HASLAM, IN TONE CHANGE, SEEKS FULL VETTING OF COMMON CORE Garrison (2014) He isn’t saying stay the course. No more talk about continuing the momentum, either. Ahead of what could be a raucous legislative debate over Common Core when the legislature convenes in January, Gov. Bill Haslam instead intends to have a “full vetting” of the academic standards, marking a shift in message from last year. “The consensus is higher standards matter,” Haslam said after an Education Summit last week that he organized. “What there’s some disagreement about is our current standards: Are they the right ones? We very much intend to have a full vetting of those standards — what they are and what they aren’t — and let people have a chance to talk very specifically about what they like and what they don’t like about those standards.” That sort of reset — he now says more work needs to be done on defining standards in Tennessee — seems to reflect the political reality. Common Core, phased into Tennessee classrooms in math and reading since 2011, is on very shaky ground here, even more so than last session when the legislature delayed moving to Common Core-aligned standardized testing called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. When pressed by reporters, Haslam said he would still like to see a state assessment that matches the state’s current standards. But compare his latest comments with those Dave Smith, Haslam’s press secretary, gave in January when The Tennessean asked for a response to legislation that sought to derail Common Core. It’s a pretty big contrast. “We’re in the third year of Common Core implementation, and PARCC was developed with input from Tennessee,” Smith said then. “The governor believes Common Core is critical to the progress the state has made, and he’s committed to making sure we continue that momentum.” Several things have happened in the nine months since that was the statement of the governor’s office: 1. Common Core survived in Tennessee this past spring, but it came with a delay in PARCC testing aligned to Common Core.2. The debate over Common Core has gotten louder nationally, with critics who label it a federal intrusion emboldened by moves by states such as South Carolina and Oklahoma to repeal the standards. 3. In Tennessee, Common Core detractors are pointing to Williamson County, where a slew of anti-Common Core school board candidates won seats over incumbents. Efforts there were assisted by Americans For Prosperity, founded by the billionaire conservative Koch brothers.A ll of this has made Common Core a defining issue for the Republican governor, pitting some tea party conservatives within his own party against him. The most visible example came when 15 tea party Republicans called for the resignation of state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman in a letter to Haslam this summer. Some are also ticked that prominent Common Core supporters of Haslam aided a political action committee organized to help those challenging tea-party-affiliated incumbents during last month’s GOP primary. It just might have gotten more complicated for Common Core supporters here. A survey of Tennessee teachers released Wednesday by the Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation and Development, led by Vanderbilt University, found that a majority of teachers here now want to abandon the standards. Ultimately, Haslam said the legislature will have the final say over standards in Tennessee. What will Common Core vetting look like? Haslam said he wants opportunities for people to comment on Common Core — both what it lacks and omissions that might need to be made. He said this might be done online. It’s all still in the works. Of course, the idea of vetting Common Core isn’t totally new. The Tennessee Senate held hearings on Common Core last fall. One highlight of that event: Lawmakers listened for five hours as the math and reading standards in their entirety were read off. This time, it seems, more people might be ready to weigh in than listen.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:32:54 +0000
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