BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota teachers will rewrite and improve math and English standards that are not based on the controversial federally backed Common Core education standards, state School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler said Tuesday
“We will create a set of standards written by North Dakotans, for North Dakotans,” Baesler said.
Baesler said the rewrite will begin this summer with two committees of educators. Additional committees of parents, citizens, elected officials and business leaders will review the work.
A draft of the rewrite is slated for public comment this fall. Baesler said the standards will be in place for the 2017-18 school year.
“This process will be thoughtful, deliberate and transparent,” Baesler said. “North Dakota teachers, parents and citizens will have ample opportunity to get involved in this process.”
North Dakota United President Nick Archuleta said his group, which represents teachers and public employees, supports the reworked standards - and the process.
“This is real work for a real purpose,” Archuleta said.
North Dakota law requires English and math tests for students in grades 3-8 and 11.
Baesler told reporters that the new standards will be more acceptable than Common Core, which replaced standards that varied from state to state and outline what skills students should learn to be ready for college and careers. North Dakota adopted them in 2008, and schools have implemented them over the past three to six years, she said.
But critics say the Common Core standards represent a federal takeover of education and take away state control over what students learn.
North Dakota lawmakers last year narrowly defeated a measure aimed at terminating the state’s membership from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. The consortium is comprised of states that have worked to establish a testing program for Common Core.
After the defeat in the Legislature, Tioga Republican Rep. Bob Skarphol and others sued Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Baesler and other state officials alleging North Dakota entered into an illegal agreement when it joined the multistate consortium.
The case is still pending in South Central District Court based in Bismarck.
The Common Core standards cost more than $1.6 million to develop and implement, the Department of Public Instruction said. The agency has about $453,000 set aside in its current budget to develop the new standards.
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