Over the past few years, states have worked to develop their individual state standards but the result of these independent efforts has been 51 benchmarks of varying content and quality. As stated by Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, in a Washington Post OpEd piece:

Imagine the outrage if, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers had to move the ball the full 10 yards for a first down during the Super Bowl while the Arizona Cardinals had to go only seven. Imagine if this scenario were sanctioned by the National Football League. Such a system would be unfair and preposterous. But there is little outrage over the uneven patchwork of academic standards for students in our 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Abundant evidence suggests that common, rigorous standards lead to more students reaching higher levels of achievement. The AFT has, since 1995, tracked each state's progress toward establishing standards that meet our characteristics of strong academic content standards. While we have documented some great improvements over the years, much more work lies ahead.

In fact, countries that consistently outperform the United States on international assessments do not have multiple sets of standards the way we do. Instead, they all have national standards. So, perhaps a good place to start would be revisiting the issue of national standards. This concept is not new to AFT. As early as 1992, when the standards movement was just gathering steam, the AFT passed a resolution addressing national standards, which stated:

...research and the experience of other nations indicate that having clear and high content and performance standards for students, basing curriculum and assessments on those standards, providing the resources that schools and teachers need to help students meet high standards, and motivating students to work hard on their studies are the hallmarks of successful education systems.

In the process of developing national standards, state and local education authorities should not lose all say on curriculum and teachers should not be forced to provide instruction in a scripted, lock-step manner, unable to tailor lessons or draw on their own expertise. Education is a local issue, but there is a body of knowledge about what children should know and be able to do that should guide decisions about curriculum and testing. A broad-based group—made up of educators, elected officials, community leaders, and experts in pedagogy and particular content should work together to take the best academic standards and make them available as a national model. Teachers then would need the professional development, and the teaching and learning conditions to make the expectations of those standards a reality.