The nation's education system has been going through a rough patch in which the smallest of developments in one corner of the country are having ripple effects in other parts of the country — and not always positive ones.

For example, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposal to bring about drastic changes in teacher evaluations has created quite a furor. His proposal suggests that 50 percent of the evaluations should be tied to how students are faring in standardized test scores.

Most teachers and administrators are of the opinion data-driven support systems would be much better at defining teacher performance than these scores. That will provide a clearer picture of the quality of teaching and improve it in the process.

However, if there is a stronger focus on test scores, there needs to be homogeneity in the texts themselves.

Despite protests and confusions, Common Core is making its presence felt. If students and teachers are going to be evaluated on common standards, it is not surprising that demands for standardized texts are also rising every day.

EdReports.org, a non-profit organization that is considered the "Consumer Reports of K-12 textbooks," found that textbooks and classroom materials across the country are severely lacking in quality and homogeneity, as per the Common Core State Standards.

They have also found that many academic publishers have been selling "Common Core aligned" books and teaching materials that do not actually follow the standards at all. The result is increasing confusion, knowledge gap and dismal performance in tests, completely failing the ultimate objective.

The confusion starts right at the root since the Common Core State Standards spell out only the grade-level skills and knowledge that students should possess in reading and math. They do not specify or outline how and what to teach to reach those levels. So each local school district decides on its own what the teaching materials should be included.

With this reality in place, assessing students on standardized tests and teachers on nonstandardized texts is no less than a folly. Some states have always been ahead in their choice of teaching materials, as well as their way of imparting information. They have made their resentment for Common Core plain, but they have been especially livid at being evaluated when the entire teaching texts are so markedly different from each other.

Following Cuomo's proposal, teachers and parents in New York are up in arms. They strongly believe that relating teachers' work to just test scores is an extremely one-dimensional approach to an area as complex as education.

Then there are the extraneous factors that affect teaching as well as student performance like background, situational and demographic differences. Teachers must take these into account constantly to ensure that their wards get a well-rounded education despite all odds. They want to make sure that every student feels motivated about tests so that they can get a 100 percent turnout every time. Focusing on just the scores would undermine years of effort to curb dropout rates.

As the debates rage on, it seems some help is on its way. Michigan State University researcher William Schmidt has created and introduced a Web-based tool for teachers across the country. This free tool is designed to help them teach the Common Core in mathematics.

In the absence of truly standardized texts, this tool will help teachers create and align their lessons with the Common Core standards. Different texts would mean different learning opportunities and results, not necessarily conducive to doing well in the tests.

Since test results are of paramount importance now, this seems to be a step in the right direction for bringing about uniformity of texts and lessons for all.