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Reading List: The Common Core Initiative

James B. Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy. (2010). Common Core Standards: General Brief. Chapel Hill, NC: Author. Available at http://www.edweek.org/media/fordham_event.pdf

This brief, produced in support of the Common Core State Standards, provides general information about the standards, including a description of their overarching purpose and content-specific analysis that describes the evidence from which the ELA and mathematics standards are derived. The brief then addresses certain common misconceptions of the standards, including how they were developed and whether the standards require students to learn algebra in eighth grade.

Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.). Common Core State Standards Initiative Standards- Setting Considerations & Criteria. Washington, DC: Author. Available at http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Considerations.pdf

This document, prepared by the developers of the Common Core State Standards, summarizes the considerations the working groups used when developing the standards, such as creating internationally-benchmarked standards and making standards accessible to different learners. The document then describes the criteria used in the development of the college and career ready standards: the standards should be rigorous, clear and specific, teachable and learnable, and coherent.