Haslam’s Common Core Review Is A Path Toward ‘Tennessee Standards’

In September, Governor Bill Haslam held an education summit where he signaled the state would review Common Core. Credit: TN Photo Services

More than 40 teachers, professors and administrators will spend the next year combing through Common Core education standards and suggesting changes. Governor Bill Haslam also announced Wednesday the state is posting the standards to a website in the coming weeks so parents can read them and offer their suggestions.

While several of the educators selected for the review committees have been boosters of Common Core, like Lipscomb University’s Candice McQueen, Tennessee Board of Education executive director Gary Nixon says he expects there will be changes made.

“I think we’re at the point now that these are going to be Tennessee standards,” Nixon says. “And it’s going to be standards that have been reviewed and commented on by Tennesseans and Tennessee teachers.”

To date, Tennessee has not tweaked Common Core. The organization that wrote the standards has discouraged altering any more than 15 percent of them, otherwise it defeats the purpose of having common standards among states.

The state board is expected to consider any recommended changes by the end of 2015.

The Haslam administration has been trying to quiet critics of Common Core. The standards were a focus on an education summit held in recent weeks. In a statement, the governor says it’s time to take a “fresh look.”

“One thing we’ve all agreed on is the importance of high standards in Tennessee,” Haslam says. “This discussion is about making sure we have the best possible standards as we continue to push ahead on the historic progress we’re making in academic achievement.”

See who will be reviewing Common Core. Here are some answers to possible questions.