Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Common Core State Standards Test Preparation. The Common Core State Standards Initiative is an effort to ensure that all students in public schools in America acquire the skills and knowledge they need in order to be prepared to achieve success at college or in the workforce.
The federal government is not responsible for this initiative; it was developed at the state level by government leaders and education professionals who were concerned about the lack of national standards for the education of children. As of this writing, 45 states have voluntarily adopted the standards, along with three territories and the District of Columbia. Before the initiative, each state set its own educational requirements, which led to a situation in which some states had much lower standards than others.
Not only was this unfair to the students who were being held to the lower standards, it also made it very difficult for parents, colleges, and employers to gauge the value of a high school diploma, because requirements varied so greatly. Common Core State Standards Initiative. Common Core Curriculum Maps.