2015/05/04 – State Superintendent Carey Wright says the state Department of Education will conduct its own study of the embattled Common Core education standards and take public input, but she still supports them for Mississippi schools.

Carey on Tuesday was the guest at the Stennis Institute of Government’s Capitol press corps luncheon.

Her announcement comes after Gov. Phil Bryant recently vetoed a bill passed by the Legislature to create a commission to make recommendations on state education standards. Bryant and other opponents of Common Core said the bill did not go far enough in removing the standards, which they say are a stalking horse for the federal government to take over states’ public education.

Here are five things you need to know from Carey’s speech and question-and-answer session.

1. Wright said MDE, likely starting in late May, will take public comments online on the national Common Core math and English standards for 90 days. She said a panel of educators will take that input and make recommendations to the Board of Education. She said she expects the public input and panel will provide “Mississippi-centric” standards. She said she’s unsure whether this would be enough to satisfy the anti-Common Core movement, but said she has talked with Bryant and legislative leaders.

2. Wright said she still supports the Common Core “college and career readiness standards” on which Mississippi educators have worked for nearly five years and spent millions of dollars to implement. She said she believes a lot of the opposition to the standards is based on “misinformation.” But she said the panel and public process is “a good-faith effort” by MDE and the board to address concerns and make changes where needed.

3. Mississippi totally ditching Common Core standards this late in the game “would set us back monumentally,” Wright said, and bring the very federal intervention in state education that Common Core opponents fear. Wright said the state runs the risk of losing its federal No Child Left Behind waiver if it doesn’t have approved standards, and this would bring dire sanctions including “significant federal involvement.” She said at least 74 schools in 51 districts would face reorganization, state takeover or other actions immediately. Throwing out Common Core standards, she said, “would place the state’s education system in turmoil.”

4. Wright said Mississippi schools on Thursday will have results of literacy tests recently given third graders. This is part of the “Third Grade Gate” lawmakers passed to prevent third graders who don’t read proficiently from being socially promoted to fourth grade. Wright said the Board of Education on Thursday will approve the “pass or fail cut score” for the tests. The new program is expected to result in thousands of children being held back in third grade. Wright noted the state has 78 literacy coaches in “125 targeted schools” and has provided additional training to thousands of teachers and administrators. She said students being held back will have to have specialized tutoring, as will those granted exceptions to advance to fourth grade despite problems. She noted students would have two more opportunities to take reading tests before being held back.

5. Wright said Mississippi’s public education system has made some improvements, but still has a long way to go. She said the recent “Quality Counts” report on states gave Mississippi an F grade in K-12 achievement, and that ACT tests show only 12 percent of the state’s high school graduates are college and career ready in all four subject areas, compared to the national average of 26 percent.

Source: The Clarion-Ledger 

Geoff Pender