsuit against theUtah State Board of Education claiming that the Common Core standards were adopted without significant involvement or consultation from Utah residents. Title 53A, Chapter 1, Section 402.6 of the Utah Code requires state education standards to be adopted "in consultation with local school boards, school superintendents, teachers, employers, and parents."^[260] On July 17, 2014,Utah GovernorGary R. Herbert (R) announced thatUtah Attorney GeneralSean D. Reyes (R) would investigate the extent of the federal government's involvement inUtah's adoption of Common Core.

• July 29, 2014:GovernorBobby Jindal (R) files a lawsuit against theBoard of Elementary and Secondary Education claiming that it improperly delegated its constitutional authority to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.^[261] This came in response to a lawsuit filed the Choice Foundation on July 22, 2014, alleging that Jindal's executive order to withdrawLouisiana from Common Core and to suspend contracts to buy Common Core testing materials exceeded his authority. The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted 6-4 to join that lawsuit on July 29, 2014, shortly before Jindal filed his lawsuit.^[262][263]

• July 28, 2014:Ohio State Representative andSpeaker Pro TemporeMatt Huffman (R) introduce HB 597 into theOhio State Legislature, which would repeal Common Core inOhio. The bill would replace the standards with those used byMassachusetts. By the 2017-2018 school year, the state government would be required to implement its own set of state standards. Huffman was the second-highest rankingRepublican in theOhio House of Representatives, and he noted in his announcement that he had the support of House SpeakerWilliam Batchelder.^[264]

• July 22, 2014:
  • The Choice Foundation, along with a number of parents and teachers, files a lawsuit againstGovernorBobby Jindal, claiming that his executive order to withdrawLouisiana from Common Core and to suspend contracts to buy Common Core testing materials exceeded his authority. The lawsuit called for a preliminary injunction in order to allow the state to continue using Common Core standards for the 2014-2015 school year. A hearing was scheduled for August 4, 2014. The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) said resolving the issue of who determines the content of state tests was critical. Until the hearing, teachers did not know what tests their students would need to take at the end of the school year.^[265]
  • North Carolina GovernorPat McCrory (R) signs a bill into law requiring that the state's Common Core curriculum standards be re-written. The bill was passed by theNorth Carolina State Senate on July 10, 2014, and by theNorth Carolina House of Representatives on July 16, 2014. Common Core standards were to remain in place until the re-written standards were completed.^[266]

• July 17, 2014:
  • Utah GovernorGary R. Herbert (R) announces thatUtah Attorney GeneralSean D. Reyes (R) would investigate the extent of the federal government's involvement inUtah's adoption of Common Core. Gov. Herbert also establishes a committee of higher education experts to review the standards, led by former Utah System of Higher Education Commissioner Richard Kendell.^[267][268]
  • Wisconsin GovernorScott Walker (R) issues a statement calling for theWisconsin State Legislature to repeal the Common Core State Standards. Walker proposes replacing the standards with a new set specific toWisconsin. Earlier in 2014, Walker's administration helped draft a repeal bill that did not make it out of committee for a vote.^[269][270]

• July 16, 2014:
  • TheNorth Carolina House of Representatives passes a bill with a vote of 71-34 ordering theState Board of Education to rewrite the Common Core standards and the state's Common Core-aligned curriculum. TheNorth Carolina State Senate passed the bill on July 10, 2014, andGovernorPat McCrory (R) announced he would sign the bill. In addition to mandating the re-writing of the state's curriculum, the bill forms a "standards advisory commission" with the purpose of recommending curriculum changes to the state board. The commission was to be appointed by a mixture of the governor, legislative leaders and the state board. Although an earlier version of the bill prevented the state board from using any questions or other materials from the Common Core-aligned exams, the final bill did allow the new state curriculum to include questions or materials determined to be effective. The Common Core-aligned standards and curriculum were to remain in place until their replacements were completed.^{[271][272][273]}
  • TheLouisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) offers a compromise toLouisiana GovernorBobby Jindal (R), who issued an executive order withdrawingLouisiana from Common Core on June 18, 2014. In its compromise, the BESE agreed to issue a request for a new testing contract for standardized tests for the 2014-2015 school year. The state had previously planned on using Common Core-aligned examinations developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing consortium, but State Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols halted that process after determining that the terms of the purchasing contract may have violated state law due to the lack of a competitive bidding process. The BESE's concession on issuing a new request came with several conditions, including that the terms of the new request be set by the BESE, not Gov. Jindal, and that the test questions in both math and English language arts be "identical to questions administered to at least four million American public school children" and "fully measure nationally recognized content standards." Gov. Jindal would also be required to sign a purchasing contract that met these standards within 90 days. After issuing his executive order, Gov. Jindal had called for a return to the state's LEAP and iLEAP mathematics and English language arts tests.^[274]

