A Case Study of Two High School English Teachers Transitioning from Arkansas Writing Standards to Common Core Writing Standards in the Secondary English Classroom

The purpose of the study is to gain an understanding of secondary English teachers' perceptions towards implementing Common Core writing standards. The study allowed me to examine how teachers' perceptions affect the level of implementation of Common Core writing standards in their English classrooms during the first year. The study focused on two research questions and two sub-questions centering on the perceptions of secondary English teachers and how they are responding to early implementation to the Common Core State Standards. Specific facets to consider in teachers' transitioning from state standards to Common Core standards are what pedagogical training opportunities teachers received related specifically to CCSS; how instruction was designed (or redesigned); and, how teachers were expected to adapt their teaching to meet the Common Core State Standards. The importance of this study is that it offers and extends knowledge in the area of changing from state controlled writing standards to one set of writing standards that are available to all states. Teachers, students, educators, and perhaps educational policy makers might find this study important because many states' education departments (e.g. Arkansas Department of Education) have offered a number of assumptions about how this transition will work; but, because this particular transition is new, few studies or experiences yet exist. This study offers knowledge – based on data gathered from questionnaires, interviews, and observations – about how teachers' perceptions influenced the implementation of Common Core State Standards in a localized classroom setting. Also, one of the more relevant benefits of the study was the foundation of knowledge from the teaching fields that may inform future studies, theories, curriculum, policies, and teacher practices (among other possibilities) about implications in implementing the Common Core State Standards for any content.