I was told by a Principal that with the new Common Core they don't care if you get the ANSWER RIGHT- they care that you know HOW you got it! They want the child to show they have the critical thinking skills.
My DS6, in 2nd but doing 3rd grade math, does everything in his head and dislikes showing work- but he is able to state how he comes up with answer, if asked.
I was told they don't want you to MEMORIZE facts, but be able to "do" them.
These things are much a matter of the interpretation and implementation of the CC by the curriculum. Third grade includes standards that say "fluently add and subtract" and fifth grade includes "fluently multiply" statements. The degree of fluency is not stated. Our district has an interpretation that they claim comes from the standards of 3 seconds per problem.
Right answers vs process is a debate that's been raging much longer than the CC, and again, it appears to arise largely through the implementation of the curriculum.
CC has long appeared to me as an issue of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Same chairs, same boat, same iceberg.
