“The board is extremely grateful for Gerard’s leadership this past year,” said State Board of Education Chair Kathleen Shanahan. “He has worked with the board as we have raised standards for our students and our schools. He is a leader who embodies and understands the importance of education reform.”
Breakthrough Miami students and their teacher interns with StateImpact Florida reporter Sarah Gonzalez (left) at the WLRN-Miami Herald studios.
For today’s installment in our series, The Secret Lives of Students, we hear from a rising 9th grade student about to enroll in a mandatory virtual class.
Editor’s note: This post was written by high school student Jennifer Lopez.
By Jennifer Lopez, 14
A year-old law in Florida has made virtual courses mandatory for ninth grade students.
These virtual courses are to be taken in the school that the students attend.
Most students that are going in to ninth grade are still children in mind. For this reason, I think students should be in a class room with teacher to have face to face interaction, to help them in the specific area that they have chosen is hard for them. Continue Reading →
Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson says Florida schools spend just 1 percent of "instruction time" on the FCAT. PolitiFact says 'false."
Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson has defended the state’s standardized testing regimen by arguing the state spends just 1 percent of “instructional time” on the exams.
Much of the ruling hinges on the phrase “instructional time.”
The state Department of Education analysis Robinson based his statement upon counted only time taking the test. But PoltiFact argues that time spent prepping students for the test should be considered “instructional time.”
David Cardenas Rios (right) and Tony Delgado dressed as Super heroes during Breakthrough Miami's spirit week at the Ransom Everglades school campus.
For today’s installment in our series, The Secret Lives of Students, we hear how one student would improve class learning.
Editor’s note: This post was written by middle school student David Cardenas.
By David Cardenas, 13
School lunches are an interesting topic. Many people think that school lunches are not so great and they’re right. The majority of students are used to having bad school lunches, so we as students don’t think that telling other students, teachers, and adults won’t make such a big difference if anything.
But I’m not like other students, I fortunately have a great and healthy family and group of friends that are looking out for me. They taught me to stand up for what I believe in.
And so, I think that these school lunches are not adequate.
The government is giving so many ideas to provide healthcare and insurance for today’s generation, but the government is not worrying enough about its next generation. Continue Reading →
Algebra is the foundation for most higher math, including trigonometry and calculus. And the application of advanced math helps explain physics, geometry, biology and how the world works in general.
Bob Sikes over at Scathing Purple Musings got his hands on an email from Florida’s StudentsFirst rep urging allies to get out and comment on blogs.
The email from StudentsFirst regional outreach manager Catherine Robinson says there’s a contest for the best “rapid response” and included links to some recent stories. The winner gets a “gift card to the restaurant or store of choice.”
A copy of the email was passed along to us, and a couple of StateImpact Florida posts with references to the parent trigger were on their recommended commenting list.
The parent trigger was narrowly defeated during the legislative session earlier this year and allies, such as former Gov. Jeb Bush, vow that the bill will be back. StudentsFirst spent a lot of time and effort urging lawmakers to approve the bill this year.
A team of educators and community leaders gathered this week to set standards for FCAT 2.0 writing.
The panel went through a lot of data before settling on a school grade writing performance level of 3.5. That means students would need to score 3.5 out of a possible 6 to pass.
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