With Common Core set to go, Florida opens survey on new math, language arts standards
With Gov. Ron DeSantis determined to rid Florida’s public schools of Common Core, his administration’s next task is to figure out what language arts and math standards should replace them.
To that end, the Florida Department of Education has opened a survey, seeking input on what educators, parents and others might not like about the Common Core standards and what they think should be adopted in their place.
Florida’s version of Common Core — called Florida Standards — spells out what students should learn in language arts and math classes, kindergarten through 12th grade, from fractions in fourth grade to conventions of English grammar in seventh grade. School districts use the standards to devise courses and select curricula.
The Florida Standards Assessments — a series of standardized tests — assess how well students mastered the standards. The tests, dubbed FSA, will have to be replaced, too, once new standards are adopted.
The education department, in a memo to school districts sent Friday, said FSA will remain in place through 2019-20 school year, and the state will hold off adopting new math or language arts textbooks until new standards are agreed on.
DeSantis campaigned on a platform that included ridding the state of Common Core, a move championed by many of his conservative supporters. Common Core opponents had long argued they represented the federal government’s illegal intrusion into public education and a push toward even more high-stakes testing, among other problems. The federal government encouraged states to adopt the standards with its Race to the Top grant, a program that awarded Florida $700 million in federal money in 2010.
But some superintendents were surprised DeSantis moved so quickly to take action against standards some note have helped the state’s students post academic gains.
In an executive order signed last month, the governor gave the department a year to report back to him on how to replace the standards with the goal of focusing on “the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic,” making Florida “the most literate state in the nation,” focusing more on “knowledge of America’s civics” and finding ways to “streamline testing.”