State chiefs meet on national standards effort
Arkansas Commissioner of Education Dr. Ken James joined 40 other state school chiefs as well as representatives from the Council of Chief State School Officers, ACT, the College Board and Achieve, Inc., for a discussion on a state-led effort to develop national standards in Chicago on Friday, April 17. Jonathan Schnur, senior advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, met with the group as well.
“The response from states was much larger than what we expected, and the dialogue was rich and robust,” Dr. James said after the meeting. “Although there is still much work to be done, the overwhelming consensus was that we need to move forward and seize this golden opportunity.”
Developing national standards has been discussed at CCSSO meetings and was named by Secretary Duncan as one of his top priorities in efforts to reward with American Reinvestment and Recovery Act Race to the Top grant money. The goal is to reduce the redundancy in 50 individual state efforts to create curriculum standards while at the same time benchmarking standards in the U.S. with international standards.
“It is indeed an exciting time and I am pleased that we are leading the conversation,” Dr. James added.
Kathryn Hazelett and Emily Jordan-Cox from Governor Mike Beebe’s office attended the Chicago meeting as well.
Posted by JJT.
