Current News

Missouri is pushing to promote early childhood education by revising its early learning standards to clarify the expectations for programs serving students under age 5.

Louisiana Education Superintendent John White testified during a U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee hearing and said that states must be held accountable for how their school systems perform, but they also need greater flexibility to design the best programs for students.

Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education and the State Department of Education have issued College and Career Readiness Indicators reports that show improvements among public school students throughout the college-readiness pipeline.

Georgia Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Barge recently unveiled the state's new accountability system, the Georgia College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI), which will replace No Child Left Behind's Adequate Yearly Progress measurement.

Legislation sponsored by California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson was approved by the Assembly Education Committee and sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for consideration. Assembly Bill 484 would establish the California Measurement of Academic Performance and Progress for the 21st Century to replace the Standardized Testing and Reporting system.

While more Arizona high school students are receiving training for technical jobs, ranging from culinary arts to health occupations, growth is not happening quickly enough to fill jobs at some businesses.

CCSSO has a long-standing tradition of supporting states that are ready and willing to engage collectively and individually in emerging work and practices. Together with teachers, parents, and education advocates, we collectively believe that in order to raise achievement, schools should provide students with learning experiences tailored to their needs that make the most of teachers' time with them. To accomplish this, we must make personalized learning a reality for every student.

CCSSO will host the Communications Directors Network and Implementing the Common Core Standards meetings next week in New Orleans, Louisiana.

After attending a two-day conference with David Coleman, president of the College Board and chief architect of the Common Core State Standards, Liberty University English professor Karen Prior was no longer skeptical of the standards' potential to boost literacy and improve reading skills among U.S. grade-school students.

West Virginia was recognized for its efforts to increase pre-kindergarten resources in the National Institute for Early Education Research's "State of Preschool 2012" report. The state increased per pupil pre-K funding by $10 million in 2011-12 to about $6,000 per child, compared to the national average of $3,841.