The release of the Common Core State Standards in 2010 marked an unprecedented historic moment in education. Never before had states come together, regardless of political affiliations, to unite with a focus on advancing knowledge of all learners across the nation. Despite the initial bi-partisan support of the Common Core State Standards, numerous factors led to our current era of educational reform where states are opting to deviate from the Common Core State Standards. This includes Race to the Top Initiatives, elements of the No Child Left Behind Act including standardized assessments and teacher evaluations, lack of training and implementation of the Common Core State Standards, and the politicalization of standards across the nation.
This qualitative content analysis study examined changes made to state K-5 mathematics standards in states that never adopted the Common Core State Standards, repealed, rescinded, or removed copyright in conjunction with the Common Core State Standards. Data collection included all publicly available documents on department of education websites across 15 states considered for this study. This included mathematics standards, crosswalk documents, standards of mathematical practice documents, writing committee documents, supporting resources and any other available documents pertaining to the mathematics standards. Data were gathered and transposed to Excel, where a line-by-line comparison occurred. Gathered data were then analyzed and coded using inductive and deductive qualitative content analysis methods.
From the study, 45 codes were created to capture the changes that occurred within individual state mathematics standards. The codes represented a vast array of changes made, but ultimately there were no consistencies across the seven states in which standards deviated from the Common Core State Standards. The nuances of the changes of individual states will be shared during this defense.
Outline of Studies:
Major: Education Ph.D. – Mathematics Education Track
Educational Career:
Elementary Education (B.A.), 2012, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Mathematics Education (M.A.Ed.), 2017, East Carolina University
Committee in Charge:
Dr. Sarah B. Bush (chair)
Dr. David Boote
Dr. Juli Dixon
Dr. Farshid Safi
Dr. Karen Karp
Approved for distribution by Sarah B. Bush, Sarah.Bush@ucf.edu, Committee Chair, on February 16, 2023.
The public is welcome to attend. Please contact the Committee Chair for details regarding attendance.
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