From FLAPOL

Ron DeSantis announces BEST education standards to replace Common Core

By Jacob Ogleson
January 24, 2020

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday said the new set of Florida education standards to replace Common Core is complete. The changes include requirements children learn cursive, study the Constitution in grade school and meet several measures in literacy based on grade level.

“It really goes beyond Common Core to embrace common sense,” DeSantis said.

The Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking will be published on the Department of Education website next week. But a summary of recommendations and changes was made available shortly after a press conference in Naples.

Among the most notable changes were new expectations in literacy ranging from learning sight words in grade school to being able to comprehend Shakespearean sonnets before graduating high school.

But in some places, standards change downward. In one section that promises “No ‘Confusing’ Math,” a requirement for students to learn to “multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit whole number, and multiply two two- digit numbers, using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations” gets changed to simply multiplying four-digit whole numbers by a one-digit number with “procedural fluency.”

DeSantis spoke to supporters in Naples about the mission to replace Common Core. A year ago, he signed an executive order demanding the elimination of all vestiges of the derided standards.

What’s in the new standards will become more clear next week, but he promised a focus on literacy and civics, a long-held priority of the Republican leader. The new standards require teaching the U.S. Constitution in 5th grade, as opposed to 11th grade.

DeSantis managed to sneak an allusion to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign slogan — that students must “understand the principles that make America Great.”

He also referenced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., saying a read of the civil rights leader’s famous speeches showed understanding of American civics.

But much of the press conference was spent deriding the 2010 national standards BEST will replace. That showed the significant evolution in the politics of Common Core, originally adopted in some form by 41 states.

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Florida Public Charter Schools to Celebrate National School Choice Week, Jan. 26 to Feb. 1, 2020

Member Schools of Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools (FCPCS) Encouraged to Participate

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (January 24, 2020) – Many of Florida’s more than 650 public charter schools are expected to participate in this year’s National School Choice Week, slated for January 26 through February 1, 2020.

Founded in 2011, National School Choice Week promotes all forms of school choice, including public charter schools, private schools, district schools, magnet schools and home schools.  According to the organization’s website, “National School Choice Week recognizes all K-12 options.  It is the world’s largest annual celebration of opportunity in education.”

National School Choice Week touts participation this year by more than 51,000 school leaders, teachers, organizations, homeschooling groups and parents.  Interested potential participants can obtain more information and sign up at www.schoolchoiceweek.com/celebrate.

A number of Florida’s public charter schools have participated in National School Choice Week in recent years, according to FCPCS President Robert Haag. 

“The Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools encourages our members schools to be part of the 2020 celebration,” said Haag.  “It will help to increase awareness and understanding of the growing role of public charter schools in Florida education.  It’s a good opportunity to boost the visibility of public charter schools in Florida.”

For more information about National School Choice Week, please visit the website www.schoolchoiceweek.com.

About the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools

Celebrating its 20th Anniversary as an organization driving the charter school movement in Florida, the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools (FCPCS) is the leading charter school membership association in the state, with a membership of nearly 75 percent of all operating charter schools.  Since its inception in 1999, FCPCS has been dedicated to creating a national model of high quality, accredited public charter schools that are student-centered and performance-driven.  FCPCS provides a wide array of technical support, mentoring, training, networking, and purchasing services to its membership, as well as serving as an advocate for all Florida public charter schools.

Poll finds support across demographics for school choice

RealClear Opinion Research found black voters especially favor concept.

Re-posted from a story posted December 6, 2019 to Florida Politics Blog

By Jacob Ogles

A new poll shows growing support for school choice.

A RealClear Opinion Research survey looked at school choice broadly and tested specific policy proposals.

The poll found 69 percent of registered voters support the concept of school choice, and the same number favor the ability to send children to schools beyond their zoned public school. About 70% of registered voters support a federal tax scholarship.

Advocates touted the results as a sign of growing support for educational scholarships, with one suggesting Florida was leading the way on the issue.

“Once again, a new round of nationwide public polling in 2019 confirms that school choice is incredibly popular with voters in every category, especially a federal tax credit proposal like the Education Freedom Scholarships,” said John Schilling, President of the American Federation of Children.