• July 15, 2014:
  • New Jersey GovernorChris Christie (R) issues an executive order reducing the impact of student standardized test scores on teacher evaluations for the following two school years. The order mandated that test scores count for 10 percent of a teacher's evaluation during the 2014-2015 school year and for 20 percent of the evaluation during the 2015-2016 school year. Prior to the executive order, test scores would have counted for 30 percent of a teacher's evaluation beginning in the 2014-2015 school year. The executive order also established a task force to review the Common Core-aligned exams created by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing consortium, along with other potential standardized tests.^[275]
  • TheOklahoma Supreme Court rules 8-1 to uphold a law passed by theOklahoma State Legislature and signed byOklahoma GovernorMary Fallin (R) on June 5, 2014, withdrawing the state from Common Core. The lawsuit challenging the withdrawal was filed on June 25, 2014, by a group of parents, teachers and fourOklahoma State Board of Education members. The plaintiffs alleged that the enacted law would give the state legislature authority to set education standards, a power that is not vested in the legislature by theOklahoma Constitution. The lawsuit was organized by the National Associations of State Boards of Education.^[276]

• July 14, 2014:Missouri GovernorJay Nixon (D) signs a bill forming a committee of parents and educators charged with establishing two new sets of education standards forMissouri to be implemented during the 2016-2017 school year.^[277] One set of standards would be used for grades K-5, and the other would be used for grades 6-12. TheMissouri General Assembly passed the bill on May 15, 2014, and Gov. Nixon waited until the last possible day to sign the bill into law. Until the 2016-2017 school year,Missouri school districts continued to implement and follow the Common Core State Standards.^[278][279]

• July 13, 2014:
  • TheAmerican Federation of Teachers issues a resolution criticizing the implementation of Common Core as "flawed and hasty" at its annual convention. Although the resolution confirmed that "the American Federation of Teachers will continue to support the promise of CCSS," it also rejected "low-level standardized testing" along with "excessive testing and test preparation." The resolution noted that the new standards were threatened by both "inadequate resources" and "a political agenda to privatize public education."^[280] The resolution followed earlier comments made by AFT President Randi Weingarten comparing the implementation of Common Core across the United States unfavorably to theHealthcare.gov website rollout on November 4, 2013. At the convention, AFT also issued a resolution calling for the resignation ofUnited States Department of Education SecretaryArne Duncan if he did not enact an "improvement plan" laid out in the resolution.^[281][282] This followed a call by theNational Education Association's Representative Assembly for Duncan's resignation on July 4, 2014.
  • At theAmerican Federation of Teachers convention, New York City United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew gave a speech supporting the AFT resolution but denouncing critics of the Common Core State Standards. Although he acknowledged the frustration of classroom teachers over the implementation of the standards, he insisted, "Standards are our tool. Those are the tools of teachers. [...] The standards are ours. Tests are ours. [...] They took our standards away from us, we're going to take them back from them. [...] If someone takes something from me, I'm going to grab it right back out of their cold, twisted, sick hands and say it is mine. You do not take what is mine. And I'm going to punch you in the face and push you in the dirt because this is the teachers. These are our tools, and you sick people need to deal with us and the children we teach."^[283][284] New York City United Federation of Teachers spokesperson Dick Riley supported the comments when contacted by theNew York Daily News, stating "In the context of the resolution, the meaning is clear (as was the resulting applause)."^[285]

• July 10, 2014: TheNorth Carolina State Senate passes a bill with a vote of 33-12 ordering theState Board of Education to rewrite the Common Core standards and the state's Common Core-aligned curriculum. The bill also formed a "standards advisory commission" with the purpose of recommending curriculum changes to the state board. The commission was to be appointed by a mixture of the governor, legislative leaders and the state board. Although an earlier version of the bill prevented the state board from using any questions or other materials from the Common Core-aligned exams, the final bill did allow the new state curriculum to include questions or materials determined to be effective. The Common Core-aligned standards and curriculum were remain in place until their replacements were completed.^[286]

