School Boards Raise Questions about National Standards

The Nation is moving closer to Common Core Standards, leaving School Boards scrambling for intel.  Forty-eight States signed on last fall to support the initiative.  More than anything State Boards are pointing out the challenges of adopting national standards -- curriculum, assessments, and professional development.  

Local-level Board Members need to be asking questions now, like where will the funding come from to provide textbooks, technology, and supplies that support the standards?  The easy answer is Race to the Top b/c Delaware is well-positioned to win that grant.  But, I won't count my chickens before the eggs hatch and I can't count on Race to the Top.

State School Boards Raise Questions About Standards


By Catherine Gewertz

Las Vegas

States that adopt proposed common academic standards must use the entire document word for word, leaders of the initiative said this week.

Answering questions from state school board members at a meeting here, representatives of the two groups leading the effort to design common standards said that states may not revise them or select only portions to adopt.

“You can’t pick and choose what you want. This is not cafeteria-style standards,” said David Wakelyn, the program director of the education division of the National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices.

“Adoption means adoption,” said Scott Montgomery, a deputy executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, which is organizating the common-standards endeavor with the NGA.

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