“This is a unifying issue among voters and policymakers should take action. The polling clearly shows that parents want more and better educational options for their children, and as we’ve seen in states like Florida and Arizona, they will become intensely passionate about candidates who support school choice.”

Respondents were specifically asked if they support a proposal in Congress where individuals and businesses could donate to a nonprofit fund granting organizations in states the ability to award scholarships to students who want to attend public, private, career or technical schools of their choice.

That’s similar to how the state-managed Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program operates

The survey found the strongest support for this voucher program among voters age 45 to 54, where 74 percent favored the policy. The lowest support came among those ages 18 to 24, but 66% of that group also favored a tax scholarship program as described. And 71 percent of black voters were supportive, the highest level of any racial demographic.

The poll found 73 percent of Republicans favor such a program, compared to 69% of Democrats and 68% of independents.

Among those who have children in public schools, 75 percent favored a voucher program. Among those in nonpublic schools, the support was higher, about 78 percent. Those without kids enrolled in school right now showed about 68 percent approval for the program.

As far as the concept of school choice, pollsters asked specifically about giving parents the right to use tax dollars designated for their child’s education in whatever public or private school best suited their needs. There, support was not as high as the scholarship program, but was still strong, with about 68% of respondents favoring the concept.

Here, the strongest support by age group came from those age 35 to 44, of whom 72 percent voiced support.

Here, about 76 percent of Republicans, and 77 percent of Republican primary voters, favored the school choice concept, while 64 percent of Democrats felt the same.

The poll still found a plurality of voters favor traditional public schools, just over 30 percent. But nearly 70 percent favor some other option. Almost 22 percent favor a private secular school, around 19 percent a private religious school, more than 13 percent a public charter school, about 11 percent home-school and 6 percent some type of virtual school.

The just-released poll was conducted Sept. 21-24 and sampled 2,014 U.S. registered voters. Pollsters report a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

Separating Truth from Fiction as Charter Schools Transition from Shiny Theory to Gritty Reality

Posted as part of "The Lens – Bringing vision and clarity to education policy"

Re-posted from an online column posted by the Center for Reinventing Public Education on November 1, 2019.

By Robin Lake

Long known as uncomfortable truth-tellers in education reform, the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington Bothell has for years tracked the problems that arise as charter schools have made the transition from shiny new idea to gritty reality.

For nearly 30 years charter schools have built a track record of success, particularly for low-income children of color in big cities. But individual schools and the system itself have also encountered unpleasant surprises and failures.

The results are a net positive for students, but there is much room for improvement. Separating the facts from the myths about charter schools could help these experiments in public education live up to their potential, so we offer this series of blog posts as a baseline for a new, honest discussion about the reality of charter schools in America today. Our aim is for this series to help clear the air and make room for the next big improvements in both charter schools and public education in general.

These conversation starters will be posted in this space, about once a week for the next month, with additional installments to follow. We’ll examine the evidence to answer questions such as:

• Have charter schools increased public segregation?
• Have they failed to deliver on the promise of innovation?
• Have charter schools hurt nearby public schools by being a financial drain?
• Are they magnets for fraud, waste, and abuse?
• Do charter schools threaten communities and social cohesion?

No large-scale activity can operate without problems, and many of the same issues also apply to district-run schools. Yet opponents cite them as reasons to hobble existing charter schools and cap the growth of new ones. 

In the real world, some charter schools are poorly run, some school leaders misuse money and fudge performance reports, and some teachers do a bad job and treat students unfairly. However, other charter schools have truly inspirational leaders, are developing innovative new programs that could help every public school do better someday, while some are sending nearly all their students to college, and both charter schools and traditional public schools have good stories and bad ones to tell.

Charter schools would cease to exist if millions of families didn’t consciously choose them for their children. The question for policymakers should be how to properly govern them—to prevent abuse, protect vulnerable students, encourage excellence, and ensure charter growth has positive—not harmful—implications for children in other public schools. 

We hope these posts will restore balance and bring data to the debates over the risks and benefits of charter schools. Readers looking for pro- or anti-charter polemics will be disappointed: charter schools, both individually and as a movement, make real contributions but also have real problems.  As our future blog posts will show, most of these problems are endemic to all public education, not just to charter schools. Fixing them should be a priority for everyone.