Some lawmakers want Michigan to dump the Common Core education standards. But that might put them at odds with Governor Snyder’s vision for education in Michigan.
Michigan’s current education standards are Common Core with a twist. But some lawmakers want to use the standards that another state used a few years ago.
A report released by the governor’s 21st Century Education Commission recommends keeping Michigan’s current education standards.
While it doesn’t specifically mention Common Core, it does say that Michigan should stick to the current content standards and use the M-STEP and SAT to measure student outcomes.
John Walsh is the Director of Strategy for Governor Rick Snyder. He says the conversation needs to be more about making education better.
“We keep changing things and it’s difficult to then determine whether or not children are consistently moving forward or to find the things that are working,” he says.
Snyder won’t take a position on the pending legislation, but he is willing to have discussions about education.
Paul Salah is with the intermediate school district in Wayne County. It provides support and professional development to schools in Wayne County. He says repealing Common Core would cost schools a lot, and not just financially.
“It’s literally tens of thousands of hours of instructional time that teachers are away from their students designing and learning about best practices and the research base,” he says.
Legislation in Lansing to repeal any use of Common Core and replace it with standards once used by Massachusetts is currently in a House committee.
