Critical Mass. for Common Core

The Massachusetts State Board of Education has unanimously adopted the Common Core standards.

Massachusetts' decision is significant because the state is widely considered to have the highest academic standards in the country and many were interested in how the Common Core compared to the Bay State's standards and whether its leaders would be willing to replace them. In addition, the state adoption process also featured the only organized and significant pushback against the Common Core, led by the Pioneer Institute, which raised questions about the rigor of the Common Core as well as the interlocking relationships and funding of the proponents of the new standards.

The last minute back and forth between former state leaders typified the public debate around adoption.

Former Commissioners of Education David Driscoll and Robert Antonucci issued a joint statement in support of adoption this week, only to be followed by opposition from former Governor William Weld, who signed the state's landmark education reforms into law in 1993 and called the pending adoption "a retrograde step."

Indeed, while several analyses found the Common Core on par with Massachusetts' standards, the determining factors appear to have been recognition of the state's leadership role in education reform, the college and career-readiness aspects of the standards, as well as an assurance that the state would bolster the standards with even more rigor later this year (up to fifteen percent) and still retain the MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) testing and accountability system.

The emphasis on the MCAS suggests that the public's interest in the Common Core will only be piqued when discussions begin on the assessment and accountability issues that will make the standards truly tangible to parents and students.

Of course, for all of the activity surrounding the analyses, comparisons, and debate over Massachusetts' adoption this week, the matter was essentially preordained as far back as June 1 – even before the standards were officially released – when Massachusetts submitted its round 2 Race to the Top application with the assurance to Education Secretary Arne Duncan that it would adopt the standards by August 2.