Teacher perceptions of the Common Core State Standards

The development of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) came about because of universal concerns that education was not adapting to the changing world and that students were leaving schools unprepared. The CCSS went into effect during the 2014-2015 school year. Due to the rigorous curriculum and higher expectations compared to past State standards, significant changes were required to implement the CCSS. The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed-methods study was to explore teacher perceptions of the CCSS and their perceptions of their participation in the implementation of the CCSS. This study used the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as a conceptual lens to identify teachers’ Stages of Concern (SoC) with regard to CCSS. The SoC revealed teachers were no longer concerned with the subscale of Self (Stages 0-2), and were at the subscale Task (Stage 3), and seemed to be moving towards the subscale of Impact (Stages 4-6) with similar patterns of intensity across years of teaching experience and grade levels taught. Most of the teachers in the study reported positive perceptions of the CCSS. Four themes emerged from the interviews: (a) student benefit, (b) district’s choice, (c) district support, and (d) state implementation.