Common Core | News

Missouri Lawmakers Reach Common Core Compromise

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 06/09/14

As the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) crashed in the Carolinas and Oklahoma last week, Missouri lawmakers reached a compromise on the standards designed to keep them in place for at least two years.

The new law will establish work groups of educators aiming to develop a set of standards in English language arts and math for the state by October 2015. As they work, the groups will make regular public reports and the state school board will eventually approve standards for implementation in the 2016-2017 school year.

Until the new standards, if any, are adopted, schools will be allowed to continue in their efforts to implement the Common Core and to use CCSS-aligned state assessments next spring.

Common Core supporters in Missouri "like it because they expect that educators will affirm the work underway in nearly all of the state's school districts to implement Common Core," according to a report in the Kansas City Star. "A transparent process by Missourians, they say, will pacify persistent anger that Common Core was sprung on states with heavy federal pressure."

Opponents see the compromise as a way to kill the Common Core in the state in the near future.

"Both sides are claiming victory," said Missouri State Senator David Pearce, according to the Star. "That signals a good compromise."

The full bill is available at house.mo.gov.