Forty states have agreed to implement a set of Common Core State Standards, in an effort to ensure greater equity in learning standards nationwide. Although this is a worthy goal, many teachers are skeptical about whether the new standards represent a meaningful change in the way that students are taught and assessed – and even more skeptical that they will have the tools and supports needed to implement the new standards.

In response, the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ) is convening a team of 22 accomplished, National Board Certified teachers (NBCTs) in Kentucky and North Carolina through our Implementing Common Core Standards (ICCS) project. The ICCS teacher team will pilot formative, Common Core-aligned assessment templates for literacy and math instruction across the curriculum. By the end of 2011, project participants will have created portfolios of lesson plans, unit plans, and assessments documenting their use of the literacy and math templates. All of these materials will be available on an open-source basis to teachers nationwide, to spread practical, effective, teacher-tested tools for Common Core implementation.

The Implementing Common Core Standards project is generously supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We are also pleased to partner in this work with the Literacy Design Collaborative and the Math Design Collaborative, developers of the new instructional and assessment templates.