Leaders of both state legislative houses announced Wednesday they would create special committees on Common Core standards to weigh the future education principles used in state districts.
The announcement comes on the heels of Gov. Scott Walker’s claim Wisconsin’s K-12 education system can do better than Common Core standards.
Common Core is a state-led initiative currently adopted in 45 states that lays out math and English goals for K-12 educators to prepare their students for a four-year or technical college education, according to the Common Core website.
The committees are designed to compare the Common Core standards with previous state education standards as well as to evaluate the college-readiness effectiveness and implementation cost of the Common Core standards.
Public input will also play a large role in the committee’s decision-making process, according to a release from state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Burlington.
Vos said in his statement he appointed state Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, R-Fond du Lac, who worked in education for 22 years, to chair the nine-person, bipartisan committee.
State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, appointed three Republican senators, including state Sen. Paul Farrow, R-Pewaukee, to the counterpart five-person state Senate select committee. State Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, will appoint the remaining two senators, according to a release from Fitzgerald.
Farrow said in a statement he sees his committee’s ultimate goal as providing “a platform of success for all students” that would allow students to be competitive on an international stage.
Thiesfeldt took a similar tact, saying in a statement he sees the leadership role in the discussion as an “honor” and will look forward to having the public “chime in” on education.
