Education Strategy

California will toss out its current curriculum and require students to read the same textbooks and learn the same arithmetic as children in most other states, the Board of Education decided Monday.

The board unanimously adopted national academic standards to be in sync with schools across the country. So far, about 30 other states have also adopted the so-called Common Core State Standards.

The new content means discarding the standards California officials adopted about 13 years ago – standards widely considered among the best in the country.

Yet despite initial concerns that the new national academic standards would dumb down California’s curriculum, state education officials said Monday that with just a few tweaks and some additional content, the new standards will give kids a stronger, more organized approach to math and English.

“The Common Core standards build upon the best of California’s rigorous standards with the best of what other states and high-performing countries offer their students,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell.

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