One of the indictments of the Common Core State Standards is that they are potentially far too low pandering to the lowest common denominator. That is to say that they use the lowest of the standards recorded to create reachable standards to serve as the national common core. However, the Common Core Standards Initiative (CCSSI) purports to incorporate the best ideas from around the globe into one set of national standards for language arts and one set for mathematics (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2012, About the Standards).

From the perspective of a classroom or online instructor, it is exceptionally difficult to conduct quantitative research that will lead to a subsequent determination regarding which side of the argument is valid. Thus, the determination is often made experientially rather than scientifically. However, this is not necessarily an inadequate or inappropriate approach. Indeed, this experiential learning may actually be considered a form of qualitative research - the direct experience case study. Both Frost (2011) and Creswell (2007) acknowledge this form of research as valid so long as the conclusions are logically supported with the observed data.

What is critical in this type of research is to be aware of and mitigate researcher bias. If teachers are to use their direct experience as a means of support or indictment of the common core standards, they must be cognizant of their own biases toward the standards, standards-based education, and educational innovation. For educators, the ability to mitigate their own bias against the latest pendulum swing of educational innovation will often be the greatest challenge.  

Thus, while teachers may not be able to conduct full-scale qualitative research on the validity of the common core standards, they are typically able to conduct limited qualitative research on the topic. Assuming that mitigating researcher bias is viable even with such a controversial topic, classroom and online teachers turned qualitative researchers should able to draw valid conclusions about the level of the common core standards relative to the teaching environment. Beyond that, additional full-scale research will need to be conducted by objective parties to determine of the common core standards actually are the best of the best or simply the next rung down on the ladder.

References

Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2012). Common core state standards initiative. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/.

Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Frost, N. (2011). Qualitative research methods in psychology: combining core approaches. Berkshire, England: Open University Press.