Supporters, Opponents Of Common Core Clash At Hearing

October 16, 2013

Supporters and opponents of the controversial “Common Core” education standards clashed Tuesday in Tampa during the opening stop in a three-day round of public hearings across the state.

Those speaking at the hearing were closely divided among supporters and opponents of the standards, despite conservative and tea-party activists’ concerns that Common Core represents a vast federal overreach into local education. About four dozen states have adopted the standards, which were created in a state-led initiative but have been promoted by federal officials and education reform advocates.

The hearings were part of Gov. Rick Scott’s plan for dealing with the politically volatile issue. Scott has already begun distancing the state from a consortium developing tests for Common Core, and has suggested the hearing could come up with ways to amend the academic benchmarks.

The meeting featured an at-time raucous audience, with those on both sides of the issue loudly applauding those who agreed with them.

Several teachers showed up at the meeting to defend Common Core from criticism that the standards are academically less rigorous than the state’s current expectations of students or are politically motivated.

“Common Core is providing a more rigorous and engaging classroom environment. … Common Core is pushing the students to think beyond a textbook,” said Melissa Castro, an 18-year educator with Hillsborough County.

The teachers and coaches said students were better able to grasp the material under Common Core, and were performing better.

But opponents assailed Common Core as potentially wasteful and harmful. Some labeled the changes “education without representation.” They said the new standards were almost incoherent and difficult for some students.

Lori Baxley, who has two children, spoke emotionally about how her son, a fourth-grader who previously made straight As, was struggling with his math homework. That made her speak up, Baxley said, not any political considerations.

“The notion this issue is political baffles and frustrates me,” she said during the hearing, which was webcast across the state by The Florida Channel..

But electoral politics did occasionally intrude. Mike Weston, a parent, teacher and candidate for the school board in Hillsborough County, said money should be sent to the classroom instead of spent implementing the standards and any related tests.

“Let’s give teachers a real raise, not Governor Scott’s mysterious vanishing raise,” Weston said.

Scott’s much-touted pay raise for educators, approved by the Legislature this spring, has been bogged down in negotiations between local school districts and teachers’ unions.

Two more hearings are scheduled on the issue, with one slated Wednesday in Davie and the third set for Thursday in Tallahassee.

by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida

Comments

4 Responses to “Supporters, Opponents Of Common Core Clash At Hearing”

  1. Nikki on October 18th, 2013 9:20 pm

    To Frightened Parent,
    I think you were misled about what you were looking at. Common Core Standards only apply to Math and Language Arts; there are literacy standards embedded within other content areas. So if saw a book about health education that you felt was too graphic, that is NOT the fault of common core.

  2. FaithinUS on October 17th, 2013 3:36 pm

    Frightened- are you sure that was an elementary-level book you were looking at?
    I searched the Florida state website that lists in great detail the course lessons concerning all of the topics, including Health, and there was nothing mentioning “sex” until 7th grade level–in either the current standards or “2013 proposed” standards–By that time, most kids know about masturbation and have already been misinformed about intercourse by classmates at school.

  3. THE DOER on October 17th, 2013 6:40 am

    I had no idea this was included in the curriculum for Common Core/health education section. I have seen the language curriculum for Common Core on every single high school grade level, and I will tell you that the literature that has been chosen (not every piece) is very graphic and questionable. I have been teaching over 25 years, and I cannot figure why a committee/organization or whatever you want to call them would select some of the pieces chosen. Couple with what you have posted tells me that there is definitely a hidden agenda.

    Parents better wake up and speak up!

  4. Frightened Parent on October 16th, 2013 7:27 pm

    I have flipped through the book that is included in this Common Core that teaches elementary school students some ‘basics’ of ‘health education.’ The book was pretty graphic and showed images of a man and woman engaging in intercourse and talked about mastuerbation and it feeling good and the like. Pictures and pictures of things that I know I am not ready for my first grader to see. It went into great detail and I was embarrassed to be viewing it so imagine these kids and how they will feel. I prefer to teach my kids that sex is for husband and wife…the way God intended…when I FEEL THAT THEY ARE READY TO HEAR IT….not when the government decides for me.

    It is past time for us to educate ourselves and stop letting our rights slip away.

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