Educators in forty-five states and the District of Columbia are hard at work interpreting and implementing the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010). This work typically involves teacher participation in professional development activities focused on developing an understanding of the content standards as well as the standards for mathematical practice. Across the country, educators are also analyzing the model content frameworks, item prototypes, and achievement level descriptors being released by the two national assessment consortia: The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). Although mathematics teachers still have to prepare their students for current state assessments, many educators are beginning to ask--with justifiable anxiety, given the consequences attached to student performance--how their students might perform when the new assessments are first administered in the 2014-15 school year. Results will ultimately depend on a variety of factors, including how PARCC and SBAC performance standards required for proficiency will be set. However, there is strong evidence that educators nationwide should expect significant reductions in the percentage of students deemed proficient when compared with the proficiency rates currently reported by states using their own assessments. In this article the author asserts that we need to recognize that to achieve the vision of higher mathematics achievement for all students, perseverance will be a critical attribute not only for students but also for the entire system. All those involved in educating students and with an interest in their success will need the perseverance and courage to accept that previous scores were artificially high and work from a new baseline to support better teaching and learning for all students.