Indiana State Board of Education OKs new K-12 standards

The State Board of Education followed Gov. Mike Pence's lead and gave final approval to new K-12 education standards Monday despite continued objections from some conservatives that the guidelines are a shoddy, rebranded version of Common Core.

The board's decision brings to a close more than a year of political feuding in Indiana over replacing the national Common Core standards. Some conservatives have consistently opposed them as an intrusion into state affairs that spawned less rigorous guidelines.

While Indiana was one of the early adopters of Common Core in 2010, a conservative backlash prompted the state to become the first, and so far the only state, to stop following the national math and English standards.

But the new standards adopted Monday and intended to replace Common Core in Indiana still weren't enough to appease Common Core opponents. And that has put the Pence administration uncomfortably at odds with a conservative faction that often has supported the Republican governor.

"As someone who had faith in the process, I've lost faith... (the) process is a sham," Heather Crossin, a leader of Hoosiers Against Common Core, told the state board on Monday. "There was an end result in place from the very beginning. This process was designed to deliver that end result which is rebranding Common Core; which is exactly what we have."

But the board, largely appointed by Pence, voted 10-1 to adopt the standards. And representatives from the Democrat-controlled Department of Education acknowledged that portions of the new guidelines are similar to Common Core because it borrowed from Indiana's prior standards.

"There are things that all kids need to know and be able to do that are found in all of the sets of standards that we actually reviewed," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, a Democrat. "That is what people need to keep in mind. They are found in every set of standards around the country, even those states that have not adopted Common Core."

High-level math

Ritz characterized the standards as a stronger approach that will help reduce remediation for students when they reach college. For the first time, Indiana's standards also will include high-level math such as calculus and trigonometry.

Andrea Neal was the only board member to vote against the standards, calling the new math guidelines "poorly written, disorganized."

"It's malpractice to adopt math standards that make no sense to mathematicians," Neal said, noting national experts who share her concerns.

Yet other board members stressed that the standards were only the baseline of a student's education. Classroom textbooks and curriculum add to that baseline and are set by individual school districts, board members noted.

Board member Brad Oliver encouraged those unhappy with the standards to put their energy and power into ensuring their schools have curriculum that's right for their students.

"Today's standards reflect the collective wisdom of our state's finest educational experts, whose leadership and dedication to our children's well-being has resulted in the second-largest national achievement gains in the areas of math and reading," he said.

Last fall, the state began the process of creating new standards as required by a 2013 law. Teams of more than 150 educators and industry representatives reviewed Common Core and other established academic guidelines to create an initial draft proposal that was released in February. More than 2,000 public comments were submitted in response.

The draft was reshaped based on those comments and the critique of national experts. But drafters did not always agree with national experts on best practice for Hoosier students, said Danielle Shockey, deputy superintendent of public instruction.

'Smooth transition'

The math and English standards will be implemented through the next year, Ritz said. A new standardized test that is tied to the new standards won't be given to students until spring 2016.

"Teachers will go home and start to think about lessons that will align with them," Ritz said. "I feel that educators will have a smooth transition with this."

Pence strongly endorsed the new standards at a meeting last week of the Education Roundtable, but was jeered and shouted at by some Common Core opponents.

Some were angered by his support of the new standards that they believe are too similar to Common Core or not rigorous enough.

Others dislike Pence's adherence to federal expectations. The proposed standards must be considered "college and career ready" by the U.S. Department of Education so the state can continue receiving a waiver of the federal No Child Left Behind law. Without a waiver, the state could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds.

In a Star editorial published Sunday, Pence brushed aside the criticisms.

"I know that some evaluators from outside our state have criticized our new academic standards. But, for my part, I trust Hoosiers," he wrote. "I trust our teachers and professors and business leaders who worked in good faith to craft standards that will serve to guide our schools and challenge our students."

Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said even if far-right critics are angry at Pence now over his education policy, it shouldn't hurt him in the long run.

Pence's defense of the new standards, Downs said, could add credibility since some see him as lacking a history of tough decisionmaking.

"Having people on the national stage watching him on this issue is not a bad thing," Downs said.

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

How they voted

Here's how members of the State Board of Education voted on the new K-12 standards.

Voting yes: Chairwoman Glenda Ritz; Tony Walker, David Freitas, Cari Whicker, Sarah O'Brien, Brad Oliver, Daniel Elsener, B.J. Watts, Troy Albert, Gordon Hendry

Voting no: Andrea Neal

Examples from Indiana's new K-12 English and math standards.

• English/Language Arts drafted standards

Kindergarten: "Identify and produce rhyming words."

Grade 3: "Write legibly in print or cursive, leaving space between letters in a word, words, in a sentence, and words and the edges of the paper."

Grade 5: "Determine a theme of a story, play, or poem from details in the text, including how characters respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text."

Grade 7: "Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history."

Grade 9-10: "Analyze and evaluate how an author's choices concerning how to structure a work of literature, order events within it (e.g., parallel episodes), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise."

Grade 11-12: "Analyze and synthesize foundational U.S. and world documents of historical and literary significance for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features."

• Math drafted standards

Kindergarten: "Count to at least 100 by ones and tens and count on by one from any number."

Grade 3: "Develop and use formulas for the area of triangles, parallelograms and trapezoids. Solve real-world and other mathematical problems that involve perimeter and area of triangles, parallelograms and trapezoids, using appropriate units for measures."

Grade 5: "Develop and use formulas for the area of triangles, parallelograms and trapezoids. Solve real-world and other mathematical problems that involve perimeter and area of triangles, parallelograms and trapezoids, using appropriate units for measures."

Grade 7: "Apply the properties of operations (e.g., identity, inverse, commutative, associative, distributive properties) to create equivalent linear expressions, including situations that involve factoring (e.g., given 2x - 10, create an equivalent expression 2(x - 5)). Justify each step in the process."

Algebra I: "Represent real-world problems using linear inequalities in two variables and solve such problems; interpret the solution set and determine whether it is reasonable. Solve other linear inequalities in two variables by graphing."

Geometry: "Graph points on a three-dimensional coordinate plane. Explain how the coordinates relate the point as the distance from the origin on each of the three axes."

Pre-calculus: "Describe the concept of the limit of a sequence and a limit of a function. Decide whether simple sequences converge or diverge. Recognize an infinite series as the limit of a sequence of partial sums."

Compiled by Stephanie Wang/stephanie.wang@indystar.com