Business Roundtable President John Engler appeared on William J. Bennett's "Morning in America" radio program this week to discuss the Common Core State Standards. BRT-member CEOs are strong backers of the educational standards as a way to make sure our students and U.S. competitiveness are keeping up with those around the world.

Opposition to the state standards has arisen recently in state legislatures, largely out of a suspicion that the initiative is a stalking horse for federal control of schools (and it makes for useful political fodder). Others say teachers just aren't ready for implementation of the program, and besides, we need more money. (See State Edwatch for the political state of play.)

In his introductory remarks, Bennett -- a former U.S. Secretary of Education -- was positive about the standards on English language arts and mathematics, saying, "I tend to think they’re pretty good. It’s all of course in how they’re applied, how they’re implemented, and this is something states are free to do or not. They can opt in or out." That said, Bennett did object to the Obama administration tying "Race to the Top" incentive money to Common Core.

BRT's Engler said, "This started with the governors long before President Obama became a candidate for president. This goes way back." And indeed, the governors of both parties worked with the state superintendents to develop the standards; the two groups have not always seen eye to eye.

The standards are a way to measure educational achievement, letting, for example, parents and teachers know if a student can add four plus four. After all, mathematics is the same worldwide. With solid data, you can make solid comparisons of performance. As governor of Michigan, Engler said he always wanted to be able to see which state was doing better: Michigan or Ohio.

"We leave the teaching, the curriculum, textbooks – all of that – up to the states and the local school districts, but we ought to know what we’re shooting at," Engler said. "It’s sort of like playing baseball and not keeping track of batting averages, I think."

Here's the audio of the Bennett segment.

Engler also had a letter published in last Sunday's Detroit News making the case for the standards as imperative for the United States to keep up with our competitors. Excerpt:

The sad reality is, when it comes to math and reading, America's students are just not keeping up with the rest of the world.

The most recent Programme for International Assessment (PISA) scores, for example, report that U.S. students rank 14th in reading and 25th in math among developed countries.

In a global economy, companies will be attracted to countries where students demonstrate the knowledge, critical thinking abilities and the skills to succeed at work.