Miss. educators to explain Common Core

Hernando meeting set for Thursday; new standards will go in effect in 2014

JACKSON — The State Department of Education is holding a series of public meetings, including one in Hernando Thursday, to tell people about new academic standards that Mississippi and most other states are starting to put in place.

Lynn House, the interim state superintendent of education, spoke last week in Jackson and Oxford.

Mississippi, 44 other states and the District of Columbia have adopted Common Core standards, which supporters say are designed to better prepare American students for college and careers.

Opponents, including tea party members and other smallgovernment conservatives, question whether the standards are needed and how they will be applied in Mississippi.

House says Common Core standards are national, but they were not created by the federal government. Rather, the ideas came from groups such as the National Governors Association. Mississippi will start enacting the standards next year.

“We’re moving to national standards because we believe it is the right thing to do for the state,” House told about 60 people Monday in Jackson, according to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

The Mississippi Senate Conservative Coalition said last week it had sent House a letter with 14 questions about how Common Core standards were developed.

“There are numerous questions that are unanswered as to how the Education Department arrived at the conclusion that this is good for Mississippi, and what was done to get feedback from parents,” Sen. Angela Hill, R-Picayune, said in a news release. “There are conflicting statements about integration