It’s that time again…time to check-in on how Washington’s new math standards are shaping up. When we last left the new draft standards, the State Board of Education’s math consultant, Linda Plattner, had assessed the standards and said that they aligned well to her initial recommendations in grades K-8, but that the high school math standards still needed more work.

Now she’s issued a full review of the standards that analyzes what they do well (K-8 is still fine with a just a few language tweaks)—and don’t (high school standards still need more revision)—in greater depth. Check out SBE press release for more.

And, thanks to SB 6534 (passed last week), the legislature has transferred the authority to study, and approve or deny the new standards from OSPI to the State Board of Education. With SBE overseeing the new standards process, the legislature hopes OSPI will align the standards to Plattner’s recommendations and critique in a final version by July. According to the bill, here’s the new math standards timeline:

• By May 15, SBE will review Plattner’s assessment of the standards, hold a public hearing to receive comment, make any modifications and forward their recommendations back to OSPI.
• By July 1, OSPI will revise the standards to conform precisely to SBE’s recommendations.
• By July 31, SBE will either approve OSPI’s new standards or develop a plan so that the new standards will be ready for adoption by Sept. 25.

Looks like it's going to be a busy six months!

For those ed folks concerned about this process, SBE is taking public comment on the new math standards during their next meeting on March 26 at the Puget Sound Educational Service District in Renton. Visit the SBE website for more information.