California's dilemma over academic standards
Opinion by Scott Hill/San Francisco Chronicle
Scott Hill, a former California undersecretary of education, is vice president of education policy at School Innovations & Advocacy, a Sacramento consulting firm.
California is poised once again to host a battle, if not a war, over what our students should know and when they should know it. Facing an improbable August deadline tied to the federal Race to the Top competition, the governor and legislative leaders must decide in the coming days whether to replace California's K-12 academic content standards in math and English/language arts with standards developed by a collaboration of states. Although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger initially embraced the concept of national core standards, his position today is less certain. I think that's unfortunate. (more...)