“I come to you today as a person who has spent almost 30 years believing that parents and students should have the ultimate right to choose the educational opportunity that meets their needs,” Bennett said. “It amazes me that we live in a land of freedom…and yet people oppose the freedom of parents and children to choose their schools.”
Gov. Rick Scott told the kids they’re changing the direction of the state.
Lauren Casselberry / The New Jersey Journal/Landov
Minnesota school districts are among those scrapping traditional grading systems in favor of one tied to standards.
Some Minnesota school districts have found that student scores on state standardized tests were not matching grades earned for classroom work, according to the St. Paul Pioneer-Press.
To correct the problem, districts are switching to standards-based grading which ties student performance to what they are expected to know.
Under the new system, students are allowed to retake tests and submit work again. Only the most recent grade counts. Students are graded on a 1 to 4 scale. A 1 means students do not meet the standards, while a 4 means students exceed the standards.
Educators say more districts are adopting standards-based grading:
More than half of Florida’s Hispanic and black students at state universities currently eligible for the state’s Bright Futures college scholarship would no longer qualify when new standards take effect on July 1, according to a University of South Florida analysis obtained by the Florida College Access Network.
By comparison, about 40 percent of white and Asian students at state universities would no longer be eligible for the scholarship.
The minimum SAT and ACT scores required to be eligible for the merit-based scholarships is increasing. The new standards would only apply to those seeking the scholarship for the first time, and not for those renewing the scholarship. The analysis is based on State University System data for students enrolling in college for the first time in summer/fall 2010 and summer/fall 2011.
Students graduating in the spring of 2014 would have to score 1170 on the SAT or 26 on the ACT and maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average. Currently, students have to score 1020 on the SAT or 22 on the ACT while maintaining a 3.0 GPA.
It allows districts to operate their own version of a charter school, instead of the school being operated by an outside entity.
A popular Democrat is behind it.
The Florida Innovation Zone Schools Act is sponsored by panhandle Sen. Bill Montford, the CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.
Montford is a long time educator who has a middle school in Tallahassee named after him.
His bill frequently uses the term “innovation schools” instead of charters.
Walker Middle School media specialist Sara LaBarbera says she teaching her students research and analysis skills she didn't learn until college. New education standards taking effect in 2014 will require students use those skills.
Sara LaBarbera is teaching 6th graders at Walker Middle School near Tampa how to research poets using an online library.
One student, working on a series of questions about a Lewis Carroll poem, asks LaBarbera for help. He has the pieces, but doesn’t quite know how to put them together.
LaBarbera knows how to ask the right questions.
“Alice seems, like, sad or depressed and the White Knight tries to cheer her up by singing her a song,” the student says of the poem.
“OK, so is it a poem that is telling you a story?” LaBarbera asks.
“Sort of,” he responds.
“Do you already know the name for that type of poem?” LaBarbera prompts.
“No.”
“Well when you write an essay that tells a story, what type of essay is it?” she asks.
“Narrative.” Then he pauses as the light goes off: “Ooooohhhhh…”
LaBarbera is a media specialist – in another time they’d be called librarians.
Speaker Will Weatherford says the House budget proposal goes above and beyond what Gov. Rick Scott requested when he asked lawmakers to prioritize education.
The Florida House has released its proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Speaker Will Weatherford says education was prioritized over everything else.
“The big winner is education,” Weatherford said. “We invested over a billion dollars into our K-12 education system from last year.”
He said that amounts to a 6.2 percent increase in overall education funding.
Weatherford said they created “a silo of funds” to be funneled down to the districts, including up to $676 million available for teacher pay.
“They can spend as much of that on salaries as they want or as little,” Weatherford said. “The reason why we like that is because it creates flexibility for the district.”
He hopes that at least half of whatever is set aside for teacher salaries will be merit-based.
A business advocacy group is running television ads that say Florida might have to cut education funding if the state expands Medicaid health coverage.
The National Federation of Independent Business has also set up a website — FloridaCanDoBetter.com.
“Washington promises to pay the billions in new costs. But with these endless federal deficits can we really trust them?” The ad states. “If Florida gets stuck with the long term bill it will bust our budget. That could force big cuts for funding in education.
“Protect our budget and schools,” the ad concludes, asking viewers to sign a petition.
Lawmakers are debating whether — and then how — to expand Florida’s Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act. Adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $16,000 for an individual and $32,500 for a family of four, are eligible for Medicaid under the federal law.
Medicaid is a state-run, but federally funded health care program for the poor and disabled.
The FEA says Florida's pension system is strong, and changing it would result in retirement insecurity for teachers.
While the Easter Bunny is delivering festive eggs this week, the Florida Education Association said lawmakers are trying to take a chunk out of teachers’ nest eggs.
“Our members who devote their professional lives to teaching our children and making sure they are safe and well cared for in our schools are already facing financial sacrifice,” said FEA Vice President Joanne McCall said. “Teachers earn less than those with similar levels of college education who enter professions like computer programming, public accountants, and nurses.”
Lawmakers are working on adjustments to the state's teacher evaluation law, including requiring evaluation be based only on students in the teacher's classes.
Florida lawmakers moved a step closer to requiring teachers only are evaluated based on the performance of students in their classes, according to the Gainesville Sun.
Currently, evaluations for teachers in subjects not tested by the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test are assigned a score based on the school-wide average. That means an art or music teacher could be evaluated using FCAT reading scores.
A 2011 state law requires schools districts to base at least 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation on student improvement on standardized tests. Known as a value-added model, the complicated statistical formula tries to strip out factors such as attendance or class size to measure just how much the teacher has improved the student’s scores.
Critics say the evaluations have large margins of error and score can have large variations from year to year.
Lawmakers — most notably Senate President Don Gaetz — were not satisfied by the first batch of statewide teacher evaluation data and want to change the formula.
A House committee has approved a bill creating three types of high school diplomas.
The House Education committee unanimously approved a bill creating three high school diploma options for Florida students.
Students could choose from scholar, college and career and industry options. The scholar option requires high-level courses — such as Physics and foreign language — while the industry option lets students opt for professional training classes and certification.
The bill, H.B. 7091, initially raised concerns — most notably from Patricia Levesque, director of the Foundation For Florida’s Future — that lawmakers were lowering the bar for some students. But school officials believe new graduation requirements, which included passing end-of-course exams, meant more students would struggle with mandatory courses.
Those concerns had been smoothed over Wednesday afternoon. Levesque supported the bill. Education Commissioner Tony Bennett did as well. The committee’s Democrats and Republicans both voted in favor.
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