Despite being called “State Standards”, Common Core State Standards were not developed by the states! Two trade associations, the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) together formed the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) in 2009. These trade associations are unelected associations based in Washington D.C.
In spring 2009, 48 states signed a Memorandum of Agreement committing to voluntary participation in a process leading to adoption of the CCSS. In September 2009, a draft of College and Career Readiness Standards was released. In March 2010, the first and only public draft of the K-12 Common Core State Standards for ELA and Math were released. In June 2010, the final K-12 Common Core State Standards were released.
It’s important to point out that there were no Governors, State Superintendents of Schools, or State Legislators actively involved in the process of creating the Common Core State Standards. There were also no state administrative or legislative staff involved in creating the standards. The role of state governments was literally restricted to signing onto the standards created by the two trade associations, the NGA and the CCSSO. Many of the states that did sign onto Common Core State Standards did so to receive waivers to No Child Left Behind requirements or to qualify for Race To The Top money. They were literally bribed into signing onto the standards before they were even drafted.
So Who REALLY Developed Common Core State Standards?
Common Core State Standards were developed by individuals coming from interests in the testing, textbook, training, and student and teacher tracking industry. Here are the major players:
America’s Choice – http://www.americaschoice.org
- Senior Fellows Phil Daro (MATH) and Sally Hampton (ELA)
- Really Pearson Publishing – One of the largest providers of services and materials to help low performing schools raise their performance through professional development, technical assistance and high quality materials.
Student Achievement Partners – http://achievethecore.org
- Founders – Jason Zimba (MATH) and David Coleman (ELA) [now with College Board]
- Non-profit with goal to promote CCSS
- $18MM Grant from GE Foundation
ACT, Inc. – http://www.act.org
- Sara Clough (MATH and ELA), Ken Mullen (MATH), Sharri Miller (Math and ELA), Jim Patterson (ELA), Nina Metzner (ELA)
- One of the largest college testing and test preparation services
The College Board – http://www.collegeboard.org
- Robin O’Callaghan (MATH), Andrew Schwartz (MATH), Natasha Vasavada (MATH and ELA), Joel Harris (ELA), Beth Hart (ELA)
- One of the largest college testing and test preparation services (SAT)
Achieve, Inc. – http://www.achieve.org
- Kaye Forgione (MATH), Laura McGiffert Slover (MATH and ELA), Douglas Sovde (MATH), John Kraman (ELA), Sue Pimental (ELA)
- P-20 Data Systems Consulting, Student and Teacher Assessment Tools, Data and Accountability Systems with strong alignment to policies in post-secondary and economic development sectors
So, the Common Core State Standards were created by two trade associations by individuals who worked for interests with a great deal to gain by creating a national standard for education in the United States!