Indy Star: Where Does Mike Pence Stand On The Common Core?
Brandon Smith / IPBS
Gov. Mike Pence, standing with his wife Karen, speaks at the 'Ed Reform Rocks' rally at the Indiana Statehouse.
As Indiana lawmakers debate the future of the Common Core in the state’s schools, one prominent voice has yet to weigh in definitively for one side or the other: Gov. Mike Pence. The Indy Star‘s Scott Elliott blogs:
Should Indiana continue on its rapid pace to implement the Common Core and replace the ISTEP with Common Core-linked exams by 2015? Or should it halt implementation and return to its old standards, as some legislators would like? Lawmakers are struggling with that very question right now.
Pence has mostly used neutral language, saying Indiana needs to take a “hard look” at Common Core, without committing to one side or the other. But earlier this month, he answered a question about the Common Core with what sounded like sympathy for the opponents’ view.
Related
Posts
- As Indiana Starts Transition To Common Core, Teachers Split On New Standards
- How Teachers Are Explaining Common Core Standards To Students & Parents
- Should Kindergarteners Be Writing? How Common Core Is Dividing Early Educators
- Where Glenda Ritz Stands On The Common Core
- Education Overhaul 101: How The Common Core Relates To Other Big Ideas Sweeping Indiana Schools
- Why Changing The GED To Incorporate Common Core Worries Adult Educators
- How The Common Core Is Changing Math Instruction For Indiana’s Youngest Students
- Video: Watch The StateImpact Common Core Panel Discussion At WFYI
- With Senate’s Approval, What’s Next For Common Core ‘Pause’ Proposal?
- How Tuesday’s Twitter War Reflects The Broader Common Core Debate
Pence suggested Indiana could reject the nationally-crafted academic standards and tests, but “mimic Virginia, which has not adopted Common Core or corresponding national tests, but has compared its education standards to Common Core so teachers can use Common Core materials…
“I will bring my anti-No Child Left Behind biases to this,” Pence said.
Hoosiers Against Common Core organizer Heather Crossin, who spoke with StateImpact last week, says she couldn’t determine from the statement whether Pence stood for or against pausing the rollout of the standards in the state’s classrooms — but she took it as a good sign.
“That’s an encouraging statement,” Crossin said. “I hope that time will tell.”
Elliott goes on to suggest Gov. Pence should be clearer:
Dumping the Common Core would be a huge about-face for Indiana, which was an early adopter with enthusiastic support from then-Gov. Mitch Daniels and then-state Superintendent Tony Bennett. If the new governor is going to take a different direction on such a big issue, it would be helpful for him to say so in no uncertain terms and end the guessing game about where he stands.
We have more on the state of the debate in the Indiana General Assembly and on what the standards themselves look like already in the state’s classrooms.
