A PIPELINE ISSUE:

Many academics helped design the standards for kindergarten through 12th grade. But colleges and universities have been slower when it comes to bringing their own programs into synch with this massive overhaul of U.S. primary and secondary education.

Many higher education types "sit in their ivory tower assuming that Common Core is a K-through-12 issue. It is not," said Pamela Clute, assistant vice chancellor of educational and community engagement at the University of California, Riverside, who is spearheading an effort among university professors and administrators to collaborate on the Common Core with public school districts in two surrounding counties. "It's a pipeline issue."

Universities like hers, Clute said, are at the end of that pipeline. Yet despite years of blaming each other for precisely the lack of preparation among students that the Common Core is supposed to address, she said, educators at the various levels of the education system have proven tough to bring together.

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