There are some things all kids ought to know

10:30 PM Friday, March 19, 2010

A controversial idea in education is back in a form that just might work for Ohio and the nation.

The “common core” idea promotes basic standards about what students should learn in English, math, social studies and science — the core subjects.

The notion that basic expectations should be consistent across the nation doesn’t sound especially divisive. In fact, though, there are camps passionately in favor and against the idea.

To many conservatives — including those who are critical of public education and who believe there are basics in every subject that every child should know — the idea of the federal government telling local schools what to teach is heretical.

On the other side, some liberal groups have pushed to require states to ensure every student is taught at least to a minimum level in the major subjects. Former President Bill Clinton was a huge proponent of national standards and a national test to measure how well kids are measuring up. He abandoned the effort in the face of a backlash from the states.

To get around the political minefield, this time the call for standards, cleverly, has been led by the states. Through the National Governors Association, 48 states have joined an effort to jointly write common standards.

Ohio and Gov. Ted Strickland have been strong supporters of the idea, with a handful of Ohioans playing key roles crafting the draft standards that have just been released for math and English.

The goal is to finalize those standards this summer in anticipation of the participating states adopting them soon after.

A decade ago, Ohio’s own standards were not well regarded. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, in a national review of state standards, rated Ohio a D+ in 2002. But things have changed. Last year, in its annual report on standards, Education Week gave Ohio an A. Others are not as high on Ohio’s approach, but there is agreement that the state has come a long way in the past decade.

The “common core” draft standards are getting some good reviews. Adopting them, which Ohio is likely to do, would help ensure Ohio is keeping up with what’s happening nationally. At that level, it’s hard to dilute standards and have the effort go unnoticed.

The “common core” could have a dramatic impact on the states — and the kids — in need of the most help. If everyone gets on board with bringing their systems to the same high standard, millions of students could really benefit.

Of course, if all this comes together, then the natural next question is which states are doing the best job of getting kids to learn at the level expected in the new standards? Answering that question probably would require some sort of national test.

Better leave that battle for another day.

— Cox News Service

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