Tony Bennett, It’s Better for Educrats to Dictate Standards?
I had to shake my head at comments made by Tony Bennett, the Indiana Superintendent of Public Schools, to EdWeek in their coverage of ALEC passing anti-common core model legislation:
Indiana’s Bennett defended the common standards during a couple of sessions at the ALEC convening, including one at the education task force. He told me after the meeting that while he is uneasy with the federal role in the standards, their overall value outweighed those misgivings.
“I told them that for us, this was a state-driven process,” Bennett told me. “We believe it is better for Indiana students. We built the common core into our comprehensive education reform agenda. We utilized it to rewrite our teacher preparation standards.”
A self-described “strong states’ rights guy,” Bennett reminded me that Indiana declined to participate in the Race to the Top competition, but the state board—which Bennett chairs—voted