Department Welcomes Comments on Draft Common Core State Standards

The first official draft of the K-12 Common Core State Standards was released today for public comment.

Idaho is one of the 51 states, territories and District of Columbia that has signed on to this state-led initiative to develop common, internationally benchmarked standards in math and English language arts.

The State Department of Education is inviting educators, parents and citizens from across Idaho to submit their comments and feedback on these draft standards by April 2.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative builds directly on recent efforts of leading organizations and states that have focused on developing college- and career-ready standards and ensure that these standards can be internationally benchmarked to top-performing countries around the world.

After this public comment period, NGA and CCSSO will release the final Common Core State Standards this Spring. At that point, Idaho will begin the rulemaking process for these standards by taking these to the State Board of Education for initial approval, opening them up to public comment period statewide, returning to the State Board for final approval and then taking the standards to the Legislature for final approval in the 2011 Legislature.

Adopting the common core standards is voluntary.  Idaho may also choose to include additional standards beyond the common core as long as the common core represents at least 85 percent of the state’s standards in math and English language arts. The second phase of this initiative is to ultimately develop common assessments aligned to the core standards developed through the process.

To view the draft standards and submit your comments, visit www.corestandards.org.

~ Melissa M.