Work groups forming to develop Missouri Education Standards

In his latest report, Senate :President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, talks about the process of forming work groups to develop Missouri Education Standards, a step that is being taken because of intense opposition to Common Core State Standards. 

After a successful legislative session, many of the new laws we passed took effect this week. One measure that has special importance to thousands of Missouri families is House Bill 1490, which creates the new Missouri Learning Standards educational benchmarks for students in our state.

The need for new standards became apparent in the wake of serious concerns raised by a very diverse cross-section of Missourians of all political viewpoints over the implementation of what is often called the “common core.”

House Bill 1490 creates workgroups composed of education professionals and parents to develop and recommend academic performance standards specific for Missouri. These standards will establish the level of knowledge, skills and competencies necessary for students to successfully advance through the public elementary and secondary education in Missouri. An educated workforce is vital to business success in our state. Companies will not move to the Show-Me state if we cannot provide qualified employees.

These workgroups are very important and will help us gain a better understanding of appropriate standards for our state. Together, parents and qualified teachers can recommend a better curriculum for our students while maintaining a process of openness and transparency.

Now our efforts are focused on finding nominees for the workgroups to be charged with designing the Missouri Learning Standards. As the President Pro Tempore, I am tasked to appoint 32 people to these workgroups; 16 will be parents and 16 will be educational professionals. Appointees will fill a total of 8 workgroups: English, Science, Math and Social Studies for grades K-5 and English, Science, Math and Social Students for grades 6-12. In order to be considered as an educational professional, the nominee must have been a Missouri resident for at least three years and have taught in the workgroup’s subject area for at least 10 years or have 10 years of experience in that subject.

I appreciate and welcome all potential nominees. I have a button on my Senate website that will enable anyone to download an application and mail it to my Capitol office. Just visithttp://www.senate.mo.gov/14info/members/mem23.htm, look on the right side of the page and there you will find the Education Standards Working Groups along with the application. Potential nominees may be asked to go through a background check.



The goal of these workgroups is to ensure that we receive public input on the future of curriculum and standards in our state. We will need a wide spectrum of education professionals and parents to volunteer their time and bring their ideas to the table in order to continue to move Missouri forward.