In 2010, the United States of America spent an average of $15, 171 per student in our education system, nearly $6,000 more than the average of other developed countries. In the same year, we ranked 17^th of all developed countries in education, based on international standardized tests. Throughout our nation’s history, education has been left up to state governments, who have each created and administered their own standardized testing. Recently, however, our country seems to be headed in a direction of national standards for our students’ education, with more rigorous expectations.

Meet the Common Core State Standards, developed in 2009 by the National Governors Association for Best Practices (mouthful #1) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (mouthful #2). The two mouthfuls’ collectively aim to better prepare students for life after high school, which is a problem that certainly needs addressing. Since 2001, the number of incoming college students who have needed to take remedial classes in college is staggering, jumping from a rather high one-third to a record high of 40% of incoming college freshmen. Yes, two out of every five students who enter college do not meet standards for their education, including kids who did well in high school. Studies show that 80% of kids who need remedial courses had a GPA of above 3.0 in high school.

While many experts in education feel standardized testing is part of the problem in our education system, Common Core has decided that it can be the solution. Their newest legislation (already adopted by 45 of our 50 states including Pennsylvania) plans on standardized tests across our entire country, rather than individual tests by each state. This will allow comparisons between states to be easier and more accurate, fueling a competitive nature between state education systems and, hopefully, driving up quality of our education. In addition, the standardized testing is anything but generic. While hatred of standardized testing often stems from its focus simply on whether the student gets the right answer or not, Common Core testing is all about how the student came to the conclusion they did. In simpler terms, the answer you get does not matter as much as how you got to that answer.

Common Core certainly has its pros and cons. While it may bring long term benefits, in the short term we will certainly have a difficult few years of transitioning. You will see state governments putting more money into their respective education systems as competition increases, and education will probably become an even higher priority on each state’s agenda. In addition, an influx of retiring teachers may occur, as veteran teachers nearing retirement choose to retire early rather than learn the new style of teaching necessary to be successful in Common Core. I argue, however, that a new generation of teachers will be trained specifically for Common Core, and the teaching position will likely become a more competitive and educated field. In addition, Common Core will increase the costs of schools significantly, as many schools put funds into the technology necessary to give the (often online) exams, as well as buy new textbooks that replace many suddenly obsolete pre-Common Core textbooks.

My rebuttal to this argument stems from the nature of education and why we care so much about test scores. Economists throughout history have argued that education leads to economic growth, and here in this 21^st century we finally have the data to support this correlation (see graph). In addition, according to the groups who constructed Common Core, “higher math performance at the end of high school translates into a 12% increase in future earnings. If the United States raised students’ math and science skills to globally competitive levels over the next two decades, its GDP would be an additional 36% higher 75 years from now.” (5).

Clearly raising the bar for education can lead to higher economic growth, which will help Common Core pay for itself in the long run. Not convinced? Well, the primary argument for Common Core is a concept called an international benchmark. Internationally benchmarking can be defined as seeing how your area ranks against other areas and, more importantly, to learn from top performers and rapid improvers. This means learning from the insight and ideas outside of state lines.

For example, in the United States studies show that “disadvantaged and low-achieving students tend to receive a watered down version of the curriculum in larger classes with less qualified teachers – exactly opposite of the education practices of high performing countries.” (6).

You may be wondering why you have not seen Common Core yet as a student in Pennsylvania. Or perhaps you figured out that the Keystone Examination administered to us last year and Pennsylvania adoption of Common Core standards in July of 2010 was no coincidence. Yes, it the mandate is influencing us, especially our current freshmen class, as a “proficient” rating on the three current Keystone Exams is a graduation requirement for the class of 2017 and all future Harriton High School Students. Like it or not, the Common Core State Standards are our state standards and are uniting these United States of America in a brand new way. Whether it will truly raise the education rankings in the US or not, only time will tell.