The move comes amid a growing backlash against the standards,
which aim to boost critical-thinking skills and apply consistency to
a patchwork of state guidelines, as schools have adjusted their
course work to meet them.
Ducey, who was voted into office in November, made the remarks to
the Arizona State Board of Education as he outlined his education
policy agenda.
Ducey has opposed the Common Core, describing it as an overreach of
the federal government, but he did not call for its repeal on
Monday, according to a transcript of the remarks published on his
office's website.
Instead, he directed the board to review the "English Language Arts
and Mathematics standards in their entirety to ensure that our
children are well served by the standards you develop—with full
transparency. Standards that are Arizona's."
The Common Core was developed and implemented by states, and the
Obama administration encouraged their adoption through a
competitive-grant program called Race to the Top, which gave money
to cash-strapped states.
Arizona was among the 45 states and the District of Columbia to
enact them in 2010. Supporters say the consistent set of learning
metrics from kindergarten through high school will help students
graduate college or career-ready.
Several Republican-led states have dropped the standards in recent
months, including Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Louisiana
Governor Bobby Jindal, who is widely viewed as holding presidential
aspirations, sued the U.S. Department of Education last August over
the metrics.
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Common Core has also come under fire from some left-leaning groups,
who argue it increases reliance on standardized testing and
discourages creativity and flexibility in the classroom.
Ducey said that parents, teachers and education experts should be
included in the review, and any improvements to the standards
uncovered during the process should be adopted.
"We can learn from others, but at the end of the day the standards
need to come from Arizona and they need to help us achieve our
objectives," Ducey said.
The Arizona Republic newspaper reported that Board President Greg
Miller said he would schedule immediate reviews of the state's
standards.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco)
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