The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of middle school principals in South Georgia as to the first 3 years of common core standards implementation. First, I wanted to investigate the impact of professional development and teaching strategies on student achievement as measured by standardized test scores from 2013 to 2015. Second, I sought to collect the overall perception of principals regarding teacher attitudes, student performance, and principal attitudes during the 3-year period. The research methodology used was a descriptive quantitative design with an online survey as the primary mode of data collection. In addition, standardized test scores for 2013, 2014, and 2015 were obtained from the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement website. Thirteen of the 28 middle school principals surveyed responded to the online survey, a response rate of 46.4%. Results of the survey showed an increase in the number of professional development opportunities offered to teachers from the first to the third year of the implementation of the common core standards. The most common types of professional development during these years were creating constructed response items, training in using the Georgia Department of Education online resources, and technology integration. The most common teaching strategies were writing in mathematics, formative assessment, and higher-order thinking. Emerging themes from survey responses regarding teacher attitudes included increased stress levels and concerns about having enough time to teach the standards, although over 75% agreed with the tenets of common core. The majority of principals thought they provided teachers adequate support, but were not satisfied with the support ii they [principals] received from the district. The most challenging aspects of the standards implementation were time, lack of funding and appropriate curriculum resources, scheduling intervention classes, and parental support. Correlations between professional development, teaching strategies, and test scores were not established due to limitations in the research design. Nonetheless, this research provided useful information to school and district administrators regarding professional development, teaching strategies, and most importantly, the overall principal perception during the first 3 years of common core.