Dive Brief:

• A new report by the Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation, and Development found that the number of teachers who believe the Common Core State Standards will improve student learning has dropped by 21% from last year.  
• The survey also found that 56% of the 27,000 Tennessee teachers who responded to the survey want to see the state opt out of Common Core.  
• According to the survey, those in favor believe the national standards give high school students a rigorous advantage for college prep, while those opposed believe there are still too many questions surrounding the standards.  

Dive Insight:

Last year 60% of teachers said that they believe the Common Core will improve student learning. This year, the number was a paltry 39%. What could have spurred these changes? In June, Gov. Bill Haslam more or less severed ties with PARCC when he signed a bill mandating the state use its current assessment, TCAP, for the 2014-15 school year and then review proposals for new tests for the following years.  

This uncertainty about testing paired with the back-and-forth could definitely be affecting teacher perception of the standards. While the Common Core and the associated tests are technically separate, they very much bleed into one another. So problems with one could translate to a lack of confidence in the other.