More than six years after states began adopting the Common Core State Standards in English/language arts and math, most teachers say they are now familiar with the standards, and a growing number feel prepared to teach them to their students.
鈥淏ut fewer than 1 in 5 鈥渟trongly agree鈥� that classroom resources are well-aligned to the standards and professional development is high-quality, and many are turning to online sites like Teachers Pay Teachers to for their classrooms.
That鈥檚 according to a new survey conducted in October by the 澳门跑狗论坛 Research Center. The center asked 532 teachers who are registered users of the 澳门跑狗论坛 website from elementary, middle, and high schools in the District of Columbia and 40 states that have adopted the common-core standards about their experiences with professional development, resources, and other aspects of the standards. This is the third survey about the common core that the center has conducted since 2012.
Over that time, teachers have increasingly reported that their curricular resources are in line with the standards and that they are more confident in teaching with them. In 2012, for instance, just 9 percent of teachers strongly agreed that their resources were aligned with the standards; in 2016, that share doubled to 18 percent. Thirty-nine percent of teachers said they felt 鈥渧ery prepared鈥� to teach the standards to their whole class, up nearly 20 percentage points from 2012.
鈥淥n the one hand, you see an amazing amount of change from 2013 to 2016,鈥� said Sandra Alberti, the director of the field impact team at Student Achievement Partners, a nonprofit founded by some of the writers of the common core that focuses on professional learning for teachers. 鈥淏ut on the other hand,鈥� she said, referring to the still-low numbers, 鈥渋s it enough?鈥�
But Alberti said some of the frustrations illuminated by the study results鈥攆or example, low levels of parent awareness about the standards or the roughly 80 percent of teachers who don鈥檛 鈥渟trongly agree鈥� that their professional development is high-quality鈥攁re perpetual issues in public education. 鈥淭he common core unveiled a lot of challenges we鈥檝e always had.鈥�
Are You Ready?
Morgan Polikoff, an associate professor at the University of Southern California鈥檚 Rossier School of Education who has studied the standards and their implementation, said that the survey leaves unanswered questions of what鈥檚 actually happening in classrooms. 鈥淲hen teachers say they鈥檙e teaching common core, what does that mean?鈥�
But, he said, teachers鈥� self-reports on their experiences with the standards offer some insights into trends and attitudes.
鈥淚 think we can learn that teachers are feeling somewhat more confident, but not all feel more confident. They feel more confident with the whole class than with certain groups; and it鈥檚 yet more evidence that they鈥檙e, if not turning away from texts, at least also relying on external sources which have questionable quality,鈥� he said.
In this year鈥檚 survey, 39 percent of teachers reported feeling 鈥渧ery prepared鈥� to teach the standards to their entire class. That鈥檚 up from 20 percent in 2012 and 16 percent in 2013.
But teachers are less confident in their ability to teach students who are learning English (17 percent report being 鈥渧ery prepared鈥�), students who have disabilities (18 percent 鈥渧ery prepared鈥�), academically at-risk students (26 percent 鈥渧ery prepared鈥�), and low-income students (33 percent 鈥渧ery prepared鈥�).
Teachers also voiced little confidence in their students鈥� readiness to master standards: Just 1 in 10 agreed that their students were very prepared to master the standards, and 8 percent said their students were very prepared to master common core-aligned assessments. Still, that鈥檚 an improvement since 2012, when just 5 percent said their students were very prepared to master the standards.
Polikoff said that teachers may simply have been responding reasonably to the word 鈥渕aster.鈥�
鈥淓ven in states with very low standards, not every student was mastering them,鈥� he said.
Dearth of Materials
The survey is yet another piece of evidence of an ongoing transformation in how teachers are finding their classroom materials.
Just 18 percent of teachers strongly agreed that their textbooks and main curricular materials are aligned to the common core. Again, that鈥檚 more than in previous survey years, but still represents just 1 in 5 teachers.
To fill the gap, about half of teachers said they turn to repositories of resources vetted by experts. But many reported that they themselves were taking on the task of determining whether materials were aligned: Fully one-third of teachers reported using rubrics to check on materials.
The most popular website teachers turned to for common core-aligned instructional resources was Teachers Pay Teachers, an online marketplace for teacher-created materials. A quarter of teachers reported using Teachers Pay Teachers compared to just 9 percent who turned to state departments of education, the next-most-popular destination for classroom resources. That mirrors findings from a survey by RAND released earlier this year that found most teachers creating or selecting materials on their own.
