Evaluation of the New York City Department of Education Core Curriculum Options and Citywide Curriculum Professional Development

Project

The New York City Department of Education contracted with the American Institutes for Research to evaluate the extent to which the Common Core curriculum has been implemented in schools and to examine the impact of professional development.

Research Goals

The key goals of the study were as follows:

  1. To examine the extent to which the Common Core curriculum has been successfully implemented.
  2. To examine the extent to which the Common Core Professional Development (CCPD) has acted as a facilitator of the Common Core curriculum implementation. 
  3. To evaluate the impact of Core Curriculum uptake and application on teacher instructional practice and the moderating effect of CCPD on this impact.

Research Questions

  1. To what extent was the Common Core curriculum successfully implemented?
  2. To what extent was the CCPD a facilitator of Common Core curriculum implementation?
  3. What was the impact of Common Core curriculum uptake and application on teacher instructional practice? What was the moderating effect of CCPD on this impact?

Methods

AIR employed a range of data collection methods, including an online teacher survey, classroom observations, interviews and focus groups with school-based staff, and analysis of samples of student work.