California shows greater acceptance of the CCSS

While every state has residents who are for and against the Common Core State Standards, Californians are more accepting of the CCSS than individuals in other states, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Patient about education changes
California, which adopted the Common Core Aug. 2, 2010, is just used to having standards that educators need to teach toward, Gerardo Loera, executive director of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Office of Curriculum, Instruction and School Support, told the news source. In his opinion, this is one reason why Californians have not shown much resistance to the CCSS.

This certainly has not been the case in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Georgia, where people have not hesitated to protest the Common Core.

"I don't mean that we don't have any controversy," Deborah Sigman, deputy superintendent of the California Department of Education's Public Instruction, District, School & Innovation Branch, told the news outlet. "There are some naysayers. But I think it is fair to say that we have less at every level."

The fact that California developed its own standards in the late 1990s, which were considered to be among the nation's most ambitious educationally, may have something to do with Californians' level of ease with the Common Core. After all, Loera said the new Standards do not represent too radical of a shift away from what people were already familiar with.

More changes to come
As there are more students in California than any other state, it is only fitting that the Golden State is so committed to improving education. However, it is not stopping with the CCSS.

This past September, the California Department of Education announced that the state had adopted the Next Generation Science Standards. The state took this step to help students become better prepared for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM fields.

Earlier this month, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that would suspend the California STAR Testing Program and replace it with a new assessment system that better reflected the CCSS.

"Faced with the choice of preparing California's children for the future or continuing to cling to outdated policies of the past, our state's leaders worked together and made the right choice for our students," said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in a statement. "These new assessments represent a challenge for our education system - but a lifetime of opportunity for students. As a teacher, I'm thrilled to see our state and our schools once again leading the way."