Nov 13, 2013 – The New Hampshire Coalition for Business & Education (NHCBE), an alliance of New Hampshire business, education and public policy leaders, has voted unanimously to support the Common Core Standards for math and English language arts in New Hampshire schools. The approval came at the Coalition’s November 8th meeting in Concord after briefings by education and business leaders.
The New Hampshire Coalition for Business & Education is a non-partisan and independent group that acts as a sounding board for improvements in education, and an advocate for those improvements that show promise or have already demonstrated success. It was formed by business and education leaders earlier this year with the goal of collaborating more closely on education and workforce initiatives.
Coalition Chair, Tom Raffio, CEO of Northeast Delta Dental, and Chair of the New Hampshire Board of Education, said: “I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard the CEOs of New Hampshire companies say they can’t find the talent they need to run or grow their companies. Those of us who hold leadership positions in New Hampshire have a responsibility to respond to that need by making sure our schools are teaching and graduating students for a 21st century workforce.”
Common Core Standards were adopted by the New Hampshire Board of Education in 2010, and represent a state-led initiative that has been implemented in many of New Hampshire’s public schools since then. Standards focus on learning expectations for students, not on how students reach those expectations. The Standards create a roadmap of what students should know and be able to do in order to prepare for college and careers. Local school districts that implement the Standards can add to or change them to fit best practices in their schools. The Standards currently include content areas in math and English language arts/literacy. Eventually, those content areas will include science, social studies, technology, early learning, the arts, career development and physical education.
The New Hampshire Coalition for Business & Education is in the process of listening to presentations on education initiatives across the State – both public and private – including a number of programs that focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), which are important to developing a 21st century workforce for New Hampshire businesses. The Coalition is also in the process of advocating for those programs that it believes will improve education for students at any level of schooling.
“The stakes could not be higher for ensuring that students are well prepared for the State’s workforce of tomorrow,” said Fred Kocher, former President of the New Hampshire High Technology Council, and the Coalition’s Coordinator.