COLUMBUS, Ohio – With the new school year right around the corner, a simmering controversy is coming to a boil in Ohio over education standards known as Common Core.
State Rep. Andrew Thompson (R-Marietta) introduced a bill on Thursday that would repeal the set of standards for what students should know and be able to do in math and English.
Thompson and other opponents claim the standards are too rigorous and untested and also worry the federal government will take away educational control from state and local entities.
The concerns raise “concerns about the costs of this program, whether the standards themselves are actually better standards or whether they are inferior standards and whether this about a race to the top or a race to the middle or mediocrity,” he said.
Although the standards have been adopted by nearly every state and endorsed by prominent conservatives like former governors Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Jeb Bush of Florida, it been the target of harsh criticism from others on the right, including radio talk-host Glenn Beck.
State education officials argue Common Core allows teachers to take the time to teach core concepts and procedures and the standards will help Ohio’s children become more successful and the state more competitive.
“There’s less standards, there’s fewer standards, but it allows teachers to go more in-depth and it encourages critical thinking as well and those are skills that employers want from the workforce in Ohio,” John Charlton, associate director of communications at the Ohio Department of Education, said.
Ohio is one of 45 states that have fully adopted the Common Core. The state will use federal funds to implement the standards and districts are required to begin teaching a Common Core curriculum this fall, Charlton said.
While some critics claim the standards are dictated by Washington, Charlton says it’s up to local districts to choose their curriculum, not the state or federal government.
Besides repealing the standards Thompson’s bill (House Bill 237) would also prohibit the state Board of Education from using assessments based on the standards, and it would outlaw data collecting on students except for limited administrative purposes. Data collection by the government was another concern of critics.