Press Releases

States have raised the bar by adopting college- and career-ready standards, and are further exerting their leadership by committing to new criteria to ensure that new assessments match the rigor of their college- and career-ready (CCR) standards.

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) announced today that Stephen Bowen will join CCSSO to lead the organization’s work on innovation. Bowen will leave his post as Commissioner of Education in Maine and join as the Strategic Initiative Director for Innovation at CCSSO formally in September. In this role he will direct work in emerging innovative practices in education, including digital learning, competency based learning, and open educational resources.

Today New York state released the results of the April 2013 grades 3-8 math and English Language Arts (ELA) assessments. These assessment results provide information for the first time on New York student progress toward meeting the goals in the Common Core State Standards. CCSSO Executive Director, Chris Minnich released the following statement:

CCSSO released the following statement today regarding the U.S. Department of Education announcement today to approve a waiver from NCLB for eight school districts that are part of the California Office to Reform Education (CORE).

Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) executive director Chris Minnich released the following statement today regarding the Federal Communications Commission's bipartisan vote to seek public comment regarding improvements to the E-Rate program, which provides internet access to public schools and libraries.

CCSSO issued the following statement today in response to a letter from Arne Duncan, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, regarding flexibility for the transition to college- and career-ready assessments.

CCSSO, in collaboration with School Improvement Network, releases today the InTASC LumiBook, a free interactive online guide to understanding and applying the updated InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers.

Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) executive director Chris Minnich released the following statement today regarding President Obama’s announcement of the ConnectED initiative aimed at providing 99 percent of America’s students high-speed internet connectivity in their schools and libraries over the next five years.

States have come together around principles to guide state leadership in assessment transition and to address several immediate state-federal issues in regards to assessment implementation. The principles address key issues essential to successful implementation of high-quality assessments aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or state college and career readiness (CCR) standards including assessments developed by the PARCC and Smarter Balanced consortia. Additionally, the principles address the immediate need for clear guidelines and bottom-line options for issues that implicate state and federal legal requirements.

To strengthen state implementation of Common Core State Standards and meaningful teacher evaluations, the Aspen Institute and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) today released a set of recommendations for forging coherence across these efforts at CCSSO’s Implementing the Common Core Standards (ICCS) meeting of 22 states in New Orleans. Teaching to the Core: Integrating Implementation of Common Core and Teacher Effectiveness Policies, authored by the Aspen Institute’s Ross Wiener, suggests ten actions for state leaders.