TAMPA, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis revealed on Friday his much-anticipated replacement for the state’s education accountability standards, known as the Florida Standards, based on the polemic nationwide Common Core standards.

  • DOE publishes summary document on Common Core Replacement Findings
  • New curriculum will add required Civics and Financial Literacy
  • Full transition to be completed by 2022-2023 school year

The governor was a big critic of Common Core even before arriving in Tallahassee.       

Last year in January, he signed an executive order to find a replacement for the existing Florida Standards.

So what's new and when can students, teachers, and parents expect to see changes?

They'll now be called the "BEST Standards."

BEST stands for Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking.

One of the big takeaways is the attention paid to addressing a big complaint about Common Core, the math curriculum.

Today's summary documents state “Remove confusing math.”

Also new is a requirement that all high-schoolers take a Florida Civics Literacy Test.

This includes a curriculum with a reading list of documents such as the Constitution to be studied by fifth grade.

Seniors will have to take the civics test by the next school year, though a passing score is not required for graduation.

Also by next school year, the state will offer all juniors a free voluntary SAT and ACT exam.

These standardized tests will be the foundation for the replacement of the current statewide testing.

The documents mention there will be less statewide testing.

Officials want to align testing with the SAT and ACT.

The current 9th grade statewide test will be phased out by the 2021-2022 school year.

There’s also a new requirement for high school students to take Financial Literacy, in order to balance a check book.

When will everything transition?

The English Language materials adoption will begin by April of this year.

The math transition will happen in April of 2021.

The plan is to finish replacing Common Core in about three years by the 2022-2023 school year.