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DeSantis Flunks Common Core, Announces New State School Standards
January 25, 2020
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday announced a new set of education standards to replace common core, including a requirement that students meet literacy standards based upon their grade level, learn cursive and study the Constitution.
Complete details on Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking — B.E.S.T. — Standards won’t be published on the Florida Department of Education website until next week, but a summary has been made available.
The plan outline includes several major points:
- Eliminate Common Core (Florida Standards) and ensure we return to the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.
- Provide a roadmap to make Florida’s standards number one in the nation.
- Reflect the Commissioner’s consultation with relevant stakeholders to include parents and teachers.
- Deem how to increase the quality of instructional curriculum.
- Suggest innovative ways to streamline testing.
- Equip high school graduates with a sufficient knowledge of America’s civics, particularly as reflected in the Constitution.
- Outline a pathway for Florida to be the most literate state in the nation.
The plan will remove “confusing/crazy math”, provide targeted instruction for students who struggle with reading, reinforce the the basics of arithmetic before students enter middle school and develop a plan with the goal of reducing the total amount of time students spend testing as well as reducing the total questions on assessments.
The U.S. Constitution will be introduced in the fifth grade under the B.E.S.T. Standards. All high school students will be required to take the Florida Civics Literacy Test. Financial literacy will taught in high school, unlike Common Core that did not teach the basics like balancing a checkbook.
B.E.S.T. Standards will replace state tests with the SAT or ACT, better aligning testing for college readiness.
Comments
40 Responses to “DeSantis Flunks Common Core, Announces New State School Standards”
WOW…this is the most “common sense” thing I’ve heard about “common core” yes pun intended, Question, With all the great comments on getting rid of it, “where were these voices/votes/concerns since the common core was started? I’m guilty as charged also, since I have a child trying to learn that non-logical way of thinking but just never knew there was so much opposition against it…I have just never heard anyone complain about it besides my wife and I between ourselves to our kid trying to help with homework. Man, I’m so happy!
I agree with Naomi. I am a 7th grader and common core is a bad set of standards. It is confusing and unnecessarily difficult. But also I don’t agree with the older folks in the comments saying that there should be no phones at school. Yes, we need our phones at school because sometimes websites for research are blocked and we need to use our phone to access them. Sometimes we need to contact our parents and don’t want to do with all the work of getting a pass, walking to the office, etc etc and need to just ask a teacher for phone use and text our parents. Also sometimes there are events that require contact, and sometimes there are things like dance rescheduling that you should tell your parents immediately before you forget. I like my school (Ernest Ward)’s phone policy: No phones in class unless your teacher explicitly states you can use them, if not in use phones must be on silent or off inside your backpack, sometimes our principal comes in for random phone checks, some teachers have a classroom rule of no chromebook cases at the desk (because it makes it easier to sneak a phone), and phones are allowed during the 3-minute transition period between classes, lunch, and buses. But back to common core. I am already not that good at math and common core makes it worse. It is hard to understand and makes me frustrated. My mom and dad have told me about how they used to learn at school and it sounds so much more concise and simple. Thanks Gov. DeSantis for restoring our education system
This sounds great and all but, what really needs to happen in schools today in my opinion, all chromebooks need to be taken away! Kids today get told a website to go to for answers exactly what paragraph to pull answer from And all they have to do is coy and paste they are NOT learning anything by doing this schools need to go back to pen and paper and text books!! Maybe then they would actually learn rather hope Google is correct.
The terminology will be changed, but it will look exactly the same. It’s just a switch and bait move. The testing companies control the politicians and too much money is at stake. Wait and see.
Great idea but you have already ruined a whole generation of kids with common core and only teaching what is on a standardized test. Go back to Dick and Jane and 1+1 is always 2.
We’ve got a top notch Constitution to help guide
“We The People”. Fortunately, We’ve elected a top
notch Governor . The question is can We keep them ?
I like what I hear so far and I hope this puts us on the write track for the future of our kids. Absolutely we need to focus on the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic at least through middle school and starting in middle school start adding civics and science and history and then start adding more advanced subjects like higher math after they understand the core of the subjects. Also I think that we really need to start offering some introduction to trade skills for kids that have a interest or aptitude, not everyone is cut out for college but the world will always needs plumbers, electricians, brick masons, etc.
Wonderful News!
Its like they implemented something bad and now they are patting themselves on the back and highfiving each other due to the fact that they removed what was bad to start with.
I need to do that at my job, just really screw something up, then fix it, then print out a paper that looks like an award for myself
So will this mean no EOCs that are coming in April and May ? I think it’s insane for my public homeschooled student to work so hard to make straight As, then have to take a test at the end that counts as 30% of his whole grade, covering information from the beginning of the year. He’s a struggling exam taker and it affects his final grade.
