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Jennifer O’Day Authors Chapter Highlighting Conditions That Have Facilitated Common Core Implementation in California

Portrait
Day
August 2015

A new book chapter from Collaborative Chair Jennifer O’Day describes how California’s solutions to troublesome policies and funding structures have positioned the state to implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) well. In “A Window of Opportunity: The Politics and Policies of Common Core Implementation in California”, O’Day describes the state’s recent history with faulty laws and unanticipated crises and highlights several critical changes that sought to improve California’s situation. Two changes she considers particularly significant are the $1.25 billion allocated for districts to use specifically for CCSS implementation efforts and the passage of the Local Control Funding Formula. Additionally, support from and new partnerships between diverse stakeholders (such as the California Collaborative) and the decision to revamp the state’s accountability system also contributed to helping California meet the demands of CCSS implementation. O’Day argues that the steady leadership, supportive stakeholders, and focus on equity were crucial to preparing the state for CCSS. She discusses how California can continue to leverage their opportunities to sustain implementation and encourages other states to consider California’s story as they work through implementation within their local contexts. O’Day’s chapter is part of the book, Challenging Standards: Navigating Conflict and Building Capacity in the Era of the Common Core, which Collaborative member and State Board of Education President Mike Kirst has described as “a useful book! Every policymaker urgently needs this book’s concepts, comprehensive components, and detailed roadmap to help create successful implementation of the Common Core in systems, schools, and classrooms.”