The Florida
Standards:
What Every Parent
Should Know
Bauder Elementary School
With help from Pamela T. Moore
Associate Superintendent, Teaching and Learning Services
Pinellas County Schools
Intended Outcomes:
• What are the Florida Standards?
• What does this mean for instruction and testing?
• How can you support your child in this journey?
• Where can you find additional information?
Why did we need a change in Florida’s
Standards?
Low Levels of Rigor
• NGSSS featured large amounts of
knowledge and recall learning targets
• Under-developing critical thinking
abilities
• Disadvantaged in college and the
workplace
Why did we need a change?
Lack of Clarity
• “Write for a variety of purposes.”
• “Respond to variety of literary/informational
texts.”
• “Competently use money.”
• Were these standards clear to teachers,
students, and parents?
Why did we need a change?
Inconsistencies
• Different districts set different learning targets
• Different classrooms learning different topics
• We must expect high achievement from all
students in all classrooms
• Florida chose to include more standards than
those outlined in Common Core
How are Florida Standards different?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Increased complexity of texts
Focus on foundational math skills and application in
novel, real-world situations
A return to depth as opposed to breadth
Increased focus on justifying and presenting results
and methods
Critical reading and writing infused across all
curricular areas
Re-ordering of math content to reflect researchbased path to college and career readiness
Benefits of Florida Standards
Preparation:
The Florida Standards will prepare
students for both college and the
workplace and emphasizes higherorder skills instead of knowledge and
recall.
Benefits of Florida Standards
Competition:
The Florida Standards have been
influenced by internationallybenchmarked standards, ensuring that
our students are prepared to be
competitive in the global job market.
Benefits of Florida Standards
Clarity:
The standards are focused, coherent,
and clear. Everyone knows what is
expected of our students.
Benefits of Florida Standards
Collaboration:
Florida Standards will be a foundation
for teachers across districts to work
together from the same blueprints.
This will facilitate the sharing of best
practices.
What are the standards?
• English/Language Arts (ELA) –
where Reading resides
• Mathematics
• Science & S. Studies (still using
NGSSS)
FCAT v. FSA
Writing – March 3rd (grades 4 & 5)
FCAT 2.0 Prompt
FSA Prompt
Everyone has experiences that they
can’t forget.
The passages are discussing whether or
not student should be required to play
an instrument at school. Write an essay
in which you give your opinion about
requiring every student to learn to play
a musical instrument. Use information
from the sources in your essay.
Think about an experience you have
had that you can’t forget.
Now write to tell what happened in
the experience that you can’t forget.
• 60 minutes to
– Read the prompt
– Plan the essay
– Draft, Revise, and Edit the essay
• 90 minutes (30 extra if needed)
– Read the prompt
– Read 2 – 4 passages (maximum of
1400 words total)
– Take notes and synthesize all
passages
– Plan essay
– Draft, Revise, and Edit the essay
Shifts in English Language Arts
1) PK – 5: Balancing Informational Text and
Literature
2) Staircase of Complexity
3) Text-based Answers
4) Writing from Multiple Sources
5) Academic Vocabulary
Instructional CHANGES
• Attention to Text Complexity
• Emphasis on Student Tasks (especially writing)
• Responsibility for Reading & Writing Instruction
- Every Teacher, Every Subject, Every Day!
ELA (Reading)
FCAT 2.0 Sample Question
FSA Sample Question
Why does Miss. Bilberry want to move?
With which two sentences would the
author agree?
a. She is lonely in the yellow pale
house.
a. Learning is exciting no matter how
you do it.
b. She is looking for an exciting
adventure.
b. All students should go to school on
the Internet.
c. She wants more space for her
vegetable garden.
d. She thinks she will be more content
somewhere else
c. Thousands of students in the same
class are too many.
d. Online classrooms are a good
alternative to regular ones.
e. Students in the same class should live
close to each other.
ELA (Reading)
FCAT 2.0 Sample Question
FSA Sample Question
At the end of the passage, what
bothers Miss. Bilberry?
