CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Senate President Bill Cole says the state Board of Education has sent a “great signal” that it’s willing to work with the legislature on finding the best academic standards FOR reading, language arts and math for the state’s public school students.
The state board is proposing repealing and replacing the Next Generation/Common Core Standards with a new set of academic standards called the West Virginia College and Career Readiness Standards. The proposal is out on a 30-day comment period.
Legislative attorneys are comparing the proposed changes to the current standards, Cole said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
“This could have been a battle, a struggle between the legislature and the board and instead they’ve chosen to take the lead of the legislature,” Cole said. “They certainly know that our will is to replace these standards and do it right this time.”
There are currently more than 900 academic standards in the Next Generation Standards. The new standards make changes to some of them, according to state School Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano.
“Recommendations came back with specific standards with over 100 revisions that we’ve taken back from the WVU work that was done and specifically we’ve incorporated those into the newly developed standards,” Martirano said on “Talkline.”
The changes may not be enough for some critics of Common Core. Martirano said many standards are generally accepted and were carried over from the accepted standards before Next Generation. The legislature will make sure the changes are for the best, Cole said.
“We’re not going to sit back and accept a simple–smoke and mirrors rename it and we’ve got it done–and I don’t believe that’s the direction the board is headed either,” Cole said.
Martirano said residents have another 30 days to comment on the standards.
“This is a second opportunity now to provide input on how we can improve it,” he said. “Ultimately my goal as state superintendent is to get these standards embedded so they can stand the test of time for several years so we’re not constantly disrupting our classroom teachers.”