Issues in Analyzing Alignment of Language Arts Common Core Standards With State Standards

This commentary on Porter, McMaken, Hwang, and Yang’s “Common Core Standards: The New U.S. Intended Curriculum,” which finds a lack of alignment between the Common Core State Standards and state standards and assessments, suggests possible reasons for the lack of alignment. It also offers possible reasons for Porter et al.’s finding of a lack of focus in the standards. It raises questions about the use of a cognitive-processing framework for conducting content analysis of the standards.