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Correcting the Record: West Virginia Board of Education Faces New Standards Vote Thursday
Ahead of a vote Thursday to determine whether West Virginia will “repeal Common Core” and adopt the West Virginia College and Career Readiness Standards, State Superintendent Michael Martirano claims the move is necessary to get past the political infighting over the Common Core.
“My goal is to listen to the legislature, listen to our community members, our state citizens, and make these the very standards for our citizens that are West Virginia developed… We have to resolve this,” Dr. Martirano said this week.
West Virginia’s citizens have already made their support for the Common Core State Standards clear. Earlier this year, more than 250,000 West Virginians submitted comments about the standards – and they were overwhelmingly positive. In fact 95% of the 72,300 comments about the math standards were positive, as were 97% of the 179,100 comments about the English Language Arts standards.
If the West Virginia Board of Education moves to adopt new standards, state officials must ensure the new academic expectations meet and exceed the rigor set forth by the Common Core—as other states have.
In a recent memo, Karen Nussle explains, “[Common Core Standards] aren’t perfect, so just as was originally intended by the Governors and state superintendents, states are taking the “model” standards and making them their own, by making changes and improvements.”
Whatever the outcome of Thursday’s vote, education officials in West Virginia should resist political pressures that would walk the state backwards and put students at a disadvantage by adopting inferior education standards.
About the Collaborative for Student Success
At our core, we believe leaders at all levels have a role to play in ensuring success for K-12 students. From ensuring schools and teachers are equipped with the best materials to spotlighting the innovative and bold ways federal recovery dollars are being used to drive needed changes, the Collaborative for Student Success aims to inform and amplify policies making a difference for students and families.
To recover from the most disruptive event in the history of American public schools, states and districts are leveraging unprecedented resources to make sure classrooms are safe for learning, providing students and teachers with the high-quality instructional materials they deserve, and are rethinking how best to measure learning so supports are targeted where they’re needed most.