For those of you who have been following the Common Core Standards issue, this has been an important week.  On Tuesday, December 10, the Assembly Select Committee on Common Core Standards, of which I am a member, released the results of a survey that committee members sent to 426 school superintendents around Wisconsin.  I would like to thank the superintendents who chose to respond.

On Wednesday, December 11, the committee chairman, Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, released the committee's recommendations for legislation to address problems that had been raised regarding Common Core - both the standards' substance and the process by which they were adopted in Wisconsin.  The committee met on Thursday, December 12, to formally approve the recommendations, and legislation to implement the recommendations will be drafted and introduced in the near future.  You may watch a recording of this meeting on Wisconsin Eye.

I voted in support of each of the committee's recommendations.  I remain dubious of the Common Core Standards and would have preferred to see the committee recommend repealing them outright.  However, I think the recommendations are a big step in the right direction and, if acted upon, will allow local school boards and the people of Wisconsin in general to reassert their right to determine the best educational standards for Wisconsin's children.

The Senate Select Committee on Common Core Standards has also published its recommendations, and I believe the committee plans to meet soon to formally approve them.