High school teachers’ perspectives on the English language arts Common Core State Standards: an exploratory study

Abstract

This was an exploratory study that examined high school teachers’ perspectives about their early experiences with the English language arts Common Core State Standards. The sources of data for the study included a survey and structured interviews. Twenty-three high school ELA teachers from one unified school district in Southern California participated in the study. The findings suggested that the teachers wanted to acquire more knowledge about many aspects of the CCSS for ELA. In addition, they perceived that their professional development and curricula materials were inadequate to meet the high standards set in the CCSS. Also, the teachers perceived that they were not ready to teach the ELA CCSS even though they believed that the standards would help students have satisfying personal and professional lives. The implications were discussed, including the need for schools to provide ongoing, high-quality professional development, and research-based, aligned curricula materials for high school ELA teachers. In addition, California and school districts have to make adequate financial investment to support implementation of the CCSS.