Topic: Commissioner of Education

Two national polls reached different conclusions about voters and Common Core academic standards. One found that liberals and moderates support the benchmarks while conservatives said they thought it was bad policy.

The American Institutes for Research, based in Washington, D.C., will create new standardized tests to be used in Florida public schools. A new assessment was needed once the state adopted Common Core State Standards as academic benchmarks.

School superintendents, district school board members, parents and teachers have all called for a suspension in awarding letter grades to public schools while the state transitions to new standards and tests. Thursday Sen. Montford filed a bill which would stop the practice for at least three years.

Lawmakers will confront the four horsemen of education during the 2014 legislative session when they revise the school accountability system. Initiatives affecting charter schools, regulations of early learning programs and tying budget increases for higher education to performance are also on the agenda.

The state says the scores capture the effectiveness of a teacher in the classroom. Educators and researchers call the formula used to produce it junk science. Monday the state released the scores for 100,000 public school teachers.

The State Board of Education accepted 98 recommended changes to Common Core and gave the academic benchmarks another stamp of approval. The benchmarks were adopted by Florida in 2010 and with the changes approved Tuesday will now be known as "Florida Standards."

School boards, superintendents and teachers all call for a time out on school grades while the state transitions to new standards and tests. The education commissioner says she has a better idea: Grades with no consequences for one year.

The plan to simplify the A-to-F school grading focuses on student achievement and learning gains and eliminates a hodgepodge of bonuses and demerits that made the formula incomprehensible to most people. ... Related Research: Feb. 18, 2014 Presentation to the State Board of Education from Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart on the Proposed Florida School Accountability Plan.

School grades are used to reward high performing schools and teachers while low performing schools face turnaround options that include being closed and reopened as a charter school. ... Related Research: Feb. 6, 2014 Presentation to the House Education Committee from Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart.

Common Core opponents warned a Florida House committee that a name change for Common Core will not end their opposition to the proposed standards. The House K-12 Subcommittee unanimously approved a house-keeping bill that among other things removes 36 references to Common Core from state statutes.

In the face of growing opposition to the Common Core State Standards, a House committee next week will consider expunging the words "Common Core" from the official record. Common Core opponents say they are not fooled and call the lawmakers attempt at rebranding "weak."

Pam Stewart says the 99 proposed changes to the Common Core will set Florida "apart" from the other states using the Core and make the academic standards "our own."

The consortium that developed the Common Core State Standards says states are free to make any changes when implementing the standards, but if the changes total more than 15 percent then there is a copyright problem. A DOE official says Florida made 98 changes but couldn't say whether it reached the 15 percent threshold.

The Florida Department of Education has released a list of proposed changes to the Common Core State Standards for public schools. Most of the 98 changes are tweaks for the sake of clarity and to ensure the material is age appropriate but they do include more than 50 changes to calculus standards. Commissioner Pam Stewart will discuss the proposal Tuesday during a rules workshop. ... Related Research: Proposed Changes to English Language Arts and Mathematics Standards.