College and Career-Ready Standards for School Leaders

Earlier this week, Iowa, which had its request for wiggle room from mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act turned down, got another kind of reprieve from the U.S. Department of Education: the chance to freeze its Annual Measurable Outcomes (goals for student proficiency) under the NCLB law for one year, while it works towards waiver approval.

And today, the department announced that six other states, Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, and West Virginia, can also hit the pause button on their AMOs for the coming school year, while they work on their waiver plans. 

The option was designed to give states that are planning to apply for a waiver in the early fall a "transition year" so they're not completely stuck with NCLB while they work on their waiver. Alabama, Alaska, Maine, and West Virginia are in that position.

So far, 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted both sets of standards, and Minnesota has adopted only the language arts standards. The first assessments tied to the common core are due to come online in the 2014-15 school year.

So far, the tally this year is:

• 100 bills related to the common core, introduced in 36 states
• Out of those 100, 39 have been enacted into law.
• 11 bills deal with the new assessments tied to the common core
• 10 bills address instructional materials for the new standards
• The biggest concerns for legislators in terms of the standards at this time are assessments and professional development.

State specific standardized tests like the CRCTs could go away as many states, including Georgia, are looking at more common core tests across the nation.

Hosted on May 15, 2012, this SCORE Institute event featured national and state leaders -- including Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, former U.S. Senate Majori...