New Standards Draft Offers More Details

Disagreements Over Language Arts Lead to Beefed-Up Expectations for 'College and Career Readiness'

The latest draft of proposed common academic standards offers more-detailed expectations of what students should know and be able to do by the end of high school in math and language arts, but also notes that some decisions about curricula should be left to individual states and schools.

The new version, released for public comment last week, is meant to provide guidelines for determining “college and career readiness” for students around the country.

“You’ll find greater consistency across both documents,” said Gene Wilhoit, the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers , one of two organizations leading the project. “Our sense is we were able to hold...