Maryland is one of 45 states that has adopted what’s called the Common Core standards for curriculum in public schools. The Maryland State Board of Education adopted them in June 2010, but this is the school year the standards are being implemented – and the movement against them by some parents and teachers is building steam.
Tensions have come to a head in this legislative session. There are bills to delay, limit our outright repeal the Common Core standards have been introduced in the Maryland General Assembly.
Republican Delegate Michael Smigiel of Cecil County is the sponsor of a repeal bill which was heard last week in the House Ways and Means Committee. He joined us by phone.
Then-to hear the perspective of an educator and parent (who is not a legislator) we hear from Margaret Bibbo. Bibbo testified on Wednesday at the hearing, and she’s an instructor at Anne Arundel Community College. Bibbo stresses that she is speaking for herself, and not AACC. Her two children attend a parochial elementary school which is using the Common Core. She tells Sheilah Kast her reasons for wanting Common Core to be repealed in Maryland.
You can hear Maryland's State Superintendent of Schools Lillian Lowery talk about Common Core in this September 2013 interview on Maryland Morning.
