BOSTON — The Patrick administration picked a quiet Friday afternoon to announce that Massachusetts officials want to adopt national public education standards for math and English pushed by the Obama administration.
They also could lead to dropping the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, tests in both of those subject areas.
The announcement drew immediate criticism from those who say the state could jeopardize its nation-leading student achievement.
Locally, Methuen Superintendent Jeanne Whitten, said she would be "cautious about adopting national standards which are less rigorous than our state standards."
"Currently, Massachusetts has the most rigorous testing standards in the nation. That is why we are so competitive nationally," Whitten said. "We have come too far since ed reform first began in 1993. However, I have confidence in our secretary of education, Dr. (Paul) Reville. He will surely research the rigor of these national standards prior to signing on."
The national guidelines would control the material taught to students in every grade of states opting into the program.
Other states such as California and Virginia, which similarly pride themselves on high education standards, have suggested the proposed federal guidelines may be sub-par.
Critics worry that uniform standards and testing will basically nationalize public schools, rather than letting states — especially educational overachievers such as Massachusetts — decide what is best for their students.
The announcement came in a memo to the state's education board from Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester, who urged the board to adopt the national standards — called common core standards — during Wednesday's meeting.
He insisted the standards would be equal to, if not stronger than, Massachusetts' existing standards, noting the Bay State had a large role in helping craft the national model.
"First and foremost, because Massachusetts's standards and assessments enjoy an outstanding reputation nationally, the input of our content experts was largely reflected in the Common Core Standards," Chester said in the memo.
Chester said that by the fall, he plans to present the board with "a full package of Common Core Standards" accompanied by a "Massachusetts-specific augmentation."
Reville sought to tamp down worries that the adoption of national standards would mean an end to MCAS. He said whether the state adopts a new assessment to match the national standards is a "separate" discussion and that Massachusetts is "under no obligation" to do so.
Reville said he is inclined to support Chester's contention that the national standards are as rigorous as the state's standards.
Reville said some of the immediate claims that national standards would precipitate a move away from MCAS have to do with "political motivations."
"We've got to reach higher than we've reached in the past," he said. "We've got to close achievement gaps. These standards allow us to move to a next generation of standards."
In his memo, Chester wrote that some of the advantages of common core standards include: "attention to speaking, listening, and vocabulary," "consideration of emerging new literacies (digital and print sources) for research and production and distribution of ideas and messages," "treatment of varying student needs" in the mathematics curriculum, and the "accessibility of the mathematics standards to grades K-8 teachers."
He noted that adopting the standards could make Massachusetts a more likely candidate for Race to the Top money, and other federal funding programs.
The release of the memo immediately became campaign fodder.
"Today's announcement by the Administration is one of the most alarming and egregious of the past four years," independent candidate for governor Tim Cahill, the state treasurer, said in a statement. "This administration's leadership has done enough to hurt Massachusetts taxpayers in the short term — now it seems they have decided to put their friends in Washington ahead of our children and the future of our state."
Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker called it a retreat from standards that have elevated scores to nation-leading status.
"I don't know why we would walk away from something that's been so successful for kids," Baker said.
The manner of the announcement — a quiet Friday afternoon release — was reminiscent of other major Patrick administration announcements that came after most of Beacon Hill had departed for the weekend, including the arrival and departure of James Aloisi from the transportation office, a panel report on quasi-public executive compensation, and poor revenue returns. Patrick has chalked up the Friday announcements to "coincidence."
Details in terror plot revealed
Red Sox players, fans react to the epic collapse
Buy Shonda Schilling's clothes for a good cause
Sox fans feeling let down again
