Board of Education to review academic standards

The Indiana State Board of Education is currently in the process of reviewing the Indiana Academic Standards. Last spring, the Indiana General Assembly passed House Enrolled Act 1427, which asked the SBOE to conduct a review and implement the new standards by July 1, 2014.

The SBOE must review current standards, as well as establish college and career readiness standards.

SBOE member Brad Oliver said HEA 1427 was created because some Hoosiers were concerned about the Common Core State Standards and didn’t feel Indiana had reviewed them before implementation.

Final adoption of the new academic standards is scheduled for April 9, 2014, when the SBOE will vote on the matter. The new standards will be reviewed multiple times by the college and career ready panels, the Indiana Education Roundtable and the State Board of Education.

Each education standard will be reviewed by the panels first, which include teachers and subject experts from colleges.

SBOE member Cari Whicker said a lot of care was put into choosing who would be analyzing the current standards and proposing changes.

There will then be three hearings where the public can discuss the new standards. They will take place Feb. 24, 25 and 26. Whicker said there is also an online public comment forum that opens today.

After the public hearings take place, the standards will go back to the panels for further revisions. Then they will be presented to the Education Roundtable and finally the SBOE for a vote.

“The educational standards must meet national and international benchmarks for college and career readiness standards and be aligned with postsecondary educational expectations,” HEA 1427 states.

The panels are also working on making sure the standards are clearly written and not too vague.

If new standards are implemented, the ISTEP+ test will need to be replaced by a new test to see if students are learning what is consistent with the new academic standards.

Oliver said he wanted to get the standards finished by April 9 so teachers have time to prepare their lessons during the summer.

SBOE member Troy Albert said having academic standards are important, because without goals or aspirations, no one would ever be able to achieve anything.

Albert, principal at Henryville Jr./Sr. High School, said this process has been educational for him as well.

“I think education is important to every human being,” Albert said.

Whicker, who is also a sixth grade teacher at Riverview Middle School, said this review of academic standards is larger in scope than in years past.

Whicker said many Hoosiers were worried about whether Indiana’s standards were the best they could be, as well as whether the Common Core Standards would take away Indiana’s academic sovereignty.

Whicker said so far this process has been a good collaboration between the Indiana Department of Education and the SBOE.

After these standards are adopted, the IDOE will start to communicate the new standards to teachers.

“I’m excited to have the best standards for Indiana kids that we can,” Whicker said.

Follow reporter Sydney Murray on Twitter @sydlm13.