High Standards and High-Quality Assessments

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The common core state standards and assessments have the potential to replace the existing haphazard patchwork of state standards and assessments and to help states raise the bar for students across the country. Although the common core effort is state-led and non-federal, Congress can help support states through the transition to these stronger standards and linked assessments.

Recent Actions

• Read our state-specific summaries of the standards provisions in the accepted waivers from: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
• Listen to a rewind of Ed Trust’s joint webinar with the National Center for Learning Disabilities analyzing the content of the first 11 approved waiver applications, and the implications of those waivers for millions of students across the country.

For more information:

• Read more about the importance of instructional supports in the move to college- and career-ready standards in "Instructional Supports: The Missing Piece in State Education Standards."
• Check out our fact sheet to find out how Congress can provide support and incentives for states as they transition from current standards and assessments to new, higher college- and career-ready standards.
• Read our publication “Shut Out of the Military: Today’s High School Education Doesn’t Mean You’re Ready for Today’s Army,” to learn about how important high standards are for ensuring that our young people are prepared for the careers they want. For example, more than one in five young people with a high school diploma who are interested in enlisting do not meet the U.S. Army’s minimum eligibility standards.

Additional items of interest:

• Read Linda Murray’s (superintendent-in-residence, Ed Trust–West) new book, Diploma Matters, which details ways districts can implement policies that ensure all students are ready for college and career.