American educational standards for years lacked consistency from state to state. In Ohio a student may be required to take Algebra yet in Florida that student may only be required to take Geometry. These differences have caused lawmakers and educators to implement a revision of unified standards for states to review and adopt. Therefore, States will now have an adopted set of policies meant to establish better standards across the nation. One of these standards applies to mathematics in the Kindergarten through 12th grade education levels. The United States adaptation of the Common Core mathematics standards has reduced the competitiveness of American schools compared to other nations.
In 2009 the Common Core State Standards Initiative developed new state curriculum standards for implementation across the country. The intention of these standards was not only to unify curriculums across the states, but to implement a greater focus for mathematics than previous
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A question commonly asked would be if the new system would benefit American test scores or American academic standings worldwide? Many educators feared the new standards would place American students at a disadvantage in the international community. Professional mathematician Professor R. James Milgram of Stanford declined to sign off on the Common Core standards; he wrote “While the difference between these standards and those of the top states at the end of eighth grade is perhaps somewhat more than one year, the difference is more like two years when compared to the expectations of the high achieving countries--particularly most of the nations of East Asia”(qtd. in Wurman, and Wilson). Research shows that American test scores internationally, especially in mathematics, have provided warrant to Professor Milgram’s assessment of the new