Illinois joins effort to create national learning standards
Illinois will be among the states pursuing common learning standards for English and math this year, a project that could lead to national testing in the future.
State education leaders announced Monday that Illinois and 45 other states - plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands - will be part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The goal of the project is to develop a set of uniform learning standards for English and math that best prepare U.S. students for college and the workplace at home and abroad.
Right now, states set their own standards, which differ widely. Colleges and businesses have no way of knowing whether completion of Algebra I in one state means the same thing in another.
That practice, state educators say, makes little sense in today's smaller, increasingly fast-paced world.
"This is an era of great student mobility and global competition," said Mary Fergus, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education. "We have to prepare students to meet not just national, but international, bench marks. Differences in state learning standards don't help with that."
Some suburban educators have expressed worries that the project will give the federal government too much control of public education, which has traditionally been the province of state and local authorities.
Joyce Karon, a state board member who lives in Barrington, said the project won't rob suburban districts of their ability to set higher goals for their particular students.
"What we'll be looking at are baselines, the elements that everyone agrees must be a part of our education system," Karon said. "That doesn't mean local districts can't go above and beyond, or that they shouldn't."
Two nonprofit groups will lead the Common Core State Standards Initiative: The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Fergus said the groups hope that standards for grades K through 12 can be established by December, with an adoption process being set up early in 2010. Adoption of the standards will be voluntary.
After that, the project will attempt to develop a national test, something that would represent a huge cost savings for individual states, Fergus said. Illinois spent more than $50 million on standardized testing during fiscal year 2009.
"It's not known yet whether we'll eventually get to a national test," she said. "Congressional testimony will be heard about this in the future. It will be a tricky issue."
State education leaders are optimistic about the program because U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has advocated the creation of national learning standards, and he could make federal stimulus money available for the project.