Common Core standards better than English standards in 37 states, math standards in 39 states

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The K-12 academic standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics produced last month by the Common Core State Standards Initiative are clearer and more rigorous than those currently in use in three-quarters of the states, reports the Thomas B. Fordham Institute on the basis of a comparison released today. Specifically, the Common Core standards are stronger than today’s ELA standards in 37 states and today’s math standards in 39 states. In 33 of those states, the Common Core bests both ELA and math standards.

Yet California, Indiana and the District of Columbia have ELA standards that are clearly superior to those of the Common Core. And the ELA standards of 11 states (and the math standards of 11 states plus D.C.) are “too close to call,” meaning they’re in the same league as the Common Core standards.

In The State of State Standards – and the Common Core – in 2010, content experts reviewed the ELA and math standards of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as the Common Core standards; each was awarded a letter grade. This is the latest in a series of Fordham evaluations of state standards going back to 1997.

Reviewers gave the Common Core math standards the grade of A-minus and the Common Core ELA standards a B-plus.

Here are the TOO CLOSE TO CALL standards:

TOO CLOSE TO CALL - English language arts

Massachusetts A-
Tennessee A-
Texas A-
Common Core B+
Colorado B+
Georgia B+
Louisiana B+
Oklahoma B+
Virginia B+
Alabama B
Arizona B
Florida B

TOO CLOSE TO CALL - Mathematics

California A
District of Columbia A
Florida A
Indiana A
Washington A
Common Core A-
Georgia A-
Michigan A-
Utah A-
Alabama B+
Massachusetts B+
Oklahoma B+
Oregon B+