Education Law

Common standards, yes; federal standards, no

The message from the five witnesses who testisfied before the House Committee on Education and Labor at a hearing today was clear: U.S. students need to be competitive globally.  One way to get there is to have “fewer, clearer and higher” academic standards.

The committee hearing today explored how states can improve the rigor of their standards through collaboration.  The witenesses agreed the best way — and the only way– to accomplish this goal is to have states develop voluntary common standards that are rigorous and internationally benchmarked.

BoardBuzz agrees with former  Governor of North Carolina James Hunt who testified that “it’s not the federal government’s job [to develop these standards], it’s the states’ job.”

NSBA supports the development of rigorous academic standards and continues to believe that this effort should be led by states and local communities with the federal government playing a role of support in financing these needs and in sharing best practices.

BoardBuzz is encouraged to hear Arkansas Education Commissioner Ken James telling the committee that already 41 states have expressed “a strong interest in pursuing the goal of state-led common standards.”

But some questions remained: Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI) wondered whether uniformity in standards can be achieved without some  type of [federal] mandate. Committee chairman George Miller (D-CA) is a bit more reassuring: “We are placing a very big bet on the states to come up with a solution [to the problem of standards],” he said. “My sense is we are placing the right bet.”

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on April 29, 2009 (boomark / email).