< Back to front page Text size +

Education commissioner backs adoption of single academic standard

July 16, 2010 02:58 PM

E-mail this article

Invalid email address
Invalid email address

Sending your article

Your article has been sent.

The state’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education will recommend that Massachusetts replace its highly regarded academic standards for English and math with a uniform set of national standards that could ultimately lead to replacing the MCAS exams in those subjects.

chester.jpg
Chester
The new standards would dictate what material should be taught at each grade level in every state that opts into the program, which is being pushed aggressively by the Obama administration.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which must approve any changes, is scheduled to vote on the proposal next week.

In a memorandum to board members today, Commissioner Mitchell Chester said independent panels he appointed had compared the proposed “Common Core Standards” against the state’s existing standards. Those analyses essentially revealed that the national standards in most cases were just as good as the state standards, he said.

In some cases, where the national standards were inferior to Massachusetts', Chester said the state will take advantage of an option by the Obama administration to bolster the standards. The Obama administration has said state's can change as much as 15 percent of the national standards to suit the specific academics needs of their regions.

“My conclusion is that the advantages of adopting the Common Core Standards outweigh the disadvantages,” Chester wrote. “First and foremost, because Massachusetts’s standards and assessments enjoy an outstanding reputation nationally, the input of our content experts was largely reflected in the Common Core Standards.”

In an interview, Chester emphasized that adopting the national standards would not be a step backward, as some critics of the effort have suggested.

"These standards will not dillute the expectation of our students," he said. "If I was not confident about the benefits, I would not make this recommendation."

The possible switch to a new set of standards has been highly controversial in Massachusetts, where the state’s overhaul of education over the last decade has propelled students to the top in national and international tests. The Pioneer Institute, a conservative leaning research organization, for instance, has conducted several analyses that have found the national standards to be subpar to the state standards.

The issue has been equally controversial in other states, such as California and Virginia, known to have high academic standards.

Adopting the new standards would not bring immediate changes to teaching in the state’s classrooms. Districts will have until the end of the 2011-12 school year to ensure their classroom lessons align with the new standards.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts is working with a consortium of about two dozen states to create a new standardized test based on the national standards that could eventually replace the English and Math MCAS. The exams will take several years to develop, and the consortium will examine the feasibility of replacing test booklets with computer exam.

The state board would also have to approve any testing changes.

The Massachusetts board is scheduled to vote on the national standards at a special meeting on Wednesday at department headquarters in Malden.

"Adoption of the Common Core Standards portends a number of benefits," Chester wrote. "One benefit is the potential for providing clearer signals to K-12 students about their readiness for success at the next level, including readiness for college or career."

On the beat

Reporter Patricia Wen is covering the decision by Suffolk prosecutors to drop rape charges against Max Nicastro.
Patricia Wen
TALK TO US
breakingnews@globe.com | Twitter | 617-929-3100
loading video... (please wait a moment)
archives

LOCAL BLOGS

BOSTON AREA

Universal Hub

A collection of writing from hundreds of Boston-area bloggers.

The Chinatown Blog

Stories and events related to Boston's Chinatown and the Asian American community in Massachusetts

CommonWealth Magazine

Politics, ideas, and civic life in Massachusetts

Red Mass Group

News and commentary about Massachusetts and beyond

Blue Mass Group

Politics in Massachusetts and around the nation

Boston 1775

History, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution.
COLLEGE NEWSPAPER SITES

The Berkeley Beacon

The weekly student newspaper at Emerson College

The Daily Collegian

The student newspaper of UMass-Amherst.

The Daily Free Press

The independent student newspaper at Boston University

The Harvard Crimson

The nation's oldest continuously published daily college newspaper.

The Heights

The independent student newspaper of Boston College

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Suffolk Journal

Suffolk University's student-run newspaper

The Tech

MIT's oldest and largest newspaper

The Tufts Daily

The independent student newspaper of Tufts University