State Education Officials Continue To Tweak Proposed Academic Standards

Elle Moxley / StateImpact Indiana

Indiana Department of Education staff worked with teachers and professors from across the state to create new expectations for Indiana schools.

Officials with the Indiana Department of Education “expected the backlash” against proposed academic standards to replace the Common Core, writes Carmen McCollum for the Times of Northwest Indiana:

Danielle Shockey told local educators dozens of educators from across the state, including Hammond teacher Lori Jones, have put in thousands of hours working on the standards that will prepare students for college and careers. Shockey said there have been many levels of evaluation to ensure the standards are the best they can be.

Shockey was the guest speaker at the Northwest Indiana Writing Project breakfast Thursday at Purdue University Calumet. She filled in for Superintendent Glenda Ritz, who was scheduled to speak but had a family emergency and did not attend.

Shockey focused on the standards, new assessments and accountability. She said on some of the standards, there were more than 1,000 comments submitted and on other standards, several hundred comments.

Many comments said there were too many standards to teach in one school year. Other comments noted the standards were the same as Common Core but some essential requirements had been omitted.

“It was never suggested that we would start start all over,” she said. “We used Common Core as a base. There’s been a spotlight on this from across the country. There’s also been lots of politics involved. But that didn’t sway the superintendent, who wanted to evaluate the standards and develop the best for Indiana students.”

Superintendent Glenda Ritz has said repeatedly she doesn’t care which set of standards Indiana ultimately picks, so long as they’re the best possible standards for Hoosier kids.

State education officials are meeting in Indianapolis today to review the latest draft of the standards. They’ll be looking at revisions made after the public comment period and evaluating the draft through the lens of college- and career-readiness.

A final draft is expected to go before the State Board next month. If approved, those standards will replace the nationally-crafted Common Core expectations in Indiana.