Florida Scraps Obama's Failed Common Core in All Schools Across the State
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs executive order, ending controversial teaching method
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Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has signed an executive order, scrapping the controversial Common Core teaching method - that was introduced by the Obama Administration - in all schools across the state.
DeSantis has ordered Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran to produce a road map for developing a new way to educate the students in the Sunshine State.
Florida moved to a Common Core-type system under former Florida Gov. Rick Scott, in order to bring standards in line with those of other students in the United States after ex-President Barack Obama established the teaching practice in schools across the country in 2010.
Common Core was tweaked slightly by Florida's State leaders, who attempted to re-brand it as "Florida Standards" but it remains fundamentally the same as Common Core.
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State governors attempted to develop Common Core and former Gov. Jeb Bush did everything he could to sell it as "fewer, higher expectations, critical thinking skills, benchmarked to the best in the world."
According to Fox News, critics of Common Core, including Tea Party groups, said it would take away local control and dumb down schools.
Meanwhile, many parents had trouble understanding some of the teaching methods and found the curriculum confusing, particularly some of the math lessons.
“One of the things we would constantly hear about on the campaign trail was a lot of frustration from parents in particular with this idea of Common Core," DeSantis said.
"When you complained ... I heard you. I told you I'd do something about it. And today we are acting to bring promises to reality."
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In November last year, researchers, who conducted a study into the impact of Common Core State Standards on schools, declared the teaching method to be "worst large-scale educational failure in 40 years."
The study examined the effects of Common Core on school choice and found the Obama-era K-12 educational reform demonstrated sharp drops in academic performance.
Ted Rebarber of AccountabilityWorks co-authored the study with Cato Institute’s Neal McCluskey, who previously led another study, titled “Common Core, School Choice and Rethinking Standards-Based Reform,” which was published by the Boston-based Pioneer Institute.
The pair discussed their findings at a Heritage Foundation event last year, explaining how Common Core has not only damaged public-school education but also has created obstacles for choosing schools.
Rebarber highlighted the danger when politicians submit to the allure of standards-based educational reforms.
“Standards become the blueprint around which schools organize their teaching, their day-to-day academic operations,” he said.
“They’re effectively curriculum central planning by government.”
In the study, the authors observed that since Common Core was implemented in 45 states and Washington, DC, students have demonstrated sharp drops in academic performance, according to Breitbart.
Additionally, those students who were already performing poorly– many of them minority students – declined even further.
“Common Core blunts the innovation, dynamism, and competition that is the heart of the school choice movement,” McCluskey noted.
