Palin opts out of test standard for education

Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to opt out of an effort to write nationwide education standards in reading and math has some Alaska educators cheering and others dismayed.

Palin on Sunday rejected what nearly all other states have accepted and said Alaska has chosen to "monitor but not yet actively participate" in the process of standardizing K-12 education.

Forty-six states have signed on to the initiative to devise standards for reading and math testing that would let the performance of students in one state be compared with those in another.

The effort is in its development stages, with state and federal education officials, and others, trying to agree on what the core standards should be. Agreeing to adopt the standards is a step for later. Besides Alaska, the other states that have turned away from the effort are Missouri, South Carolina and Texas.

Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau, who is in charge of nearly half of Alaska's 120,000 public school students, said she was disappointed with the governor's decision. As a parent and educator, she said, she wants to know how Alaska's kids compare.

But other educators said Palin is right to be wary of outside standards being imported to Alaska

The Palin decision came 10 days after she turned away $28.6 million in federal stimulus money for weatherization and renewable energy projects. Palin said taking the money would have required the state to follow a federal demand and "entice" local communities to adopt building codes. Legislators disagreed and said there were no meaningful strings attached to that money.

National reading and math tests could end the era of each state living in its own education silo, with its own customized tests. There are a few nationalized tests, such as the TerraNova in 5th and 7th grades, but no tests compare students from one state to the next consistently.

SAT and ACT tests are taken nationwide but usually only by college-bound students.

Proponents say nationalized standards would allow states to better monitor how they are doing and allow the United States to compare its students to those in other countries. The U.S. is largely considered to be behind other wealthy nations in education.

The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers are working on the initiative, and participants developing the standards include the College Board.

In a Sunday press release, Palin said, "Alaska's decision not to participate until after we monitor this is based on our desire to spend our time and public resources to improve instruction in the classroom and to form productive relationships between schools and the communities they serve."