"Public schools in Ohio, Kentucky and 46 other states will gain new education standards next year for grades kindergarten through 12, experts say."
Education leaders in 48 states are nearing the final stages of a nationwide plan to adopt common guidelines for English and math. (Ohio also is poised to approve new guidelines for science and social studies.)
The standards are expected to be ready for public comment early in 2010. Then, after more revision, each state's board of education must approve the standards for their state.
If that succeeds, it will mark the first time the states agree on what topics and skills students should master at each grade level. And it could lead to comparing educational achievement across state lines.
That's something No Child Left Behind couldn't accomplish.
That eight-year-old set of federal education rules allowed every state to set its own standards and tests for public schools. Critics said some states set standards too low, producing high school graduates unprepared for college or work.
"Academic standards are too low," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said at an October education meeting in Cincinnati. "We're lying to our students, that they are being prepared to succeed in college or to compete in the globally competitive workplace."
An international study in 2006 showed America's 15-year-olds scored lower in math literacy than peers in 31 other countries and lower in science than peers in 22 countries. A different test in 2007 concluded U.S. fourth-graders and eighth-graders underperformed peers in several Asian and European countries in math and science.
The new standards are expected to better align U.S. schools with the world. But not all states are on board: Texas and Alaska's leaders have said they prefer to retain their own state goals.