Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were adopted by most states in the United States to improve academic rigor, which in turn is believed to better prepare graduating high school students for college and careers. Yet, it is not as well understood whether CCSS Initiative-aligned instruction potentially better prepares all students, thereby availing…

This paper focuses on the relationship between policy creation and policy enactment through the use of an innovative qualitative research methodology, photo elicitation. Teachers applying Common Core State Standards were studied in two states through indepth interviews, photographs captured by the participants, and other artifacts. Findings…

In 2016, 20 states administered the ACT exam to all high school students. Of those 20 states, three use the ACT in their statewide testing program as an assessment for accountability at the high school level. States using the tests as part of an accountability system are required to submit results from an independent alignment study to the U.S.…

The Common Core State Standards were created with college and career readiness in mind to help prepare students to succeed upon graduation from high school. In this article, I examine college readiness as it has been described by both university mathematicians and educational researchers to precisely discern what will foster success in collegiate…

The implementation of the Common Core State Standards has brought about a renewed inspiration for exploring the role of communication in K-12 schools as they include a speaking and listening strand. Communication education in K-12 schools had been sparsely researched; however, a handful of scholars have made calls to increase the research and…

This article examines a pilot project that engaged a university-based teacher educator as a collaborating partner within a local school district. The partnership was established to provide English to Speakers of Other Languages teachers with professional development in a school district with a growing English learner population. The process for…

This article presents popular misconceptions on teaching culturally relevant books and provides strategies that can inform the search, selection, and teaching of books in culturally responsive ways. Informed by relevant research and insights gained from collaboratively teaching a children's literature course at college level, I discuss how the…

A continuing priority in education has focused on preparing students for postacademic success. The adoption of the Common Core State Standards Initiative prompted educational leaders to focus on preparing students to be "college and career ready." Definitions, perceptions, and efforts to improve college and career readiness vary widely.…

Using various strategies, the City University of New York--a large, public, urban university system--engaged hundreds of faculty across 15 colleges in integrating the Common Core state standards (CCSS) in college coursework. Against the backdrop of a dynamic political climate, this CCSS initiative is described along with findings from a…

For at least the past 40 years, the mathematics education community has attempted to characterize important learning goals for students that are not captured completely in specifications of mathematical content objectives. Mathematical processes such as problem solving, reasoning and representation have been prominent in these attempts. The most…

Three preK-6 U.S. university methods instructors-researchers (literacy, science, social studies) joined 17 Title I school teachers for collaborative lesson planning and teaching within the preK-5 school setting. Each team's goal was to create and teach interdisciplinary curriculum units using U.S. English language arts Common Core State Standards…

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics have a widespread impact on children's statistical learning opportunities. The Grade 6 standards are particularly ambitious in the goals they set. In this critique, experiences helping children work toward the Grade 6 Common Core statistics expectations are used in conjunction with previous research…

Historical fiction is a powerful genre for inviting children into meaningful conversations centered on the lived experiences of others. Historical inquiry immerses readers in interdisciplinary research experiences and complements language arts Common Core State Standards that call for a balance of fiction and non-fiction text. Antiracist lenses…

While the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice are a focal point of K-12 mathematics education, there is limited research examining how future teachers' (e.g., undergraduate students, teacher candidates) develop their conceptions of these standards. We investigate how opportunities within a mathematics-focused bridge course within…

In this qualitative study, the researchers investigated the types of K-6th grade lessons 16 preservice elementary teachers created based on mathematics-themed children's books. Lessons were analyzed using Stein et al.'s (2017) Task Analysis Guide (TAG), as well as grouped based on grade level and covered Common Core State Standards Mathematical…