New standards concern academic officials

Indiana State Board of Education member Tony Walker has released a statement of his opinions about the new proposed Indiana academic standards.

The Indiana Education Roundtable endorsed the proposed standards April 21 at its meeting, despite protests from some in attendance.
The Indiana State Board of Education will vote on the final draft of the standards April 28.

Walker said he will vote to approve the standards if they are coupled with sound curricula and good teaching.

He said he believes the standards meet the definition of College and Career Readiness as outlined by Indiana Public Law 31-2014. College and

Career Readiness is defined as “the standards that a high school graduate must meet to obtain the requisite knowledge and skill to transition without remediation to postsecondary education or training and ultimately into a sustainable career.”

Purdue University has the third-largest population of foreign students in the U.S. at 9,509, according to the Institute of International Education’s 2013 Open Door Report.
IU-Bloomington has the 13th-largest population of foreign students at 6,547.

Walker still has concerns, though, about whether the standards are competitive with international academic benchmarks.

According to the statement, Jim Milgram, professor of mathematics at Stanford University, and professor Sandra Stotsky of the University of Arkansas, said the math and English standards, respectively, are not at the level they could be.

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment, the U.S. ranks 35th in the world in math proficiency and 24th in the world in reading proficiency.

“Our academic competiveness internationally has real economic impact in higher education and in hiring in Indiana,” Walker said in the statement.

“International students and foreign workers are aggressively competing in Indiana for seats at our flagship universities and for our value-added jobs. The academic expectations must reflect this reality.”

Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz and Gov. Mike Pence motioned and seconded, respectively, to endorse the standards at the Roundtable meeting.

After the endorsement, Pence read a statement, which was met with boos from some in the crowd.

“As the first state to withdraw from Common Core, Indiana had a unique responsibility to create new, high standards in an open and serious process that would serve our children and strengthen our school,” Pence said in the statement.

“I have long believed that education is a state and local function, and that decisions about our schools should be made closest to the parents and communities that depend upon them.

“After a careful review of the process and the outcome, I believe Indiana has accomplished this task and I join the Education Roundtable in forwarding these new Indiana academic standards to the State Board of Education for approval.”