Prelude to the Common Core Internationally Benchmarking a State’s Math Standards

• Published in: Educational policy (Los Altos, Calif.) Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 615 - 644
• Main Author: Woolard, J. Christopher
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2013; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Alignment (Education); Benchmarking; Cognitive Ability; Comparative Education; Curricula; Curriculum; Education policy; Educational Policy; England; Expectation; Finland; Foreign Countries; Hong Kong; Japan; Mathematics; Mathematics Achievement; Mathematics education; Mathematics Instruction; National Standards; Ohio; Policy Analysis; Program for International Student Assessment; Quality of education; Science; Science education; Singapore; State Standards; Student Evaluation; Students; Surveys; Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study; Ohio; Singapore; Hong Kong; United Kingdom (England); Japan; Finland; United States > US; standards-based reform; common core; content standards; international benchmarking
• ISSN: 0895-9048; 1552-3896
• DOI: 10.1177/0895904811429287

As states struggle with the notion of international competitiveness, the quality and rigor of academic content standards has come into question. While Ohio’s content standards are well regarded, the state initiated a process to revise the standards and eventually joined with the majority of states in adopting a voluntary set of national standards—the Common Core. This study uses the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) methodology to examine Ohio’s current math content standards in comparison to TIMSS, PISA, high performing international counterparts, and the recently released Common Core. Specifically, it examines whether the state’s standards are “a mile wide and inch deep.” Second, this study analyzes whether high performing countries’ standards are more aligned to Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) through the SEC lens of topic and cognitive expectations. Ohio’s standards generally are less focused than the international comparisons, not very aligned to TIMSS and PISA, and have lower cognitive expectations. The CCSS have greatly increased that focus by reducing the number of topics in the analyzed grade levels while increasing the levels of cognitive expectations. These results provide a baseline for comparison to the full implementation of the Common Core. Once fully implemented, policy makers will have a reference point for evaluation of policy goals.