The Kentucky board of education voted unanimously this morning to adopt the common standards. It’s the first state to do so. And it did so even before the first public draft of the K-12 standards has been issued. (Nonpublic drafts have been circulating among state officials for review.)
The original idea, officials there tell me, was to hold the adoption vote after the standards were finalized. Completion was originally expected in December, so Kentucky officials scheduled adoption for the board’s Feb. 10 meeting. But the timeline for finalizing the K-12 standards stretched. They’re now expected to go up for public comment by mid-February.
Kentucky education department spokeswoman Lisa Gross tells me that based on the draft standards, the state is committed to adopting them, and has confidence that the final version will meet with its approval as well. Still, Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday told me that the state won’t begin the 30-day legislative review process until the standards are finalized.
Tonight, the board of education will meet jointly with the two state boards that oversee teacher licensure and higher education in Kentucky to adopt a resolution that commits them to integrate the standards into their work. Stay tuned for our story on this.
UPDATE: see my story here.