While critics say it failed to boost student achievement — average fourth-grade math scores have dropped three points and eighth grade by nine since 2009, according to — its champions say it alone can’t improve test performance. Teacher preparedness and learning materials play a far greater role, they argue.

And they credit the Common Core for achieving something that had never been done before: building an on-ramp to algebra from arithmetic. 

Dave Kung, executive director at , a professional organization that works in the higher education space, said this transition was critical, and a major departure from how the subject was taught in earlier decades. 

“The system I went through was largely arithmetic in elementary school and all of a sudden, bam, you hit algebra and suddenly it’s pretty theoretical and pretty abstract,” he said. “The ramp I’m describing is from the concrete nature of arithmetic to the more abstract world of algebra. The Common Core refocused people’s attention on student thinking and that’s an important thing.”

The Common Core was rolled out in 2010 to address the unevenness with which the subject was taught throughout the nation and deepen students’ understanding of this complex topic, often providing children with more than one way to solve a problem. 

Many at the new approach and parents, flummoxed by not being able to help their kids with a subject they’d learned so differently, begrudgingly .  

It took years in many cases for schools to create or adopt the to support the standards. Meanwhile, political foes labeled the standards and school communities buckled under the constant testing pressure with many students of related exams. 

Despite these challenges, math experts say dozens of states still use the standards, some by their original name and others under new monikers. The Common Core has, in many cases, survived even as states across the country revamp their standards to combat poor student performance and wrestle with how to make math and STEM pathways more inclusive. 

While and Florida are among those that dropped the standards — Sunshine State leaders were gleeful about abandoning what they called — others have kept them while making some modifications. 

Louisiana is one such location, changing in 2016. Fourth graders saw their NAEP scores jump between 2022 and 2024 while eighth graders moved a single point. State schools chief Cade Brumley credited the state’s back-to-basics approach for students’ success. 

In Wisconsin, the Common Core remains largely intact, surviving three U.S. presidents and all of the politicization of education that has come with each new term. 

Mary Mooney, a mathematics education consultant with the state, was serving Milwaukee Public Schools when the standards first arrived in 2010. She said her district was uniquely receptive thanks in part to its strong focus on professional learning.  

“At the district level, we were incredibly excited for the Common Core,” Mooney said. “It was finally going to tell us what mathematics is. We thought it was a collection of skills that helps you get an answer. But the Common Core did an amazing job of building better narratives about what mathematics really is and why it is important to every student.” 

She said it helped teachers make connections they hadn’t before. 

“Everybody was challenged with these standards to think differently about mathematics,” she said, adding some teachers, for example, didn’t realize multiplication was so closely tied to elements of geometry. “That was the power of the Common Core. But you really needed good professional learning to see the beauty and power in those standards.”

And while some lament the Common Core for its perceived lack of impact on test scores, Kung said he isn’t too concerned about the standards’ relationship to students’ grades. 

He said the National Assessment of Educational Progress and state tests often reflect “straightforward procedural stuff,” adding, “if a student lost a little bit of that, I’m kind of OK with that if what they gained is a better understanding of what is going on.”

As a historical analogy, he noted that at some point students lost their ability to use . And nobody bemoans that, he said, adding there are some elements of mathematics — what he calls “the drill-and-kill stuff” — for which there are no remaining proponents. 

When Wisconsin was given a chance to jettison the standards during a review process a few years ago, Mooney said, the state opted to keep them, driven by their success and the effort it took to learn and adopt them. And the Common Core made educators rethink the notion of math fluency, which often equated to speed. 

There are far better goals, she said.

“When you think about being fast, you tend to have memorization as the only strategy for understanding your facts,” she said. “We added ‘flexible’ and ‘efficient,’ which helped teachers … to teach the math behind the facts and not simply getting an answer.”

Arlene Crum, director of math for Washington state until last year, said state law requires the education department to periodically revise its learning standards. The review began when Crum still worked for the state, she said, adding she urged officials to stay true to the Common Core for three critical reasons. 

First, she said, the standards were sound. And districts had been working for the last 10 years to make sure their instructional materials were aligned to it at her office’s request, she said. 

“So, I felt it would be a huge task for districts to have the rug suddenly pulled out from them,” Crum said. “And because it’s a national set of standards, there are a ton of resources to help teachers with it.”

Josh Recio of the in Austin said the Common Core works best in the younger years and in getting students ready for the challenges of algebra, a gateway course to higher-level math in high school and college. 

“Most people realize the K-8th grade Common Core standards do a really nice job of preparing students for algebra in high school,” he said. “There is something to be said for having guidance, for having people who are very smart and understand these issues that students face and took the time to write down a set of standards to prepare students for high school. There is a progression of learning that makes sure you are successful once you get there.”

