Lake County schools prepare for new learning standards

CLERMONT, Fla. — Lake county students will soon be held to a new set of testing standards.

New education requirements called The Common Core are being implemented in kindergarten through 12th-grade classrooms across the county.

An assembly room at the community center in Clermont was filled with teachers and a few parents. The goal was to answer questions about how the new standardized testing system will be implemented.

The called Common Core program is being rolled out in 45 states.

"I haven't been apprehensive about it, Common Core Standards, because we tend to already have them initiated in the classrooms," said elementary school teacher Cathy Kearns.

Lake County schools have already started to teach the new standards to the youngest learners, kindergarten through second grade. This year the rest of the students get a taste of new expectations that everyone admits are more demanding.

"It's all about the rigor and finding the complex text and letting the students actually look up the information given," said middle school teacher Jimmy Connor. "They're finding their responsible for the details and finding out their own opinions and how they're going to apply it."

The new standards will also include a new set of tests to replace the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.  Florida schools are required to fully implement Common Core by the 2014-2015 school year. 

Lake County officials said they already have a good head start on what they believe will be a good thing to bring to local classrooms.

"(We want to) produce students who are college and career ready and most importantly that they'll be critical thinkers and problem solvers and lifelong learners. That's what employers need, that's what our colleges and universities need and that's what our communities need," said Lake County School Superintendent Susan Moxley.

WFTV