Should Alaska's kindergartners be expected to learn to count to 20 or 100?
Should fourth graders be expected to identify plot, settings and character? Or should they read at a level above, as well as know about words and phrases from Greek mythology?
Should teens be expected to read John Keats by the 11th grade?
As 48 other states are participating in a national re-writing of their state education standards, Alaska is taking a look at its own and wondering if it should get on board and raise the bar for the state's students. But while some educators say Alaska kids deserve to be held to the same standard as the rest of the country, others are saying we are different and the current, laxer standards are just fine.
Earlier this month, the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers released the draft of sweeping new school standards that could lead to students across the country using the same math and English textbooks.
The idea is to replace the patchwork of state and local systems in an attempt to educate all American kids better. The federal government is watching the process.
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