SEMO TIMES Own Toni Becker Appointed to Educational Standards Workgroup
SEMO TIMES is proud to announce that one of our editors, Toni Becker, has been named to an Educational Standards Workshop.
The following is a press release from House Speaker Tim Jones’ office:
House Speaker Tim Jones Names Missouri Citizens to Educational Standards Workgroups
JEFFERSON CITY – House Speaker Tim Jones today announced his selections to the new Missouri Educational Standards workgroups that were formed with the passage of HB 1490. Jones selected 16 parents and 11 education professionals to participate in the discussions the eight workgroups will have to determine new educational benchmarks for Missouri students.
HB 1490 was passed by the Missouri General Assembly during the 2014 regular session to reject the federal Common Core standards and begin a process of developing Missouri-based student achievement benchmarks. The bill created the workgroups to develop new standards to be put in place by the 2016 academic year. Under the bill, the work groups are be made up of teachers, parents and other experts who will work to develop standards for English, math, science and history. As Speaker of the House, Jones is empowered to nominate four individuals – two parents of current students and two education professionals – to each of the eight workgroups.
“Our best chance of giving our young people access to a world class education is by keeping the decisions regarding the standards we use on a local level. With the collaborative effort of Missouri parents and educators, we can develop learning standards that will better allow our young people to succeed academically, and professionally as adults,” said Jones, R-Eureka.
Jones added, “I am excited to name these outstanding individuals to the workgroups. I have every confidence they will be valuable contributors to a discussion that will determine the standards by which students will be measured in the future.”