Common core, love it or hate it, is now history.
The long debated common core standards set by the state of Florida has reached its deadly end last Thursday. Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order promising to eliminate the standards, fulfilling his campaign promise he made to many Floridians. Announced later on, common core is set to be completely eliminated by January 2020.
“We want to demand excellence,” DeSantis stated in his press conference on Friday, “we’re not teaching to a test.”
By eliminating the standards, DeSantis is listening to the long lived complaint from parents and teachers all over the state criticizing the ways curriculum is being taught in the classroom.
“The number of standards that they want us to cover in algebra 1 and algebra 2 is unrealistic,” A teacher at Santaluces stated. “[The state has] to lower test scores because of the poorly written tests.”
Common core math methods may seem odd to many.
For students, the removal of common core will allow them to thrive in the classroom. As a promise with his removal of common core, DeSantis promised to “streamline testing” and not overload students with information for the students only to take a test at the end of the year.
“I believe common core doesn’t properly prepare kids for the modern working society,” senior Jesus Gomez said. “[It instead] prepares them for the false idea that the world will accept you based on whether or not you can memorize certain topics and pass a standardized test in order to prove one has memorized everything.”
The Florida government will now create a new plan for state wide curriculum in schools. In doing so, DeSantis wants all aspects of education to be improved. This includes increasing literacy in Florida schools. However, one of his main points was his take on civics education in Florida.
We can really make civics education a priority in Florida.
– Ron DeSantis
By making civics a priority, DeSantis hopes to increase the knowledge of the principles the United States were founded upon.
Andrew Olson, senior, gives his opinion on the matter, “I think it’s important that we learn about our nation’s principles so we can have a great understanding of how our nation works and how we can change things that we want changed.”
A push for more focused education on student learning and not on test taking has succeeded. Common core is dying, and the future is bright for Florida schools.
