Remarks to the Oklahoma House Interim Study Committee on the Common Core Standards – Arizona Sen. Rich Crandall

Good morning Representatives,

It is my honor to stand before you today to talk about the new higher expectations coming in 2014-15 for high school graduates, typically referred to as the Common Core State Standards. My name is Rich Crandall and I currently serve as the Senate Education Chair in the Arizona Senate.

When my wife heard I was to be here in Oklahoma, she reminded me that I have not always exercised the best judgment when it comes to Oklahoma. At the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, with one minute left, I announced to three of my daughters at the game that we were leaving to beat traffic since Oklahoma had the game locked up.

One of the reasons I stand before you today is to tell you about the strong commitment Arizona has made to moving forward with the Common Core and why we made that decision. Another reason is that I am in the exact same position you are, elected by the people to make the best decisions for the future of our children.

Arizona is not unlike Oklahoma in many ways. Republicans enjoy a supermajority in both the House and Senate and every single statewide position is held by a Republican. We are known as a strong conservative state with a heavy Tea Party influence. We compete against Oklahoma and Alabama for the strictest immigration legislation and we pride ourselves on state’s rights, local control and school choice. We have over 500 charter schools and 225 districts serving approximately one million students. Just like Oklahoma we also have passed a marriage amendment, restrictions on abortion and this past year I sponsored a third grade retention bill, very similar to yours, I think it was even sponsored by Representative Sally Kern. I’m excited to see the difference those bills make.

You may be wondering why such a conservative state as Arizona—and why a conservative such as myself– has jumped in with both feet to adopt and implement the Common Core State Standards? Every single statewide elected official in Arizona has endorsed the direction we are heading (although I’m not sure about our state mine inspector since we haven’t reached out to him yet), as well as our State Board of Education, a majority of state lawmakers from both parties and our three largest business groups. Governor Jan Brewer, who rose to prominence after signing our immigration bill (Senate Bill 1070), recently created the Governor’s Office of Education Innovation and appointed a rock star to head it up for the purpose of making sure we implement the Common Core effectively and efficiently.

Three weeks ago the Governor launched a new website called ArizonaReady.com. This website is to be used to keep the public abreast of the progress we are making around several key education innovations including third grade reading, letter grades for schools, a quality data feedback system, and of course, the Common Core roll out.

I want to share with you the three main reasons, but not the only reasons, why so many state policy leaders and elected officials in Arizona have embraced these new internationally benchmarked standards.

Our first reason is a little bit humbling. Thirteen years ago we failed the children of Arizona and we have vowed to never let it happen again. As part of No Child Left Behind, we implemented a high stakes graduation exam at the end of sophomore year called AIMS, the Arizona Instrument for Measuring Standards. When it was first implemented we had a very high cut score in order to pass and graduate. Unfortunately, at the first sign that our kids would not be able to meet the new higher expectations that had been set, we retreated and lowered the bar. In addition, we didn’t realize at the time that the new higher expectations we had set, were still far behind most other states and the rest of the world. Even so, we didn’t stand our ground and instead caved to outside groups who were not accountable to the voters. In addition, our exam was only used within Arizona. It could not be compared to anybody else, either inside or outside of the United States. So every year when we congratulated ourselves for doing better than the year before, we didn’t realize that we were doing better on an inferior exam and everybody else was blowing us away. If you want a recipe for K-12 disaster, implement your high school graduation exam for sophomore year and make it easy enough that almost everybody in the state passes. I have the latest participation figures from ACT/SAT that I’ll pass around in a minute. Arizona is dead last in participation on these exams because of the actions (or lack of action) we took the last decade.

Our second reason for implementing the Common Core is for the choices and options it brings to Arizona’s charter schools and districts. One argument people make against the Common Core is the fear that it leads to a national curriculum. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The Common Core is about standards, and that is all. People who believe we are headed toward a national curriculum do not understand the power of the free market. Competition in education is a good thing and Common Core is no different. As the father of seven children, I have experienced many educational options. Most of my children have attended traditional, back-to-basics schools utilizing the classics with heavy American History emphasis of the constitution and the principles of the Founding Fathers (In Mesa we call them the Franklin Schools). These schools do not fear the Common Core at all. They know they can continue using their traditional curriculum with the idea that expectations will now be higher. The good news is many of these traditional schools already had higher self-imposed standards than the state so I am not sure we will see much of a difference after adopting the Common Core State Standards.

We are already seeing huge investments in curriculum options being made by the big boys such as Pearson and McGraw Hill, but what excites me are the entrepreneurs and innovators. This is why Rupert Murdoch bought Wireless Generation (a small, but successful educational software company) and then hired away Joel Klein from the New York City Public Schools to lead a new $500 million investment. And it is not just the big boys, but small companies like Apangea, an online math program recently adopted by both Idaho and Indiana, are getting into the act. As the Common Core is implemented across 40+ states, Arizona will have more curriculum options than ever before. In addition, in two weeks I will attend the national Open Education Resource conference to learn about the high quality, free or low cost on-line resources being developed by teachers and others around Common Core standards that will be widely available to all to use and critique and refine. And we firmly believe the cream will rise to the top as people are able to see who gets results and who doesn’t.

Our final reason for joining with other states to implement Common Core is because of the transiency of Arizona residents. Very few people are “from” Arizona. In a research study conducted by Dr. Bill Schmidt at Michigan State, he was able to show that not a single state taught math concepts in the same order. This creates a nightmare scenario with families moving across state lines all the time. In fact, one of the largest supporters of Common Core is the US military. We have five large military installations in Arizona (not too unlike Oklahoma) whose students are particularly hard hit by this lack of consistency as they are transferred throughout the country. Of course we believe in state’s rights, but as more and more people migrate back and forth across the country, the chance of completely missing key math or English concepts is very high. This is not just between states, but within a state also. And because the math and English you need to know to enter college or a four year institution doesn’t really vary from state to state; we’re hoping a little consistency will bring down our outrageously high remediation rates—at some institutions in Arizona that number is close to 75%. This is a tremendous waste of resources as well as a significant burden for would-be students.

As my constituents talk to me about the Common Core, it gives me an opportunity to discuss with them the role of a lawmaker when it comes to education policy. I start off by apologizing for failing their children the last 13 years, and then I talk about the future. I tell them it is my job to lose sleep worrying about why other countries continue to outperform us, but more importantly, I explain to them the very deliberate steps we are taking to make sure their children will be ready to compete. I have copied a recent article about AP tests and what other countries are doing to increase their competitiveness in the STEM fields. It is a little jolting to read what other countries are doing as we stand here today.

In conclusion, I can tell you that our economy, our national security and our position as the world leader will depend on the actions we take. I cannot afford to cave to pressure to maintain the status quo or bury my head in the sand and pretend that all is well. If I do, I’m afraid I will wake up in another 13 years and realize I have failed Arizona’s children once again. Thank you for the privilege of speaking before you today.