Curriculum Standards - Changes and Debate

Finally! Uniform standards across states for K-12 education. The standards do not outline curriculum, only the concepts that need to be learned in each grade. The NYTimes article stated that "a panel of educators convened by the nation's governors and state school superintendents proposed a uniform set of academic standards on Wednesday, laying out their vision for what all the nation's public school children should learn in math and English, year by year, from kindergarten to high school graduation."

While the Obama Administration is endorsing the effort, states are not required to participate in the uniform standards either. But most are, with Texas and Alaska choosing to decline in the standards-writing effort. Gov. Rick Perry (TX) stated that only Texans should decide what children there learn. States who are participating are receiving 40 points toward the 500 points possible for the Race to the Top initiative.  

It's not perfect, but its a start. Ideally, the standards should address all areas of the curriculum, but they are focused on English and Mathematics.  Apparently issues of evolution education would be too touchy to address for science curriculum, and I'm sure that social studies curriculum would face similar issues depending on region. Just look at what Texas has been doing with social studies curriculum and textbook choices.



Yesterday, the Texas Board of Education approved a very conservative social studies curriculum that will effect history and economics textbooks. According to today's NYTimes article, the curriculum stresses "the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers' commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light".  There were various meetings in the past week debating the standards. Conservatives wanted to remove references to Ralph Nader and Ross Perot, and list Stonewall Jackson as a role model for effective leadership.

Obviously not all states are as conservative as Texas, and many would have a big issue with aligning their social studies curriculum with the one that Texas has newly proposed. So, it stands to reason that if common standards are being created that educators would start off with these two subjects.

I am eager to see how the roll out occurs from state to state and if students will in fact benefit from this change. I think it would make transferring schools between states an easier process since schools would all be learning the same standards.

Curriculum Standards - Changes and Debate