State Education Superintendent John White suggests educators would face a problematic classroom, if legislation passed that would pull Common Core curriculum.
He described the scenario during a panel discussion on Common Core Standards to area business and civic leaders in Monroe. White believes Louisiana has two options for the future of education. "The governor got a plan, that plan is an extremist plan, that's going to cause chaos in our schools. There's another plan that says let's go forward, make adjustments to make sure that we have Louisiana expectations and tests unique to our state," said White.
Governor Bobby Jindal is proposing bills to strip the education standards and tests in the upcoming legislative session. White says he can support a standard-by-standard review of Common Core, but removing it would only disrupt classrooms.
The education superintendent says current tests were crafted with input and questions developed by state teachers. White says their work shouldn’t be discounted by the administration. "Let put out a competitive bid on a test, but don't make our teachers go back ten years, and start over again. We can't have that."
White says the new testing period has been very inspiring, as 99 percent of students participated in taking the tests.