PHOENIX – Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas today supported the State Board of Education’s (SBE’s) decision to replace the Common Core Standards by formally adopting the second draft of the 2016 Arizona English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics Standards.
“These new standards represent the final step in the repeal and replacement of Common Core in Arizona and they reflect the thoughts and recommendations of thousands of Arizona citizens,” said Superintendent Douglas. “I would like to thank everyone involved in this important work for their contributions, from the more than 200 teachers who donated thousands of hours in working groups to the parents whose input helped shape these documents. I would also like to thank my amazing K-12 Standards team here at the Department for making this process possible.”
As part of the standards development process, the SBE and the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) worked together to gather, process and incorporate more than 10,000 comments related to the standards, an effort that took place both before and after releasing a first draft to the public. The first draft was also reviewed by several nationally recognized technical experts, including prominent anti-Common Core authorities. Where applicable, their feedback was included in the second draft along with thoughts shared by members of the public.
“The federally mandated Common Core Standards were initially adopted by the SBE in 2010 without a thorough public review, which deeply frustrated many Arizonans,” continued Superintendent Douglas. “That lack of public input became an even larger concern as problems with the standards were identified, many of which were related to the resulting curricula. Thankfully, through this process I am proud to say that Common Core has at last been eliminated and that we now have excellent ELA and math standards developed by Arizonans for Arizona students. I look forward to using a similar continuous improvement process to ensure that all of our standards are updated as needed with extensive public input.”
The SBE’s action comes just over a year after it voted on Oct. 26, 2015 to formally reverse its 2010 decision to adopt the Common Core Standards, a result that effectively severed Arizona’s ties to them. Superintendent Douglas called for that vote as part of her 2016 AZ Kids Can’t Wait! plan, which was released on Oct. 1, 2015, and earlier in 2015 secured Arizona’s release from the copyright that would have prevented the state from making changes to the standards.
