Tampa Bay Times by Emily L. Mahoney & Jeffrey S. Solochek
January 7, 2020
TALLAHASSEE — Nearly one year ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis started the effort to fix what he said was a crisis looming over how students were taught.
Parents, he said, were telling him that “they had trouble even doing basic math to help their kids” and worse, nobody was listening to them.
In response, DeSantis announced his executive order to eliminate all “vestiges of the Common Core,” the much-derided effort to standardize what K-12 students in the U.S. should know in English and math at the end of each grade level. In his order, DeSantis vowed to review the standards and lay out requirements for instruction.
At least two drafts of standards recommendations were publicly released. There was parental feedback. Florida Department of Education officials even went on a nine-stop “listening tour” around the state to listen to parents and teachers.
Yet it’s been nearly a week since the Jan. 1 deadline for Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran to submit his finalized recommendations to DeSantis, and the governor’s office still won’t disclose what they are.
