Joanne Land, right, and Lowry Elementary teacher Kimberly Henriquez, sort vocabulary words into tiers to learn more about how Common Core standards work. Land was one of hundreds of parents who attended a recent Parent University session. Many parents said they wanted to learn more about Common Core standards and testing.
The small group of parents hovered over a list of words, deciding where to sort “cloud,” “photosynthesis,” and “google.” They paid particular attention to words indicating facts, evidence or conclusions.
Words such as analyze, convince or insight. Students will use these words to support their conclusions, analysis and opinions.
“This is the key category,” said Hillsborough County reading teacher Jane Mertens, explaining the significance of what she called “Tier 2” words. “This is college and career readiness. This is the vocabulary – that common language of comprehension.”
This is Parent University, and these students are studying new education standards known as Common Core. Florida and 44 other state have fully adopted Common Core standards, which will be used in every Florida grade beginning the fall of 2014.
The bill would allow parents at schools earning a failing grade to choose how to restructure the school, including firing staff and administrators, closing the school or converting to a charter.
It’s the last option that drew criticism. Opponents argued Florida was passing the bill just prior to new standards kicking in which would ensure more Florida school earned a failing grade. The Florida PTA, the NAACP and other advocacy groups fought the bill.
The Foundation, started by former Gov. Jeb Bush, backed the bill along with national advocacy groups StudentsFirst and Parent Revolution.
Governor Rick Scott signed a broad-ranging education bill this session that—among many changes—establishes an entirely online bachelor’s degree program through the University of Florida.
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The University of Florida will offer bachelors degrees that can be completed entirely online.
UF already has experience offering online courses and degree programs that allow students to finish the last two years of a bachelor’s degree online. But this is the first time a Florida university—or any state school in the country—will offer an entirely digital degree.
Still, there are models for what this new online institution at UF might look like. Models like Western Governors University—a private, not-for-profit university with more than 40,000 students in 50 states.
WGU president Robert Mendenhall has been with the school since 1999. He spoke with StateImpact Florida about lessons learned and what UF administrators and students can expect of online degree programs.
The Foundation for Florida's Future is out with a new video after the defeat of the parent trigger bill. A provision of the bill lives on after it was added to another piece of legislation.
The Foundation for Florida’s Future isn’t giving up on the parent trigger bill. They’re asking people to announce their support on Twitter and other social media with ready-made post to cut and paste.
The bill — officially titled Parent Empowerment in Education — would give parents more power in choosing how to change a chronically failing school.
The foundation, an education policy organization founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush, sent an email today with the subject line: “We will not ignore parents.”
The standards, known as Common Core State Standards, will allow Florida to compare students performance to other Common Core states and students around the globe.
House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz say teachers may get their raises sooner than expected, but the size of the raises will be based on performance.
Teachers might not have to wait another year for a raise after all.
But according to the budget, that money won’t be in paychecks until June 2014.
Lawmakers say a technical fix should get teachers their raises before next year.
“We need to give the school districts a little more flexibility to spend that money sooner, and we can do that in a conforming bill,” House Speaker Will Weatherford said.
By now, most Florida parents have heard the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is on its way out. But they might not know a whole lot about what’s replacing the FCAT.
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