Dive Summary:
- A Michigan Legislature subcommittee will hold the first of several legislative hearings Tuesday to determine whether or not to proceed with implementing the Common Core standards, the Detroit Free Press reports.
- State Rep. Tom McMillin barred the Michigan Department of Education from spending money on implementing both the common core standards and the Smarter Balanced Assessment—which was already planned to replace English language arts and math state exams in the 2014-15 school year—via language added to a budget bill.
- The move, dubbed a "pause" by the state's Republican lawmakers, echoes other conservative backlash over their "unprecedented federal intrusion" and comes almost three years after the state's Board of Education adopted the common core, and as considerable time and money have been spent by districts to train teachers and upgrade technology.
From the article:
... Pulling back from the standards would be a tragedy, common core supporters say. Just 18% of Michigan’s high school juniors are deemed college-ready, based on ACT’s tough criteria. And Michigan continues to slide behind other states on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a national exam given to a representative sample of students in each state.
“We don’t want to sentence any young person to poor preparation for life and work,” said John Austin, president of the state Board of Education, which adopted the standards in 2010. “If we walk away ... that’s what we would be doing.” ...
