Common standards debate takes center stage – what will be different this time?
After a year of development, the much-anticipated “common core standards” for English and mathematics were unveiled this morning, just a day after states’ second-round applications were due in the federal Race to the Top competition.
Officially named the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI), the effort was spearheaded by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, not the federal government. The Obama administration has kept its distance during the development of the common standards because of a general wariness at both the district and state levels of federal involvement in education. And yet, adopting these