Today’s News & Observer features two op-eds on the Common Core State Standards.  I wrote the first one.  Bill Harrison, former chairman of the NC State Board of Education, wrote the other one.

Harrison seems to admit that standards formerly developed by the NC Department of Public Instruction (and approved by the State Board of Education) were mediocre.   I agree that the state-developed standards were not rigorous and that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a step up.  The question is – why didn’t Harrison and his colleagues on the NC State Board of Education demand that NC DPI develop higher standards when they were in charge?