The Gates Foundation provides financial support to Charles A. Dana Center and to The 74.

Some have modified graduation requirements or retooled stalwart courses — particularly Algebra II — to include data science, statistics and probability, topics of great interest to a wide swath of students headed to college or the workforce. 

No longer are they steering everyone toward calculus, a course that is not universally available — nor pertinent to all students’ academic and professional lives. 

And high schools are not making these critical decisions in isolation: Many are working with college administrators — post-secondary math is also being reconsidered — to better align their coursework. 

Many member states also pledge to train high school teachers to help make the switch.

“Everyone agrees that different college students need different math — quantitative literacy for humanities, stats for most social sciences, calculus for STEM and economics,” said David Kung, the Center’s policy director. “Everyone also agrees that all K-12 students should be in the same math through at least algebra. The big question is where and how to branch [after that], with different students getting different math — and how to do that equitably.”

The , which seeks to ensure all children — particularly the underserved — have equitable access to high-quality mathematics and science instruction, began operating out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1991. It has helped shape math for students in that state and has also worked with dozens of districts outside Texas, its efforts funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The revamping of mathematics comes at a critical time: Math proficiency tanked nationwide during and after COVID, prompting educators to seize the opportunity to overhaul the subject with the hope of improving student engagement and outcomes. 

Josh Recio, the Center’s course program specialist, said change of this magnitude takes time: It often requires agreement from several entities, including mathematics teachers’ organizations, the legislature, and parent and community groups. Then, every district in the state has to change its graduation requirements, while also incorporating new course material.

“Each step of this process takes coordinated actions that are not easy to achieve,” Recio said. “And yet, states are persevering because they can see the benefit to students.”

The Center requires those participating in its to make a three-year commitment: Washington and Georgia are on their second cycle. 

Utah started working with the Center around that same time, though it wasn’t officially a member state when the program began. Still, the partnership proved fruitful: In its first three years, the state accomplished three essential goals — and has already seen remarkable academic gains. 

First, it brought K-12 educators and state college leaders together to identify three entry-level college math courses: statistics, quantitative reasoning and college algebra. 

“It really helped to solidify that progression of math content that gets taught all the way through from high school to early college,” said Lindsey Henderson, secondary mathematics specialist with the Utah State Board of Education. 

Then, it made sure to offer these classes to high school students so they could earn college credit for them prior to graduation. 

Finally, Henderson said, the state changed its mathematics offerings so that not all students would be pushed toward calculus: Through pamphlets and online literature, Utah encourages families and students to pick classes aligned with their goals. 

“If you want to be a STEM major or work in business, you should consider college algebra,” she said. “If you’re interested in humanities or performing and language arts, you should take quantitative reasoning. If you’re interested in nursing or psychology, you should take statistics.” 

Like many other participating states, Washington also reworked Algebra II: It identified the elements of the subject it believes all students need and added data science, quantitative reasoning and mathematical modeling, said Arlene Crum, director of mathematics for the state education department. The new course was piloted in the 2022-23 school year.

“We have multiple graduation pathways within Washington where we support and value students heading in many different directions, not only to a four-year university, but many to two-year colleges, the military or into industry,” Crum said. “So, Algebra II should not just be a course that prepares students for the calculus pathway, but it should help students in their thinking for wherever they’re going.”

Washington also reworked its eight-year-old “transition to college” math class, often taken in the 12th grade, bolstering the course’s social-emotional learning elements while also emphasizing statistics. 

Oregon also has changed its high school math standards with the goal of increasing student engagement and participation while improving outcomes for all. 

It now requires two years of foundational algebra, geometry, and data/statistics and a third year that allows students to choose courses from a variety of options, including quantitative reasoning, data science or advanced mathematics. Students can continue into a fourth year through advanced courses in these pathways, including calculus.

“Increasing the number and percentage of students who excel in math and meet high school mathematics graduation requirements is critical to ensuring future post-secondary success — and keeping career options open to students in a variety of CTE and STEM-based fields,” said Oregon Department of Education spokesman Peter J. Rudy. “This is important for all students, most especially for students who are farthest away from mathematics learning opportunities that bring math to life.”

Henderson, of Utah, said these changes have helped more students meet and exceed state mathematics requirements: Just 28% of students completed four years of high school mathematics in 2012 compared to 87% in 2020, after the new initiatives were implemented. 

And, she said, children with disabilities are faring much better in the subject: While only 43% were earning grade-level mathematics credit in 9^th grade in 2012, the figure shot up to 85% in 2020. 

“The pandemic has forced us to recognize that student interest in mathematics is really important,” Henderson said. “It helps us to reach really great outcomes. We want to show kids that math is useful. It’s not just a set of procedures that can only be used by a few.”

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides financial support to The 74.