Student Test Scores Are on the Rise. Does That Mean Common Core Is Working?

Just six years ago, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell became one of the leading voices behind the Common Core State Standards, a new set of academic benchmarks designed to make teaching more rigorous and consistent in schools across the country. He was co-chair of the National Governors Association’s Common Core State Standards Initiative when the group developed and released those standards to the public.

Hardly two years went by before Markell and the standards were on the defensive. Facing an onslaught of criticism, he wrote op-eds, delivered talking points to reporters and even vetoed anti-testing bills, all to support the idea that the country needed a more rigorous yardstick with which to measure students’ academic progress.

Then, on November 1, the governor found a new weapon in the battle to preserve the Common Core: a fresh batch of positive results from Common Core–aligned annual assessments in dozens of states.

https://www.the74million.org/article/student-test-scores-are-on-the-rise-does-that-mean-common-core-is-working