WestEd

WestEd is a research, development, and service agency that works with the education community to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults. The Common Core State Standards are more demanding than previous requirements in most states and are accompanied by tests that measure student achievement. They include short answer and essay questions that assess content knowledge as well as reasoning and critical thinking skills. To prepare teachers for the implementation of more rigorous standards, WestEd proposes to work in five states to: (1) strengthen teacher implementation of performance assessments; (2) build teachers’ knowledge of, and support for, the Common Core and aligned assessments; and (3) develop a cadre of teachers to help implement the new state assessments.