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Missouri adopts Common Core standards
6/16/2010
Missouri will implement a new curriculum under a decision Tuesday by the State Board of Education.
The State Board on June 15, voted to adopt the Common Core Academic Standards, which attempt to establish clear academic goals for K-12 students. The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers developed the standards.
The standards align closely with the grade-level expectations Missouri already has, said Michael Muenks, assistant commissioner of DESE's Office of College and Career Readiness. The main changes effect English language arts and elementary math, he said.
"There's actually pretty good alignment initially so we don’t expect to see many differences in districts that have updated their curriculum materials to the 2.0 GLEs and course expectations," Muenks said.
The standards will move the teaching of fractions to an earlier grade. Currently, Missouri's GLEs place instruction of fractions in fourth and fifth grades, but the Common Core standards introduce them in third grade, Muenks said. The English language arts standards place a greater emphasis on technical reading and writing across all content areas, Muenks said.
DESE officials had planned to present the standards to the State Board at this week's meeting, but had not expected the board to act on them until August. Officials decided to seek an earlier vote because adopting the standards could give the state an advantage in applying for the federal Race to the Top grant, DESE spokesman Jim Morris said.
The board adopted the standards under the recommendation of Commissioner of Education Chris Nicastro in a 5-1 vote. Board member Deborah Demien cast the dissenting vote.
MSTA's Adopted Resolutions favor local control and do not support state or federal curriculum mandates, but do not address the Common Core standards directly.
Classroom teachers should not expect to see the new standards implemented for at least the next two school years. The new standards could be implemented by the 2012-13 school year at the earliest, Muenks said. New assessments will be developed to test the new standards.
Missouri joined the effort to develop the standards last summer when Gov. Jay Nixon and Nicastro agreed to support the state's participation in the project.
See the standards at www.corestandards.org.