The University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy released a blog today that outlined some of the education expectations for Arkansas legislative sessions for 2015.

New Republican governor Asa Hutchinson plans to call for a “thorough review” of the Common Core Standards which will include a task force of educators.

In addition, three potential bills related are up for discussion, related to the Common Core. According to OEP, they are: 1)a bill to repeal or significantly alter the Common Core standards, 2) a bill to limit the amount of data that can be collected by the US Department of Education, 3) and a bill to place a moratorium on PARCC testing.

These legislative plans could impact moves by the state’s department of education that have happened over the past 4 years as they’ve moved forward in becoming a PARCC state and adopting the ELA and Math Common Core Standards. Arkansas teachers and higher education teacher preparation programs have been studying and integrating the CCSS and information about PARCC testing, yet new legislation with new political leaders could turn these key platforms on their heads. Arkansas students are geared up to take the PARCC test in ELA and Math this spring and were active in PARCC Field Testing over the last year.