OC Political

This evening, the Orange County Board of Education will be holding its second public hearing on Common Core. The first hearing was held last month.

PUBLIC HEARING ON THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

The Orange County Board of Education (the Board) is hosting two Public Hearings on the Common Core State Standards. Both hearings will be held at the Orange County Department of Education Boardroom, 200 Kalmus Drive, Costa Mesa, on October 20, 2014 and November 17, 2014 from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

The purpose of the Public Hearings is to provide members of the public with thoughtful and scholarly perspectives of the Common Core that assist our community in understanding the standards at a deeper level: the origins of the Common Core standards; the reasons for which they were developed; the adoption process for the standards in California; the strengths or weaknesses of these standards, vis-à-vis the previous California standards, and other state or international standards; and the implementation process underway in California at present.

Since the fall months of 2013, there have been increasing numbers of community members addressing the Board related to concerns with the Common Core State Standards. The Board is providing an opportunity for respective sides, those who are opponents and proponents, to provide information to the Board and community members. It is our intent to provide a fair and neutral atmosphere for panel members to provide their expert opinion on this very important subject.

Two panels are being identified that represent both sides of this important issue. Both will be given 15-20 minutes to present their information. The Board will then have questions for each panel opponents and proponents in a round-robin format and closing with a Public Comment period.

From tonight’s agenda:

Introductions/Moderator: Maggie Chidester from the Law Offices of Margaret A. Chidester & Associates will moderate the Special Board Meeting/Public Hearing.  Panelists representing both opponents and proponents of Common Core State Standards will present information to support their positions. Presentations will be followed by a question and answer period with the Board members and panelists.

Panelists for the Opposition include:
*Karen Effrem, President, Education Liberty Watch
*James Milgram, Stanford University Mathematician and former Common Core Validation Committee
*Sandra Stotsky, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas, The Department of Education Reform
*Zev Wurman, Former Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Planning/Evaluation/Policy Development, US Department of Education

Panelists for the Proponents include:
*Deborah Brown, Associate Director, Education Policy Children Now
*Doug Grove, Assistant Provost for Adult, Graduate, and Online Learning, Concordia University
*Bill McCallum, Professor of Mathematics, University of Arizona
*Gerald Solomon, Executive Director, Samueli Foundation