Regarding textbooks: The common core official website (corestandards.org) indicates that textbook developers have been provided with "
Publisher's Criteria" for English Language Arts and Literacy, and also for Math.
Regarding standardized testing: The common core official website states -
"The new standards also provide a way for teachers to measure student progress throughout the school year and ensure that students are on the pathway to success in their academic careers."
and
... validation committee, which reviewed the standards and found them:
• A sound basis for eventual development of standards-based assessments.
Statements such as these, along with the statements about more students achieving "college and career readiness" under common core seem to indicate:
1) the developers of the common core standards anticipated development of common-core specific standardized testing,
2) the developers of the common core standards endorse the use of these standards-based assessments to measure progress in achieving the common core standards throughout the school year.
Regarding gifted kids: The common core official website directs interested parties to the website commoncoreworks.org for additional information. This website contains "Parent Roadmaps" containing detailed, grade-specific expectations and progressions for the common core ELA & math. Parents could utilize these documents to compare their gifted child's demonstrated skills with the grade-specific expectations.
