Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz
State Impact Indiana reports that there was a push for 2nd Graders to be under the Common Core State Standards since they were rolled out for Kindergarten and First grade last year.
This is even after the Common Core pause bill was passed and signed into law.
After state lawmakers passed a complex bill pausing Common Core rollout in Indiana, Supt. Glenda Ritz says it was up to her office to decide what academic standards second grade teachers would use in the fall.
Kindergarten and first grade teachers in Indiana are already teaching the Common Core, a set of nationally-crafted academic standards adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia. Second grade teachers were to make the switch during the 2013-14 school year.
But guidance from the Indiana Department of Education issued last month says teachers in every grade except K-1 should continue teaching the old Indiana academic standards in tandem with the Common Core.
“Implementation-wise, really the only decision that I made — and I did make it, and I take responsibility for it — is that Grade Two will not be implementing fully Common Core,” Ritz said Tuesday, speaking at a Indiana Youth Institute conference for postsecondary school counselors. “The reason for that is very clear because we won’t have an assessment for them when they’re third graders. I refuse to not align standards and assessments for the little ones.”
Earlier in the day a handful of teachers affiliated with the education advocacy group Stand for Children invited a half-dozen reporters to Ritz’s statehouse office, urging the state superintendent to allow implementation of the Common Core to continue.
Umm… earth to Glenda Ritz and Stand for Children. What decision? Glenda Ritz does not have the authority to override the legislature and Governor Pence. The law says to pause implementation, so the implementation is paused. What reality are these folks living in?
It isn’t “complex,” it may seem like a pain for those who were preparing to implement it, but you can’t ignore state law because it’s inconvenient.
Erin Tuttle says
Shane, I think Glenda Ritz was justified in determining that. The law stated to pause implementation based on the timeline set by the IN Dept of Ed which was vague. In essence, she was correctly interpreting their own timeline, not IN law. You r 100% correct about Stand.
Shane Vander Hart says
Thanks for the clarification. I’ll lay off Glenda then :).
Carrie says
We need to go further than just pausing cc, We need to opt out completely! I don’t think people realize that the way the system will work, is by pausing it, the schools will continue teaching standards they already have, they don’t tend to go back the old way, then eventually they will incorporate more without parents knowledge, it will be too late then, and harder to reverse. Also to those for cc, be sure to get the facts, there is more going on then what pro cc advocates are telling you, not their fault because they only know what they are told,not what they have personally researched.