With budget negotiations still up in the air and many bills still in a last minute flurry, not much actually got done this week at the General Assembly. EXCEPT the passage of the Common Core bill, that removes Common Core from NC statutes and establishes a commission that will find the best highest standards in math and language arts for North Carolina students. A very good idea, by the way. Governor McCrory is expected to sign the bill into law.
The State Board of Education and the Academic Standards Review Commission will both conduct a comprehensive review of all language arts and math standards and propose modifications to ensure those standards are developmentally appropriate and among the highest in the nation. The Commission must meet before September 1, 1014. They are to submit reports on the standards recommendations as well as recommendations for assessments and testing to the General Assembly. The Commission’s work will end by Dec. 2015 but the State Board of Education’s role in developing and implementing the newly developed rigorous standards and testing to ensure success will be ongoing. A report to the General Assembly on testing is due July 15, 1015.
The bill is effective on July 1, 2014. This General Assembly and Governor are serious about improving education. It’s about time. Let’s get started.
