‘Common Core State Standards is not a dirty word’
Chartrand
The wild debate about Common Core veered into unexpected territory Tuesday, with the board that governs education in the nation’s fourth largest state having a lengthy debate about whether to actually use the term.
In response to mostly-Tea Party-driven objections, Florida Gov. Rick Scott directed the Florida Department of Education to take public input on the standards, both on its website and at three public forums. But the DOE doesn’t refer to them as Common Core State Standards, instead describing them on the site as “Florida’s currently adopted English language arts and mathematics standards.”
That’s technically true. The Florida Board of Education adopted the standards in 2010. But board member Kathleen Shanahan raised objections to the term “Florida standards,” saying it could create confusion with the public and “disenfranchise” thousands of Florida teachers who are already teaching Common Core State Standards.
At one point, Shanahan asked the department’s communications director if DOE was going to use the term Common Core State Standards in its communications efforts. When she indicated she wasn’t satisfied with the answer – “Is that a yes or a no?” – Commissioner Pam Stewart offered that until the