Schedule to replace Common Core revised

The State Board of Education is expected to vote during the week of April 28 on new K-12 math and English standards as part of the process to replace the national Common Core standards.

A revised schedule of the review and adoption of these standards was released Monday. The board has yet to finalize which date it will meet.

As part of the schedule, education teams who created the proposed standards will meet Wednesday and Thursday in Indianapolis to refine the draft and take into account some of the public feedback about the initial draft.

The new schedule, issued by the Center for Education & Career Innovation, shows a final version of the standards will be posted online April 14. That is a week before the Indiana Education Roundtable will review and vote whether to endorse the standards and forward them to the state State Board of Education. Gov. Mike Pence and Glenda Ritz, superintendent for public instruction, are members of the roundtable.

If approved by the state board, Indiana will become the first state to adopt and then leave the Common Core, academic guidelines for classroom instruction created by an association of state governors. Forty-five states have agreed to follow them.

The 98-page draft, released last month, includes more than 1,000 benchmarks, defining math and English skills students should learn to be prepared for college and a career. More than 1,000 public comments received about the draft slowed down the approval process.

Originally, the State Board of Education was expected to vote April 9. During a state board meeting last week officials from the Department of Education and CECI said more time was needed to assess comments and alter the draft.

National education experts, including Sandra Stotsky, will review a revised draft and offer comment through next week. Stotsky, of the University of Arkansas and a reviewer and adviser for Indiana’s earlier academic standards, told The Star earlier this month the initial draft should be completely rewritten because it looked “suspiciously like” Common Core.

Legislation that would void Indiana’s use of Common Core State Standards as adopted in 2010 passed both chambers of the General Assembly last week. The measure does little to change the process already underway by the State Board of Education. Senate Bill 91 has yet to be sent to Pence’s desk.

Call Star reporter Eric Weddle at (317) 444-6222. Follow him on Twitter: @ericweddle.