{"id":20452,"date":"2013-10-21T13:28:50","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T17:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=20452"},"modified":"2013-10-21T13:28:50","modified_gmt":"2013-10-21T17:28:50","slug":"the-commonwealth-of-common-core-what-florida-can-learn-from-kentucky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/10\/21\/the-commonwealth-of-common-core-what-florida-can-learn-from-kentucky\/","title":{"rendered":"The Commonwealth of Common Core: What Florida Can Learn From Kentucky"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kentucky<\/a>

SeeMidTN.com \/ Flickr<\/p>

Kentucky is the nation's trailblazer for Common Core math, literacy and English standards.<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the big complaints critics have of Florida’s new math, English and literacy standards — known as Common Core<\/a> — is that the standards haven’t been field tested to make sure they work.<\/p>\n

While not a field test, Kentucky has been using the standards since 2011. Lawmakers had told state education officials to come up with new standards. Rather than adopt a stopgap, Kentucky schools jumped into Common Core with both feet.<\/p>\n

But Kentucky hasn’t seen the backlash against Common Core that other states have. Here’s our colleagues StateImpact Indiana on why<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear \u2014 for Kentucky, the Common Core is a clear step up from the academic standards it replaced. The state\u2019s old standards got a D<\/a> from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe standards for high school resemble those for middle school,\u201d according to the report<\/a>. \u201cAt times the standards seem to represent a perpetual remedial course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indiana<\/a>, on the other hand, had top-rated standards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it really shifts the debate from \u2018Is this a slam dunk? Yes,\u2019 to \u2018Should we adopt with additions or with recommendations or with caveats?\u2019\u201d Fordham\u2019s Kathleen Porter-Magee told StateImpact<\/em><\/a>\u00a0at Indiana\u2019s first Common Core hearing.<\/p>\n

But in Kentucky, no one is arguing for a return to the old standards<\/a>. So when you ask teachers about\u00a0Common Core pushback, they assume you\u2019re talking about other educators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a lot of math teachers who were initially resistant to Common Core at the high school level start to change their mind when they realize there are some changes being made at the lower grades,\u00a0changes they\u2019d wanted to happen for a long time,\u201d says Ryan Davis, a math teacher at Central.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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