Dive Brief:
- Providers of Common Core-linked classroom materials say many of their products are being used in states that have opted not to adopt the Common Core.
- BetterLesson, for example, estimates that 8% of its traffic comes from non-Common Core states, with 5% coming from Texas alone.
- Additionally, Omaha, NE, has adopted Go Math!, a Common Core-aligned curriculum, for use in its schools.
Dive Insight:
The reasons behind states' decisions to not use the Common Core State Standards and the use of Common Core-aligned material regardless are complicated and occasionally political. The easiest explanation is that the designation of "Common Core-aligned" is a broad one. Providers have begun to add it to their materials, new and old alike, as a way to market them to states that have adopted the new standards. Experts have cautioned that the label should be taken with a grain of salt, as it’s not always clear that serious vetting has been done.
And it’s also a numbers game for providers. Most states have adopted the new standards, or similar ones, which means much of what’s out there will be targeted towards them. According to Education Week, many educators said the Common Core-aligned materials were the best vetted and most easily obtainable.
But there’s some evidence that using Common Core-aligned materials in states that didn’t adopt them is a political act, too. Cama Charlet, a third grade teacher in Omaha, NE, told Education Week that she uses the materials in her classroom because the approach is better than most. She pushed for the state to adopt the new standards, but the effort failed.
“Everyone kind of uses some, sometimes without fully realizing the materials are Common Core," Charlet told Education Week. "We just don't use those words openly [in Nebraska]. ... We're dancing around it."
