The AJC had an editorial today in favor of the new bill.
During a House debate this week on whether Georgia should adopt national education standards, lawmakers complained that courses taught here shouldn’t look like those in Oregon.
Why? The average SAT score in Oregon – which, like Georgia, has more than 50 percent of its students taking the test – is 1053. The average score here is 984.
Every review of Georgia’s classrooms concludes that the academic standards are not challenging enough. Georgia ought to borrow broadly from those states that have embraced higher standards and have higher-performing schools to show for it.
Georgia high school graduates compete with peers from around the world, including Oregon, for college admission and jobs, and they must receive instruction that’s as substantive and comprehensive.
Since I represent over 12,000 educators, scientists, clergy, administrators, parents, grandparents, residents, former residents, and non residents who have signed a petition for national science standards in Georgia’s schools, I support this bill. I am working now to let the state senators know about this.
An opponent of the bill had an equal-time editorial in the AJC. It is a typical Republican isolationist and “states’ rights” plea. If he doesn’t want to follow standards established by national organizations, why didn’t he propose a counter bill to follow standards established by state organizations, like the Georgia Academy of Science?
