Michael Sears
Gov. Scott Walker addresses reporters Friday after he spoke to the 2014 Joint State Education Conference and advocated changing the Common Core Academic Standards that have come under criticism by conservative groups.
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Wisconsin should develop its own academic benchmarks by re-examining the Common Core Academic Standards already adopted by Wisconsin and many other states, Gov. Scott Walker said at an education conference Friday.
In a speech at the State Education Convention in Milwaukee, Walker said he is working on legislation that would create a commission, chaired by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers, to revisit the Common Core standards, which he said weren't high enough and were being dictated by people who weren't from Wisconsin.
"We embrace high standards in the state of Wisconsin," Walker said. "There's got to be a way for us to put our fingerprints on it.
"The standards we have in the state should be driven by people in Wisconsin," Walker said.
Walker weighed in on the politically charged issue of adopting the national standards, which some tea party conservatives in the state have characterized as a federal takeover of education. Backers of the standards say that's a myth.
Common Core standards for what students should be able to do in reading and math have been adopted by 45 states, with supporters believing uniform K-12 guidelines will translate to higher student achievement. The standards also are aligned with new online state achievement tests coming down the pike.
Wisconsin was one of the first states to get on board, adopting the standards with little fanfare several years ago.
Since the Common Core's introduction, though, several states have pushed back by either halting implementation or withdrawing from national testing. Just this week, New York's Senate threatened to introduce legislation to delay the standards' adoption.
Evers said Friday that, based on his own conversation with Walker a day earlier, the Common Core standards could continue being implemented as they exist now.
"It's my belief we're not abandoning the Common Core, but setting up a commission to add some more stability and formality to the process (of addressing standards changes in the future)."
The commission would consist of DPI officials, legislators, school officials, teachers and parents. The recommendations of the commission will go to the state superintendent, then be presented as revised standards.
Evers, addressing the same education conference two days earlier, vigorously defended the Common Core and said educators needed to "bring truth to the debate."
Evers said it was important for district leaders and representatives to keep sharing their stories about how the standards were raising expectations in their communities.
A legislative panel recently issued a series of recommendations for modifying the standards in Wisconsin.
Also, a group of Republicans in the Assembly introduced a bill this month that would modify the process for adopting state academic standards.
It is unclear, however, whether Republicans will unite around any changes to the Common Core standards.
From Madison, Senate Education Chair Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) said what the state really needs to look at is science and social studies standards.
But ultimately, he said, the commission would only make recommendations. It's still up to schools to determine what to teach and how to teach it.
Voucher accountability
Walker also told reporters Friday that he would support a bill that requires the same consequences for private voucher schools as public schools that don't meet standards under the state's accountability program.
"Any consequences for underperforming schools should apply to both public and private schools," he said. "So, if you're going to shut them down...to me we shouldn't have one standard for one and one for the other."
Currently, there are no sanctions for underperforming schools. Behind the scenes, though, lawmakers say legislation is imminent that would spell out consequences for schools that don't meet standards.
Walker publicly backed bringing the voucher schools into the state's report card system for public school accountability about a year ago. But no legislation has been introduced since to compel those schools to turn over the data necessary for the state to assess them.
All public schools are given an annual accountability score on an index from 0 to 100 and given one of five designations, from "fails to meet expectation" to "significantly exceeds expectations."
Voucher schools receive taxpayer funding under the state's Parental Choice Program, which pays for students to attend private school.
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