Is the Common Core Making Students Smarter?

There is a lot of debate about the Common Core Standards and whether or not it is helping students. Unfortunately, I think there is a lot of misinformation circulating, and people who aren't very knowledgeable on the subject having a lot to say about it.
For those of you that aren't familiar with the Common Core, it is a set of high-quality academic standards in Mathematics and English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA) that outline goals for what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. As a student going into the teaching profession, I personally think it is nice to have some expectations of what I should be teaching students set out for me. It is also nice to know that students nationwide should be being taught the same things.While most of us would think that it is common understanding what students should learn when, research shows that everyone had a different opinion. Visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/Karin-Chenoweth/wait---tell-me-again-what_b_5758846.html to learn about the important things the Common Core standards can do.
Notice that nowhere in the above definition does it say that the Common Core will tell you HOW to teach these standards. Teachers still have the freedom to come up with their own creative activities to decide how their students learn best.
Many people complain that the standards are "dumbing down" our students. This simply isn't true. In fact, the Common Core is meant to have the opposite effect: to teach students to have more critical thinking skills and not just be able to memorize facts. Others believe the system is setting up kids to fail. Those that oppose the standards need to understand that changes will not be made overnight, and results will not be immediate. Yes, many students will not meet the expectations at first because they haven't been exposed to it long enough, but the ultimate goal is to raise the academic level of EVERY student. If in the beginning a student fails a test, it isn't because they are any less smart, but because the expectations have been raised. As a parent myself, I am all for my child being pushed and challenged academically. Who wants mediocre for their own child?
Therefore, I'm asking that as a society we all become more knowledgeable on the Common Core before we dispute it, and know that it's intentions are to give students higher order thinking skills, not make them less smart or set them up to fail.

 Other resources used:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-rosen/myth-of-the-month-common-_b_5545185.html
http://koin.com/2014/05/01/set-fail-implementing-common-core-curriculum-oregon/
http://www.eagleforum.org/publications/column/common-core-wont-make-kids-smarter.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/Karin-Chenoweth/wait---tell-me-again-what_b_5758846.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev9cysqJNsw


 The following video shows how a teacher uses the Common Core standards to do a fun, engaging activity in her classroom, while getting her students to develop deeper thinking skills.