Maine education officials today start the process of changing state guidelines on what students should know about math and English by a certain grade level. The current Maine Learning Results, as they're called, are to be replaced with a new set of academic standards called Common Core, already adopted by more than 30 other states.

"The Common Core is really an opportunity for us, for the first time, to have common standards across all of the states," says state Education Department spokesman David Connerty-Marin. Connerty-Marin says Common Core has put other states in a better position to receive federal grants through the "Race to the Top" competition.

Maine is out of the running in that contest, but is still committed to teaching to Common Core standards by 2012. "It's going to make it a lot easier for us to be able to really gauge how we are doing, where we are doing well, where we should be looking to other states for models of teaching or models of assessment," Connerty-Marin says. "And also, it's a good thing because Maine has always been about having rigorous standards."

The new standards are much more rigorous and clearly defined than Maine's system, according to the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington research group, which graded state guidelines and compared them to the Common Core standards, released in June. "The average across the country was a 'C' for both English and math, and that's where Maine is," says the Institute's Vice President for National Programs and Policy Michael Petrilli. "It's much lower though than where Common Core standards came out. They received an A- in math, and a B+ in English."

Petrilli says Common Core standards clearly spell out what's expected of students, where states might not. "The Maine English languages Arts standards, for example, don't address American literature." Specifically, Petrilli says it's unclear whether Maine students should study classics by the likes of Mark Twain and John Steinbeck.

"Now, it doesn't mean that the folks writing those standards didn't think kids should be expected to learn American literature," Petrilli says. "But it does mean that it could happen that at some schools they could go through and not be clear that that basic element of our history and background was to be addressed."

Petrilli says as a result of these higher standards, some states can expect their students to fare worse on tests, and that could require the need to retrain teachers and change curricula. Maine officials are optimistic that won't happen here.

"Historically, we've done quite well -- you know, the whole New England region is strong academically," says Dan Hupp, who oversees educational testing for the state. Hupp says where the state will see major changes is when testing begins in 2014, and students switch from pencil and paper to computer testing.

Testing is being developed through a consortium of states to which Maine belongs. Hupp says the plan is to give students test support throughout the year.

"My vision is that parents and teachers and students will be able to go on line, have the assignments and the assessments that will show the students, 'Yes, you've mastered the material,' and if not, a quick diagnostic to say. 'No, you need to go back, you need to understand this,' with all the supports in place."

Because of the extra testing support and technology, Hupp does not expect the annual cost of student testing in Maine to drop below the $5 million.

The Maine Education Association did not return comment by air time, but state Education Department spokesman David Connerty-Marin says that there has been strong support for the Common Core standards by Maine teachers.

The department plans to hold a public hearing on the standards in the coming month, and then present them for approval by the Legislature when it begins work in January.