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Teams Meeting To Evaluate Academic Standards Friday

Last updated on Friday, February 14, 2014

(STATEHOUSE) - Meetings that will lead to new academic standards for Indiana schools continue today.

Evaluation teams coming up with a framework for the standards that could replace Common Core in Indiana met yesterday and will get together again today at Indiana Government Center South next to the Statehouse. Their work is to help the State Board of Education meet a pair of mandates from the legislature.

"One is to evaluate the Common Core state standards that were adopted in 2010, and second by July 1, 2014, we are to adopt college and career-ready standards," said state board member Brad Oliver.

The teams are coming up with final recommendations on standards that will go before the state board in April.

"They are allowed to look at Common Core and determine if the standard from the Common Core is appropriate, whether the previous standard (prior to Common Core) is appropriate, and if they feel that neither one of those standards is appropriate, they may look at other standards outside the state of Indiana and may even write one locally," Oliver said.

The standards are being written after a backlash against Common Core, which Indiana adopted along with 44 other states. They were designed to measure how students were performing against their peers internationally, but some parents criticized them for being too tied to the federal government. Others claimed the standards were not as rigorous as Indiana's previous standards.

The General Assembly is considering a bill this session to remove Indiana completely from Common Core, though it's fate is uncertain. The Legislature voted for the current evaluation process last year.

After today's meeting, three public hearings on the proposed new standards will be held later this month; February 24 at Ivy Tech Community College in Sellersburg, February 25 at Indiana Government Center South, and February 26 at Plymouth High School in Plymouth.

"The same evaluation panels working today will have the opportunity to evaluate that input and determine if they want to make additional corrections, also weighing the input of the Education Roundtable, and that will come back to the board" in April, Oliver said.

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