No more is Missouri in a curious group of four states. Last week, Gov. Jay Nixon informed the National Governors Association that Missouri would join an effort to develop a common core of educational standards for math and English.
We think signing on is a good move, but we hope that education officials don’t forget the reason they originally resisted. We also hope they see the next logical step.
Like Missouri, Alaska, South Carolina and Texas had not signed onto the nationwide effort. Missouri’s reason was pretty compelling: State board of education members feared that if Missouri signed on to develop common standards, then it wouldn’t be able to set its own standards higher.
We usually agree that states should have ultimate control of educational matters. But in this case, we support the state’s involvement. In the long run, such standards will help students. The real world is a global work force, and students shouldn’t be ill-prepared for it by growing up in a state with sub-par standards.
Nixon’s agreement is dependent upon the agreement of education commissioner Chris Wright Nicastro, who was announced Thursday as the new director of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the state board.
The obvious next step is that Missouri should take another look at its testing system.
Part of the nationwide effort will be to develop and implement an assessment system to measure student performance. As much as we hate taking standardized tests, they are a way that an area’s progress and success can be measured on the same ruler.
But Missouri’s system —- the MAP tests — is ultimately designed to review a school district, not help a student.
We hope that better, student-focused tests are a result of nationwide effort. We also hope this leads to an emphasis on learning, not testing.
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