Watters identifies standards as her third theme in education technology for 2013. She details the standard assessments for the Common Core, the Common Core itself and how these standards seem to push adoption and growth of more technology (hardware, software and bandwidth) within education.
In the world of geography we have a newly published set of standards (update to Geography for Life 2012). There are no Common Core requirements that link directly to geography, however.
Still, for those who want to increase absorption of geographic thinking, there are resources to use geography and GIS to support the Common Core goals, Have a look at content from National Geographic, Seth Dixon, and History Tech (geography games that align with the Common Core).
And, for those who want to infuse GIS in teaching and learning, there are resources to align the technology to the Common Core from Barbaree Duke (now a colleague of mine at Directions Magazine) and the State of Tennessee.
My suspicion is that at the Common Core and its assessments rolls out over the next years, more resources like these will become available. It's even possible that the Common Core and its assessments might even be an impetus to increase geography and GIS teaching and learning in K-12 education in the U.S.