Teachers Say Curriculum Guidelines Are Being Released Too Late

The State Board of Education voted to release resource guides for the new standards at a meeting Monday.

At the State Board of Education meeting Monday, members voted unanimously to release the new resource guides to help teachers transition to Indiana’s new academic standards.

In a presentation to the board, assistant state superintendent Daniel Shockey showcased the resource guides, which provide sample math problems for every math standard and sample reading lists for every grade level.

They also include comparisons between Indiana’s new academic standards and the previously used Common Core standards.

Shockey said the resources will be available online and presented during teacher workshops and conferences this summer.

John Fulbright oversees the math curriculum for Wayne Township and says he is frustrated the guides are coming out halfway through the summer when his district is already working on updated curriculum.

He also says the guides will help teachers prepare lessons, but without knowing what the spring assessment looks like, teachers will remain in a sort of limbo.

“We finally think we know what our standards are, so we’re writing our curriculum but again we don’t know what our assessment is,” Fulbright said. “So we still have to consider everything we’re doing this summer in some kind of draft form until we get some sort of guidance on an assessment.”

Department of Education spokesperson Daniel Altman says the guides will be online in the next few days.