• July 4, 2014: TheNational Education Association's Representative Assembly elects Lily Eskelsen García as the union's new president, beginning on September 1, 2014. García succeeded Dennis Van Roekel, who criticized Common Core's implementation as in need of a "major course correction" in February 2014 during his presidency. García supported a delay in the use of Common Core test scores for evaluating teacher performance and student readiness to continue on to higher grades, a tactic that was proposed by theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Nevertheless, she strongly advocated Common Core, dismissing criticisms of the Gates Foundation as misguided and saying that she would give the organization a "B+" grade for "funding ideas."^[287] At the same meeting, the Representative Assembly voted to call for the resignation ofUnited States Department of Education SecretaryArne Duncan.^[288]

• June 26, 2014:Connecticut GovernorDannel P. Malloy (D) announces $15 million in additional expenditures to supportConnecticut school districts implementing Common Core. The new funding followed the recommendations made by the 25-member task force Malloy established on March 11, 2014, to improve the implementation of the new standards inConnecticut.^[289] Malloy's announcement included an attempt to rebrand the standards as "Connecticut Core."^[290]

• June 25, 2014: A group of parents, teachers and fourOklahoma State Board of Education members file a lawsuit challengingOklahoma's withdrawal from the Common Core standards. TheOklahoma State Legislature passed a law withdrawing the state from Common Core, which was signed byOklahoma GovernorMary Fallin (R) on June 5, 2014. The plaintiffs alleged that the enacted law would give the state legislature authority to set education standards—a power not vested in the legislature by theOklahoma Constitution.^[291][292] The lawsuit was organized by the National Association of State Boards of Education.^[293]

• June 24, 2014:Michigan GovernorRick Snyder (R) signs a budget law requiring Michigan schools to use the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) standardized tests for the 2014-2015 school year, instead of the Common Core-aligned examinations developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). However, Michigan did not withdraw its membership from SBAC. TheMichigan Department of Education, which criticized the shift away from the Common Core-aligned tests, could still use exam questions developed by SBAC in the revised MEAP exams.^[294]

• June 19, 2014:
  • New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo (D) and theNew York State Legislature come to an agreement to create a two-year "safety net" preventing poor Common Core test scores from impacting teacher evaluations. It also removed Common Core test scores from student transcripts and from consideration when assessing student readiness to continue on to higher grades. TheNew York State Assembly voted 114-1 and theNew York State Senate voted 60-0 to pass the bill.^[295][296]
  • ANorth Carolina House of Representatives committee votes to reject thestate Senate's version of the Common Core repeal bill due to flexibility in the language that would allow the state to keep some of the Common Core standards. AlthoughNorth Carolina GovernorPat McCrory (R) expressed misgivings about Common Core's implementation, his position on repeal was unclear.^[297][298]

• June 18, 2014:Louisiana GovernorBobby Jindal (R) issues an executive order withdrawingLouisiana from Common Core. However,Superintendent of EducationJohn White issued a statement denying that Jindal held the authority to make that decision and insisting that the state continue to implement the new standards.^[299] In response, State Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols stated that White had overstepped and that she intended to revoke theLouisiana Department of Education's contract to purchase Common Core examination materials. She added that the terms of the contract may have also violated state law due to the lack of a competitive bidding process.United States Department of Education SecretaryArne Duncan had criticized Jindal earlier in June for dropping his earlier support of Common Core in response to political pressure.^[300] From 2008 through 2013, theLouisiana Department of Education received $7,351,708 in grants from theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation.^[28]

• June 10, 2014: TheBill & Melinda Gates Foundation issues a public letter in support of a two-year delay in the use of Common Core test scores for evaluating teacher performance and student readiness to continue on to higher grades.^[301]

