Preface: This article has been developed based on a personal discussion between the German author Gunter Tomer and Alan Schoenfeld, who is an expert in the field of mathematical didactics. Basically there are three reasons for us to share our insights with the public:(1) Readers, having subscribed to Jerry Becker's e-mail information network, have received numerous messages over the past few months; what do we need to know about this fact in Germany?(2) Scholastic standards - a keyword that sounds very familiar to us in terms of educational policy... But it is also a hot topic in other countries. What can we conclude from these discussions?(3) Scholastic standards - if they are developed, people will be eager to test their implementation. A very complex problem in the United States and maybe even in Germany!?1. American Education FederalismBefore giving a more detailed report on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)2, we need to recall a couple of facts on the American educational system. In fact, the United States are not so different from our federal republic: While we need to level off 16 federal states, on the other side of the Atlantic they need to cater for 60 states.This federalism can be explained historically; each state has the sovereignty over its educational policy. Until 2010/2011, when 43 states3 implemented the CCSS, each of the 50 states had its own educational standards and specific performance test to go with these standards.A large number of states has agreed to implement the Common Core, while Washington rewarded this decision by granting national subsidies. For the federal government in Washington, this standardization is worth $ 500 million being distributed among the individual states.Why has standardization become such a hot topic for debate on the other side of the Atlantic? Is the Common Core the best thing since sliced bread, or the work of the devil? Is it brand new, or a rehash of old ideas? Is it anything more than a brand name, or is there substance? Can it work, given the implementation challenges in our political and school systems?Opinions about the Common Core are everywhere, the op-eds I've seen are often short on facts, and equally short on common sense.2. What's the Common Core State Standards Mathematics (CCSSM) about?Take a look for yourself - the Common Core documents are available at the URL given below4.If you read the first pages of CCSSM and then sample the rest, you'll get a good sense of what's intended. In brief, CCSSM focuses on two deeply intertwined aspects of mathematics: the content people need to know, and the knowhow that makes for its successful use, called mathematical practices.At heart, the CCSSM are about thinking mathematically. Here are two visions of a third grade class, both taken from real classrooms, which underline our statement.In one, students are practicing addition and subtraction, getting help where needed to make sure they get the right answers. In another, the students have noticed that every time they add two odd numbers, the sum is even. A student asks, Will it always be true? Another says but the odd numbers go on forever, we can't test them all. Pretty smart for a third grader!But later, a student notices that every odd number is made up of a bunch of pairs, with one left over. When you put two odd numbers together, you have all the pairs you had before, and the two left-overs make another pair - so the sum is even. And this will always be the case, no matter which odd numbers you start with. Now that's mathematical thinking - and it's what the core should be about. Of course, kids should do their sums correctly, and, they should be able to think with the mathematics.CCSSM provides an outline of the mathematics that students should learn. It's important to understand what the Common Core is not. Most importantly, the Common Core is not a curriculum - and this is equally the case for the scholastic standards in Germany. …