Little Rock – Raise Our Grade, an independent initiative championing Arkansas’s Common Core State Standards, was announced today by Arkansas Learns, the private sector alliance of parents, employers and citizens dedicated to excellent education for all students.
In their third and final year of implementation, Arkansas’s Standards have come under intense national attack by those opposed to the State-initiated effort to raise the rigor and expectations of Arkansas Standards, while empowering local school districts, charters, administrators and teachers with more local control over curriculum.
For the first time in Arkansas history, the Standards will also provide a true picture of how Arkansas students in each district and charter school compare to their peers across the country.
“Compared to each other, 83.5% of Arkansas’s Fourth Graders are considered Proficient/Advanced in Math/Literacy,” said Gary Newton, president and CEO of Arkansas Learns. “But when comparing Arkansas’s Fourth Graders to the nation’s, only 35.5% are Proficient/Advanced. That’s a 48-point gap and consistently below the national average.”
“Forget grade inflation,” said Newton, “we have Benchmark inflation.”
Support for Arkansas’s Standards has united advocacy groups typically oppositional on matters of education policy in Arkansas.
But according to Newton, “The organizations I am privileged to serve have never chosen our battles based on who was against us or for us. In all things, our guiding principle has remained: the best interests of Arkansas students.”
“On this issue, it is very telling that groups which typically go toe-to-toe now find themselves standing shoulder-to-shoulder in support of Higher Arkansas Standards.
Businesses/Organizations supporting Arkansas’s Standards include, but are not limited to:
- Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators
- Arkansas Association of Two-year Colleges
- Arkansas’ Independent Colleges & Universities
- Arkansas Parent Network
- Arkansas Public School Resource Center
- Arkansas School Boards Association
- Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas
- Arkansas State Teachers Association
- Arvest Bank
- Entergy Arkansas
- Murphy Oil
- Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
- The Walton Family Foundation
“There was a time when folks said you could build a wall around Arkansas, and we would be just fine,” Newton said. “Well, they were wrong then, and they’re wrong now.”
“Arkansas’s Common Core State Standards tear down walls, so our people can compete with anyone, anywhere, anytime.”
About Raise Our Grade
Raise Our Grade is a an independent initiative of Arkansas Learns, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, private sector alliance of parents employers and citizens dedicated to excellent education for all students to ensure the talent and workforce necessary for Arkansas to successfully compete in a global economy. For more information, visit RaiseOurGrade.com, Like/Follow at Facebook.com/RaiseOurGrade and Twitter @RaiseOurGrade, #ARStandards.
Individual, organizational, business and public support of Arkansas’s Common Core State Standards does not imply endorsement of Arkansas Learns and/or Raise Our Grade.