• June 5, 2014:
  • Oklahoma GovernorMary Fallin (R) signs a law withdrawingOklahoma from Common Core. The state thereby returned to Priority Academic Student Skills, which was its previous set of standards.Superintendent of Public InstructionJanet Barresi (R) voiced her support for the withdrawal, although both Fallin and Barresi had previously supported the standards.^[302]
  • South Carolina GovernorNikki Haley (R) signs a law withdrawingSouth Carolina from Common Core. The law allowed implementation of Common Core to continue through the 2014-2015 school year, but the state government was required to replace it with new standards by the start of the 2015-2016 school year.^[303]
  • TheNorth Carolina State Senate voted 33-15 for an alternate bill to withdraw from Common Core. The House and Senate bills differed primarily in that the Senate bill allowed the Academic Standards Review Commission to decide to use a modified version of the Common Core State Standards, while the House bill prohibited such an action.^[304]

• June 4, 2014: TheNorth Carolina House of Representatives votes 78-39 to withdraw from Common Core and to replace the standards with a new set designed by an Academic Standards Review Commission.^[305]

• May 30, 2014:Arizona GovernorJan Brewer (R) announces thatArizona intended to withdraw from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, which develops Common Core-aligned examinations. The state officially withdrew from the group on June 8, 2014.^[306]

• May 22, 2014: TheSouth Carolina State Legislature passes a bill withdrawingSouth Carolina from Common Core by requiring the state to adopt a new set of standards by the 2015-2016 school year.^[307]

• May 21, 2014:Tennessee GovernorBill Haslam (R),Commissioner of EducationKevin Huffman andState Board of Education Chairman B. Fielding Rolston sign a letter withdrawingTennessee from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing consortium. This reduced PAARC's membership to 14 states and theDistrict of Columbia, compared to 22 states remaining in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.Pennsylvania remained a member of both groups, but 15 states participated in neither group.^[308][309]

• May 15, 2014:
  • TheMissouri General Assembly passes a bill to withdraw from Common Core beginning in the 2016-2017 school year. The bill would allow implementation of Common Core to continue through the 2015-2016 school year, but the state government would be required to replace it with two new sets of standards by the start of the 2016-2017 school year. One set of standards would be used for grades K-5 and the other would be for grades 6-12.^[310] TheMissouri House of Representatives voted 135-10 and theMissouri State Senate voted 23-6 to pass the bill.^[311]Missouri GovernorJay Nixon (D) had until July 14, 2014, to decide whether to sign or veto the bill.^[312]
  • Georgia GovernorNathan Deal (R) issues an executive order stating that "no educational standards shall be imposed on Georgia by the federal government" and that "all decisions regarding curriculum and instruction shall be made at the local level." The executive order also includes a prohibition on the sharing of "personally identifiable" student information with the federal government.^[313]

• May 14, 2014:
  • TheMichigan House of Representatives and theMichigan State Senate approve separate bills authorizing the development of new Michigan Educational Assessment Program exams for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school years. This would provide the state an alternative exam to use instead of the Common Core-aligned exams developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.^[314][315]
  • Tennessee GovernorBill Haslam (R) signs a law delaying implementation of Common Core-aligned testing inTennessee for one year. Haslam had fought against a delay prior to the bill's passage through theTennessee General Assembly.^[316][317]

• May 2, 2014: Education textbook and media conglomerate Pearson wins the contract to develop standardized tests aligned with Common Core for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.^[318] The contract guaranteed Pearson $24 per student tested and estimated that between 5.5 million and 10 million students would undergo testing each year. The contract therefore had an estimated maximum value of $240 million per year.^[319] Pearson was the only organization to file a bid for the contract after its competitor, the American Institutes for Research, protested the fairness and legality of the bidding process.^[320] PARCC used theNew Mexico Public Education Department as its purchasing agent for the contract, and AIR filed an official protest against the bidding process with the New Mexico state government. The state purchasing office later dismissed the protest.^[321]

• April 2, 2014: TheMaryland General Assembly votes to approve two bills related to Common Core. HB 1164 created a work group of parents and educators to advise the implementation of the new standards, and it was passed by theMaryland State Senate by a vote of 46-1. TheMaryland House of Delegates had already passed it by a vote of 127-8 on March 17, 2014. HB 1167 delayed the use of Common Core-aligned test scores in teacher and administrator evaluations for two years, and it was passed by thestate Senate by a vote of 47-0. Similar to HB 1164, theHouse of Delegates approved it earlier by a vote of 128-0 on March 15, 2014.^[322][323]

• March 24, 2014:Indiana GovernorMike Pence (R) signs a law withdrawingIndiana from Common Core. Indiana thereby became the first state to withdraw from the standards, although Thomas B. Fordham Institute National Policy Director Michael Brickman dismissed the importance of the change, arguing that Indiana's standards were still closely aligned with the Common Core State Standards.^[324]

