Dive Brief:
- Less than four years after adopting the Common Core, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed legislation Monday withdrawing the state from participation in the federal standards.
- Although the decision to opt out was a move to appease critics, Indiana is still receiving flack. Many point out that the new law does not stop the state from using the Common Core as a draft for creating new standards.
- This notion was confirmed Monday when Sandra Stotsky, a retired University of Arkansas professor and Common Core opponent, declined Gov. Pence’s request for help writing the new standards. Stotsky said the standards state officials have penned thus far are just a “warmed-over version of Common Core’s standards” for English Language Arts.
Dive Insight:
Speaking on Indiana’s Common Core withdrawal, Gov. Pence said, “I believe when we reach the end of this process there are going to be many states around the country that will take a hard look at the way Indiana has taken a step back, designed standards and done it in a way where we drew on educators, we drew on citizens, we drew on parents and developed standards that meet the needs of our people.”
Despite Pence's claims of being something of a trailblazer, he is going to need a bit more innovation and independence to win over critics. What confounds his claims is, according to Stotsky, more than 90% of the Grade 6-12 English standards come from the Common Core — a fact that's making the decision to opt out look more like a shallow political move than any real policy change.