Beyond Fact-Checking

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were released in 2010 with an appendix that claimed to outline a research-based case for the standards. In this article, we examine the CCSS Appendix A as a case of research use in policy by analyzing the type of sources the document cites, the accuracy of its claim-citation relationships, and the frames its authors used in arguing for the standards. The 59 claims in Appendix A were supported by 112 citations to 97 unique sources. Reports and peer-reviewed articles were the most commonly cited sources, but about a third of claims made did not have a close relationship to the cited material. This analysis raises questions about the use of research evidence in influential policy documents, suggesting that critical consumers scrutinize the content of policy documents and their relationship to the research used to authorize their claims.