Legislation in Pierre establishes a task force to monitor the effectiveness of education standards called the Common Core. South Dakota opts to use the standards in K-12 education, but the policy has come under scrutiny as people cope with the change. Now some legislators want additional oversight in the form of a task force.
Three bills filed in Pierre aim to monitor South Dakota’s participation regarding Common Core education standards. Republican Senator Tim Rave says Senate Bills 62 through 64 provide common sense solutions to legitimate concerns about the Common Core.
"Putting kind of a pause on the whole common core standard progression. Make sure that what we’re doing is working before we add or expand to that program," Rave says.
The Senate Majority leader says one bill establishes a waiting period before South Dakota expands common core to subjects other than math and English. Rave says another bill establishes a task force to evaluate and monitor the results of the Common Core. And the third measure aims to protect student data reported to the federal government.
South Dakota is one of 45 states choosing to use the Common Core to measure student achievement. Sandra Waltman with the South Dakota Education Association says the education benchmarks are just standards.
"There has been a lot of confusion that Common Core is a curriculum or that it’s some sort of scripted lessons that are coming down from the federal government, and that’s not true at all. Again, Common Core is just the standards. The teachers out in the state, they take these standards and they develop their lesson plans and their curriculum based on those standards," Waltman says.
Some legislators say the Common Core still goes too far and needs additional limits. Republican Representative Jim Bolin says the program leads to the federal government taking control of education away from the states.
But fellow Representative, Democrat Ray Ring, says the standards are intended to be more rigorous and to encourage critical thinking.
"And as somebody who taught at the University for many years, I’m sure my former colleagues would welcome having students come into their classes with more of those skills. And I think we should at least give the Common Core a chance and see if it can accomplish that," Ring says.
Ring says he supports evaluating the effectiveness of the Common Core.
Last week, lawmakers on education committees heard from Secretary Melody Schopp. She leads the state’s Department of Education. This week, Schopp spends three days in front of the Joint Appropriations Committee to discuss funding and, inevitably, the Common Core.
