Florida Department of Education launches statewide B.E.S.T. Science Standards listening tour to gather public input

Tallahassee, Florida – The Florida Department of Education has announced a statewide listening tour as the state begins a major review of its K-12 B.E.S.T. Science Standards. The effort is intended to give parents, teachers, scientists, professors and employers an opportunity to offer feedback before the standards are rewritten.

The department announced the initiative on September 25, 2026, describing the review as a comprehensive rewrite of Florida’s science standards. According to the department, the work will also include updates to health and nutrition education.

The review is focused on how students learn scientific information as well as what they are expected to know. State education officials say the proposed standards will emphasize observation, investigation, experimentation, evidence and reasoning. The department’s current standards review materials describe the goal as developing students who can understand scientific concepts, evaluate evidence, investigate questions and apply scientific knowledge.

“Science is not a slogan and it is not a sermon,” said Commissioner Henry Mack. “It is the hard-won body of knowledge about nature, human nature, and the rational order of which we are discoverers and stewards. Florida students should leave school able to explain how the world works, grow in virtue, and find themselves with the tools to ferret out the truth of things as things are in themselves.”

The listening tour will give Floridians several ways to participate. The first in-person session is scheduled for September 29 in Hillsborough County at Armwood High School in Seffner. The meeting will run from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern Time, with preregistration beginning at 4:30 p.m.

A virtual participation option is scheduled for September 30. The Department of Education says additional information about taking part online is available through its Standards Review website. The department has also provided a Microsoft Teams meeting option for the virtual session.

Read also: Fort Lauderdale prepares for higher king tides and possible street ponding from September 26 through October 1

Another in-person meeting is scheduled for October 5 in Walton County. It will be held at Walton High School in DeFuniak Springs from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, with preregistration starting at 4:30 p.m.

The department says the public meetings are part of a broader review rather than simply an update to individual lessons or topics. The current review materials organize the science standards by grade bands, including kindergarten through fifth grade, grades six through eight and grades nine through 12. They also include scientific thinking and reasoning standards intended to apply across K-12 science courses.

For younger students, the review materials cover areas such as energy, matter, force and motion, Earth and space, life science, cell biology, plants, animals, the human body and nutrition. The middle and high school materials continue those areas with more advanced expectations and additional applications of scientific knowledge.

The department has outlined several principles it wants reflected in the revised standards. One is a sequential progression of scientific knowledge from one grade to the next. Another is a stronger focus on students actively engaging in scientific inquiry through observation, measurement, hypotheses, experiments and evaluation of evidence.

The department also says the standards should help students prepare for college-level science as well as Registered Apprenticeships, industry credentials and technical careers that require scientific knowledge. The review will consider both classroom learning and how students apply what they have learned.

Read also: Blanche Ely High School unveils new student-run food truck through innovative partnership with Intuit

Health and nutrition are also included in the review. The department’s published materials currently identify nutrition as part of the science standards, along with topics involving the human body and other areas of life science.

The public review comes as Florida continues to use B.E.S.T. standards in several areas of its education system. The state’s official standards review site explains that B.E.S.T. stands for Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking and that the science framework is designed to provide clear expectations for what students should know, understand and be able to do at each grade level.

The Department of Education is now inviting members of the public to take part in the review process. Feedback can be provided through the scheduled listening sessions and the department’s online Standards Review resources.

The process will give educators, families, researchers and employers an opportunity to comment on the proposed direction of Florida’s science and health standards before the revised framework moves forward. For those interested in participating, the department’s Standards Review website provides the current documents, grade-level materials and information about the public comment process.