Florida

Putting Education Reform To The Test

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Deciphering Dueling Stats on Graduation Rates

It sounded like a story guaranteed to irritate taxpayers: a national study out of Rutgers university says more and more public high school students are taking longer than four years to graduate. Instead, they’re in school for five or six — or more —  years! But Florida school officials say that’s not a problem here. […]

Florida Graduation Rate Improving, Still Among The Nation’s Lowest

Florida’s graduation rate is increasing but the state still ranks among the nation’s lowest, according to new federal data. Just six states and the District of Columbia had a lower graduation rate than Florida’s 70.8 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics for the 2010-2011 school year. In the 2001-2002 school year, just […]

The Problems With Florida School Data

Wednesday the Florida Department of Education unveiled statewide teacher evaluation data, part of a new law that overhauls how teacher performance is measured in Florida. The agency held a press conference by phone to discuss the accomplishment. And then the data quietly disappeared that afternoon. The agency later admitted that Hillsborough County school officials had […]

Inside Florida’s Graduation Rate: Comparing Student Groups

This chart uses new federal graduation rate data to compare Florida to other states. We chose California, another large state with a diverse population, neighboring Georgia and Iowa, the state with the highest overall graduation rate. The federal data breaks down rates among subgroups, both by race and by issues such as disabilities, English knowledge […]

Five Florida Schools Among Private Colleges With Lowest Graduation Rates

Five Florida schools have landed on a list of private colleges with the lowest graduation rates. Barry University in Miami Shores and Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens and Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach had the sixth-, seventh-, and eight-lowest graduation rates, according to an analysis of federal data by CBS MoneyWatch. About one in […]

Florida Keeps Two Sets Of Seclusion Data — And Why Neither May Tell The Full Story

Last week, we posted data we received from the Florida Department of Education on the instances of student seclusion and restraint in Florida schools. Readers chimed in saying they’ve seen different data. And we’ve figured out why. The Florida Department of Education keeps two sets of student seclusion and restraint data. Every incident is supposed […]

Georgia Wants To Track Student Data Through Graduate School

Georgia is taking tracking student progress to the next level. The state is working on a system that will keep track of student data from pre-K through graduate school. Georgia is using a federal Race To The Top grant to create a statewide database. Researchers will look for trends – good or bad – as […]

Explaining How A Florida College Database Might Help You Earn $6,500 More

Need help deciding on a college? A new web tool from the Florida Department of Education enables students and parents to wade through the options. The Smart College Choices web portal lays out graduation rates, employment statistics and earnings data for graduates of Florida’s 28 public institutions. Users can see how much money graduates in […]

Lawsuit Says Palm Beach County Bus Driver Didn’t Stop Bullying

A student who tried to stop a classmate from being bullied and was then attacked himself is suing Palm Beach County schools because a bus driver did not follow the county’s anti-bullying policy, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Palm Beach County schools have one of the state’s highest rates of bullying, according to state […]

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