Governor Doug Ducey promised it would be better. Arizona’s education standards were supposed to be different, he said. The standards revision process was supposed to put Arizona’s students at the center of learning excellence in their classrooms.
According to documents obtained by the Arizona Daily Independent, those promises were not fulfilled. The secretive process prescribed by the State Board of Education staff left parents, teachers, and stakeholders with little hope and less time to ensure that public education remains reflective of the public’s will and students’ needs.
Parents and teachers across the nation decry the Common Core Standards and all it ushered in to classrooms. In 2010, through a largely secretive process, Common Core was adopted nationwide in short order. The process was anything but transparent. In Arizona, the Standards were accepted before the final draft was even completed. Parents in Arizona took notice of the fact that the Common Core Standards were experimental, developmentally inappropriate, and written largely by people employed by the Testing Industry.
The Mommy Lobby
Parents with questions about Common Core were belittled and teachers, who worried about their jobs, dared not speak against the Common Core system. All the while, kids labored over confusing math problems filled with strategies that promised to make them college and career ready. There was just one problem — this was another empty promise with no data or research to back up the platitudes. No fiscal impact statement was done and Arizona’s State Board of Education accepted Common Core blindly- which violates Title 15.
Arizonans Against Common Core formed in 2013 and was the first leading parent group in Arizona to bring attention to the many problems with Common Core. Through this organization, parents began to educate themselves and others about Common Core and sought to bring legislation to curb it. From Arizonans Against Common Core, a group of parents began to network throughout the state in every legislative district. These parents became known as The Mommy Lobby AZ.
The Mommy Lobby, a group of mothers and fathers, regularly attend committee meetings, write, call, and meet face-to-face with legislators to make the problems with Common Core known and to find solutions. They have helped write legislation, support candidates running for office, and provide support to those in office. These parents are engaged with their school boards, serve on boards and committees, and attend functions with the public and legislators to share what is happening in Arizona classrooms. They worked tirelessly to support Diane Douglas in her run as Superintendent of Public Instruction.
During Governor Ducey’s first term, HB2190: repealing and replacing Common Core, sailed through the House only to fail in the Senate 13-16-1. At about the same time, Governor Ducey announced a Standards Development Committee would be formed to review and replace Common Core in Arizona. This would be the process to deliver on his promise to voters that Common Core would end in Arizona. A few Mommy Lobby members were selected to serve on this Committee.
Parents and teachers were hopeful this process would bring the best educational standards to Arizona. Parents and teachers expected a transparent process where the public could be part of creating new Arizona standards. They hoped to become a resource to share what wasn’t working with the Common Core standards.
Empty promises
The Standards Development Committee’s Working Groups were selected through a quiet process whereby resumes were requested. The Committee then learned resumes were not used to select applicants. The Working Groups consisted of teachers and curriculum specialists required to sign and adhere to strict non-disclosure agreements. The Working Groups began categorizing public comment to discern what was important to Arizonans. Then they discussed at length the difference between a standard and curriculum. The Standards Development Committee asked many questions during the year long process to try to discern what would change, how much was changing, and just what the changes looked like. Committee members asked about many topics mentioned by stakeholders during Public Comment period such as: cursive writing, the Common Core’s over emphasis on Informational Text vs. Fiction reading, and the developmental inappropriateness of standards in grades K-3. The non-disclosure agreements kept answers to the Committee non-descript and vague.
On August 19, 2016, the Standards Development Committee got its first and only glimpse of the 2016 Draft Standards. The presentation of the standards highlighted a few of the changes such as adding cursive writing back into the standards. This was a change the Public called for loudly and clearly. This was a welcome addition to the draft as the Governor had vetoed legislation aimed at including cursive into Arizona’s classrooms last session. In his Veto Letter, Ducey, indicated he preferred the State Board of Education place cursive into classrooms. It is interesting he didn’t task the Standards Development Committee to make this change. (Read cursive reading veto letter here)
The Committee was also told a notable change was the removal of any wording that told a Teacher how to teach a standard. Finally, the division of literary and informational texts would not include the onerous requirements prescribed by Common Core.
Excerpt of Governor Ducey’s remarks March 23, 2015 to the State Board of Education:
“….As you know, I am against Common Core, and I openly opposed it in my run for this office. That has not changed.”
…“Our state needs to act so we can move forward. Begin by reviewing the English Language Arts and Mathematics standards in their entirety to ensure that our children are well served by the standards you develop—with full transparency. Standards that are Arizona’s standards–that our parents and teachers bring forward together.
This review should include input from people at all levels of education from every corner of our state – including parents, teachers, principals, and content experts – and the focus needs to be on an Arizona solution. And in any instance during your review, you find situations where Arizona standards can outperform or improve our current standards, I ask you to recommend replacement immediately.”…
We can learn from others, but at the end of the day the standards need to come from Arizona and they need to help us achieve our objectives.”
