The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a collaborative effort between the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA) that is developing core K12 standards in English-language arts and math. The current patchwork of state standards makes it difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate student performance across states and countries. Dissatisfaction with this situation is a major factor driving the effort to develop common, internationally benchmarked standards. The CCSSO and NGA released draft standards for college and career readiness in September, and the groups plan to have final standards for each grade level ready in January 2010. At that point, the states and territories that are participating in the initiative--all but Texas, South Carolina and Alaska at this time--will submit their timelines and processes for adopting the standards. Any state may choose to include additional standards beyond the common core as long as the common core represents at least 85 percent of that state's standards. The implications of this process for states and districts will be profound and far-reaching. The author decided to speak about it at length with Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the CCSSO, and Dane Linn, director of the Education Division of the NGA Center for Best Practices. This article presents his interview with Wilhoit and Linn.