Some quotes from Common Core: Mathematics in a PLC at Work - High School

The Forward, Richard DuFour
...merely adopting a new curriculum, even a challenging curriculum, will not improve student learning.

...even a well-articulated rigorous curriculum will have little impact on student achievement unless attention is paid to the implementation of the curriculum and the quality of instruction with which it is taught.

Teachers must acquire a shared, deep understanding of the curriculum and its intended goals.  Even more importantly, they must be committed to teaching that curriculum.

The quality of the instruction students receive each day is the most important factor in their learning of mathematics.

On Professional Development:  It must be collective and team based rather than individualistic.  It must be focused directly and relentlessly on student achievement rather than adult activities.

On Culture Shift:  ...from a culture focused on covering mathematics curriculum to a culture fixated on each student's learning, from a culture of teacher isolation to a culture of purposeful collaborations and collective responsibility, from a culture where assessment is used as a tool to prove what students have learned to a culture where assessment is used to improve student learning, and from a culture where evidence of student learning is used primarily to assign grades to a culture where evidence of student learning is used to inform and improve professional practice.

We have an arduous task lying before us.  I am looking forward to new paradigms, and the challenge of meeting the demands and opportunities of this second-order change.