• Florida Chooses Replacement for the FCAT

    On March 17, 2014, Commissioner Pam Stewart announced the selection of the not-for-profit American Institutes for Research to provide Florida's new English language arts and mathematics assessment to replace FCAT 2.0 exams beginning in 2014-15 school year.

    State Approves New Name for Common Core State Standards

    On February 18, 2014, the State Board of Education revised elements of the Common Core State Standards and renamed the benchmarks the Florida Standards. The board voted unanimously to revise the student performance standards in English/Language Arts and Mathematics. The revisions followed more than 19,000 comments and suggestions from the public. Here are the key changes:

    English/Language Arts

    • 13 clarifications
    • Addition of cursive writing to 4th and 5th grade standards
    Mathematics
    • 24 clarifications
    • 2 deleted standards in kindergarten and first grade
    • 60 new standards, including 53 for calculus at the high school level
    Florida Standards
    These documents from the Florida Department of Education show the revised Florida Standards and indicate which standards have been added, deleted or amended.

    Florida Department of Education — Background

    The Common Core State Standards were developed and voluntarily adopted by 45 states, including the District of Columbia, four territories and the Department of Defense. The Florida State Board of Education adopted the Common Core in July of 2010.