K-12 Deputy Chancellor Mary Jane Tappen was constantly on the move, ducking in and out of dozens of training sessions.
“Next year, we are doing blended course descriptions which means in all English language arts and math classrooms, they’ll be teaching the Common Core,” Tappen said.
Hillsborough County schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia asked the State Board of Education to review the school grading formula.
The State Board of Education has asked that a panel of school superintendents and other education officials to review the state’s school grading system and potentially recommend changes.
Superintendents from Hillsborough and Miami-Dade schools said that they are concerned changes to the school grading system will mean a dramatic drop in school grades.
The board approved changes to the system last year — such as including the test scores of students at special education centers and raising the target score on the state reading test. Additional changes are set to take effect this year.
The school grading system tries to combine many measures of school performance, such as test results or the percentage of students taking advanced courses, into an easy-to-understand letter grade. The grades can determine which schools receive additional help to improve results, or influence property values.
The grading system has also drawn criticism for being punitive and putting too much emphasis on test results.
Hillsborough County schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia said at the state board’s Tampa meeting today that a district analysis shows test scores are rising, but according to the state formula, the district saw “unexplained and large drops in learning gains.”
“We have other assessments that show kids making gains,” Elia said. “When we’re seeing it and this test isn’t showing it. We’ve got a problem.”
Miami-Dade teacher Jeremy Glazer says all signs indicate a day without students is the most important day of the school year.
Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed.
A week ago Thursday — the end of the year for students — brought with it the usual catharsis of the last day.
There were hugs and tears as well as exchanges of notes and cards, gifts and promises, and words of wisdom and encouragement. I shared summer reading recommendations with students who reciprocated with book, movie, and music suggestions for me. That final day was a culmination of the relationships we’ve built and the work we’ve been doing together all year.
The next day, Friday, was the last day for teachers. It’s always the day when schools seem most empty. They feel like a hive once the bees have gone, a useless shell. Friday is the day we finish grading, clean out our classrooms, and take care of all the administrative trivia (book inventories, etc.) that keep schools going but aren’t the meat of what we do.
Thursday is the kind of day that makes me feel most like a teacher, and Friday the kind of day that makes me feel least like one.
But the State of Florida says I have it backwards. Friday, the day without children, was actually the most important day in the final judgment of how I and every other public school teacher in Florida, performed this year.
You see, that’s the day the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores came out.
University of Central Florida elementary education students discuss how to incorporate books, maps, magazines and other materials into lesson plans. The program earned strong marks in a new national ranking.
Update: Florida State College at Jacksonville is challenging the NCTQ rankings. The school argues it only has an early childhood education program, but NCTQ included the school in its ranking of early childhood education programs.
The school’s dean says early childhood and elementary education certifications have different requirements, and the two should not be combined.
Five Florida teacher training programs have landed on a list of schools dubbed “substandard,” according to a new national ranking of education programs.
Five Florida schools earned a “consumer warning” label from NCTQ.
“Teacher candidates are unlikely to gain much, if any, of value in return for their investment,” the report says. “Further, school districts should be aware that in our view these programs only provide minimal, substandard training to their candidates.”
Those schools are: Chipola College; Edison State College; Florida State College At Jacksonville; Northwest Florida State College; and St. Petersburg College.
One Florida school was singled out for praise: The University of Central Florida. The report named UCF to its honor roll for secondary education programs with low tuition. The school also earned the highest rating in the nation for special education training.
P.G. Schafer, a Tea Party member, holds a sign to protest Common Core across the street from Marion Technical Institute where school administrators were meeting on Southeast Fort King Street in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, April 3, 2013.
Opponents of new education standards adopted by Florida and 44 other states are planning an Orlando protest later this month, according to an invitation sent to StateImpact Florida.
And Washington, D.C.-based non-profit FreedomWorks will hold a session to educate and train activists opposed to the standards the same day.
Florida Parents Against The Common Core are organizing the event. The protest will be held June 29 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes.
Known as Common Core, the standards have drawn criticism from those on the political right and left across the country. Critics worry the standards aren’t as good as current standards in some states and will mean a loss of local control over education. They also worry about the cost and emphasis on standardized testing.
Sarasota County middle school students work on math problems in a “classroom of tomorrow.”
Actress Mayim Bialik works on algebra problems with Sarasota County students.
Sarasota County middle school math teacher Brenda Fuoco, in 2013.
Actress Mayim Bialik works on math problems with Sarasota County middle school students (from left) Amanda Folsom, Daphne Waggener and Gracie Brasacchio.
Chris Pfahler, who manages the STEMsmart program for the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
The stories talk to teachers rated “most effective” about how they approach the job, analyze if there is a correlation between evaluations and pay and gives readers interactive ways to explore state and school evaluation data.
Ohio has a statewide teacher evaluation that makes it easier to compare teacher scores — known as value-added — across district lines.
New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett is behind a proposal to keep education funding at the state levels and enable states to withdraw from Common Core.
A New Jersey Congressman has proposed a bill that would allow states to bypass the strings which come with federal money.
During a Common Core briefing at the Cato Institute this week, Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) said he would introduce the LEARN Act – Local Education Authority Returns Now. The proposal would keep education funding at the state level instead of moving it through the federal government.
“It’s time to return our education policy back to local communities,” Garrett said. “It’s time to start putting actually the students first and not anyone else.”
The bill would also make it easier for states to rescind their support of Common Core State Standards.
Miami-Dade teacher Jeremy Glazer will be writing about life in the classroom.
We are introducing a series taking a closer look at teaching and schools through the eyes of Jeremy Glazer, a Miami-Dade County Public Schools teacher.
Glazer will be writing about the issues he sees in the classroom, such as the unintentional message about priorities state requirements send to teachers and students. He’ll also tap the Public Insight Network to find out what other Florida teachers, parents and students are thinking.
Glazer just completed his eighth year teaching and not only has worked in a range of schools, but has also had experience in the policy-making world, serving as a legislative analyst and speechwriter for Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson. He will be using this combination of views—a policy lens and his classroom eyes—to examine some of the complex issues confronting teachers in Florida’s classrooms.
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