{"id":22448,"date":"2014-07-21T02:00:08","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T06:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=22448"},"modified":"2014-08-08T11:45:47","modified_gmt":"2014-08-08T15:45:47","slug":"what-we-learned-this-year-watching-schools-prepare-for-floridas-new-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/07\/21\/what-we-learned-this-year-watching-schools-prepare-for-floridas-new-standards\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Learned This Year Watching Schools Prepare For Florida’s New Standards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Darlene<\/a>

Jackie Mader \/ The Hechinger Report<\/p>

Darlene Paul, principal of West Defuniak Elementary, speaks to a student during a visit to a third-grade classroom. Paul says she has been impressed with the academic success of young students who have been taught only using the new Florida Standards.<\/p><\/div>\n

For the past year The Hechinger Report<\/a><\/em> and StateImpact Florida<\/em> have taken you into two schools to hear what preparations for Florida\u2019s new Common Core-based standards sound like. The standards outline what students should know in math and language arts. When classes start this fall every grade in every Florida public school will use them. But are schools ready?<\/p>\n

The Hechinger Report\u2019s<\/em> Jackie Mader and StateImpact Florida\u2019s<\/em> John O\u2019Connor tell us what they\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n

The teachers at Tampa\u2019s Monroe Middle School are confident that the transition to Florida\u2019s new standards will go well. They\u2019ve got a principal and superintendent enthusiastic about Common Core, and say that they\u2019re on track for the changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times in education they put things under different names when it\u2019s something you\u2019ve been doing all along, so I think we\u2019re probably doing mostly what we need to do already,\u201d said gym teacher Shane Knipple. Civics teacher Tony Corbett agreed. \u201cIt just gives us 10 things to focus on that we\u2019ve already been focusing on.<\/p>\n

Although the teachers at Monroe Middle School are optimistic, many teachers and school leaders think the switch to Common Core is the biggest change in education now, and it\u2019s taken a lot of work.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

West DeFuniak Elementary School in the Panhandle has spent three years<\/a> preparing for Common Core. But there were still some last-minute adjustments during the final weeks of the transition this spring.<\/p>\n

Third-grade teacher Casi Adkinson had to wait until May, after the state exam, to teach a few key math concepts, like area, that weren\u2019t mandated under this year\u2019s standards or on the exam for third-grade.<\/p>\n

“Area is something that is not covered under the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards but it is covered under the Florida Standards that we are going to next year,\u201d Adkinson said. \u201cSo we needed to make sure that they knew area before we sent them on to the next grade.\u201d<\/p>\n

School districts and the state have spent millions training teachers for the new standards. Many teachers are taking more summer seminars right now.<\/p>\n

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