Schools may adopt new standards

South Carolina's expectations for what its public school students must know may be ratcheted up in the future, giving students a stronger foundation in the early grades and demanding they use higher-level thinking skills later.

State officials are moving toward adopting a new set of standards that define what students must learn at every grade level in reading and math.

The new requirements, the Common Core State Standards, were developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers in partnership with teachers, school administrators, parents and experts from across the country. They were benchmarked against the standards in the world's top performing countries. The goal is to better enable students to compete in a global economy.

"These standards are just as rigorous, and in many cases more rigorous, than the standards we have, and they better prepare students for college and career readiness," said S.C. Deputy Superintendent Valerie Harrison. "More than anything, it's just so much better for the students."

States have the freedom to decide on the information students must learn, and South Carolina isn't being forced to adopt the Common Core State Standards. But state education officials hope to secure the support of the state Board of Education by the end of this summer to make the change for the start of the 2013-14 school year; the state Education Oversight

Committee gave its approval earlier this week.

Other states, such as North Carolina, Kentucky, Hawaii and West Virginia, already have adopted the new standards.

Case for national standards

Adopting the new standards could help the state's chances at securing money in the federal Race to the Top grant competition, and it gives the state an opportunity to do now what likely would be required in the future by the reauthorized federal No Child Left Behind legislation, Harrison said.

In addition, using the new standards would ensure the state's learning requirements had been compared with others across the world, and it would enable South Carolina to compare its students' results with other states, Harrison said. Such comparisons have been virtually impossible because each state uses its own standards and assessments, but those who developed the common standards plan to develop a test for those.

Educators from across South Carolina compared the content in the new common standards with that used in the Palmetto State, and they found an overall 97 percent alignment between the two. Although the content is similar, one difference is the emphasis on applying knowledge learned, Harrison said. Some say students don't do enough of that in South Carolina, but the common standards make that a focus and priority, she said.

"It's more clear as to what the students have to do to demonstrate mastery of the standard," she said.

If the state were to adopt the Common Core State Standards, it would have to move some of what's taught in certain grades to different levels. For example, fractions are a focus for the state's seventh-graders, but the common standards emphasize that more in fifth grade.

Generally, the common standards include fewer concepts for younger students but build a stronger foundation of understanding, Harrison said. For example, while the state standards expose students in early grades to five areas of math, the common standards concentrate on developing deeper skills in fewer areas so students better understand the fundamentals, she said.

What local educators say

Cathy Delaney has worked as the elementary grades English Language arts coordinator for Berkeley County schools, and she served on the team of state experts that compared the state and common standards in English.

She said the new standards would maintain the state's high expectations. The wording of the new standards is more specific, and it's not as hard to figure out what students must learn, she said.

"It will be more teacher- and parent-friendly," she said.

Using these standards would be an adjustment for teachers because, in some cases, it would shift content to different grades, but she said she doesn't predict any "huge shocks." She supports the state adopting a set of standards that would be more suited to today's mobile society in which students move from state to state, she said.

"I think it's a positive move," she said. "I don't want people to think it came out of nowhere. It didn't."

Ann Sanderson works as a high school math interventionist in Dorchester District 2, and she served on the state team that compared the state and common standards in math.

If the state adopts the standards, she said teachers will be affected the most. The state will need to develop good training and documents to help them understand what they must teach, but their course content shouldn't change drastically, she said. She said she doesn't think students or parents will notice much of a difference.

If the common standards are adopted, Harrison said the state would work with teachers and administrators to understand and teach the new requirements.

"We have a plan laid out to do that," Harrison said.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.