Dive Brief:

• Education leaders from South Dakota, Illinois, Massachusetts, Wyoming, Idaho, Louisiana, and California are set to meet with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on Friday in Washington, D.C.
• The topic for the meeting, according to the Associated Press, is to discuss efforts by those states to improve standards and assessments in K-12 education. 
• South Dakota Board of Regents Executive Director and CEO Jack Warner told the AP that those involved would like to better prepare their states' students for college and careers.

Dive Insight:

While the Associated Press story is scant on details, which there may not be many more of at the moment, a look at the states involved is quite telling. Massachusetts, for example, has been celebrated for its high student performance in comparison to other states and the rest of the world. Education reforms made in that state 20 years ago have led to eighth graders who rank No. 2 and No. 6 in the world for science and math, respectively, compared to the No. 10 and No. 9 rankings for the nation's eighth graders at large. Meanwhile, Louisiana's Common Core battles have been a headline-grabber this year, as have Wyoming's attempts to derail Next Generation Science Standards due to their approach to teaching man-made climate change.

The details surrounding those three states and their standards alone will make the outcome of this meeting interesting to watch.