• March 17 2014: TheFlorida Department of Education awards a six-year, $220 million contract to develop a replacement for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests to The American Institutes for Research. In 2013, Florida had planned to use the Common Core-aligned exams developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers beforeGovernorRick Scott (R) announced the state's withdrawal from PAARC and its intention to consider other options for its new exams.^[325]

• March 13, 2014: TheTennessee House of Representatives votes 82-11 to delay the implementation of Common Core inTennessee for two years.^[326] TheTennessee State Senate declined to take up the bill for a vote.^[327]

• March 11, 2014:Connecticut GovernorDannel P. Malloy (D) issues an executive order creating a 25-member task force intended to improve the implementation of Common Core inConnecticut and to address the concerns raised by state residents and educators.^[328]

• March 5, 2014: TheNew York State Assembly votes 117-10 to pass a bill delaying implementation of significant portions of Common Core.^[329] The New York State United Teachers union expressed its support for the changes following the vote, especially a measure requiring a two-year delay before Common Core test scores could be used for evaluating teacher performance.^[330]

• February 19, 2014:National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel criticized the implementation of Common Core, arguing that the effectiveness of the standards would be lessened in the absence of a "major course correction" to salvage the beneficial elements of Common Core.^[331] From 2008 through 2013, the NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education received $4,484,177 in grants from theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation.^[28]

• January 31, 2014:Kentucky GovernorSteve Beshear (D),Commissioner of EducationTerry Holliday andState Board of Education Chair Roger L. Marcum sign a letter withdrawingKentucky from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PAARC) testing consortium. The letter cites limited resources, public confusion about PAARC and the legal requirement for an unbiased competitive bidding process for standardized testing materials as the state's reasons for withdrawing.^[332]

• January 25, 2014: The New York State United Teachers union's board withdrew its support of the Common Core State Standards as they were implemented inNew York. After the unanimous decision, President Richard Iannuzzi stated, "We’ll have to be the first to say it’s failed."^[333]

2013

• December 31, 2013: From 2008 through 2013, theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation spends approximately $233 million promoting the Common Core State Standards Initiative.^[28]

• December 10, 2013: TheKansas State Board of Education votes 8-2 to withdraw from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and to replace its Common Core-aligned exams with different tests commissioned from the University of Kansas. The new exams were to be used beginning in the 2015-2016 school year.^[334][335]

• November 19, 2013: TheMassachusetts State Board of Education votes 6-3 to delay the implementation of Common Core-aligned tests by two years.^[336][337]

• November 15, 2013: At a meeting with the Council of Chief State School Officers,United States Department of Education SecretaryArne Duncan describes the opposition to Common Core as "white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were."^[18]

• November 14, 2013: TheAlabama State Board of Education votes 7-2 to rescind a 2009 memorandum of agreement with theNational Governors Association and theCouncil of Chief State School Officers. However, this vote did not withdrawAlabama from Common Core itself. Instead, it asserted that the state administration retained control over state education standards while reaffirming the state's participation in Common Core.^[338] In April 2013,Alabama State Senate President Pro TemDel Marsh (R) insisted that a repeal of the standards was "off the table."^[339]

• November 4, 2013: At the National Education Writers Association conference, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten criticized the implementation of Common Core across the United States and particularly inNew York. In her speech, she argued that the implementation of the new standards had been "far worse" than theHealthcare.gov website rollout.^[340] From 2008 through 2013, the American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation received $5,400,000 in grants from theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation.^[28]

• October 29, 2013: TheMichigan State Legislature votes to restore funding for the implementation of Common Core. Funding was halted beginning on October 1, 2013, due to an education budget bill passed on June 4, 2013.^[341][342]

• October 18, 2013:Iowa GovernorTerry Branstad (R) issues an executive order renaming the Common Core-aligned standards in the state as the "Iowa Core," stating, "The State of Iowa, not the federal government or any other organization, shall determine the content of Iowa’s state academic standards." The executive order also states, "Only aggregate student data shall be provided to the federal government to comply with federal laws."^[343]

• September 20, 2013:Arizona GovernorJan Brewer (R) issues an executive order renaming the Common Core-aligned standards in the state "Arizona's College and Career Ready Standards" and stating that the state of Arizona retains control of its assessments and curriculum.^[344]

