Talking Points: Common Core State Standards – A Business Perspective
Common Core State Standards respond to an economic and moral imperative in the United
States. Education is a critical engine of business success, national prosperity, job creation, and
individual well-being. The old system of low and inconsistent state standards was obsolete in an
increasingly global economy and reflected low expectations of what students can accomplish.
Before Common Core State Standards, states' standards did not reflect what students need
to know and be able to do to succeed in a global economy
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Business leaders currently report that they cannot find people with the skills they need.
Roughly half of talent recruiters at Fortune 1000 companies report that the shortage of
people with skills in science, technology, engineering and math has hurt their companies’
productivity. Before Common Core, most U.S. states did not have high, clear and
consistent standards for what students should know and be able to do to succeed. At a
time when students in 27 countries outpace our students in science, and 35 countries
outperform us in math, this is not acceptable.
 Common Core State Standards focus on what students need to succeed
 A major study of state standards found that Common Core State Standards in math were
“clearly superior” to standards in 39 states and on par with standards in the rest.
 By lifting standards, Common Core puts more U.S. students on a trajectory to take
advanced math and science classes in high school and college. As technology continues
to advance, we need all the STEM talent we can get.
 Common Core does much more than previous state standards to emphasize vital skills
business need, such as critical thinking and hands-on problem solving. These skills are
essential to preserving the nation's innovative edge.
The old hodgepodge of state standards makes no sense in a global age
 Many U.S. companies have operations in more than one state, and they have common
expectations for what their employees should know and be able to do. Common Core
State Standards are simply common sense.
 Common Core State Standards are benchmarked to the standards of the top-performing
countries. At a time when businesses in Salt Lake City or San Francisco have to compete
with businesses in Sydney, Shanghai or Seoul, our old hodgepodge of state standards left
U.S. companies—and U.S. workers—at a growing disadvantage.
Businesses support Common Core State Standards because they are invested in their
communities
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Businesses support Common Core State Standards, because they are committed to the
communities where they operate. Not only do they have a strong stake in maintaining a
robust local workforce, their employees with children have a deeply personal stake in the
quality of local schools.
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By raising the standard for all students, Common Core helps address the problem of
unequal opportunities in education. In states with lower standards, low-income and
minority students were often held to lower expectations than their wealthier peers. This
perpetuates inequalities and limits diversity in the workplace, as the most disadvantaged
students are least likely to enter challenging and high-paying STEM fields.