A Reform at Risk? The Political Realities of the Common Core

• In Event: Implementing the Common Core: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Objective

The Common Core State Standards initiative represents not only an unprecedented collaboration between the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and 46 states to create common standards in English and mathematics; it also represents an intriguing experiment in federalism.

The initiative also faces significant challenges as it moves beyond adoption. The commitment of fractured state legislatures, interest groups, and other stakeholders will be tested as the rhetoric of high standards meets the realities of implementation. Implementation will demand new investments in curriculum, tests, technology, professional development, and other instructional supports at a time of profound fiscal constraint. It will require potentially messy reforms to accountability systems that may anger students, parents, and other stakeholders, as schools that thought they were performing well fare poorly on new tests, and new cut points exacerbate the appearance of already wide achievement gaps among student subgroups. And, this will all unfold at a time when issues of federalism and the relative roles of the state and federal government have reemerged as central debates in education reform conversations. This paper will examine the complicated politics of this reform.

Theoretical Framework

This paper will examine Common Core through the lens of interest group politics, ideological division, resource competition, and federalism.

Mode of Inquiry
This paper will envision these problems through the lens of interest group politics.

Data Source
This paper draws on news accounts, extant research, as well as interviews with officials from state education agencies.

Results

The threats to Common Core that will emerge during implementation are serious but not insurmountable. Building a cadre of strong supporters who are willing to protect it from current and future opponents will be key to sustaining the reform. Supporters of the standards in advocacy groups, state departments of education, state legislatures, and governors’ offices can shape this dynamic by using the following strategies; (1) Mobilizing their existing allies; (2) Building new constituencies and limiting opposition by making smart implementation choices; and (3) Above all, remembering that fights don’t end once agreements are forged.

Scholarly Significance

This work extends Rothman’s (2012) analysis of the politics of the Common Core, looking into the future and situating the Common Core not only in other education reforms, but also into the broader study of the politics of implementation.

Author

• Ashley Jochim, Center on Reinventing Public Education - University of Washington