A Common Core legal mess in — where else? — Florida
This isn’t the way it was supposed to work, but…. there’s a legal battle in the state of Florida over part of the implementation of the Common Core State Standards.
Education Week chronicles in this article why Tallahassee-based Infinity Software Development filed a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Education over a Web site it was hired to build to help students and teachers prepare for the new standards and related curriculum and assessments, and why, a week after the lawsuit was filed, the department terminated its $20 million contract with the firm.
“Common Core” refers to a set of new standards in math and English/Language Arts that have been accepted by most states — at the urging of the Obama administration. New standardized tests are being designed to go along with the standards. Supporters say they elevate and standardize academic standards across the country; critics attack the standards for a number of reasons, which you can see here.
The Web site that the state of Florida contracted for — which was to feature lessons and