Nearly a hundred changes are being proposed by the Florida Department of Education to the hotly contested Common Core State Standards.The department has proposed 98 amendments and additions to the standards, including an additional 52 math standards focused on calculus.
The changes, released Monday, follow the review and analysis of more than 19,000 comments and 14 hours of public hearings which resulted from Governor Rick Scott’s call earlier this fall for public input on the standards.
In 2010, Florida adopted the Common Core State Standards, a set of educational objectives in math and English to be met by students at the end of each grade. Currently, 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the standards.
The standards are scheduled to be fully implemented in the state by the 2014-15 year but have been met with mounting resistance from some conservatives who see their implementation as federal overreach.
An analysis of the public feedback by Tallahassee-based consulting firm Curva & Associates — hired by the state department — showed that about 24 percent of those expressing views supported Common Core, while about 28 percent did not; and nearly half of those who submitted feedback did not support or oppose the standards.
The proposed changes to the standards, which can be viewed here, include 46 changes to English language arts and mathematics standards and the addition of 52 new calculus standards “to support college readiness.”
The recommendation seeks to incorporate Next Generation Sunshine State Calculus standards into the new set of standards, a particularly interesting proposal, given the state’s move last spring to remove Algebra 2 from its high school graduation requirements.
State Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart will bring the recommended changes before the State Board of Education at their meeting Feb. 18.
You can follow Rhema Thompson on Twitter @RhemaThompson.