• September 12, 2013: ThePennsylvania State Board of Education votes 13-4 to approve a revised set of academic standards. It included the Pennsylvania Core Standards, which were modeled on the Common Core State Standards. The State Board of Education had revised the academic standards after receiving a mandate to do so fromGovernorTom Corbett (R) on May 20, 2014.^[345]

• July 25, 2013:State RepresentativeAndrew Thompson introduces HB 237 inOhio to withdraw from Common Core. The bill did not make it out of committee.^[346][347]

• July 3, 2013: TheNational Education Association's Representative Assembly endorses Common Core standards, but rejects using Common Core test scores to evaluate teacher performance.^[348]

• June 4, 2013: TheMichigan State Legislature approves an education budget bill with an amendment preventing state funding for the implementation of Common Core beginning on October 1, 2013.^[349]

• June 1, 2013: TheKansas State Legislature narrowly fails to pass a bill that would delay implementation of portions of Common Core. Although theKansas State Senate passed the bill with a vote of 24-12, theKansas House of Representatives rejected the bill with a vote of 55-58.^[350]

• May 20, 2013:Pennsylvania GovernorTom Corbett (R) orders theState Board of Education to review and modify the Common Core State Standards to address concerns raised by state residents and educators.^[351]

• May 11, 2013:Indiana GovernorMike Pence (R) signs a law delaying the implementation of Common Core inIndiana for one year.^[352]

• April 30, 2013: American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issues a press release calling for a moratorium on using Common Core test scores to evaluate teacher performance until the standards are "properly implemented and field-tested." The same press release noted that an internal poll had found that 75 percent of teachers supported the standards.^[353]

• February 15, 2013: The National Parent‑Teacher Association receives a one-year, $240,000 grant from the GE Foundation to create "state-specific assessment guides" for those states that had already adopted the Common Core State Standards.^[354]

2012

• August 3, 2012: TheUtah State Board of Education votes 12-3 to withdraw from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, which develops Common Core-aligned tests.^[355]

• August 1, 2012: Achieve, Inc., which helped write the "Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education" report in partnership with theNational Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers in 2008, receives a three-year, $7 million grant from the GE Foundation to help promote the Common Core State Standards. The GE Foundation also contributed to the financing of the 2008 report.^[356]

• June 7, 2012:Erie City School District inPennsylvania receives a four-year, $8.6 million grant from the GE Foundation. The press release accompanying the announcement stated that this was to help teachers and students prepare for Common Core standards. The district previously received a five-year, $15 million grant from the GE Foundation in 2007 as part of its "Developing Futures in Education" initiative.^[357]

• June 2012: Student Achievement Partners, a nonprofit that exists to support Common Core adoption and implementation, receives two grants from theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation totaling $6,533,350.^[358]

• April 27, 2012: TheWyoming State Board of Education votes 8-4 toadopt Common Core.Superintendent of Public InstructionCindy Hill voted against its adoption.^[359] OnlyAlaska,Nebraska,Texas andVirginia declined to adopt the new standards.^[10][11]

• February 1, 2012: Student Achievement Partners, a nonprofit that exists to support Common Core adoption and implementation, receives a four-year, $18 million grant from the GE Foundation. The press release accompanying the announcement stated that this was the "largest corporate commitment to date for the Common Core State Standards and reflects GE's longstanding dedication to preparing American students for an increasingly competitive workforce."^[360]

2011

• November 4, 2011: TheMontana State Board of Public Education votes toadopt Common Core on the recommendation ofSuperintendent of Public InstructionDenise Juneau (D).^[361][362]

• July 20, 2011:Washington Superintendent of Public InstructionRandy Dorn announces thatWashington willadopt Common Core.^[363]

• June 20, 2011: TheNorth Dakota Department of Public Instruction announces thatNorth Dakota willadopt Common Core.^[363]

• April 4, 2011: TheMaine State Board of Education votes toadopt Common Core.^[363] On March 25, 2011,Maine GovernorPaul LePage (R) signed LD 12 to authorize adoption of the new standards.^[364]

• January 24, 2011: TheIdaho State Legislature votes toadopt Common Core. The vote from theIdaho State Senate Education Committee was unanimous.^[365] TheIdaho State Board of Education voted to adopt Common Core on November 17, 2010.^[366]

