Wakefield NH Has Woken Up. Will Your School Board?
Dr. Sandra Stotsky speaking to the Wakefield School Board July 16, 2014
Dr. Sandra Stotsky, most noted on this blog for her participation in the Common Core State Standards Initiative Validation Committee and her refusal to sign off on the ELA standards, has written an op ed piece for Pioneer Institute highlighting what just took place in the Wakefield New Hampshire School District. What Wakefield did, in a nutshell, is adopt the Massachusetts ELA and Math standards, which have an excellent reputation and student scores to back up that reputation, in place of the state adopted Common Core Standards. They took a stand for higher standards and expectations for their students. How refreshing!
Dr. Stotsky wrote, “The Wakefield school board, school administrators, teachers, and parents all seem to be working together to implement a far more demanding academic curriculum than will be in place in most other New Hampshire communities this coming year, as suggested by our two and one/half hour discussion on July 15, 2014. Their kids will become better readers and writers even if state-sponsored Common Core-based tests use test items that won’t show it.”
With the passage and Governor’s sign off on Missouri’s HB1490, school districts in Missouri have the choice of what to do with their curriculum in the interim until new state standards can be approved. It should be noted that, even after new state standards are passed, according to state statute districts have the authority to adopt their own standards and create curriculum based on those standards. The state may not dictate curriculum. (Rsmo 160.514 “The state board of education shall develop written curriculum frameworks that may be used by school districts Wakefield NH Has Woken Up. Will Your School Board? | Missouri Education Watchdog: