This initiative has its roots in the 1990s when states began creating academic standards for their schools. Governors from various states banded together to create Achieve, Inc., an organization devoted to the creation and adoption of viable standards.

By 2009, a set of common standards had been written and agreed upon, with the purpose being to “provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them” (Core Standards n.d.). By 2016, forty-two states had decided to adopt the Common Core standards, which offer direction on what students should know in the key areas of math and literacy. A corollary set of standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, was developed for the sciences.

Though the Common Core has been on the receiving end of vitriol, primarily from Republican governors, and several states have withdrawn from the standards, the jury is still out on whether they are working. The consensus seems to be that, as with many educational efforts, the top-performing students will continue to get better. However, the Common Core introduces new, more difficult concepts at an earlier age, particularly in math. Low-performing black boys who have not yet grasped the base concepts will not have the foundation to build upon. The result will likely be, as so often in the past, a rash of dropouts who simply do not have the background to do the required work.