Alexandria, Va. -- December 8, 2009 -- Cathy Allen, vice chair of the Maryland’s St. Mary’s County school board, today told members of Congress that local school boards recognize the importance of rigorous standards and support the creation of State-led, common core standards that give districts the flexibility to address the unique challenges of local communities.
Allen testified before the full U.S. House of Representative’s Education and Labor Committee on behalf of local school boards across the country. Committee members sought to learn more about the National Governors Association/Council of Chief State School Officers (NGA/CCSSO) initiative to create State-led common core standards to improve students’ readiness for higher education and the workforce.
“The federal role must be one of partnership and support to states – not only in terms of funding for those students with the greatest needs, but also in serving as a clearinghouse to share and promote best practices regarding actions to overcome shortfalls in student achievement,” said Allen, who is also president of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.
Local school boards, however, will oppose any efforts by the federal government to force states and school districts to adopt these standards or as a condition of receiving federal aid. School boards also would oppose direct involvement in creating standards by the federal government, or by any entity that the federal government could control, she added.
The National School Boards Association (NSBA) supports:
- the idea of common core standards voluntarily developed by states or groups of states;
- federal funding for the activity, provided it is not in the nature of a mandate or coercion;
- individual states or groups of states developing common state-led assessments but not a national test;
- the process and the progress NGA/CCSSO has made on standards to date with full support pending the ultimate outcome; and
- any other valid process undertaken by other groups of states.
Allen applauded the work of the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers for their work in assembling the Draft Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics. She called the draft “an important first step” and said the work of these groups has brought clarity to a widely varied and disparate set of state standards.
However, Allen expressed concerns that the federal government is coercing states to adopt such standards. She pointed out that the Department of Education’s $4.35 billion Race to the Top program will award competitive grants to states that have worthy school reform plans, which effectively would favor states using the CCSSO/NGA common standards. Additionally, the proposed requirements for Innovations Grants recently released by the Department of Education suggest support for similar consortia addressing assessments.
Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association (www.nsba.org) is a not-for-profit federation of state associations of school boards representing 95,000 local school board members throughout the United States. Its mission is to foster excellence and equity in public elementary and secondary education through local school board leadership. NSBA represents the school board perspective in working with federal government agencies and national organizations that impact education, and provides vital information and services to state associations of school boards throughout the nation.
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Allen's written testimony http://www.nsba.org/MainMenu/Advocacy/FederalLaws/Standards/Standards-Testimony.aspx
U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor webcast http://edwork.edgeboss.net/wmedia/edwork/fc/fc12809.wvx