Ducey: Build on Common Core, don't dump it

In a speech to the state Board of Education, the governor criticized the federal government for its involvement in education and tying federal aid to states complying with certain standards. And he decried a “one-size-fits-all mentality” about education.

But Ducey, who campaigned on a promise to repeal Common Core, said instead it should be used as a starting point.

“Begin by reviewing the English language, arts and mathematics standards in their entirety to ensure that our children are well-served by the standards you develop with full transparency, standards that are Arizona’s standards,” the governor explained. “In any instance during your review you find situations where Arizona standards can outperform or improve our current standards, I ask you recommend replacement immediately.”

The governor also took a jab at House-passed legislation to completely blow up the standards, calling that “unnecessary.”

Ducey even said he does not want to scrap the AzMERIT tests, short for Arizona’s Measurement of Educational Readiness to Inform Teaching. These tests, linked to Common Core, were adopted by the education board, with students set to start taking them later this month.

“AzMERIT is going to be in all our schools,” he said. “And it’s going to continue to be in all our schools.”

In many ways, Monday’s speech amounted to Ducey backing away from his campaign arguments that Arizona does not need Common Core.

When Ducey spoke Monday, he suggested all the vocal objections to the standards, developed in part by the National Governors Association, are misdirected and mistaken.

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding around this,” he said. “I think it’s because of the very real fact that Washington, D.C., did get involved in the funding.”

Ducey said that issue predates Common Core, dating to compliance with the No Child Left Behind standards approved by Congress in 2001.

“So I want to put that distraction behind us and focus on results,” Ducey said.

After his speech, he stressed the “normal” desire to review standards does not mean scrapping them and starting over.

“I’ll give you an example: One of the standards says a child should learn to read by the end of third grade, that a child should know their multiplication facts by the end of third grade,” the governor said.

“I imagine we’ll be keeping those standards,” Ducey continued. “Where we have a standard that fits and is necessary, that’s something we want to embrace.”

His speech came days after the Senate Education Committee voted for House-passed legislation written by Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, which requires the state to scrap Common Core standards. Instead, the state would be forced to go back to standards in effect in 2010 until new ones are in place. HB 2190 awaits Senate action.

The governor said he doesn’t think the legislation is necessary “because we’re going to fix what’s wrong with these standards.”

Ducey’s comments came as a surprise to Finchem, who was clearly not pleased.

And House Speaker David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, said the fact the House passed Finchem’s bill shows the majority of lawmakers there believe more than updating the standards is necessary.

“I can tell you here we believe in the repeal of Common Core,” he said. “We’ll keep working toward those ends.”

State schools chief Diane Douglas, who sits on the education board but was not at Monday’s meeting, later released her own statement, saying she believes legislative action “would apply more pressure to the Board of Education to support changes recommended by the public.”

But Douglas, who campaigned on a promise to repeal Common Core, was prepared for the possibility that won’t happen.

“Absent such action, my hope is that a thorough annual review will convince the board of the value of making reasonable changes to standards each year after listening to all Arizonans,” said Douglas, who was in Washington meeting with federal education officials.

Ducey also acknowledged what many educators have been saying for years.

“We know we are below the mark in student achievement, particularly in reading and math,” he said, and the current measurement standards being used in Arizona hide that fact.

“Arizona tells our citizens that 70 percent of our eighth-graders are proficient in reading,” Ducey told the education board.

But he said the National Assessment of Educational Progress says the real figure is just 28 percent, which he called “an astounding difference.”