For nearly a year, educators from across the state — including four from St. John the Baptist Parish — have been working to revise the state’s standards for English and math content.

The Common Core compromise, signed into law last year, required the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to review the English and math standards with input from K-12 teachers, administrators, college professors, teachers union representatives and others.

The subcommittees made up of those representatives have now completed their recommendations and have forwarded them to the Standards Committee which is overseeing the process.

Revisions approved by this committee will be sent to BESE before being forwarded to legislators and the governor to be considered during the upcoming legislative session.

It’s quite a process and one in which school districts statewide, including here in St. John, have been involved.

Locally, the St. John the Baptist Parish Public School District had four representatives on each one of the three 29-member subcommittees that reviewed the standards.

LaPlace Elementary School Principal Alison Cupit and Math Curriculum Facilitator Stephen Zafirau served on the Math Content Subcommittee. Jenny Kelly, a second-grade teacher at LaPlace Elementary School, served on the K-2 English/Language Arts Content Subcommittee, and Jasmin Porter, a master teacher at John L. Ory Communication Arts Magnet School, served on the 3-12 English/Language Arts Content Subcommittee.

Subcommittee members looked at the standards — basically what each student should know or be able to accomplish at the end of a specific time period, grade level or at the completion of a course – for each grade.

Through multiple rounds of review and vetting, they considered whether or not each standard was worth keeping. Where necessary, they suggested revisions, clarifications or other improvements. Subcommittee members then worked to make sure that the progression of learning flowed logically from one grade to the next.

For months outside of their regular job duties our four local educators attended committee meetings, worked independently and corresponded by email with other members before coming together to present their recommendations to the entire subcommittee — a long day that stretched 12 hours in some cases.

However, the work they put in was vital to giving a voice to those educators who are actually in the classroom and in our schools.

After each meeting, the subcommittee members were able to come back to St. John the Baptist Parish and talk with teacher leaders and subject-level teachers in our district about how to change the standards to positively impact students not only right here but throughout the state.

The use of a diverse group of members from throughout the state also allowed for the scope of insight to be diverse as well.

As Mrs. Porter observed:

“The most impressive part of the process was its transparency and the sincerity with which so many of the members approached the work. Teachers were truly invested in the process and I believe the students of Louisiana will benefit from our efforts.”

Jennifer Boquet is the communications specialist for St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools. Email her at jboquet@stjohn.k12.la.us.