NY Times: “It was the equivalent of: “Show your work.” To help explain its puzzling rejection of dozens of math textbooks, the state of Florida released nearly 6,000 pages of reviewer comments this week and revealed an often confusing, contradictory and divisive process.
A conservative activist turned textbook reviewer was on the lookout for mentions of race. Another reviewer didn’t seem to know that social-emotional learning concepts, like developing grit, should be banned, according to the state. A third flagged a word problem comparing salaries for male and female soccer players.
As part of the official review process, the state assigned educators, parents and other residents to review textbooks, in part to determine whether they adhered to Florida’s teaching standards for math — from simple addition in kindergarten to interpretation of graphs in high school statistics.
But Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and allies in the state legislature have also fought against what he calls “woke indoctrination” in public schools and advanced a series of regulations and laws intended to limit how race, gender and social-emotional subjects are taught.”