Expert Panels Named in Common-Standards Push

Education Week (7/1, McNeil, Cavanagh) – The two national organizations coordinating a push for common academic standards today named the 29 people who are deciding what math and language arts skills students will need to know and when, along with the 35 people who will formally critique the group’s work. The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the two Washington organizations coordinating the effort, had said members of those three groups would take the lead in writing the standards.

All but four states—Alaska, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas—have signed on to the effort to adopt a common set of rigorous standards in math and language arts. ("46 States Agree to Common Academic Standards Effort," June 10, 2009.) The states have an ambitious time frame, planning to release their first set of high school exit standards—what students should know to prepare them for college or work—for states to review this month. Grade-by-grade standards, which the organizers are also calling “learning progression standards,” are set to be done in December.