Julie DelegalThis is part one of a six-part series on Florida’s Future with the Common Core State Standards, presented in partnership with Folio Weekly. A complete version of this series will appear in Folio on Oct. 16.
Few issues draw as much scrutiny from citizens — or as much controversy — as public education.
Parents and other stakeholders watched as two debacles relating to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) occurred in as many years. Floridians also witnessed less-than-stellar research results for poor students in charter schools, as well as the resignation of three state education commissioners — all under one governor.
Now, a set of academic standards that is slated to take full force during the 2014-2015 school year, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), has emerged as the latest education lightning rod.
At the center of the storm is Gov. Rick Scott, who, following tea party complaints about federal government overreach, withdrew Florida from participating in the 18-state group, PARCC, which is developing tests to align with the Common Core. PARCC stands for the Partnership for the Assessment of College and Career Readiness, and is different from the Common Core compact, which comprises 45 states.
What do ‘Common Core State Standards’ mean?
Common Core State Standards are a set of uniform, interchangeable academic goals, or “standards,” which are intended to be used across grades and subject areas from state to state. Having common benchmarks, and a common way to measure student learning under those benchmarks, would enable cross-state comparisons of student achievement, which, proponents say, is essential to improving the nation’s schools.
Proponents also say that the new standards are deeper, fewer, and clearer than previous Florida standards.
What are Florida’s current standards?
Currently, Florida students in kindergarten through second grade are already being taught curricula based on the Common Core standards. This year students in grades 3-12 are learning within a “blended” set of goals that mix Common Core State Standards with Florida’s Next Generation Sunshine State Standards. This year FCAT 2.0 will test the “blended” standards.
“Florida’s standards are already more aligned to the Common Core than the average state’s,” said Duval County Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. Vitti is a self-described “big proponent” of CCSS.
Next school year, 2014-2015, is when the Common Core State Standards and their yet-to-be-determined aligned test will be fully implemented in Florida, unless something changes between now and then.
What’s the difference between ‘standards’ and ‘curriculum’?
Currently, the standards — i.e., what educators want students to know — have been developed for reading/language arts and math. Proponents point out that curricula, i.e., the tools and strategies for teaching those standards, are to be developed by local school districts.
Text selection, or reading lists, would fall under the domain of “curriculum,” i.e., teaching strategies, tools and materials, and therefore would be subject to local control. Informational texts used to align with reading/language arts standards also cross into the domains of Science and Social Studies as well.
Will there be opportunities to hear more about the Common Core?
Yes. Scott’s fourth education commissioner, Pam Stewart, has announced three public hearings to address how things are going with Common Core implementation so far, and what might be tweaked. Hearings will be held Tuesday, Oct. 15, in Tampa; Wednesday, Oct. 16, in Davie, and Thursday, Oct. 17, in Tallahassee. The website announcing the hearings appears to be re-branding the Common Core into “Florida standards.”
Next: Part 2, Uncommon alliances over the Common Core
One comment
Ed S
October 15, 2013 at 5:29 pm
Sounds really simple and quite desirable. That is, until the nuts and bolts are pulled out and the nuts and bolts are examined. What it equates to is a grand experiment in education with our children and teachers as lab rats. From personal experience I can tell you the following:
My wife is a 1st Grade teacher and is seeing an increase in paperwork associated with Common Core. Standards have been changed on teachers so many times over the past couple of years that they are just getting used to one way of administering and documenting only to have to start fresh and learn a new way. Morale is at an all time low and my wife and most of her fellow teachers are becoming depressed at the heaping amounts of extra paperwork this is causing. The bottom line is: There are so many standards, paperwork going with the standards and TESTING TESTING TESTING that there is not much time or energy to actually TEACH the students.
As parent with a Kindergartener, I attended a parent meeting on the new standards and requirements. An example of the ludicrous standards: By the end of Kindergarten, my daughter must be able to write a three sentence narrative. This comes before they even know parts of speech! Students are being set up to fail by bureaucrats making standards and most of those bureaucrats have not even logged an hour in a classroom!
This is common core.
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