Md., D.C. poised for common education standards, but not Va.
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Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 3, 2010
For the first time, schools in the District, Maryland and many other states would share a common vision for what students should learn every year in English and math under a proposal released Wednesday that marked a major step toward voluntary national standards.
But Virginia schools would stand apart.
The emergence of what advocates call "common core standards," in a proposal from the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, is rapidly splitting state education leaders. Many embrace the initiative as an improvement over homegrown standards that vary in rigor and quality from state to state. In their view, the nation cannot compete with other global economic powers unless schools can agree on how and when to teach such subjects as algebra.
But some -- probably a minority at this point -- say that their state standards are good enough and that replacing them would force a needless and costly overhaul of curriculum, instruction and testing. Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) has voiced this argumentrepeatedly in recent days to explain why the state dropped out of a federal grant competition that had encouraged the common standards movement.
As a result, Virginia's 1.3 million students will probably stick with the state's Standards of Learning in coming years, while about 75,000 students in the District and 840,000 in Maryland will follow the common core.
The governors association and school officers council released the final of five drafts of the common standards Wednesday at a high school in Georgia, with statements of support from Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D). American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten drew a sports analogy in her argument for common standards: "Can you imagine in football if one team got to make a first down after seven yards," she asked, while other teams had to move the ball 10?
The document was developed by educators and academics, drawing on experts from
The emergence of what advocates call "common core standards," in a proposal from the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, is rapidly splitting state education leaders. Many embrace the initiative as an improvement over homegrown standards that vary in rigor and quality from state to state. In their view, the nation cannot compete with other global economic powers unless schools can agree on how and when to teach such subjects as algebra.
But some -- probably a minority at this point -- say that their state standards are good enough and that replacing them would force a needless and costly overhaul of curriculum, instruction and testing. Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) has voiced this argumentrepeatedly in recent days to explain why the state dropped out of a federal grant competition that had encouraged the common standards movement.
As a result, Virginia's 1.3 million students will probably stick with the state's Standards of Learning in coming years, while about 75,000 students in the District and 840,000 in Maryland will follow the common core.
The governors association and school officers council released the final of five drafts of the common standards Wednesday at a high school in Georgia, with statements of support from Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D). American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten drew a sports analogy in her argument for common standards: "Can you imagine in football if one team got to make a first down after seven yards," she asked, while other teams had to move the ball 10?
The document was developed by educators and academics, drawing on experts from