What is it about?
Through an analysis of 52 interviews with state, regional, and district officials in California, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, I investigate the decline in the popularity of K–12 standards-based education reform. I consolidate existing policy implementation theories and describe three important dimensions—detail, drive, and durability—for understanding how standards and associated policies “succeed” or “fail.” Using these dimensions, I reveal how policy design and implementation choices can strengthen or weaken standards-based education policies.
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Why is it important?
This work offers lesson learned from the controversial rollout of the Common Core State Standards in order to prevent us from making similar mistakes with future education policies.
Perspectives
As a former high school English teacher who experienced the Common Core firsthand, I crafted this article to speak to multiple audiences: policymakers, practitioners, and researchers. I offer a framework for understanding the politics of policy implementation that is transferable beyond the field of education.
Adam Edgerton
University of Pennsylvania
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Learning From Standards Deviations: Three Dimensions for Building Education Policies That Last, American Educational Research Journal, September 2019, American Educational Research Association (AERA),
DOI: 10.3102/0002831219876566.
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