CLEVELAND, Ohio – The new bill that seeks to block the Common Core in Ohio would wipe out the state's just-adopted graduation requirements and also seeks to set broad standards on its own – taking aim at modern and foreign authors and taking an unclear stand on religious interpretations of science.
House Bill 597, which starts hearings this afternoon, was just made available this morning.
A quick review of the 58-page bill shows its main aim to be dropping the multi-state Common Core education standards for Ohio and pulling Ohio out of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), a consortium developing new Common Core tests for several states.
It also blocks any state official from giving any other state or consortium any control at all over Ohio's tests or standards.
"Any actions taken to adopt or implement the Common Core state standards as of the effective date of this section are void," the bill reads.
But in setting a course for Ohio and its education standards once the Common Core is gone, bill authors Andy Thompson, a Marietta Republican, and Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, substitute a separate vision for what standards should look like. Full language of their requirements for new standards is below.
- A requirement that at least 80 percent of English classes be focused on "imaginative literature." That's a major departure from the Common Core's push for "informational text" – facts, instructions, analyses – to be incorporated in large part in English classes. One of the loudest criticisms of the Common Core is a decrease in literature, a change some say will kill one of the main appeals of the subject.
Supporters of the Common Core say that informational text can easily supplement literary readings that will remain.
- A requirement that "at least eighty percent of literary works taught in grades eight through twelve be complete works of classic British and American authors published prior to 1970."
This eliminates modern authors and foreign ones, including many works long considered major pieces of thought and literature: Greek works by authors like Aristotle, Sophocles and Plato or tales like The Iliad and The Odyssey; Crime and Punishment or anything else by Fyodor Dostoevsky or fellow Russian Leo Tolstoy; Dante's Divine Comedy; Machiaveli's The Prince; and anything from French authors like Victor Hugo or Albert Camus.
- That science classes "prohibit political or religious interpretation of scientific facts in favor of another."
It was not immediately clear how this requirement would affect the "Intelligent Design" debate over creationism and evolution that has arisen in recent years. The bill sponsors could not be reached today for comment on this section of the bill.
The social studies standards use different language than the science ones and "prohibit a specific political or religious interpretation of the standards' content."
Reached by phone just before the committee meeting, Thompson said the English requirements are based on Massachusetts' state standards. While some may disagree with them, he said, they have been successful there.
Though the bill does not appear to say so, Thompson said the standards in the bill are just "placeholders" until the state can develop full standards by 2016. Asked if the bill's standards are required to be incorporated into full standards, he said that is to be determined.
"They will or won't be, based on what Ohio decides to do," he said.
Thompson had to cut the discussion short as the committee meeting on the bill started before he could answer questions about the science standards. We have sent a message seeking clarification and are awaiting a response.
Also in the bill:
- Elimination of the seven end-of-course exams through PARCC that were included in new graduation requirements passed this summer that apply to new high school freshmen. It does not suggest replacement requirements for graduation, beyond having to pass five new tests – English, math, science, American History and American government – that will be created.
- A requirement that any changes in state academic content standards be passed by both houses of the legislature.
- Creation of an "academic content standards steering committee" to be appointed by the Governor, speaker of the House and by the Senate president to review any content changes. It also creates a subcommittee for each subject and for an educator to head each one. The subcommittee would approve or disapprove any changes for that subject.
Here is the language in HB 597 dictating what Ohio's new academic standards should include:
(i) The standards for English language arts shall require the use of English phonograms and all of their sounds, using traditional phonics; include significant instruction in English grammar; require that at least eighty per cent of English study focus on imaginative literature; require that at least eighty perent of literary works taught in grades eight through twelve be complete works of classic British and American authors published prior to 1970; and require a choice of literary works to be studied solely on the basis of literary merit rather than popularity or political considerations.
(ii) The standards for mathematics shall require a mastery of the standard algorithm; require fluency with addition and subtraction of multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithms by third grade; require fluency with arithmetic operations on decimals and multiplication and division of multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithms by fifth grade; prepare students to take the first authentic Algebra I course by eighth grade; and include a traditional Euclidean geometry course.
(iii) The standards in science shall be based in core existing disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics; incorporate grade-level mathematics and be referenced to the mathematics standards; focus on academic and scientific knowledge rather than scientific processes; and prohibit political or religious interpretation of scientific facts in favor of another.
(iv) The standards in social studies shall incorporate the original texts and the original context of the declaration of independence, the northwest ordinance, the constitution of the United States and its amendments with emphasis on the bill of rights; incorporate the Ohio constitution; define the United States of America as a constitutional republic; be based on acquisition of real knowledge of major individuals and events; require the study of world and American geography; and prohibit a specific political or religious interpretation of the standards' content.