Core Standards Initiative

On NPR this morning a lively discussion regarding national education standards covered the feasibility and reliability of implenting new standards for public education. The difference between this and past attempts according the Hoover Instiute expert and National Governor's Association (1, 2) apparently is that this time the standards are being called for by a coalition of states (all but Texas and Alaska's governors if memory serves).

Maybe Julie knows something about this?

We're looking at questions along these lines:

Why is this set of standards better and how are they different from the MCA's?
Are the standards appropriate for college entrance (and exit), is college entrance the goal?
Are the standards high enough (or maybe they're too high)? Compared to the current standards?
Should there be national standards for teachers (as there are for accountants, doctors, etc)?
Will these standards help the US compete against other countries (we are still lagging I presume)?
Are the standards created objectively or possibly to make sure everyone passes?


1) Hoover Institution, Wikipedia. Accessed Sept 30, 2009

2) Hoover Institution Stanford University Accessed Sept 30, 2009.


http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/09/30/midmorning1/

http://www.corestandards.org/Standards/index.htm