New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo tucked a potentially pivotal nugget about the common core into his budget proposal yesterday: a panel that will examine the way the state has implemented the Common Core State Standards, and recommend “corrective action.”
According to the Daily News, the panel will complete its work before the state legislature adjourns in June. Cuomo is urging lawmakers to “pass a package of corrective actions” during the current legislative session.
“I support the common core agenda,” the paper quotes Cuomo as saying. “But the way the common core has been managed by the Board of Regents is flawed. There’s too much uncertainty, confusion, and anxiety.”
The panel will also look at the state’s standardized testing regimen. Cuomo’s comments yesterday focused on tests for the youngest students; he said he wanted to eliminate standardized testing for students younger than 3rd grade.
What the panel’s inquiry might mean for the future of the state’s newly procured—and controversial—common-core tests, or for its plan to phase in the PARCC exams, will be an interesting thread to follow. While the state still plans to field-test the PARCC tests this spring, it hasn’t fully committed to embracing the PARCC system as soon as it becomes operational in the spring of 2015.