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Dr. Julie Williams Appointed to Review Missouri Education Standards
West Plains School District Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Julie Williams, has been appointed to a select committee charged with reviewing and revising the Missouri Learning Standards. The committee’s job is to approve the standards as written, amend them or rewrite them for approval of the State Board of Education. The groups met earlier this week (September 22-23) and will meet again October 2-3 and October 20-21 in Jefferson City. Target date for the state board to adopt educational standards is October 2015.
The committee resulted from the state legislature’s passage of HB 1490, which mandates a review of the state’s controversial learning guidelines which have also been implemented nationwide. The committee is designed to give Missourians a voice in their educational standards.
Members of the groups were nominated by the governor, lieutenant governor, lawmakers, the Department of Higher Education and educator associations. The members include active classroom teachers, school administrators and parents of school-age children, and they represent each geographic region of Missouri.
The committee is comprise of eight groups; two each for English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. One group in each subject will review standards for grades K-5, and the other will review standards for grades 6-12.
College and career readiness is a primary goal of Missouri’s Top 10 by 20 initiative, which is intended to rank the state among the top ten states in education by 2020. Until any new standards go into effect, classrooms across the state will be using the current Missouri Learning Standards.
“I take my role seriously in the process of improving upon the Missouri Grade Level Expectations for Elementary Science. I am thoroughly impressed with the experience and expertise the combination of stakeholders bring to this process. There is earnest intent to craft and articulate standards which provide a scaffold to more readily ensure students are college or career ready,” said Williams who was appointed to the K-5 Science Committee by Missouri State Senator President Pro Tem, Tom Dempsey.