Teaching English in Central California

They could make up to $130,000 in merit pay on the basis of their effectiveness--in exchange for giving up tenure for one year. Or they could keep tenure and accept a smaller raise. (Currently, the average teacher's salary in Washington is $65,902.)

Rhee listened but did not offer many specific solutions. "She was vague," Rhodes says. "I got the sense she didn't want to make promises she couldn't keep."

Each state has its own stories: A Connecticut teacher received a mere 30-day suspension for helping students cheat on a standardized test; one California school board spent $8,000 to fire an instructor who preferred using R-rated movies instead of books; a Florida teacher remained in the classroom for a year despite incidents in which she threw books at her students and demanded they referred to her as "Ms. God."

And despite more than a century of social progress, the need to protect teachers from the whims (or the tyranny) of the community remains as important as ever

Almost all states climbed on board the common standards train when the commitment required no more than a statement of interest. Interest was sustained by the promise of Race to the Top money. As the conductor comes around requesting payment (that is, real changes loom) states are beginning to jump.

commonly known as No Child Left Behind, requires that states adopt the standards in order to get access to 14.5 billion in federal funds.

We also need (1) a curriculum that implements the standards; (2) professional development for teachers; (3) lesson plans that implement the curriculum.

But such standards are meaningless without training and assessments aligned to them and, crucially, without time for teachers to prepare for them and for students to achieve them.

Jonathan P. Raymond, the superintendent of the Sacramento public schools, wrote recently: "We have to stop blaming teachers for problems that have multiple causes, ranging from poor administrative oversight and accountability to a lack of parent engagement. I know how hard teachers work to educate every child and challenge students at their ability level. We need to work equally hard to give our teachers the tools and supports they need to be successful. Let's stop scapegoating and come together to find solutions that work."

. These standards become the basis for the way teachers are trained, what they teach and what is on state standardized tests that students take. For example, a first-grade math standard may state that by the end of first grade students are expected to count by 2s, 5s and 10s to 100.

. Although poor and minority students have made gains, there is still a big difference — commonly called "the achievement gap" — between what these students have achieved when compared to their more affluent and white peers.

Without standards, districts and schools don't have goals to shoot for.

articulated staircasing of student skills will help accelerate improvement in student performance and close the achievement gap," he said.

The rigorous, internationally competitive common core standards will help better prepare California students for success in the increasingly competitive global economy," O'Connell said.

By adopting such the common core standards, California can choose to look to the future and build upon what is the best of our own current – and considerable — standards with the best of what other states and high-performing countries offer their students.