They're national, not state standards

Today, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released a set of state-led education standards, the Common Core State Standards, at Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, GA. The English-language arts and mathematics standards for grades K-12 were developed in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders including content experts, states, teachers, school administrators and parents. The standards establish clear and consistent goals for learning that will prepare America’s children for success in college and work.

That’s the first para in today’s NGA and the CCSSO’s press release. Notice the “state-led” language.

For the longest time the Common Core standards have been marketed as “state standards.” This the CCSSI, the last three initials of which are supposed to refer to the State Standards Initiative. The National Governors Association and the trade organization (the Council of Chief State School Officers) pushing the common core standards were very sensitive indeed about this point.

Secretary Reville seems to have missed the talking points from the NGA and the CC folks. The statement released today is entitled:

STATEMENT FROM SECRETARY REVILLE REGARDING COMMON CORE NATIONAL STANDARDS

and begins

Today, we will receive the recently updated draft of the Common Core National Standards. Our curriculum experts and standards writers at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will review them thoroughly, as they have at every opportunity thus far, and will seek out the expertise of our partners in schools, higher education and various national organizations to review the new draft and begin to determine if they match, or even surpass, the rigor of the current Massachusetts standards.

They are national standards and don’t let anyone kid you that they aren’t. But they are also a lot weaker than Massachusetts state standards.