2010

• 2010: A total of 40 statesadopt Common Core, althoughMinnesota only adopted the English-language arts portion of the standards.^[10][11]
• July 21, 2010: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute releases its fourth study related to the Common Core State Standards. In this study, the authors found that the proposed standards were "clearly superior to those currently in use in thirty-nine states in math and thirty-seven states in English. For thirty-three states, the Common Core is superior inboth math and reading." According to the study, onlyCalifornia,Indiana and theDistrict of Columbia offered "clearly superior" English-language arts standards. Standards in the other states were "too close to call." The Fordham Institute received a $959,116 grant from theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct the study.^[28]
• June 2, 2010: TheNational Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers announces the finalized Common Core State Standards. The press release promotes endorsements for the standards from the following officials:^[367]
  • Georgia GovernorSonny Perdue (R)
  • Delaware GovernorJack Markell (D)
  • Florida Commissioner of EducationEric J. Smith (R)
  • West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine
  • American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten
  • National Education Association Vice President Lily Eskelsen

• April 14, 2010: TheUnited States Department of Education releases Phase 2 applications forRace to the Top. In order to qualify for a Phase 2 grant, states must commit to "adoption of a common set of K-12 standards [...] by August 2, 2010, or, at a minimum, by a later date in 2010 specified by the State in a high-quality plan toward which the State has made significant progress, and its commitment to implementing the standards thereafter in a well-planned way."^[254] A total of 35 states and the District of Columbia apply for Phase 2 grants.^[368] TheBill & Melinda Gates Foundation spent $2.7 million to fund the creation of applications in 24 states.^[28]

• March 10, 2010: TheNational Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers issue a revised official draft of the English-language arts and mathematics standards for public comment.^[369] The revised draft received "nearly 10,000" online survey responses before the public comment review period ended.^[370]

• February 2010: TheKentucky State Board of Education votes toadopt Common Core, although the standards were not finalized at the time of the vote. Kentucky thereby became the first state to adopt the new standards.^[371] From 2008 through 2013, the Kentucky Department of Education received $10,800,877 in grants from the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation also provided a grant of $476,553 to a foundation affiliated with the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to promote Common Core and a grant of $501,580 to a foundation affiliated with the National Education Association to help implement Common Core in the state. An article byThe Washington Post stated that the Gates Foundation spent "at least" $15 million to build support for the new standards and to improve implementation.Kentucky Commissioner of EducationTerry Holliday stated in the article, "Without the Gates money, we wouldn’t have been able to do this."^[28]

2009

• October 21, 2009: The public comment review period on the first official draft of the English-language arts and mathematics standards ends. The Common Core State Standards Initiative received 988 completed surveys commenting on the proposed standards.^[372]

• September 21, 2009: TheNational Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers issue the first official draft of the English-language arts and mathematics standards for public comment.^[373]

• July 24, 2009:PresidentBarack Obama andUnited States Department of Education SecretaryArne Duncan formally announceRace to the Top. The press release emphasizes that having states adopt "internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace" is one of the four "significant areas" that Race to the Top is meant to accomplish.^[374] Duncan appointed Joanne Weiss, who formerly served as the chief operating officer forNewSchools Venture Fund, to lead the program. From 2008 through 2013, NewSchools Venture Fund received $8,771,893 in grants from theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation.^[28]

• June 14, 2009: In the keynote address at the Governors Education Symposium,United States Department of Education SecretaryArne Duncan announces that $350 million of the $4.35 billion in theRace to the Top fund would be allocated to the development of "rigorous assessments linked to the internationally benchmarked common standards." The press release following his speech noted that he was referring to standards already under development by theNational Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.^[375] The Department of Education eventually spent $372 million ($186 million apiece to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) to help fund the creation of Common Core-aligned exams.^[253]

• June 1, 2009: TheNational Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers announce the establishment of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The press release highlights the fact that a combined 49 states and territories had agreed to participate in the creation of the standards.Alaska,Missouri,South Carolina andTexas were the four states who did not participate at that time.^[376]
• March 7, 2009: TheUnited States Department of Education issues a press release stating that a program titledRace to the Top is in development. The announcement notes that states must implement "rigorous college- and career-ready standards and high-quality assessments that are valid and reliable for all students" in order to become eligible for a Race to the Top grant.^[377] An unpublished draft of the Race to the Top program referred specifically to the Common Core State Standards still under development, but an official with the Council of Chief State School Officers requested that it be removed due to concern that it would "cause people to be real suspicious."^[28]
• February 17, 2009:PresidentBarack Obama signs theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, providing theUnited States Department of Education with $4.35 billion for theRace to the Top fund, a competitive grant program for states that encouraged innovation and improvements in public education.^[378]

