What Standards Are Indiana Educators Teaching to Today?
On Monday, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed legislation revoking adoption of the Common Core State Standards, bringing the Hoosier State to yet another turning point in a years-long saga over its academic future.
So what's going on now? We've written a lot in Education Week, but here's a link-filled summary for teachers who want the bottom line:
OK, the state is in the process of creating new standards, but those will actually, in all likelihood, be based primarily on the common core, with some new things mixed in, as many critics of the common core have grudgingly noted. Supporters of the common core don't seem particularly chagrined.
But as NPR pointed out in a story on All Things Considered Monday afternoon, the standards will still have differences teachers need to learn. Indianapolis teacher Fatonia Shank told the program, "If we're doing common core, great. If you're going to do common core and mix some Indiana standards in it, that's great, too. But we just need to know a direction."
Indiana isn't the only state to pass the common core before reconsidering; Alabama's failed on four separate occasions to undo it, and more states have such legislation pending. Florida, meanwhile, chose to add standards to the common core in February. States can add a limited number of items to the common standards while still being able to consider them as part of "the common core," (this being the 15 percent rule) but that belies the point that any change is one that teachers will have to learn and implement.
At the moment, though, Indiana teachers are left with multiple sets of standards to focus on. As even consistent states are already struggling to implement the common core, I bet a lot of Indiana teachers are hoping things can, at some point, stand still for a while.