From what I understand it's been a state initiative led by the Council
of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors'
Association... without involvement from the U.S. Dept. of Education or
other aspects of the federal government - just state governments.
My state has not yet adopted these standards but may be making that
decision about a week from now. States can add their own standards to
the common core (15%, whatever that means in practical terms). I
suspect that's what California will do if we adopt them.
I see pros and cons. I like idea of states being able to share
resources more easily, students coming from other states coming into
our schools with very comparable skills (and vice versa), the
possibility of students in different states all taking similar
assessments (useful again for interpreting the needs of incoming
students as well as for comparing results across states), etc.
But if the common core standards are different enough from what we
currently have that we need new textbooks, new state assessments, new
local assessments, new pacing calendars, new professional development,
etc, that's potentially a very large undertaking in terms of both time
and money (at all levels - state, district, school, individual
teachers) - I'm not sure we're ready for that unless the direct
benefits to students are very clear. As it is, the common core math
standards are less rigorous than current California standards... which
raises some concerns about those benefits.
I would imagine the amount of "change" brought on by the adoption of
the common core standards would be quite different in each state
depending on what that state's original standards (and assessments,
and state-adopted instructional materials, if applicable) were like.
It's really still an unknown - it will be interesting to see what
happens.

On 7/25/10, Judy2/CA wrote:
> You could probably improve public schools by eliminating the Dept
> of Education. I remember a Frontline program on PBS that said the
> Dept of Ed is the biggest dumping ground for all the political
> appointees that are "owed" jobs. I agree with everything you said!
>
> On 7/25/10, Too much interference! wrote:
>> On 7/24/10, Alvie wrote:
>>> On 7/24/10, Alvie wrote:
>>>> http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2010/07/on_common_
>>>> standards_dc_makes_2.html
>>>>
>>>> more info at:
>>>>
>>>> www.corestandards.org
>>
>>
>> There is altogether too much interference by the Federal
>> government and the foundations of the billionaires (Bill &
>> Melinda Gates, Eli Broad, Walton Family), nowadays, into the
>> manner in which the states handle public education.
>>
>> The recent push has been toward closing public schools and
>> opening more charter schools.
>>
>> Why doesn't the U.S. Department of Education simply take over all
>> public schools in the United States and turn the staffs into
>> Federal employees?
>>
>> I mean...look at how the U.S. Postal Service has vastly improved
>> the operations of the post offices over the years!

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