Final draft of Indiana academic standards replacing Common Core released

With the release Tuesday of the final version of Indiana's proposed new academic standards to replace the controversial Common Core, the national spotlight will beat down harder on Indiana over its hotly politicized education policy.

Educators, pundits and lawmakers across the country likely will seize on this draft of state standards to gauge whether Indiana is a trailblazer in setting new, incredibly high goals for its students to graduate prepared for college or a career.

Or, as some have claimed, is the state just making changes to the national standards and rebranding it in an attempt to quiet Common Core opponents?

Traditionally hashed out beyond public view, the creation of educational expectations is no longer a dry, academic exercise.

Indiana has become a focal point in the ongoing partisan war over Common Core, a framework of academic guidelines created by an association of governors and state superintendents. Indiana was the first state to join and the first state to leave the consortium, which is why it is now drafting new standards.

Common Core has been fiercely opposed by a dedicated network of tea party conservatives who see the national standards as a federal intrusion less rigorous than what Indiana already had in place.

A smaller but growing number of liberals view Common Core as an attack on teacher autonomy.

Fans and critics alike of new proposed standards are zeroing in on how many of them draw directly from the Common Core — a factor the state hasn't studied and doesn't plan to, even though early analysis showed large chunks drawn verbatim from the Common Core.

In recent months, Gov. Mike Pence has promised guidelines that are "written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers, and are uncommonly high."

But experts contracted by the state to review earlier versions don't all agree that's happened.

Terrence Moore, an assistant professor of history at Hillsdale College in Michigan and a noted Common Core critic, wrote in his evaluation that K-5 English standards were "an utter disappointment" and "clearly 'written' in a rush."

Hung-Hsi Wu, a University of California-Berkeley math professor and Common Core supporter, told The Indianapolis Star that 90 percent of the drafted K-8 math standards are taken straight from the Common Core — and that didn't turn out well.

"Most of the changes do not make mathematical sense," he said. "Moreover, most of the high school standards of the draft are mathematically inadequate."

The education reform group Achieve, which promotes the Common Core, rated Indiana's drafted standards as "very strong."

"You couldn't tell from the draft that they were rushed in doing this," said President Michael Cohen. "It's a solid job, there's no doubt about that."

He said the new standards add clarity and specificity.

The experts' views were taken into account in the most recent draft released Tuesday. Those changes could require days of review before any meaningful conclusions can be reached on the new draft.

Education standards recommend when students should master certain skills but leave the curriculum up to local schools. Under Indiana's new guidelines, for example, a student finishing seventh grade should be able to graph a line given its slope and a point on the line.

A seventh-grader in English class would be required to compare and contrast a fictional time, place or character against a historical account of the same period to understand how authors of fiction use or alter history.

Even as the new standards aim to increase rigor and improve skill sets, Indiana Department of Education Deputy Superintendent Danielle Shockey said they won't represent "great shifts" from what students learn now.

By this point, the previous state standards, Common Core and other national models have melded together as the state picks what is best for Hoosier students, she said. That makes it difficult to determine whether a particular guideline came from Common Core or another source.

Some teachers say the rush to shape new expectations and the jumble of changing standards over the past three years feed anxiety over how the new outcomes will translate into the classroom. Indiana adopted a set of its own standards in 2009 and the Common Core in 2010 and now plans to approve a new version by July 1.

Tom Hakim, a math teacher at Indianapolis' Lighthouse Charter School, worried over having enough quality resources to make sure lessons would align to new standards in time to prepare students for new tests.

"What's most concerning for me," he said, "is how quickly this is happening. It feels a little bit like drinking from a fire hose."

The Indiana Education Roundtable, co-chaired by Pence and Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, meets Monday to vote on the drafted standards. If approved, the standards move to the State Board of Education for final adoption on April 28.

See the full version of Indiana's proposed academic standards at in.gov/sboe/2508.htm. To submit public comment before the roundtable meeting, go to in.gov/roundtable or email Executive Director Dan Clark at dclark@ceci.in.gov.

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