Category Archives: BlueprintNC

At a panel discussion hosted by Public Schools First NC on May 3rd, several legislators were on hand to discuss teacher pay and Common Core. Democrat State Senator Josh Stein upheld the tradition of ‘politicizing’ and ‘misinformation’ that the opposition of Common Core has come to know all too well. Memo to those doing the actual politicizing here: NC Replacing Common Core Means Leading, Not Following.

We’ll get to Public Schools First NC at the end of the article. First let’s look at what was said. WRAL, to their credit this time, explained a bit more about the commission to be formed, that the brand name Common Core is currently in our state statutes and in a way, corrects Senator Stein. The relevant portion is below; emphasis added is mine.

As for Common Core, Stein said he expects the legislature to abandon it.

“There is a great deal of misinformation. First, it’s not a curriculum. It’s a set of standards about what we expect students to know each year,” Stein said. “Second, it’s not a federal initiative. Third, it’s extremely popular with teachers. When you roll out a new program you expect kinks. You work through them.”

A student committee on April 24 approved a proposal to move North Carolina away from Common Core.

Although the bill does delete legislative language referencing Common Core standards, it does not take them out of play right away. Rather, the measure would create an Academic Standards Review Commission to develop standards “tailored to the needs of North Carolina’s students.”

The commission would be part of the state Department of Administration, not the Department of Public Instruction. It would be instructed to finish a first run at revising the standards by 2015, in time for the 2016 legislative session.

The revised standards would go to State Board of Education for approval, but if lawmakers don’t agree with the board’s position, they could override it and enact new standards themselves.

Now, let’s break Stein’s comment down. Continue reading →