Scholars, teachers, state officials, school administrators, and at least one librarian fill the ranks of the newly announced “work groups” for developing K-12 standards in English-language arts and mathematics, whose members were announced last week.
The K-12 standards are the second phase of an effort to craft common academic standards across states, known as the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The first phase was the writing of college- and career-readiness standards, a draft of which was released in September. The Washington-based Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association are leading the endeavor.
The English-language arts members include Michael Kamil, a professor of language learning and policy at Stanford University; Tracy Robertson, an English coordinator with the Virginia education department; Timothy Shanahan of the University of Illinois at Chicago; and a librarian, Steve Delvecchio of Seattle. The math group members include Deborah Loewenberg Ball, the dean of the University of Michigan’s school of education; Francis M. “Skip” Fennell, a former president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and a professor at McDaniel College in Maryland; and Roger Howe, a professor of mathematics at Yale University.
A full list of work-group members can be seen at www.corestandards.org.