Understanding the Common Core State Standards in ELA

Common Core State Standards Initiative: Colorado’s involvement and decision making

Development Process

In 2009, while CDE was engaged in the standards development initiated by Colorado legislation, the Council of Chief State School Officers (a non-partisan organization of state commissioners of education) and the National Governor’s Association (a bi-partisan organization of state governors) came together to start the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The Common Core State Standards Initiative was an effort to develop voluntary standards in mathematics and English language arts. 

Given that Colorado was concurrently developing its own college and career ready standards, Colorado was among six states asked to provide early feedback on the initial drafts of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in July 2009. CDE also reviewed the two publicly released drafts of the Common Core State Standards. Colorado was able to inform the conversation on the Common Core State Standards based on CDE’s previous experiences and decisions related to writing 21st century standards as well as benefit from the conversation. The concurrent development process of the Common Core State Standards and the Colorado Academic Standards as well as both processes being research based and appropriately benchmarked resulted in two sets of standards that were very closely aligned.

Comparison of the 2009 Colorado Academic Standards and the Common Core State Standards

Following the release of the Common Core State Standards in June 2010, the department engaged the Assessment and Standards Development Services program at WestEd to conduct a gap analysis comparing the 2009 version of the Colorado Academic Standards in mathematics and reading, writing and communicating with the Common Core State Standards in mathematics and English language arts. WestEd provided an annotated version of the Colorado Academic Standards in mathematics and reading, writing and communicating, identifying gaps and inconsistencies between the Common Core State Standards and the 2009 Colorado Academic Standards.  

The gap analysis confirmed the close alignment of the Colorado Academic Standards with Common Core State Standards.  However, the report noted some critical instructional elements which existed in the Common Core State Standards, but were not evident in the 2009 Colorado Academic Standards.  In addition, the report recommends inconsistencies between the two sets of standards be considered and reconciled, where appropriate, to benefit Colorado teachers and students.  

2010 Colorado Academic Standards in Mathematics and Reading, Writing, and Communicating: The best for Colorado

The Colorado State Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards in mathematics and English language arts on August 2, 2010. This decision was made with the expectation that CDE would honor the work and values of the Colorado Academic Standards previously written by Colorado educators and adopted by the board to create the best mathematics and reading, writing, and communicating standards for the State of Colorado. From August to December 2010, CDE engaged the mathematics and reading, writing and communicating subcommittees to assist in integrating the Common Core State Standards within the Colorado Academic Standards. 

In December 2010, CDE re-released the Colorado Academic Standards in mathematics and reading, writing and communicating inclusive of the entirety of the Common Core State Standards.  In addition to the Common Core State Standards, the 2010 version of the Colorado Academic Standards in mathematics and reading, writing and communicating include components unique to Colorado.  Some of these components (e.g., personal financial literacy in mathematics) are required by legislation; other components (e.g., research and reasoning in reading, writing and communicating) are included based on the recommendations of the Colorado standards subcommittees. Integrating the Common Core State Standards and maintaining rich Colorado specific values resulted in a set of standards that is best for the success of Colorado’s teachers and students.

2020 Colorado Academic Standards Reading, Writing, and Communicating

Colorado's State Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards for ELA (CCSS ELA) as part of the Colorado Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, and Communicating (RWC) in 2010, and reaffirmed that adoption with their approval of revisions to the standards in 2018. However, the CCSS ELA are only a part of Colorado's reading, writing, and communicating standards, as Colorado is required to have a more robust document that supports the integration of the Colorado Essential Skills and the Minimum Skills Competencies within READ Act. Still, the CCSS ELA (with some edits) form the basis of Colorado's Grade Level Expectations and Evidence Outcomes, and therefore some CCSS ELA materials can be helpful when making sense of Colorado's RWC standards.

• Common Core State Standards Initiative website is the official home of the CCSS. It is hosted and maintained by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NCA Center). It provides parents, educators, policymakers, journalists, and others easy access to the actual standards, as well as supporting information and resources.  

• SAP's website, Achieve the Core contains many other resources related to professional learning, planning and reflection, and classroom resources designed to support the Common Core State Standards. SAP was founded by David Coleman and Jason Zimba, two of the lead writers of the Common Core State Standards.

​