What Students Are Taught: Why it Matters, Who Gets a Say and Who Doesn’t

Lack of resources for struggling schools prevents improved educational outcomes from Common Core. Without these additional resources, challenged schools cannot provide students who need extra help reaching the more rigorous Common Core standards the support they need to achieve well. However, because low Common Core test performance is still used to determine which schools, teachers, and students are failing, this leaves struggling schools with no chance to improve educational outcomes for its neediest students. Since Common Core standards were intended to raise all students’ educational outcomes, in order for them to achieve their desired purpose, it is necessary to find a way to enable all schools to teach to the standards, regardless of their students’ background or starting ability. Thus, the Investing in Innovation (i3) grants, a federal program specifically designed to fund schools trying to improve student achievement and growth, can fill this gap for these struggling schools either through increased monetary resources via grant funding or through increased collaborative support via sharing of best practices for improvement from past successful i3 grant recipients.