Raising state standards (with other states)

Kentucky will join other states in developing common standards for mathematics and language arts. Commissioner Ferris and Governor Beshear have signed the memorandum of agreement to participate in the multi-state project, and we're in.

The memorandum outlines these intended benefits:

This initiative presents a significant opportunity to accelerate and drive education reform toward the goal of ensuring that all children graduate from high school ready for college, work, and competing in the global economy and society. With the adoption of this common core, participating states will be able to:

• Articulate to parents, teachers, and the general public expectations for students;
• Align textbooks, digital media, and curricula to the internationally benchmarked standards;
• Ensure professional development to educators is based on identified need and best practices;
• Develop and implement an assessment system to measure student performance against the common core; and
• Evaluate policy changes needed to help students and educators meet the common core standards and “end-of-high-school” expectations.

An important tenet of this work will be to increase the rigor and relevance of state standards across all participating states; therefore, no state will see a decrease in the level of student expectations that exist in their current state standards.

This is a big movement, deserving plenty of attention. This work will feed directly into the SB 1 standards revision, and participating states are sure to seek stimulus support for this major innovation project.

The common standards effort will be discussed at the Kentucky Board of Education' May 12 retreat, and the memorandum is here (download "Attachment B" under "Discussion of MOA").