2008

• December: TheNational Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers and Achieve, Inc. publish a report titled "Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education." The report calls for a "common core" of education standards. The report acknowledges that theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the GE Foundation "generously supported" its publication. From 2008 through 2013, the Council of Chief State School Officers received $27,952,409 in grants from the Gates Foundation.^[28] Notable participants in the report's creation included:^[379][6]
  • Arizona GovernorJanet Napolitano (D),Co-Chair
  • Georgia GovernorSonny Perdue (R),Co-Chair
  • Intel Corporation Board of Directors Chairman Craig R. Barrett,Co-Chair
  • Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
  • Rhode Island GovernorDonald Carcieri (R)
  • Virginia GovernorTim Kaine (D)
  • Colorado Commissioner of Education Dwight Jones
  • Massachusetts Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester
  • Thomas B. Fordham Institute President Chester E. Finn Jr.
  • Education Trust President Kati Haycock
  • National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguía
• June: The Hunt Institute hosts a conference for theNational Governors Association. The subject of the conference was how to improve public education in order to make the United States a global leader.^[380]
• May: TheBill & Melinda Gates Foundation awards The Hunt Institute a $2.2 million grant "to promote the adoption of national standards among governors."^[380] From 2008 through 2013, The Hunt Institute received $10,011,892 in grants from the Gates Foundation.^[28]

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the termsCommon Core. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

• School board elections project
• Education policy project
• Education policy in the United States
• U.S. Department of Education
• Arne Duncan
• Race to the Top
• Academic performance

External links

Suggest a link

• Common Core State Standards Initiative
• Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers
• Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
• National Education Association
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• National Governors Association
• National Conference of State Legislatures
• U.S. Department of Education

Additional reading

• Education Week, "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Every Student Succeeds Act," accessed January 8, 2016
• Politico, "How Common Core quietly won the war," accessed October 12, 2015
• U.S. News & World Report, "As Test Results Trickle In, States Still Ditching Common Core," September 21, 2015
• U.S. News & World Report, "Initial Common Core Goals Unfulfilled as Results Trickle In," August 31, 2015
• U.S. News & World Report, "Common Core Tests Can Come at Cost for Underprivileged Students," August 10, 2015
• U.S. News & World Report, "Are New Common Core Tests Better Than Old Multiple-Choice Exams?" May 20, 2015
• Brown Center Report on American Education, "Part II: Measuring effects of the Common Core," March 24, 2015
• U.S. News and World Report, "Common Core: Myths and Facts," March 4, 2014

Support of Common Core

• CNN Schools of Thought, "Common Core has no better alternative," December 2, 2014
• Common Core State Standards Initiative, "Quotes from Supporters"
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, "5 Common Core Supporters That You Should Hear"

Criticisms of Common Core

• Washington Post, "6 reasons to reject Common Core K-3 standards — and 6 rules to guide policy," May 2, 2014
• Diane Ravitch's Blog, "Common Core"

Footnotes

v • e Education policy Featured articles School choice in the United States •Impact of school choice on rural school districts •States with and without universal school choice programs •State policies on cellphone use in K-12 public schools •Local school board authority across the 50 states Terms Charter schools •Common Core •Dropout rate •Progressive education •Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate •School vouchers •Teacher merit pay State public education pages Alabama •Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •District of Columbia •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Louisiana •Maine •Maryland •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Mississippi •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Jersey •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Virginia •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming State higher education pages Alabama •Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Louisiana •Maine •Maryland •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Mississippi •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Jersey •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Virginia •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming State school choice pages Alabama •Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Louisiana •Maine •Maryland •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Mississippi •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Jersey •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Virginia •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming Local school board authority pages Alabama •Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Louisiana •Maine •Maryland •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Mississippi •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Jersey •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Virginia •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming More policy coverage Administrative state •Education •ESG and pensions •Police CBAs •Unemployment insurance •Work requirements •Federalism