Through our work with the Hire Standards, NC Coalition, the NC Chamber has been closely following the monthly meetings of North Carolina’s Academic Standards Review Commission (ASRC) as its members have worked to review our current math and English standards for K-12 public school. On Monday, the ASRC discussed two sets of draft recommendations created by its math and English Language Arts (ELA) working groups.Our coalition has supported efforts to improve implementation of current standards throughout the review process; on Wednesday, we compiled our own set of recommendations for the ASRC.

Our response encourages members of the ASRC to ensure final recommendations remain within the scope of the Commission’s role in the standards review process. Final recommendations must be submitted to the State Board of Education by December, and as the Commission works toward that goal, we advise caution in applying standards adopted in other states and in dictating curriculum. In addition, the NC Chamber and the Hire Standards, NC coalition urge the Commission to make the recommendation process more transparent, as there is a lack of sufficient documentation and an unclear rubric for the working groups’ evaluation of various standards.

There is a substantial amount of information included in the Commission’s recommendations. In the coming days and week, we will continue to analyze the details and keep you updated on new developments. We hope that you will share this information with anyone interested in preserving high academic standards for our students, and we continue to encourage you to communicate your support of our current high standards with the Commission co-chairs – Tammy Covil at tammy.covil@nchs.net and Andre Peek at andre.peek@nc.gov.

Gary J. Salamido
Vice President, Government Affairs
North Carolina Chamber