S.C. adopts school standards

South Carolina has agreed to join a growing number of states in adopting a new set of standards that define what students must learn at every grade level in reading and math.

The state Board of Education agreed in a 9-4 vote Wednesday to approve the Common Core State Standards, making South Carolina the 25th state in the country to do so. The state Education Oversight Committee gave its approval to the change earlier this summer.

Palmetto State students likely will not see a dramatic change in their classroom lessons -- there's a 97 percent alignment between the state's existing requirements and the new ones -- and the changes will go into effect by the start of the 2013-14 school year.

The biggest change for students and teachers could be a new test that measures students' knowledge of the standards. The state started using a new standardized exam, the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards, in the spring 2009, but that test will not assess students' mastery of the new requirements.

The state could opt to amend the PASS exam to fit the Common Core State Standards, or it could move to a completely new, yet-to-be-developed test. Two consortia of states are planning to create exams that would allow states to compare their students' achievement. South Carolina is one of a dozen states that have joined both groups because it wasn't ready to commit to either one, said Liz Jones, the state's director of assessment.

"We're kind of sitting on the fence," she said.

The new test would be given during the 2014-15 school year. The consortia may receive up to $160 million each -- South Carolina spends about $2 million annually in test development -- to create the new tests that could be online and include interactive elements.

"We're talking about a new generation of testing programs," Jones said.

Until then, the state will develop a strategy to help teachers and administrators understand and teach the new Common Core State Standards. The standards were developed by two national groups in partnership with teachers, school administrators, parents and experts from across the country, marking the first time states have collaborated to decide what students should know. The standards were benchmarked against those in the world's top-performing countries with the goal of better preparing U.S. students to compete in a global economy.

State board members who voted against adopting the new standards included Britt Blackwell, Michael Brenan, Phillip Bowers and Libby Swad. In a prepared statement distributed to the board, Brenan took issue with the common standards for myriad reasons, including that the state's adoption of the national standards would give the federal government control of a state responsibility.

"Again, I believe that sacrificing our sovereignty over public education in favor of national standards and federal control is not in the best interest of South Carolinians," he wrote.

State Superintendent Jim Rex said in a release that the new standards weren't a top-down federal mandate and instead were a collective effort of states that could be adapted to suit individual situations and time lines.

The new standards will require students to master reading and math content in greater depth, and they'll make it easier for students whose families move from one state to another, he said.

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