CONCORD – As part of ongoing efforts to ensure that New Hampshire students are ready for the jobs and opportunities of the 21st century economy, the Advanced Manufacturing Educational Advisory Council has unanimously endorsed the adoption of the Common Core State Standards.
The unanimous vote took place at the group’s regularly scheduled January meeting.
“Business leaders tell their representatives that they are challenged to find workers with the skills necessary for advanced manufacturing,” State Senator Molly Kelly, Chair of the Advanced Manufacturing Educational Advisory Council. “We need to be responsive to those needs while also supporting our local schools districts that want to adopt and implement the most rigorous standards possible.”
A state-based series of math and language arts standards, the Common Core is designed to help New Hampshire’s young people develop the skills and knowledge they need for success in careers and higher education.
“I am a strong supporter of such standards,” Barbara Couch, vice president at Hanover-based Hypertherm, Inc., and member of the Advanced Manufacturing Educational Advisory Council said in a statement. “The Common Core standards empower teachers to do what they do best by allowing them to discover and create optimal teaching tools and methods and encourage the sharing of best practices across all school systems.”
A state-based effort embraced by the New Hampshire Board of Education in 2010, the Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.
“New Hampshire is instruction based on these standards so our students can reach even greater depths of knowledge and understanding and be even more empowered when they enter college or careers,” said Mark Conrad, superintendent of the Nashua Schools and member of the Advanced Manufacturing Educational Advisory Council.
About the Advanced Manufacturing Educational Advisory Council
The New Hampshire General Court passed legislation in 2008 creating the Advanced Manufacturing Education Advisory Council. Members include lawmakers, manufacturers, and educators who focused their work on the charge of the council: “to advise the Department of Education in the implementation, evaluation, and expansion of the advanced manufacturing curriculum, to assist the Department of Education in pursuing public and private funds in order to ensure statewide access for all public high school students to advanced manufacturing curriculum coursework.”
For more information, visit: http://www.education.nh.gov/career/career/manufacturing_council.htm
About manufacturing in New Hampshire:
Manufacturing is the largest sector of the New Hampshire economy, accounting for 15 percent of the jobs and nearly a third of the contribution to the gross product of the state’s export-based industries. One in eight jobs are in advanced manufacturing and since 2003, New Hampshire manufacturing exports rose nearly six times as fast as the state’s overall economy.
Advancing New Hampshire Public Education 