State Considering Rewrite Of School Standards For Accreditation

In 2005, Beebe High School found itself on probation with the Arkansas Department of Education.

The offense? Offering Advanced Placement physics, which provides more rigorous instruction and the chance for students to earn college credit, rather than regular physics as required by the state’s standards of accreditation.

Allowing schools to be more innovative in meeting student needs is one reason why the department is considering a top-to-bottom review of the standards. Another is giving regular schools some of the flexibility now offered only to charter schools, which undergo a process through the state Board of Education allowing them to bypass certain standards.

Created in 1983, the standards serve as the state’s blueprint for what schools are supposed to teach and how they are to be structured. Spread out over 29 pages, they define the 38 classes required in high school, of which physics is one, as well as those required in lower grades. They also define other areas such as class size (no more than 20 per kindergarten teacher) to the number of books in the library (3,000, or eight books per student, whichever is higher).

Violating the standards over an extended period of time can lead to disciplinary action as severe as consolidation with another district.

The standards were last revised in 2009, but there has never been a major review such as what the Department of Education is now considering.

Dr. Tom Kimbrell, the state’s education commis

sioner, is hoping to put together a commission representing teachers, administrators and others that would engage in a statewide conversation starting late this year. Within a year to a year-and-a-half, he hopes to present a new set of standards for the state Board of Education to consider.

“We say in our state that Algebra I and Algebra II and geometry are the three maths that lead to success. Is that really true?” he said in an interview.  “Does every kid need Algebra I, geometry and Algebra II?

Personally, I think so. Professionally, I think so. That may not be what is in the best interests of kids. … Those are the discussions, I think, that need to be had, and we need to do that across this state and develop what we want the future of education to look like for our kids in Arkansas.”

Dr. Richard Abernathy, executive director of the Arkansas Educational Administrators Association and a former superintendent at Bryant, said administrators would like to be more innovative without taking the major step of becoming a charter school. He would like the state Board of Education to have the authority to waive standards for any district that petitions it.

“We have very little flexibility in what we can do in our schools because so much of it is mandated by either law or rule and reg, and at some point, if you’re going to hold me accountable for the results, well then, untie my arms so I can do what I need in order to achieve the results,” he said.