Social media has been the gathering place for some of the most vocal opponents of Florida’s Common Core State Standards. These are the new, tougher education standards developed by Florida and 44 other states.
And the Florida Department of Education is meeting its critics on their own turf: Twitter.Earlier this month, a tweet went out from the Twitter handle @EducationFL urging sixth graders to “Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material”
The tweet ended in a link to the official Common Core reading standard for 6th graders.
This was the first salvo in the state’s Twitter campaign to debunk rumors and address criticism of the Common Core.
"The people that bring up the misconceptions out there, they haven’t read the standards", said Kassie Elekes, manager of the Twitter feed for the Florida Department of Education.
"When people read them they see there’s nothing nefarious about the standards", Elekes said. "For example in kindergarten, kindergarten students should be able to count from one to a hundred in ones and tens. There’s nothing evil about that."
The conversation about Common Core has gotten contentious recently. In August, a state representative filed a bill to put the standards on hold.
In the meantime, Elekes will be sending out a Common Core State Standards Tweet a day.
"I actually am surprised how many people retweet us", laughed Elekes.