A challenger for the Ohio Statehouse stopped by OU Wednesday.
State Rep. Andy Thompson, R-Marietta, and Yolan Dennis, the Republican from Washington County challenging incumbent Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Albany, for the House seat that represents Athens, spoke to a small group of students Wednesday in Baker University Center. Their talk centered around Common Core standards in Ohio.
“I don’t think you have any issue that has more grass-roots activism in the state of Ohio right now,” Thompson said.
Thompson and Dennis both spoke about education as a state and local concern, rather than a federal one. Thompson claimed that Common Core — an initiative that tasks states that choose to adopt the program with developing a school curriculum within certain benchmarks — is government overreach.
“We definitely need to put the education decisions back into the hands of the local teachers and parents,” Dennis said.
Thompson criticized the influence of testing agencies in the development of the standards and said that their financial interests are tied to the focus on testing in Common Core. He also criticized the idea that more testing can help improve student outcomes.
Dennis critiqued the evaluation of teachers based on student scores.
“That is a tremendous burden for a teacher to have,” she said.
Phillips could not be reached for comment by press time.
Thompson also spoke about the bill he introduced to repeal the Common Core standards in Ohio. According to Thompson, his bill would institute standards that have worked in Massachusetts, which is known for its education system. He called the state “an example worthy of emulation.”
One of the aspects of the Massachusetts model was more literary texts, as opposed to what he called “abbreviated reading” in Common Core. Thompson also said he wants more experts to be involved in developing standards, such as those in education and even child psychology.
“One of the things about my bill is if you like your Common Core, you can keep it,” Thompson said.
Anna Lippincott, vice president of OU College Republicans and a junior double majoring in journalism and political science, said Common Core and education shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
“It should really be about putting kids first and putting what’s best for them ahead of all other issues,” Lippincott said. “And I think that’s something Andy and Yolan really highlighted today and I applaud them for that.”
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