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Despite some of the growing resistance to Common Core State Standards in the public education arena, many private schools in Florida are voluntarily signing up to participate in statewide training.

“Private schools are always interested in what’s new and what’s cutting edge,’’ said Teri Logan of Independent Schools of South Florida, a group that represents about 70 accredited private schools.

She anticipates between 75 and 100 teachers and principals will take part in a workshop in October hosted by the Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University, which developed an extensive database of learning standards called CPALMS (Collaborate Align Learn Motivate Share).

None of the schools have voiced concerns about the broader public debate on Common Core, but many have expressed a desire to learn more about the standards, she said.

CPALMS is an online system that offers free lesson plans, assessments and professional development – including workshops. Most of the work is aligned with the Common Core, but there also is information about Next Generation Sunshine Standards and others.

The database is available to all K-12 educators, including those outside of Florida, and is currently reaching about 1,700 users from 200 countries. Funding for the project comes from grants, including ones from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

A separate site known as iCPALMS is accessible only to Florida educators, in public or private schools, and it has an estimated 50,000 users. Most are from the public sector, according to program director Rabieh Razzouk, but many private school educators also have contacted him.

The Common Core standards are a set of national benchmarks designed with added rigor to help students become more career and college ready. The National Governors Association and state education officials, with financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, helped create the measures that have attracted support from education reformers and the Obama administration. (more…)

Florida business leaders put a spotlight Wednesday on the promise and potential pitfalls of Common Core - the tough, new academic standards that are rolling into Florida schools and will help re-shape teaching, learning and testing.

At a wide-ranging, day-long education summit in Orlando, several participants suggested a public awareness campaign to inform parents about the changes – which may be initially painful when they're implemented in the 2014-15 school year - and to rally broad support in a way that has eluded many of the state’s other, recent education reforms.

“These tend to be Tallahassee conversations. But if we don’t do this right, it becomes a Miami conversation or a Jacksonville conversation” and not in a positive way, Marshall Criser III, president of AT&T Florida and chairman of the Florida Council of 100, told redefinED during a break. “We have an opportunity and responsibility to take this back to our communities ... Because if not us, then who?”

“The state should own this initiative,” Education Commissioner Tony Bennett told attendees, reminding them of the marketing effort a decade ago for Just Read, Florida. “It shouldn’t be teachers against people. It shouldn’t be the state against schools, state against districts. This should be a statewide rollout that says this is important to our children and this is important to the future of our state.”

The Council of 100 sponsored the summit with the Florida Chamber Foundation, the National Chamber Foundation and the Institute for a Competitive Workforce. About 100 people attended, including three lawmakers, two superintendents, Board of Education Chairman Gary Chartrand and Florida Education Association President Andy Ford.

Spurred by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Common Core standards in math and language arts have been adopted by 44 states. They’re well-thought-out and well-vetted. They’re benchmarked against international standards. They’re designed to instill a deeper knowledge than state standards do now. In the long term, supporters say, the higher bar will better prepare students for college and careers and an ever-more-competitive world. In the short term, though, ouch: They’re expected to result in a steep drop in test scores – and all the angst that comes with it.

“That’s a pain point,” Criser said. “But people have to understand that’s good,” he continued, because it’s the first step on a better path.

The discussion around Common Core has centered almost exclusively on public schools. But its gravitational pull is expected to be so strong that the impact will be felt at the private schools, too, to varying degrees. (more…)

Tony Bennett’s shocking loss in Indiana has highlighted a deep and long-festering rift among some ed reformers over adoption of Common Core academic standards. Some observers pinned the loss on Republicans who see Common Core as federal intrusion tied to President Obama rather than a voluntary, state-led effort – and who saw Bennett as too cozy with it.

From Florida, one prominent Common Core advocate is pushing back.

In a letter last week to the American Legislative Exchange Council board of directors, Patricia Levesque, executive director of Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, politely takes issue with a draft resolution that would revoke a state’s adoption of Common Core. She calls the standards a “crucial foundation” for reform and says while they’ll better prepare students for a global economy, they “do not dictate what textbooks must be used or how a district’s curriculum should be set up.”

“Resolutions like this one,” concludes the letter, dated a day after the election, “draw attention and resources away from what’s important – properly implementing the improved standards and working together to provide a high quality education to all students.”

In a blog post two days later, Levesque is far more edgy. (more…)