Bluegrass Institute’s and the education commissioner’s current thinking on education standards

BIPPS staffers have been speaking around the state about our observations on the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards and thought it was time to pull some overall thoughts together for our blog readers.

You can find our full statement on education standards including the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in this freedomkentucky.org Wiki item, but here is a quick overview:

While the CCSS probably established an improved starting point for Kentucky’s educational system, it is becoming clear that our students will “need more than Core.” However, due to the fact that the standards are copyrighted by Washington, DC organizations beyond the control of Kentucky, it is unclear how we can modify the standards to better meet our students’ needs. Still, it would be desirable, if possible, for us to use the CCSS as a “model, but not a mandate.” Ultimately, it is Kentucky’s job, not Washington’s, to produce the educational programs our students need, and the Bluegrass Institute favors a state-led approach to meeting that responsibility.

By the way, it looks like Kentucky’s Commissioner of Education now recognizes that the Kentucky implementation of CCSS and NGSS needs work. He announced a program this week that will “ask Kentuckians to review state academic standards and suggest revisions,” according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Holliday continued:

"We're going to challenge Kentuckians to read the standards. It's time to start looking at the standards and tweaking them based on feedback."

He indicated that feedback would be solicited from parents, business leaders, teachers and others.

Thus, Holliday is implying that, despite the copyrights held by Washington, DC groups on both the CCSS and the NGSS, he thinks Kentucky can move forward and make changes, anyway. It will be interesting to see if this is actually possible.