National Standards for Education

State governors and state school superintendents proposed new national education standards for grades K-12. The standards, called the "common core state standards," set grade by grade guidelines for teachers to follow in English and math. Forty-eight states, not including Alaska and Texas, participated in making the standards and if a majority of the state adopts them, the standards would replace the locally written ones that are in place now. The NY Times says "adoption of the new standards would set off a vast new effort to rewrite textbooks and standardized test."

The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State Schools started the national standards movement last year, working with English and math experts from the College Board, A.C.T., and Achieve, Inc. Over the next few weeks, education experts are invited to review and comment on the standards before the final versions are published, although some states are already preparing to instate them. In some states, implementing the standards is a simple process that could take as little as three months, while others, such as California, have extremely complicated adoption procedures.

President Obama has expressed his support for the new education standards, stating "Today's system of 50 different sets of benchmarks for academic success mean fourth grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 point lower than students in Wyoming -- and they are getting the same grade." The Obama administration had no part in drafting the standards, but offers a $4 billion incentive for the states that adopt the guidelines.

Click on the title for a link to the Common Core State Standards Initiative website

Im glad there is effort by the states and the Obama administration to highten education, I'm just not sure how efective these new standards will be. Do you think there will actually be a noticeable change in the classroom?