The House of Representatives voted to restore local control of education this week by approving a bill to phase out the national Common Core Standards and replace them with curriculum standards developed by Missourians.
House Bill 1490, sponsored by Representative Kurt Bahr (R – St. Charles), creates a work group tasked with developing learning standards for English, language arts, math, history, and government. The recommendations will be presented to the Board of Education next year and implemented during the 2016-2017 school year.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has attempted to circumvent the legislative process and force schools to adopt Common Core without sufficient input from teachers, parents, or lawmakers. The working group will include educational professionals and parents to ensure that all stakeholders have a voice in the process.
Parents from around Missouri have come to the Capitol to express opposition to Common Core. Many were concerned that DESE would share the student data collected during standardized tests and that the standards would fail to prepare students for higher education or quality careers. The assessment phase of Common Core is estimated to 11-24 million and would require taking funding from other education programs.
DESE tried to convince Missourians that Common Core is an upgrade, but other states have experienced problems with the underdeveloped testing procedures. In New York, Common Core aligned tests sparked outrage from parents and teachers. Last year some questions included product placements, and this year a principal had to apologize to students for the ambiguous questions and inappropriate content.
Many schools in Missouri have already spent time and money modifying their curriculums to accommodate the Common Core Standards. The House chose not to ban Common Core immediately because making schools change their plans and procedures so quickly would cause confusion and disrupt student learning. HB 1490 also protects teachers and schools from negative evaluations based on the results of student assessments under Common Core.
Phasing out Common Core will also give administrators and teachers time to study the impact of the learning standards. Some elements could be included in the work group’s recommendations, but members will have time to adjust them to meet the needs of Missouri students.
Parents and local educators are better equipped to design learning standards for Missouri’s children than national non-profits. With standards tailored for Missouri’s students, our schools can prepare students to be the lifelong learners, creative innovators, and dedicated community leaders that Missouri needs to move forward.
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