What is the relationship between
paragraphs 2 and 3 in the passage?
a. She believes the new house is not
nice.
a. Comparison
b. She wonders why her new home is
so familiar.
c. She feels she should have kept
going to another house.
d. She thinks her cat really does not
like his new home.
b. Introduction
c. Cause and effect
d. Question and answer
ELA (Reading)
FCAT 2.0 Sample Question
FSA Sample Question
Read this sentence from the passage.
He liked their quiet life in the pale yellow
house with its broad-leaved tree, its two
swaying palms, and its cool veranda.
What is the main idea of paragraph
4?
What mood does the author create by
using the words swaying palms?
a. Grateful
b. Peaceful
c. Sad
d. Weary
Type your answer in the space
provided.
ELA (Reading)
FSA Sample Question
Fill in the circle before the two sentences that show how online classrooms and regular classrooms
are alike.
A. Today, students who live far away from their teacher have classes on the Internet. B. In some
online classrooms, a classroom full of kids can use a special computer program at the same time as
the teacher. C. The students can live in one country, and the teacher can be located in a different
country. D. Still, it’s just like a classroom at your school. E. The teacher can teach the kids. F. The kids
can ask questions. G. Everyone can see and hear everything that’s being said as it happens.
ELA (Reading)
Part A How has learning from distant places changed over time?
a. Students can ask questions and get answers faster.
b. Students can hear their teacher during the same class time.
c. Students use the mail to receive and send work.
d. Students live far apart from their classmates.
Part B Select one sentence that supports the answer in part A.
a. “the students can live in one country, and the teacher can be located in a different country”
b. “All the children could hear their teacher at the same time, but they were hundreds of miles apart”
c. “they got their lessons in the mail, did their homework, and mailed it back to the teacher”
d. “everyone can see and hear everything that’s being said as it happens”
e. “Sometimes, they don’t have to have a class where everyone is together all at once”
English Language Arts - Reading
3rd grade
4th grade
5th grade
March 24 - 25
Paper/Pencil
March 24 - 25
Paper/pencil
(this year only)
April 13 – 21
Computer
2 days80 minutes each day
56 – 60 items total over the 2 days
Mathematics
Standards for Mathematical
CONTENT (Familiar)
• Define what students should know and be able to do
(The “What”)
Standards for Mathematical
PRACTICE (New and Different)
• Describe ways in which the mathematical content
standards should be approached (The “How”)
Instructional CHANGES in Math
• Promote deep student discussion on the
content
• Emphasis on Student Tasks (performancetasks)
• Include PRACTICE Standards at all grade
levels
• Expanded use of technology
Mathematical Practice Standards
• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
• Model with mathematics.
• Use appropriate tools strategically.
• Attend to precision.
• Look for and make use of structure.
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Math
FCAT 2.0 Sample Question
FSA Sample Question
A bakery uses 48 pound of flour each
day. It orders flour every 28 days.
Create an equation that shows how
many pounds of flour the bakery
needs to order every 28 days.
More Comparison Sample Questions
FCAT 2.0
FSA
Select an expression that has the
same value as 30 ÷ 10.
Select all the expressions that have the same
value as 30 ÷ 10.
A. 2
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
B. 3
C. 40
D. 300
1x3
10 ÷ 30
30 x 10
30 ÷ 10 ÷ 1
30 ÷ (2 ÷ 5)
(30 ÷ 2) ÷ 5
This is how 5th grade will see it…
More FSA Comparison Questions
FCAT 2.0
FSA
What is the value of this expression
Consider the equation
d ÷ 3 = 12 R2
d ÷ 3 = 12 remainder 2.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Part A. What is the dividend, d?
38
36
4
6
Part B. What would the dividend, d,
be if there was no remainder?
This is how 5th grade could see it…
This is how 5th grade could see it…
Math
3rd grade
4th grade
5th grade
April 7 - 8
Paper/Pencil
April 7 - 8
Paper/pencil
(this year only)
April 22 - 30
Computer
2 days80 minutes each day
56 – 60 items total over the 2 days
Science - NGSSS
5th grade
Paper/Pencil
2 days80 minutes each day
60 - 66 items total over the 2 days
Try it out...
www.fsassessments.org/