Critics Say Proposed Academic Standards Overlap Too Much With Common Core
Elle Moxley / StateImpact Indiana
Teacher Dylan Purlee tells state education officials Indiana should continue to share standards with the states that have adopted Common Core.
At a public meeting in Sellersburg Monday, critics of Common Core told state education officials the draft standards Hoosier educators have proposed are too similar to satisfy their concerns with the nationally-crafted expectations.
“We feel cheated. We feel lied to,” says parent Emily Camenisch, adding that she thinks the process to rewrite standards was rushed.
Other parents pointed to standards in the draft taken word-for-word from the Common Core.
But State Board of Education member Brad Oliver says some overlap is to be expected.
“If again you go back and start from the premise that college- and career-readiness is about making sure students have requisite skills and knowledge prior to being able to go to college without being remediated or go into a career, you apply that uniformly to whatever standards they looked at, you’re going to see a certain percentage of the standards come through,” says Oliver.
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“What I’m still waiting to hear is actual specifics on particular standards at grades K-1 in math and other areas where I keep hearing concerns about how the standards are worded or structured,” says Oliver. “I’d like to hear more about that from folks that are concerned.”
But the standards did get some praise from educators who’ve been implementing Common Core in their classrooms since the state adopted the standards in 2010. Teacher Dylan Purlee told state education officials pausing rollout hasn’t been good for Indiana schools.
“Who has been left behind?” Purlee asked, adding that given the commonalities between the proposed draft standards and the Common Core, Indiana would be better off sticking with the other 45 states that have agreed to share standards.
Follow @ellemoxley for updates from Tuesday’s meeting in Indianapolis.
