For a decade, defenders of California's K-12 standards in math and English language arts have warded off criticisms and legitimate calls for revisions by citing positive reviews by think tanks and praise for the rigor of California's standards.
The common-core state standards initiative that the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers developed offers an opportunity for an overdue reassessment. Reflexive pride of ownership shouldn't stand in the way. If an objective comparison confirms the benefits of common-core standards, then the state should adopt them.
Until now, each state has set its own standards for when students will be taught fractions and quadratic equations, in what grades they'll read "A Wrinkle in Time" and "The Grapes of Wrath" and analyze a technical text.
Congress has fought having the federal government dictate a set of standards. That has led to a hodgepodge of states' standards and made it problematic to compare students' knowledge across states. If California and 47 other states and the District of Columbia in the common-core consortium voluntarily adopt common core, there will be a unified set of K-12 standards, along with new textbooks and eventually new standardized tests, that are designed to produce high school graduates well-prepared to enter college or the workplace.