States to Share New Academic Standards

Pennsylvania is jumping onboard a plan to standardize education across the nation.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative would have all states assess their students in the same way. Pennsylvania Department of Education spokeswoman Leah Harris says that would help states compare results, which is hard to do with so many different state tests.

“With the Common Core Standards, we’ll be able to do that comparison so we can find out, ‘Whoa, Pennsylvania’s doing really great in science, but for some reason is falling behind our neighbors in math,’ and then gather those resources to see what we could be doing better,” says Harris.

Harris says the Pennsylvania Board of Education must first vote to pass the Common Core standards. She says that shouldn’t be hard because they’re almost the same as the current state standards.

Harris says after the proposal passes the state board, it must then go through an Independent Regulatory Review Commission and a public comment period. She says the whole process could take a year or so.

The Common Core State Standards website says the federal government is not involved in the creation or updating of the standards.