FORIMMEDIATERELEASE

March31,2014 ForMoreInformationContact: BarryErwin,CABL2253442225 BrigitteNieland,LABI2252156670 CarrieMonica,StandforChildrenLouisiana5048758595

StateBusiness,Civic&EducationAdvocacyGroupsSayNoPoliticalDeals WhenitComestoCommonCore
ThereisconsiderablediscussionaroundtheCapitolaboutlegislativeeffortstoworkoutadealwith regardtolegislationinvolvingLouisianasCommonCoreacademicstandards. Thebusinessandcivicgroupssigningontothisstatementwishtomakeitunequivocallyclearthatwhen itcomestocompromisesthatwouldscrapordelayimplementationofCommonCorestandardsin Louisianaortheirassociatedstudentassessments,wesaynodeal. BESEhasalreadyapprovedacompromisebyagreeingtoatwoyeardelayofanyaccountability consequencesforstudents,teachers,schoolsordistrictsasaresultofCommonCoreimplementation. Whatthatmeanspracticallyisthatnostudentwillberequiredtobeheldbackiftheyperformpoorlyon tests,teacherevaluationswillnotbeadverselyimpactedthroughthefirsttwoyearsoffull implementationofCommonCore,andschoollettergradeswilleffectivelyremainunchanged. InadditionitshouldbepointedoutthatLouisianahasalreadytakenaverydeliberateandmeasured approachtoimplementationofCommonCore.TheCommonCoreconceptswerefirstintroducedto studentsduringthe201213schoolyear.Theyarebeingfullytaughtnowin201314,thoughstudents continuetotakethesameteststheywereLEAP,iLEAPandACT.TestingusingthehighqualityPARCC assessmentwontbeginuntilthespringof2015,andeventhen,therewillbenoconsequences.Results willonlybeusedtoestablishabaselineforfuturebenchmarking.Completeimplementationdoesnot beginuntilthe20152016schoolyear. Thistimelinerepresentsthecompromisesthathavealreadybeenmade.Thereisnoneedforlegislators tomakeanymoredealswithunionsandassociationsofschoolboards,superintendentsandnarrow politicalinterestswhohavemadeitclearthroughtheirsupportofvariousbillsthattheirtruedesireisto scrapCommonCorealtogether;createanewsetofstandardsthatsaynothingaboutrigorouscontent, internationalbenchmarkingorexpertvalidation;andcreatestudentassessmentsthatwillnotshowus howstudents,schoolsordistrictsperformcomparedtotheirpeersinotherstates.

SincetheirgoalsaresimplytoputafencearoundLouisiana,holdourstudentsbackandfurtherdelaya processthathasalreadyallowedfordelays,therearenodealstobemade.Wechallengeourstate leaderstostandupforthechildrenofLouisianaandstepawayfromthepoliticsoftheadults. Thereisnoroomformakingdealsthatwillcompromisetheeducationofourstudents.Wewillnot delaytheirchancetocompetenationallyandgloballyfortheopportunitiesthatwillofferthemthe prosperousandsuccessfulfuturetheydeserve.Wehopeourlegislatorswontdelaythatchanceeither. BatonRougeAreaChamber BlackAllianceforEducationalOptions BollingerShipyards BlueprintLouisiana CentralLouisianaChamberofCommerce Citizensfor1GreaterNewOrleans Committeeof100 CouncilforABetterLouisiana EducateNow! EducationsNextHorizon ExxonMobil FleurdeLisNewOrleansCuisine,LLC GNO,Inc. GreaterShreveportChamberofCommerce ISCConstructors,LLC JeffersonBusinessCouncil LaCosteConsulting,LLC LouisianaAssociationofBusiness&Industry LouisianaAssociationofPublicCharterSchools LouisianaAssociationofScienceLeaders LouisianaAssociationofTeachersof Mathematics LouisianaScienceTeachersAssociation NewSchoolsforBatonRouge NewSchoolsforNewOrleans RobertEvans ShreveportBossierBusinessAlliancefor HigherEducation StandforChildrenLouisiana