Indiana first to align teacher standards with Common Core

Indiana Department of Education Release:

In support of Indiana’s recent adoption of the Common Core State Standards, the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) announced the Evaluation Systems group of Pearson as its partner in developing new teacher standards as the state shifts to a content-focused approach to teacher licensure. IDOE and Pearson will establish comprehensive, rigorous teacher standards, making Indiana the first state in the nation to align these with the Common Core State Standards.

"Adopting the Common Core State Standards created the opportunity to take teacher licensure in Indiana to the next level and ensure all educators are well prepared to teach the subject areas in which they are licensed," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett. “We know teachers make the biggest difference in students’ success. In fact, a 2006 Brookings Institute study found having a top-quartile teacher rather than a bottom quartile teacher four years in a row would be enough to close the black-white test score gap. We are confident these new teacher standards will lead to higher quality instruction and improved achievement for all Indiana students, including helping us reach our 90-25-90 goals."

The teacher standards that Evaluation Systems develops for Indiana will not only align with the Common Core State Standards, but the Indiana Academic Standards, as well—covering five developmental areas and 46 content areas, including building and district level educator leaders. Finally aligning Indiana’s teacher standards to student standards should mean that teacher education programs will have a very clear roadmap of what content and pedagogy is most important to the future success of teachers and students.

"Indiana will lead the nation as the first state to align its teacher standards to the new Common Core standards and Evaluation Systems is proud to partner with Dr. Bennett and educators from around the state on this groundbreaking initiative," said Dr. William Gorth, president of Pearson’s Evaluation Systems group.

Evaluation Systems has more than three decades of experience developing, administering and scoring tests for prospective teachers in the United States and, through its custom work for states, has created teacher certification tests for more than 100 content fields, professional teaching skills and the basic skills of college-level reading, writing and mathematics.

Indiana selected Evaluation Systems through a request for proposal process. The group was selected in July and will begin work immediately to have the new teacher standards complete this winter.

For more information on IDOE’s action plan and 90-25-90 goals, please click here.

For more information on the Common Core State Standards, please click here.

For more information about the Evaluation Systems group of Pearson, please click here.