This report provides the historical background and interpretive analysis needed to understand controversies surrounding Common Core and its associated tests. In this report, Williamson M. Evers presents a revised and expanded version of his expert report for "Jindal v. United States Department of Education et al.," No. 14-CV- 534 (M.D. La), that includes the following four points: (1) That longstanding federal statutes contain prohibitions on the federal government in general--and the U.S Department of Education in particular--from directing or controlling curriculum; (2) That Common Core in combination with its associated tests are components of curriculum and put the country on the path to a national curriculum; (3) That, notwithstanding the role of the state officials and others in the creation of Common Core and its tests, the federal government and its Department of Education got the states to adhere to the Common Core and its associate tests and are enforcing against the states policies aimed at keeping in place these national standards and national tests (or their federally-approved equivalents); and (4) That, although the Common Core and its tests are defended as needed for school-improvement purposes, there is an alternative approach to school improvement that is consistent with the Constitution and federal statutes.