StateImpact Florida is working with WLRN-Miami Herald News on Elevation Zero, a special series focused on how the state is dealing with rising seas.
And we want to know: What does sea level rise mean to children and teens in Florida? Have you talked to your kids about it? How are they learning about it?
A sign from a California protest against Common Core State Standards.
The Florida Department of Education is holding three public hearings this week to gather criticisms and support of Florida’s new math and English standards known as Common Core.
Florida is one of 45 states to fully adopt the standards, which outline what students should know at the end of each grade. Designers say the standards emphasize critical thinking skills, asking students what they know and to prove how they know it.
But as Florida schools prepare to use the standards in every grade starting next school year, critics are pushing back. They worry Common Core will increase time spent testing, will be costly, will reduce local control over educational content and will not be as challenging as Florida’s current standards.
Florida is three years in to implementing Common Core. The standards are fully in use in kindergarten through second grade, while other grade are using a combination of Common Core and Florida’s previous standards.
Most of the schools in the Florida College System pledged to meet that challenge, but as the Sun Sentinel reported over the weekend, the results so far have been mixed:
“… the degree options are limited, the eligibility requirements are often tough and the marketing efforts have been light.
Broward College opened the program up a month ago, but so far no one has signed up for any of the 80 open slots. … [Broward College and Palm Beach State] have decided against offering discounts in nursing, one of the most popular high-demand degree fields.”
Schools and students in Florida are in trouble if the money runs out.
Going into the weekend, there are a few signs of movement on the federal shutdown drama–which seems like a good time to check in on what the shutdown could mean for education in Florida if it isn’t resolved soon.
We’ve rounded up a few stories that explain who could feel the pinch and why:
PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Governor Rick Scott has ordered state agencies not to use state funds to cover things that would otherwise be paid for with federal dollars. CBS 4 in Miami reports that medium-sized school districts and special services are vulnerable:
A legislative review prepared last week for Florida Senate leaders contends that small to medium-sized school districts could have problems meeting payroll after Oct. 14 because of their reliance on federal education aid. The Department of Education disputed that report and said districts received their federal funding back in July and have enough money to make it to the end of the school year.
But a DOE spokeswoman did not dispute that other federally funded programs such as vocational rehabilitation and blind services will probably have to stop making payments to vendors and providers next week.
COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH LOANS
Florida made a top ten list of states that would be affected by a shutdown of the FAFSA process for college students applying for federal aid. WalletHub analyzed which states have been hit hardest by the federal shutdown and crunched the numbers in a few different categories:
From senior citizens who can’t obtain the Social Security money they depend on for survival to students who are unable to secure the loans they need to pursue higher education, the unintended consequences of these nonsensical political games will continue to mount until we hit a breaking point.
COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH FAMILIES
Speaking of higher education, Slate.com has this look at how college students with families rely on federally-funded safety net programs—like housing subsidies and food stamps—that will be held up as a result of the shutdown:
The economic reality for all single parents struggling to get through college is tough: low wages, economic precarity, and a greater risk of dropping out. The No. 1 concern for these parents is child care. When only half of all colleges provide any kind of child care services, student-parents are vulnerable to disruptions to programs like Head Start. … But even those college students who find a way to meet their child care needs during the shutdown may face an even bigger concern: going hungry. As of Tuesday, the government had stopped funding the Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children; J’Kai Jackson told NBC News that without support from WIC, she would “have to drop out of school to find work to provide food for my child.”
VETERANS
And college benefits for veterans are at risk, too. As Military.com reports, this is only the latest federal budget squabble to cause trouble for tuition assistance programs:
Every military branch has stopped processing tuition assistance applications until either a continuing resolution — a stopgap spending measure — or budget to fund the government for Fiscal Year 2014 is passed. … In March, the Army, Air Force and Marines abruptly halted tuition assistance because of sequestration budget cuts, but the assistance was reinstated by Congress in an appropriations bill, amid an outcry from service members, veterans groups and military advocates.
Hearings on Common Core State Standards are scheduled for next week.
The Foundation for Florida’s Future and Foundation for Excellence in Education, influential and public supporters of shared English, literacy and math standards known as Common Core, won’t be present at three public meetings next week debating the standards.
Foundation spokeswoman Allison Aubuchon said staff would likely not attend the three three-hour meetings in Tampa, Davie and Tallahassee scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week.
“While we wish we could be there personally, I don’t think we’ll actually have a team member on the ground.” Aubuchon said. “Our grassroots team has been encouraging folks to attend.”
Gov. Rick Scott asked the department to hold the hearings last month. Scott wants the public to present concerns about specific Common Core standards. Florida is one of 45 states which have adopted the standards, which outline what students should know in English and math at the end of each grade. Florida is transitioning to the standards now, which will be used in every grade starting next fall.
The University of South Florida and the University of Central Florida earned the highest scores on a new performance funding formula.
Florida universities can start making plans to spend two new pots of money lawmakers created earlier this year.
The University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida earned the highest scores — and therefore the most money — in the first round of performance-based funding for state universities. The Board of Governors said they released the money to schools Wednesday.
State universities will split $20 million based on how well they did in three measures: percentage of bachelor’s graduates employed or back in school a year later; average full-time wage for graduates a year after earning their degree; and average institutional cost per undergraduate. Schools earned between zero and three points depending on how well they did (see the chart below).
UCF and USF both earned six points, 13 percent of the 46 total points scored by state universities. Those scores earned UCF and USF 13 percent of the $20 million pot, or $2.6 million each.
At the start of last school year there were about 15,000 fewer full-time jobs in Florida public schools than there were in 2007. Almost all of those jobs — 99.5% — are support staff positions like custodians, secretaries and classroom aides.
A new Florida law asks schools to crack down on online bullying.
Florida schools are running into a handful of problems as they try to carry out the state’s new law targeting online or electronic bullying, according to testimony at a Senate committee meeting today.
Florida lawmakers approved HB 609 in May. The bill defines online, or cyber, bullying, and allows school districts to investigate if off-campus online bullying affects a student’s school work and life.
Sam Foerster, a deputy chancellor with the Florida Department of Education, said school districts have learned its hard to keep up with kids these days, technologically.
“The ever-evolving landscape of social media presents some challenges,” Foerster told lawmakers. “By the time a specific type of social media has become well understood by the grown ups in the building, very often it has lost favor with the young people.”
Overall, more than half of teachers think the standards, adopted by Florida and 44 other states, will have a positive effect on students. About one-third said the standards will not change much, while 8 percent said the standards will have a negative effect.
Common Core is a multi-state effort that outlines what students should know at the end of each grade. The standards also emphasize analytical thinking, asking students what they know and to prove how they know it.
The Common Core hearings planned for next week are not everything critics had wanted.
Florida’s Common Core hearings aren’t until next week, but the criticism has already started.
In September, Gov. Rick Scott asked Florida to sever its financial ties to a consortium of states–the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC–that’s developing a new assessment based on Common Core standards. At the time, Scott said he wanted to listen to parents’ concerns and hold town hall meetings on the Common Core.
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