Kansas BOE Member: Next Generation Science Standards Development Non-Transparent
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Ken Willard, a member of the Kansas State Board of Education, said that the development of the Next Generation Science Standards was not transparent enough due to a confidentiality agreement board members were required to sign.
Ken Willard, one of two members on the state board to vote against the Next Generation Science Standards, says the agreement not to divulge details of the standards during much of the development process was problematic.“I’m opposed to that whole idea,” said Willard, of Hutchinson. “We need to be as transparent as we can.”Kansas adopted new science standards last month. Called the Next Generation Science Standards, they were written by a consortium of states in collaboration with the nonprofit education organization Achieve Inc.Kansas was one of 26 states that played a leading role in the process, which took about two years and involved teams of educators, academics and businesspeople from each state
Standards & Testing Won’t Help South Carolina’s Education Problem
Dr. Paul Thomas of Furman University in South Carolina wrote an op/ed for The State. He said the the Kids Count report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation which examines child well-being shows that perhaps South Carolina needs to focus its resources on something other than standards and testing mandates.More children are attending preschool, more students are proficient in reading and math, fewer ch