Numerous researchers in MSU’s College of Education have endorsed a set of high school graduation standards approved last week that proponents said will better prepare students for college.

The Common Core State Standards were approved June 2 by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, as well as teachers and administrators nationwide.

Among other changes, the standards would put increased emphasis on writing and align Michigan’s education standards with those in other states on a national level.The standards also focus on K-12 students in the areas of mathematics and English language arts. They were updated from a January version to provide more alignment between grades and remove focus on non-measurable skills. The English requirements also were reformatted, giving greater emphasis to reading and writing and less attention to speaking and listening.

“We saw under No Child Left Behind, individual states’ (course standards) varied so much across the country,” said Barbara Markle, assistant dean of K-12 outreach for the College of Education.

“It’s hard to ascertain what students know other than what you see on national assessments on educational progress. You would see some real difference between states.”

The standards will be considered by the State Board of Education during its June 15 meeting, and will be voted on at that meeting, said Martin Ackley, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education.

Sharif Shakrani, MSU education professor and co-director of the Education Policy Center at MSU who also formerly worked in the U.S. Department of Education, said Michigan likely will accept the math standards, but might have a more difficult time implementing the standards’ English language arts and other requirements because of cost factors.

“(The mathematics’s standards) are very consistent with the state’s standard,” Shakrani said.

“Michigan and (its) standards emphasize reading, and over the last few months they de-emphasized writing, and were never much involved in speaking and listening. If they commit to use (Common Core State Standards) …it would cost a lot of money … (that) they do not have.”

Will Schmidt, an MSU distinguished professor of education who helped create the mathematics standard and was part of the validation committee that deemed the final standards acceptable, said the policies would improve the education in the U.S. compared to other countries.

“We learned how far our standards were behind the rest of the world,” Schmidt said. “One of the reasons our standards were so fragmented was because there was no common place. Every state had its own standard.”

Abbey Doyle, a recent graduate of DeWitt High School who will be attending MSU in the fall, said she felt national standards of any sort would ensure all high school students received an equal education.

Related posts:

1. Education reform: California to join Race to the Top rush
2. How to Get In State Tuition
3. D.C.’s New Community College Brings Continuing Education Online