The more technology, the worse the performance on tests — This was the big conclusion. The students who spent the most time using computers or on the Internet in school did worse than expected on international tests.
The students who ranked in the middle for technology use — what the OECD called moderate use — did the best on international tests.
“That’s pretty sobering for us,” said Andreas Schleicher, who leads the OECD’s education efforts. “We all hope that integrating more and more technology in school is going to help us actually to enhance learning environments. Make learning more interactive…but it doesn’t seem to be working like this.”
FDLE has closed its investigation of the FSA hacking, but is offering few answers about who did and why.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has closed its six-month-old investigation into a cyber attack during Florida Standards Assessments testing this spring. The agency isn’t saying who tried to shut down testing by overloading servers, or why.
But law enforcement officials said no personal student data was accessed during the attack.
FDLE said they found more than 29,000 Internet addresses were used to swamp servers run by test contractor American Institutes for Research. Some of the addresses were in the U.S., but most were believed to be foreign.
Education Commissioner Pam Stewart thanked the agency for a quick response.
“I want to reassure our state’s students, parents and educators that, because of the nature of the cyber-attack, no student information was accessed and the content of the assessment was not compromised,” Stewart said in a statement. “I am pleased that the additional safeguards were effective, and we will continue working with AIR to ensure they have all of the necessary protections to provide for a smooth testing experience this year.”
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development oversees the largest international math and reading exams in the world. The group recently looked at the availability and use of computers and Internet in school and compared it to how those countries were doing on international tests.
One conclusion: the more time students spend online in school, the worse they do. Students with moderate technology use performed best on international exams.
“That’s pretty sobering for us,” said Andreas Schleicher, who leads the OECD’s education efforts. “We all hope that integrating more and more technology in school is going to help us actually to enhance learning environments. Make learning more interactive…but it doesn’t seem to be working like this.”
At some schools only a small percentage of students who attend using federal grants or loans earn more than a high school graduate a decade after enrolling in college.
The data links students who received federal financial aid to what they reporting earning on their tax forms a decade later.
Just one-third of students who attended four Dade Medical College campuses earned more than a high school graduate. Earnings also typically were low for students attending one of Florida’s Bible colleges.
Bus routes have been redrawn. And the district sent up flares, looking to hire anyone who wants to drive a bus.
It’s the first crisis new superintendent Robert Avossa has had to face since taking over the job in June. And he says it could have been avoided if district leaders had listened.
“The lesson to be learned is that our bus drivers, right? Sort of the low man on the totem pole,” Avossa told a gathering of business leaders last week, “were waving the big red flag to the management over in transportation saying ‘We have a problem.’ And the management decided not to listen…That’s problematic.”
Avossa has traveled all over Palm Beach County to find others with similar advice about how to run the district.
Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and chief academic officer Marie Izquierdo.
The superintendent of Florida’s largest district says an outside review of the state’s new test shows that Florida students weren’t being tested on what they were expected to know.
Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho says a review of the Florida Standards Assessments released today shows that on some exams as many as one in three questions weren’t testing Florida standards. That’s because Florida hired a contractor, the American Institutes for Research, which repackaged test questions originally written for a Utah exam.
Standards outline what students should know at the end of each grade.
“Teachers taught Florida standards,” he said, “but kids were not assessed on Florida standards.”
Carvalho says that and other problems identified by an outside reviewer, Alpine Testing Solutions, are enough reason for the state to not issue A-to-F school grades this year. Carvalho was backed by the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. The group issued a press release saying it still had “serious concerns” about the Florida Standards Assessments.
But the review also found that after problems with computerized testing, “scores for some students will be suspect.” The reviewers recommend that state test scores are not the sole basis to determine whether students graduate or if they are placed in remedial courses.
Lawmakers ordered the review of the Florida Standards Assessments after testing problems this spring. School districts around the state reported students had problems logging into the exam and some students were kicked out while taking the test.
The state hired Alpine Testing Solutions to conduct the review.
“This is welcome news for all of us,” Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said of the results. “Now all Floridians can share my confidence of the assessment.”
Stewart said any disruptions to testing are unacceptable and the state department of education will work with the testing company, American Institutes for Research, and school districts to try and prevent future problems.
Florida is the first state in the nation to require high school football players watch a training video and acknowledge the risk of concussions.
There’s growing concern about the risks of concussions in young athletes. For years, high school coaches have had to take courses on the dangers of head injuries. This year, for the first time, all high school athletes in Florida are required to educate themselves about concussions before they can compete.
As the George Jenkins High School football team practices in the mid-August heat, senior Gavin Engle takes a knee on the sidelines. He was injured in a helmet to helmet collision three days before, and realized he was feeling the effects of a concussion.
“I kind of laid on the ground for a second,” Gavin says. “It took me a minute to get it together. The light hurts, your head hurts, it hurts your eyes, it just makes everything feel like it’s pounding.”
Gavin stopped playing and saw a doctor — but state officials worry that not all athletes would take themselves out of action.
So, the governing body for the state’s high school sports passed a new rule this summer. The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) has mandated that all athletes have to watch a video about concussions and sign a form saying they understand concussion risks. Florida schools are the first in the country to take this step, and football programs –with their big rosters and summertime practices — are already dealing with the extra paperwork.
As schools open for a new school year, they’ll also start encountering student poverty and homelessness. At last count — the 2013/2014 school year — the number of homeless students had risen to more than 71,000 in the state’s public schools. For many of these children, a brand new school uniform may be out of reach, though school officials say it makes a big impact on their attitude. One longtime charity in Lakeland is quietly helping to fill that need.
Lady Wolverton started the Needlework Guild in England in 1882, when she asked her friends to knit clothes for orphans of a Welsh mining disaster. Reports of the group’s good works filtered back to the States, and a few years later, an American woman in Philadelphia reproduced the Needlework Guild there.
There are only two branches in Florida, both in Polk County. One is in Bartow, and the Lakeland branch — founded in 1935 — is celebrating its 80th anniversary. Many of the volunteers have mothers or grandmothers who raised money for Needlework Guild.
Florida has one of the highest rates in the country — federal data shows just seven states have a higher percentage of low-income students.
That means more students qualify for — and depend on — free meals provided by school districts. And meal service is now a year-round jobinstead of just when school is in session.
Ever planned Thanksgiving for a dozen relatives? Now imagine planning 200,000 lunches daily.
In Miami-Dade County schools, those meals starts in the district’s test kitchen, where Donna Drummond demonstrates how she makes spinach lasagna, a new addition to menus this year.
She ladles sauce into a pan. Then she places the frozen lasagna rolls — made with whole grain pasta and mozzarella cheese — into the pan.
The dish is designed to be easy and quick to make for hundreds of students. It comes with a salad and a breadstick spiked with low-fat mozzarella cheese.
A new breakfast choice is the guavalito, a lower-sugar version of Miami’s ubiquitous guava-and-cheese pastry. It’s just 100 calories.
These new choices are part of a menu this year featuring more vegetarian options.
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