According to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and State Board of Education (SBE) Executive Summary, many hours and hundreds of people participated in the process. Likewise, hundreds of hours and people worked on reviewing the standards and revising them. The public comment data, academic research, and three criteria for the review process (clarity, cognitive demand, and measurability) were used by the Working Groups across grades K-12 in Math and English Language Arts.
In reviewing the 2016 Draft, there is only 1 citation of academic research used by the Working Groups.
One of the most glaring problems with Common Core has gone unmentioned in the AZ standards review criteria: developmental appropriateness of the standards. The public commented on this concern often. Likewise, 500 experts with specialties in child development also called the Common Core standards into question:
Hiding the ball
Members of the “Standards Development Committee” also asked for a Redline document of the Draft so that changes and revisions could be easily discerned. SBE Executive Director, Karol Schmidt, replied there was no Redline document to provide. This was stunning to those in attendance. Members of the Public asked for a Redline copy during the Call to the Public and privately before the SBE meeting, Mrs. Jennifer Reynolds of Arizonans Against Common Core also asked Ms. Karol Schmidt for a Redline document. Ms. Schmidt told Reynolds a Redline document couldn’t be provided to the Public. Reynolds also inquired about purchasing copies of the 2016 Draft Standards. Mrs. Reynolds was rebuffed by Schmidt and told she couldn’t obtain a printed copy of the Draft . Specifically, Reynolds was told by Schmidt, “We do not offer that service to the public but I can send you PDFs of the standards.”
This was not the first time the public was surprised by Ms. Schmidt’s statements. As an employee of the State Board of Education, during the last Legislative session, Schmidt under no direction from the State Board of Education, testified on education bills in the Senate Education committee, and played loose with some facts about Federal guidelines and legislation.
Time is running out
Given the short time frame for the public to weigh in on the 2016 Draft Standards for ELA and Mathematics, parents and teachers are scrambling to read hundreds of standards and then are expected to quickly make their comments known. Parents and teachers wonder why State Board of Education staff are not serving the public in providing information on the changes in an easily and recognized format of providing a Redline document. School children have scarcely been in school for a month and teachers are still getting to know the students in their classrooms. The most important stakeholders have not been given material that can be digested concisely and in short order. Parents are wondering if this is by design. Things are starting to look eerily familiar with the 2016 Draft.
Public comment on the Draft ends on October 3. Public hearings will be held across the state to allow for feedback for the Arizona Standards Development Committee on the draft Math and English Language Arts (ELA) Standards.
September 12
6:00-7:00 PM
Show Low High School Library
1201 N. Cougar Ln.
Show Low, AZ 85901
September 12
6:00-7:00 PM
Catalina Magnet High School Aud.
3645 E Pima St.
Tucson, AZ 85716
September 12
6:00-7:00 PM
Peoria Flex Ac. Lecture Hall
11200 N. 83rd Ave
Peoria, AZ 85345
September 13
5:00-6:00 PM
Holbrook District Board Room
1000 N. 8th Ave
Holbrook, AZ 86025
September 13
6:00-7:00 PM
Santa Cruz Complex, Room 120
2150 N. Congress Dr.
Nogales, AZ 85621
September 14
6:00-7:00 PM
Flagstaff High School: Hurley Theatre
400 W. Elm Ave
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
September 14
6:00-7:00 PM
Cafeteria of the Rothery Center
3305 E. Fry Blvd
Sierra Vista, AZ 85635
September 15
6:00-7:00 PM
Safford District Board Room
734 11th St.
Safford, AZ 85546
September 15
6:00-7:00 PM
Madison Elem SD Board Room
5601 N. 16th St.
Phoenix, AZ 85016
September 15
6:00-7:00 PM
Glassford Middle School Auditorium
6901 E. Panther Path
Prescott Valley, AZ 86314
September 19
6:00-7:00 PM
Payson District Board Room
902 W. Main St
Payson, AZ 85541
September 19
6:00-7:00 PM
Chandler District Board Office
1525 W. Frye Rd
Chandler, AZ 85224
September 19
6:00-7:00 PM
Yuma School District #1
450 W. 6th St
Yuma, AZ 85364
September 20
6:00-7:00 PM
Gila Cty Board of Supervisors, Rm 202
1400 E. Ash St
Globe, AZ 85501
September 20
6:00-7:00 PM
Parker High School
1600 S. Kofa Ave
Parker, AZ 85344
September 20
6:00-7:00 PM
Walker Butte K-8 School
29697 N Desert Willow Blvd
Queen Creek, AZ 85142
September 21
6:00-7:00 PM
Mohave County Admin Bldg.
700 W. Beal St.
Kingman, AZ 86402