This all sounds FANTASTIC. I just hope it starts ASAP. Teachers absolutely need a voice here.
Excellent news.
Don’t really care much for this governor but I’m with him on this one. Good job Governor!!!!
I love this. I don’t mind that they have phones since often there are events that require contact and also my kids have GPS trackers so I KNOW where they are. It should be no phone use during class. However I know they often rely on phones for online work that the chromepads won’t allow access too. I also feel like the school day should be short with long breaks. I hate hearing my daughter say her bladder hurts because she hasn’t had time to go to restroom between classes and teachers won’t allow them to go during class.
Never have I seen a more positive comments section. Thank you Governor DeSantis!!
When will this new curriculum be implemented and common core be done with???
Thank you, Gov. DeSantis!! Finally an elected official makes a decision that makes sense! Goodbye common core and hopefully some of the testing!! So glad to hear of the financial literacy class in high school but would love to see a basic parenting class and a job interviewing and professional etiquette class as well for high school. The young people that we hired had no idea how to interview for a position, dress appropriately for work or how to behave in a professional work environment. Perhaps there could be a Life Skills year long course that could cover some of these subjects. We absolutely have to have educational basics but we also need at least an introduction to some of the life skills that are so important to success in life. Glad to hear of these changes!!
My heart hurts for kids that had to deal with common core education, now they are almost out of school & missed out on so much that they needed to learn, such as cursive writing. Teachers knew it wasn’t working why didn’t politicians listen to them b4 it hurt these kids.
Thank God for governor DeSantis! This should have been done years ago! Back to the basics. Teach how to read , how to write and how to add, subtract, multiply and divide!
Please tell me this will get rid of all the unnecessary testing?. I swear it seems like that’s all they do in schools these days
I am with all the comments here, mostly Jim Young’s comment. I would like to add Human Diversity to the list of subjects to be taught in schools. This is a subject that is required for certain professions. OHHHH, Home Economics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some kids can’t boil water when they graduate.
It’s about time real education is being brought back.
Common core and that nonsense did nothing but ruin
The system
I so want to teach content and not standards…Please re-evaluate having test scores influence teacher evaluations. The current focus standards being followed are overwhelming, too complex for both students and teachers.
@ everyone IT IS ABOUT TIME!!!!!!!!!!!
Kids today don’t know how to add and subtract without their phone, they have no idea
what the “The U.S. Constitution” says other than a few amendments that they heard.
smart phones should be BANNED from being used in schools.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST = GET THE PARENTS DISPLAINARY ACTION BACK!!!!!
Sounds great!
Thank God..maybe now Ican once again help my grkids with homework and not be just as confused as they have been.
Thank you very much for bringing back real education to our public schools! I would also like to see the schools go back to their original 6 period days. That worked out the best for both parents, and children. 6 periods is long enough for children, so their brains won’t get fatigued. Also, I think we need to go back to having high schools starting early, and have the elementary schools start later. This way you don’t have small children out at “dark thirty” in the morning waiting for the bus. Finally, all smart phones should be BANNED from schools, and I don’t mean maybe! The parents can call the school, if they need to communicate with their child. Children don’t need to take an expensive electronic device to school! If they must have a phone, give them an inexpensive phone with voice only. No text, or data, they don’t need it! Thank you for letting me comment here, and have a nice day.
Thank you governor for working to get rid of common core and educating our children on the constitution.
I am so grateful this is being done. My second grader is very smart and does very well in math, but the way common core wants him to “show his work” and get the answer the long crazy way they want him to is ridiculous.
I think they need more recess time as well. Let them have some down time to play. They are children after all.
Thank you Governor! It’s about time for common sense in education to replace the common core. Let’s teach kids about our country, the basics of reading, writing, and math, and how to function in this world.
finally, some common sense.
Common Core = make them stupid
I’m with “EMD”. . .thank you, Governor DeSantis!!
As an elementary/middle school teacher, the words “reduction of testing” are music to my ears, as well as “developmentally appropriate”.
So many hours of possible instruction have been lost to hours of testing.
So many skills and concepts we have been required to hammer into our students would be more successfully taught LATER, when the kids are developmentally ready.
If these two claims turn out to be true, we may be able to save the next generation of students from the stress and failure now associated with school. Students may be able to love learning again, and teachers may be able to love teaching again. Perhaps the profession will become more appealing and teachers will stay. We may once again be able to recruit teachers to Florida.
Amen, Governor!
I know! How about eliminating the state board and returning control back over to local boards? (Money and all).
I would like to see ALL student cell phones removed from schools. If parents need to contact their children they can call the school.
Thank you Governor DeSantis for your common sense and desperately needed change.
I would like to see more recess time for the younger grades. This has been shown to help students with their attention spans.
Common Core is a joke
Thank you so very much, Governor DeSantis. I am so glad I voted for you. This makes my day !!!