Most states have yet to roll out Common Core tests, but most have said they will do so by 2015.

WSJ: New School Standards Spur a Backlash

Fears that 2013 scores will plummet are based partly on the example of Kentucky, where 30 percent fewer students were labeled proficient based on last year's Common Core-aligned tests.

WSJ: Some NY parents to boycott new, harder state tests

In Kentucky, the first state to replace state exams with tests based on Common Core, the percentage of students meeting math and reading goals dropped by about one-third last year.

WSJ: New School Standards Spur a Backlash

In the blueprint for secondary education in England, published on Monday, students will have to pass tests in three "core" skills needed for the workplace - literacy, maths and information and communications technology.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Exam reform may not affect NI

Teachers received practice tests aligned with the Common Core last summer and fall so they could begin preparing their students, but many districts don't yet have the necessary books and materials to teach them.

WSJ: Some NY parents to boycott new, harder state tests

The tests, which have monitored school standards in core subjects such as maths, reading and science since 1969, also found considerable gaps between black and white pupils across the range of ages and subjects.

BBC: Handwriting

The San Diego trumped the dual-core RAZR and its TI OMAP 4430 engine on several of our tests, despite having a slightly higher 600 x 1024 resolution and running Orange's proprietary skin (including gestures) on top of Android.

ENGADGET: Orange San Diego: Intel's Medfield phone gets benchmarked

"The core squad that secured the series win (against the Lions) in the first two Tests has great potential as a unit and we believe that they have much more to offer, " said South Africa coach Pieter de Villiers said in a statement.

BBC: One change for Springboks squad

The tougher tests awaiting New York's third-through-eighth-graders are aligned with the Common Core standards, a national set of guidelines intended to boost academic rigor.

WSJ: Some NY parents to boycott new, harder state tests