Indiana State Board of Education passes new academic standards with lone 'no' vote

Board members heard an hour’s worth of testimony mostly from critics of Common Core, arguing the new standards for K-12 math and English/language arts were simply a “rebrand” of the national standards.

In the end, a majority of State Board of Education members characterized the process to develop the new standards that brought together Hoosier educators and subject matter experts as collaborative and transparent. Those members said the standards offered rigorous benchmarks for lesson planning and brought together the best of former Indiana standards and the Common Core.

The standards passed the State Board of Education in 10-1 votes, with board member Andrea Neal casting the sole “no” votes on both sets. Indiana schools will begin using the new standards next school year.

Neal, an Indianapolis teacher, asked for a delay in the votes, citing the legislative deadline of July 1 to adopt new standards. A vocal opponent of the new standards, Neal reflected on critical feedback the state received from national evaluators on a draft of the math standards.

“Bottom line, expert mathematicians…advised us we should not accept these standards,” Neal said to applause by Common Core critics at the meeting.

Evansville-area board member, B.J. Watts, said teachers gave him good feedback on the standards.

“While I know that there is never going to be a consensus among everyone, the people who are in the field are ready to get this over with…people instituting these every day are excited about them,” Watts said.

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, who voted in favor of the standards Monday, said the standards will be implemented throughout the school year and the state will begin getting information out to schools early this summer.

“I feel like educators are going to have a smooth transition with this,” Ritz said.

Focus will now turn to implementing the standards and developing a new test aligned to the learning benchmarks that students will first take in spring 2016. Educators, both at last week’s Indiana Education Roundtable and Monday’s meeting, said the new test is a vital component because the content of the test can influence what is taught in classrooms. The replacement to ISTEP also will be used to gauge school A-F accountability grades and as a component in annual teacher evaluations.

Before state lawmakers “paused” the implementation of Common Core in 2013, the standards already were in use in kindergarten and first grade classrooms across the state. In later grades, some school districts combined Common Core with Indiana academic standards.

The vote is a culmination of a year-long process to remove the state from the Common Core standards it adopted in 2010 and toward new standards developed as Gov. Mike Pence has said frequently during the process “by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers.”

Indiana became the first state to officially depart from the standards in March after Republican-led legislation passed at the Indiana General Assembly. Pence said in his State of the State address in January he wanted the state to write its own academic standards. Common Core – the product of a state-led movement that reflected some past Indiana standards – has become increasingly controversial with Tea Party groups concerned about the federal government’s role in the standards.

Hoosiers Against Common Core held a rally prior to Indiana Education Roundtable’s decision to support the standards last week.

On Monday, critics of Common Core told State Board of Education members the proposal was a “sloppy rewrite of the Common Core” and asked the state to go back to standards adopted prior to Indiana’s decision to join the national standards. Some speakers said they didn’t believe Pence lived up to his promise because of the similarities the new standards have to Common Core.

Pediatrician Cheryl Ferguson, of Fishers, said she believed standards for kindergarten are too numerous and some are developmentally inappropriate.

“My point is these standards are experimental…how do we know that they won’t cause grave harm,” Ferguson said.

State education leaders have said the new standards will lead students to apply their knowledge in real world situations, rather than just regurgitate knowledge. State officials have said the new standards also will work to decrease the number of students needing remediation before they enroll in college level courses.

The standards must prepare students to attend college or enter the workforce for the state to continue receiving a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law. Without the waiver, the state would have to follow certain accountability measures of the law. The U.S. Department of Education originally granted 43 states, including Indiana, waivers from the federal law. However, last week, Washington became the first state to lose its waiver over the process it uses to evaluate teachers.

Ritz said the state will send a letter to the federal Department of Education to let them know the standards passed.