Curriculums and standards for education continue to differ vastly from state to state.
I disagree, especially for students in the elementary and middle school grades. For the past 20+ years, curriculums across the country have all been based on the same few textbooks and programs from Pearson (Scott Foresman), McGraw-Hill and other major publishing companies.
I taught 3rd and 4th grades for over 10 years. Every year I'd have kids that just moved from another state. Never did I have one who was severely behind because his old school had a completely different curriculum.
A student from Florida or Iowa looking to receive a degree from the SUNY system is expected to take about a year longer than students from other states (because they take many remedial classes).
That's college-level. Common core testing is K-8. College has it's own set of problems, and that's a debate for a whole other time
From your comments, it's not clear that you understand what the common core is or how it is implemented.
I am a former teacher. Now I own a small company in Tonawanda that publishes curriculum resources, most of which is common core aligned.
Teachers are complaining now because Cuomo is looking at districts like ours where we spend far more than other districts, have wildly overreaching teachers' unions, and have awful results. They don't want their fat salaries (Ken-Ton is >30th in scoring but <10th in compensation in the region) and unreasonable benefits packages threatened by scrutiny while they continue to fail to produce good students.
I think administrators, teachers, and parents are on the same page with this one. Locals schools have has 50% opt out rates. Ken-Ton has over 30% opt-out. That's a strong statement of protest. And I don't think 50% of parents are opting out because they care about the teachers' benefits. It's because they don't like the intensity of the tests and/or common core.
However, we are in agreement when it comes to reform. The school district - like most in the area - overspends. Teacher unions are overreaching. And schools do need a way to effectively evaluate teachers.
But I don't think common core is the solution. Personally, I'd prefer a strong STATE curriculum and STATE testing. These national standards are trying to solve a problem that never existed. And a national curriculum can't work unless kids in every state are taking the same national tests.