The new Common Core State Standards, adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, are poised to remake the business of schooling in the United States. While the education initiative started with a wealth of bipartisan goodwill, it has now engendered confusion and controversy, and a handful of states have dropped out or scaled back their participation. What will the new expectations really mean for how teachers teach, and students learn? And will states – and the public – have the patience to ride out the bumpy road of implementation?

To answer these questions, The Hechinger Report (with logistical support from EWA) sent reporters into seven states to find out what’s working, the challenges ahead for wide-scale implementation, and how the Common Core could change the way students learn and teachers teach. The stories offer a thoughtful look inside classrooms, and also address concerns being raised about the cost of implementation and the  assessments that will be used to measure student progress.