Skip to main content

C-SAIL Blog

    Learn about standards implementation directly from stakeholders across the system – teachers, principals, policymakers, and researchers.

    Our blog presents posts by C-SAIL researchers, Center partners, and guest colleagues to examine the impact of college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards on teaching and learning; interpret state and national policies affecting CCR standards implementation; and present resources for education practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. We pay special attention to the experience of English language learners and students with disabilities, as well as the progress of standards reform in our partner states—California, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Texas.

    The views expressed by the C-SAIL bloggers do not represent the views of the Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL) or its funder, the Institute for Education Sciences (IES).

    C-SAIL 20/20: Questions & Answers
    C-SAIL Team | June 29, 2020

    On Thursday, May 28, C-SAIL hosted a virtual conference to present and discuss five years of findings on the implementation and impact of college- and career-readiness standards. In this blog post, we answer a selection of attendee questions.

    English Learners and ESSA’s Four-Year Graduation Rate: An Interview with Julie Sugarman
    Julie Sugarman | December 5, 2019

    It has been ten years since states began using a uniform definition of the high school graduation rate for federal accountability and reporting. In that time, the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and an increased national focus on immigration have raised the profile of English Learner (EL) students in U.S. schools and the need to equitably serve them and assess their academic progress. We spoke with Julie Sugarman of the Migration Policy Institute about one way that EL outcomes are measured under ESSA.

    • English Language Learners

    When Complexity Isn’t Enough: Focusing on Content in ELA Curriculum

    Guest bloggers: Rachel Bradshaw, Lindsay Zorich | July 16, 2019

    Ideally, when students engage with texts they do more than practice reading: they also glean valuable knowledge of the world—knowledge that in turn makes them more skillful readers and thinkers. For that to happen, texts need to be chosen and organized with attention to their content.

    • College- and Career-Readiness
    • Student Learning
    • Teaching and Instruction

    Top Five Challenges to Implementing College- and Career-Readiness Standards, as reported by Teachers
    C-SAIL | April 23, 2019

    With a large amount of the standards-based reform conversation politically charged, teachers’ voices add a crucial experiential component to the discussion of standards.

    • Standards Implementation
    • Teaching and Instruction

    How the Common Core Lives: Successes and Challenges of the “New” College-and-Career Readiness Standards
    Adam K. Edgerton | April 18, 2019

    Is the Common Core really “dead”? Though no longer called the Common Core in our three study states, the “new” college- and career-readiness standards still guide much of education policy in Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky. We reveal seven trends guiding standards implementation today.

    • College- and Career-Readiness
    • English Language Learners
    • Standards Implementation
    • Students with Disabilities

    Lessons Learned on Standards Implementation from State and District Leaders
    Katie Pak | August 7, 2018

    A summary of our April conference panel discussions on the latest NAEP results, standards implementation challenges, supporting English learners and students with disabilities, and more.

    • English Language Learners
    • NAEP
    • Standards Implementation
    • Students with Disabilities
    • Teaching and Instruction

    Let’s Agree (to Disagree) on State Report Cards: Secretary DeVos & California Parents
    Kate Kennedy & Morgan Polikoff | March 21, 2018

    While DeVos and parents do not generally seem to agree, there are some policy areas in which they share agreement, including California's school accountability dashboard. Kind of.

    • Accountability

    Assessing the Impact of College- and Career-Ready Standards: Findings, Challenges, and Future Directions
    Mengli Song | March 19, 2018

    C-SAIL Co-Director Mengli Song summarizes the available research evidence on the impact of college- and career-readiness/Common Core standards on student achievement and the challenges related to estimating the impact of standards reform on student achievement. Song also offers suggestions for future research.

    • College- and Career-Readiness
    • Common Core State Standards
    • NAEP
    • Standards Implementation

    The Experience of Students with Disabilities: C-SAIL’s First-Wave Survey Findings
    Lynn Fuchs, Doug Fuchs | February 15, 2018

    C-SAIL's experts on students with disabilities (SWD), Lynn and Doug Fuchs, share key findings on supporting SWD in meeting CCR standards from our first-wave surveys in Texas and Ohio.

    • College- and Career-Readiness
    • Standards Implementation
    • Students with Disabilities

    What The Standards-Based Movement (Really) Got Wrong
    Morgan Polikoff | February 1, 2018

    Morgan Polikoff responds to an Education Week column titled "What the standards-based movement got wrong" with his own analysis, and why he still supports standards-based reform.

    • College- and Career-Readiness
    • Common Core State Standards
    • Standards Implementation

    Pages