Topics
Florida is a pioneer in the effort to base teacher salaries on student performance and give those teachers with the best results the highest raises, and a bill creating a sweeping new merit pay system was the first legislation Gov. Rick Scott signed into law in March. Merit pay is a reform pillar of former […]
STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. And STEM fields are the professional and academic disciplines that fall under the STEM acronym. The 2007-2012 Roadmap to Florida’s Future has identified the need to strengthen PreK-12 math and science education, and in 2009, the state created a Florida STEM Council to focus on STEM education in partnership with workforce, commerce […]
The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is the foundation upon which the “Florida model” of education reform was built, serving as the basis for school and district report cards. FCAT result will also comprise half of teacher evaluations once districts design their legislatively required merit pay systems. Florida rolled out the standardized test in 1998, and […]
The University of South Florida has become one of the nation’s leading research institutions. USF was the nation’s first university to offer a Ph.D. in applied anthropology in 1984 and the first state university in Florida to offer a degree program in women’s studies in 1987. USF now offers 89 undergraduate majors and 139 degree […]
Stories
Almost one-third of the bachelor’s degrees bestowed upon graduates from the Florida College System (FCS) are in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — fields. More than half of those STEM-related degrees are in nursing, according to a Florida College System study that shows the economic boost Florida gets from its 28 state colleges. […]
The 28 institutions that make up the Florida College System (FCS) are doing some bragging. “The Florida College System — which last year awarded almost 106,000 degrees and certificates – was built, in part, to bolster the economic foundation of our state,” said St. Johns River State College President Joe Pickens at a Capitol news […]
Students who attend Florida’s public colleges can transfer to private institutions in Florida without losing credits. The agreement continues a partnership between the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF) and the Florida College System. The agreement — known a 2+2 in higher education circles — enables students to complete a two-year Associate in Arts […]
The Governor’s Office is touting the rise in STEM-related job openings in Florida over the last year. Gov. Rick Scott is using the numbers to continue his push for more STEM degrees (science, technology, engineering, math). His office announced this week that job openings in science and tech fields have increased by nearly 14 percent […]
A new report says college remedial education programs are not working, often have no bearing on a student’s field of study and should be scrapped. Instead, researchers from Complete College America argue, most students should have to take a set of core classes to prepare them for college. These courses should match up with the […]
State education leaders are holding a workshop this afternoon on hiring requirements at state colleges The State Board of Education wants to update the process of issuing continuing contracts — the community college version of tenure — and align the rule with Florida statutes. The Florida Department of Education is taking public input on the […]
Young students who have their eyes on a future in STEM-related careers are getting a boost from the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville. Gov. Rick Scott wants more degree programs in STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Scott believes that if Florida produces more STEM graduates, companies will be lured to the […]
Florida education officials are working to strip out a controversial change to the state’s grading system which requires students with severe disabilities to take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, according to Education Week. State education officials and lawmakers approved the change this year in order to receive a federal waiver from portions of the federal […]