Sandra Boyd, the chief operating officer of Achieve, a nonprofit that helped develop the standards, said that her organization is encouraging teachers to use rubrics. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good that they鈥檙e thinking about alignment,鈥� she said.
But it鈥檚 also a symptom of a world in which teachers are both designing and teaching curriculum. 鈥淯nfortunately, we鈥檙e putting a lot of pressure on teachers to spend hours creating and adapting materials and to be deliverers of that material,鈥� Boyd said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a nearly impossible task, and it shows how far we have to go in making sure teachers really do have access to high-quality material.鈥�
It鈥檚 unclear from the survey whether teachers are using online resources to supplement their existing resources or to bring in fun, one-off activities or lessons and how much they鈥檙e using them to replace other developed materials.
Boyd said teachers may also be becoming increasingly sophisticated in their awareness of the instructional resources marketplace. States such as Louisiana and independent organizations like have made an effort to review different resources and publicize how well they are aligned to the core.
Student Achievement Partners鈥� Alberti said that in some cases, districts may have adopted materials that weren鈥檛 fully aligned at the time of adoption and have not yet adopted newer, better-aligned materials. At the same time, students鈥� scores on common core-aligned tests are a component of teacher evaluation or rating systems in many states. 鈥淭eachers may have felt, 鈥榟ey, my job鈥檚 on the line, I鈥檓 not going to wait for this to come to me,鈥欌�� she said.
Judy Wurtzel, the director of education at the Tulsa, Okla.-based Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, which has been focusing on professional learning for teachers and college- and career-ready standards, said that while teachers need to be able to customize and differentiate their lessons, this piecemeal approach to instructional materials comes with risks: 鈥淚t鈥檚 important for there to be full-course materials available to teachers because it鈥檚 important to have coherence and systematic building of knowledge across a school year and grade to grade, and it鈥檚 really hard for individual teachers to build that.鈥�
鈥淏ut of course they鈥檙e online looking for other things,鈥� she said. The situation might be different, she said, 鈥渋f they had better-quality and better-aligned materials.鈥�
Professional Development
Since 2012, the proportion of teachers who report having had more than five days of training overall in the common core has grown significantly. Teachers preferred collaborative planning time, coaching, or professional learning communities to more-structured, formal training or online training.
But along with that growth has come a finding that might be read as either a satisfaction or a weariness with the training: More teachers reported having 鈥渉ad some training and do not want more.鈥�
That鈥檚 no surprise, said the Schusterman Foundation鈥檚 Wurtzel. Wurtzel said that early training sessions in common core were often explanatory or oriented around compliance.
鈥淥nce you鈥檝e heard that a few times, you don鈥檛 need to hear it anymore,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that teachers don鈥檛 want professional learning. It鈥檚 that they want high-quality, job-embedded online opportunities connected to their work.鈥�
Teachers also reported that they felt they had more familiarity with the standards than their administrators. Only 9 percent reported asking their administrators for help in determining whether curricular resources are aligned to the standards.
Alberti said that the standards鈥� rollout might explain that: When the core was introduced, she said, 鈥渘o one came in as an expert. In some cases, teachers are just as likely to be expert as someone who鈥檚 been a math expert for 20 years.鈥�
Practicing Politics
Nearly 40 percent of teachers reported avoiding using the phrase 鈥渃ommon core鈥� with students and the parents of the students they teach. About 15 percent reported that they even avoided using the phrase with administrators and teachers in their school.
And 48 percent of the teachers said that they had heard from parents about their general dislike or concern with application of common core. Others reported that parents were confused, or that they believed that the standards were too hard. Just 7 percent of the teachers received positive feedback from parents on the common core.
The USC鈥檚 Polikoff said teachers鈥� choice to avoid calling the standards by their name might be a 鈥渟avvy move not to wade in those waters. They鈥檙e reacting to the reality of the political climate.鈥�
Even groups that advocated for the standards said they understood why teachers might avoid the name.
鈥淢any states have moved away from the brand. It doesn鈥檛 resonate,鈥� said Achieve鈥檚 Boyd. (Thirty-one percent of the teachers in this survey reported that their state has adopted the common core but calls it something else.) From her organization鈥檚 point of view, though, 鈥渨e鈥檙e more concerned about making sure you maintain high standards... and we care little about what you call them.鈥�
