The CORE Community: Career and Technical Education Teachers' Perceptions of the Common Core State Standards after a Professional Development Training

Since the 1983 U.S Department of Education's report, A Nation at Risk, various educational initiatives have been developed to support an increase in state standards and greater educational accountability (Liebtag, 2013). Despite opportunities to link Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and instructional curriculum, CTE teachers often describe a lack of preparedness to teach the CCSS standards. The purpose of this exploratory study was to better understand CTE teachers' perceptions of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) after completion of a professional development training program (i.e., CORE Community). Over 170 teachers completed the CORE Community training, of those 71 teachers completed an electronic survey designed to measure teacher's perceptions of their integration of the CCSS in their classrooms. Prior to CORE Community training, only half of the participants had received additional training on CCSS. Overall, even after directed CCSS training, participants desired additional resources and ideas for integration, though they did indicate changes in their methods of CCSS integration after completing the training program and an increased likelihood to reach out to other teachers for assistance in integrating CCSS.