National standards and standardized tests were introduced by President Reagan.
President Reagan called for national standards and standardized tests after he read a commission report entitled "A Nation at Risk," published in 1983. After that, individual states began adopting standards. In 2001, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act which strengthened requirements for the kinds of standards states set. States had to test students in specific grades and subjects, but were free to set their own standards and create their own tests.
In Florida, some of the Common Core standards were added to the Florida Sunshine State Standards, creating the Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards.
Common Core provides guidelines for two subjects only.
Only English language arts/literacy and mathematics are included. In the 1/20/15 School District curriculum workshop, the Collier County Public School staff showed us how English language arts and mathematics standards are being added.
Common Core allows teachers to choose their curriculum and instructional materials.
Florida's version of Common Core, the Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards, are general guidelines. It's up to the teacher to design the curriculum. Many teachers use CPALMS, which helps teachers connect the standards to curricula, but those lesson plans aren't part of Common Core.
For example, go to CPALMS and click on Grade 5, then English Language Arts. You'll see the Grade 5 standards, click on a standard (like LAFS.5.L.1.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing."). A teacher could choose one of the lesson plans, or she could design her own.
Common Core's higher standards will help our students be college- and career-ready.
In English Language Arts and Mathematics, the changes introduced new information or techniques are designed to make our students more competitive for college and careers. In the curriculum workshop, Ms. Coryell gave us examples of how students are asked to use higher-order thinking skills. For example, instead of memorizing definitions, students are asked to infer meaning of words, then use that information to inform their own writing, and interpret the writing of others.
Setting the record straight about Common Core
For more information on Common Core, including a discussion of testing, read this report: Consortium of Florida Education Foundations. June 2014. The Florida Standards.
What do Math and English Language Arts standards look like in Collier County?
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​The best place to look at the standards is CPALMS, the site teachers use to develop their course curriculum. Curriculum includes lesson plans, with instructional materials like readings, videos, in-class activities, designed to achieve specific learning outcomes. School district instructional staff gave a great presentation at the January 20, 2015, curriculum workshop about the new Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards in English Language Arts and Math.