"46 States, D.C. Plan to Draft Common Education Standards" by Maria Glod

[Connie Weber]

"46 States, D.C. Plan to Draft Common Education Standards" by Maria Glod, Washington Post

"Forty-six states and the District of Columbia today will announce an effort to craft a single vision for what children should learn each year from kindergarten through high school graduation, an unprecedented step toward a uniform definition of success in American schools."

Historical... Wonder what Diane Ravitch and Deb Meier will have to say about this?

What do members of Fireside have to say? Mike, we look forward to hearing from you, since you have a lot of perspective about it all....

[Connie Weber]

Edweek's coverage:

"46 States Commit to Common Standards Push" by Michele McNeil

complete with links

[Mike]

Hi Connie..... hope all is well.

Here is the NJ Department of Education's take: i have underlined what i consider the key words!!!

New Jersey Joins 49 States and Territories in Common Core State Standards Initiative

Governor Jon S. Corzine and Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy today joined the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a state-led process to develop common English-language arts and mathematics standards. The Common Core State Standards Initiative will be jointly led by the National Governors Assoc. Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

In addition to New Jersey, the following states and territories have also signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA): Alabama; Arizona; Arkansas; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; District of Columbia; Florida; Georgia; Hawaii; Idaho; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; Montana; Nebraska; Nevada; New Hampshire; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; North Dakota; Ohio; Oklahoma; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Puerto Rico; Rhode Island; South Dakota; Tennessee; Utah; Vermont; Virgin Islands; Virginia; Washington; West Virginia; Wisconsin; and Wyoming.

In the 26 years since the release of A Nation at Risk, states have made great strides in increasing the academic rigor of education standards. Yet, America’s children still remain behind other nations in terms of academic achievement and preparedness to succeed.

By signing the MOA, Governor Corzine and Commissioner Davy join their colleagues across the country in committing to joining a state-led process to develop a common core of state standards in English language arts and mathematics for grades K-12. These standards will be research- and evidence-based, internationally benchmarked, aligned with college and work expectations, and include rigorous content and skills.

“As Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said, ‘We have to educate our way to a better economy,’” said Governor Corzine. “Common standards will give us the opportunity to focus our efforts on ensuring that our students are learning the skills that will be required for success as 21st century global citizens and workers.”

The Common Core State Standards Initiative will build directly on recent efforts of leading organizations and states( see Achieve Inc.) that have focused on developing college- and career-ready standards and will ensure that these standards can be internationally benchmarked to top-performing countries around the world.
The goal is to have a common core of state standards that states can adopt voluntarily. States can choose to include additional standards beyond the common core as long as the common core represents at least 85 percent of the state’s standards in English language arts and mathematics. The second phase of this initiative is to ultimately develop common assessments aligned to the core standards developed through the process.

“New Jersey’s graduates no longer are competing for jobs against students from neighboring states; the global economy requires that they be prepared to meet the international standards to which students around the world are being taught,” said Commissioner Davy. “Our participation in the common core standards initiative will help us achieve our goal of preparing all children for college and the workforce.”

The NGA Center and CCSSO will coordinate the process to develop the standards and will create an expert validation committee to provide an independent review of the common core state standards, as well as grade-by-grade standards. This committee will be composed of nationally and internationally recognized and trusted education experts who are neutral to – and independent of – the process. The college- and career-ready standards are expected to be completed in July 2009. The grade-by-grade standards work is expected to be completed in December 2009. States also will have the opportunity to review the standards throughout the development process.

WELL...THERE YOU HAVE IT.... PRETTY PREDICTABLE.....AND CLEAR.....

LINE IT UP......TRANSMIT IT......TEST IT....GRADE IT......

THE PURPOSE-------- CREATING A 21ST CENTURY WORK FORCE!!!

SCARY AND SAD!!!

be well.... mike

[Sara Bliss]

Ugh!! Another step in the wrong direction in my opinion. I actually believed that our policy makers were cluing into the fact that NCLB is not working. I was not expecting for them to make it more pervasive. I just think that standardized education hurts our entire society. I will hold out hope that whatever new standards are developed, they are broad enough to allow teachers to teach with the passion it will really take to inspire and equip our students to succeed.