Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

The number one issue facing Lee and Itawamba Counties in Mississippi is education. Common Core and the implementation of the Common Core Program has significantly impacted our school children and has created an environment of distrust between school officials and some parents. Most teachers are frustrated with the implementation and strategies of the Common Core standards in the classroom and parents distrust the program because they do not understand its goals, methods, and results. This is a formula for disaster and the Mississippi Department of Education and school districts are braced for poor statewide test scores at the end of this school year (2015). Education must be the priority and we may need to go back to the basics as we work together to develop curriculum that can be implemented efficiently and academically sustained.

I support replacing Common Core with an ACT standard curriculum. I have taken the opportunity to tour the Baldwyn City Schools, some of the campuses in both Lee County and Tupelo Public School systems and have discussed these standards with administration, faculty and staff. I appreciate the information and thoughts I have received concerning the ACT curriculum. ACT scores are recognized and accepted coast to coast and they have a program that can be implemented, sustained and performance measured. Their standards are academically challenging and could provide a high standard within the state that would be excepted nationally. The ACT curriculum has a proven track record.

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