Common Core debate highlights rifts among Florida Republicans, tea party groups

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: miamiherald.typepad.com --- Monday, August 19, 2013
The new Common Core State Standards are more than just a roadmap for teachers and students. They?re a political football causing a rift among Republicans. In Florida, conservative moms and tea party groups have mounted fierce opposition to the national standards, saying decisions about teaching and learning should be made by state governments and local school boards ? not the federal government. Their efforts attracted significant attention this summer, thanks to well-attended rallies, social media blitzes and the support of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio . ?Our parents are reaching out to every [state] legislator they know and urging them to hit the pause button on Common Core,? said Laura Zorc , a Vero Beach mother and cofounder of Florida Parents Against Common Core. Few observers believe the pressure will make the Florida Legislature or the Board of Education reverse course on the standards, which kick in across all grade levels when school starts on Monday. The benchmarks still have broad support among Republican lawmakers, and a tireless champion in former Gov. Jeb Bush . But the backlash could be enough to prompt Florida?s exit from a national consortium creating the tests to accompany the new standards. Some observers, such as Frederick Hess of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, say the standards would be virtually meaningless without a common measuring stick. ?If there is a disconnect between the standards and the as ...

Source: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2013/08/common-core-debate-highlights-rifts-among-florida-republicans-tea-party-groups.html

Winter Olympics 2014 freddie mercury Horshack Beady Eye Eric Idle rory mcilroy Fatboy Slim