MONROE - The Monroe school board approved student academic standards for the 2015-16 school year at a meeting Monday.
"The good thing is, I mean, everything we've heard from whether it's students, parents, et cetera ... is that these standards are certainly a cut above what we were testing on before and what we were teaching to them before," board member Bob Erb said.
The district will adopt a combination of three standards: the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards, Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Parents and community members will soon be able to view the standards on the district website at monroeschools-dac.ss5.sharpschool.com.
Wisconsin Model Academic Standards focus on physical education and some other classes, while Common Core standards focus on math and English language arts and Next Generation covers science classes, according to Terri Montgomery, director of curriculum and instruction.
Montgomery said almost all districts in Wisconsin are using these three standards. Wisconsin adopted Common Core in 2010, but since then Gov. Scott Walker has called for the state legislature to repeal the standards.
"Right now, DPI (the state Department of Public Instruction) is still saying "we're moving forward with the Common Core standards,' because they're better than anything we ever had before," Montgomery said. "When I joined this school district, the standards were only written for fourth grade, eighth grade and 10th grade, and you kind of had to guess what happened in between there."
State law requires school boards to annually approve the academic standards that will be used in their district beginning this year, Montgomery said.
The board voted unanimously, with the exception of board member Dan Bartholf, who was absent.
"The good thing is, I mean, everything we've heard from whether it's students, parents, et cetera ... is that these standards are certainly a cut above what we were testing on before and what we were teaching to them before," board member Bob Erb said.
The district will adopt a combination of three standards: the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards, Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Parents and community members will soon be able to view the standards on the district website at monroeschools-dac.ss5.sharpschool.com.
Wisconsin Model Academic Standards focus on physical education and some other classes, while Common Core standards focus on math and English language arts and Next Generation covers science classes, according to Terri Montgomery, director of curriculum and instruction.
Montgomery said almost all districts in Wisconsin are using these three standards. Wisconsin adopted Common Core in 2010, but since then Gov. Scott Walker has called for the state legislature to repeal the standards.
"Right now, DPI (the state Department of Public Instruction) is still saying "we're moving forward with the Common Core standards,' because they're better than anything we ever had before," Montgomery said. "When I joined this school district, the standards were only written for fourth grade, eighth grade and 10th grade, and you kind of had to guess what happened in between there."
State law requires school boards to annually approve the academic standards that will be used in their district beginning this year, Montgomery said.
The board voted unanimously, with the exception of board member Dan Bartholf, who was absent.