The Implementation of the Common Core State Standards Across Curricular Tracks in a Metropolitan District

• In Event: 52.084 - Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: 52.084-5 - Peer Effects/Effects of Grouping on Students

Abstract

This qualitative study explores the nature of literacy curriculum and instruction across tracks in the context of the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Through interviews with and observations of middle school English/Language Arts and reading teachers in nine middle schools within a large, countywide district, the study looks at how classroom teachers understand and enact the Common Core State Standards. In addition, this study looks at what factors help or hinder the potential of the Common Core's "rigor for all" rhetoric, finding that the existing track structure influences teachers' normative beliefs about student ability. This, in turn, influences teachers' decisions about what curriculum and instruction is "appropriate" for their different classes.

Author

• Emily Hodge, Montclair State University