Sarasota County schools partnered with the Gulf Coast Community Foundation to upgrade middle school math and science classrooms.
Florida schools could get more money to upgrade classrooms, purchase new computers, tablets and other technology and train teachers and staff how to use them.
But they’ll have to meet new goals set by the Florida Department of Education, submit annual technology plans and document how they’re spending the money.
That’s according to a bill supported by House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate Education committee chairman John Legg. The two Tampa Bay-area Republicans plan to introduce the bill today.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush visited a Hialeah charter school for National School Choice Week.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush visited classrooms, observed students using their iPads, and took questions from a debate class at a high school in Hialeah, Fla. this week.
The tour of the Latin Builders Association Construction & Business Management Academy high school—which is the first charter opened with a business association—was part of National School Choice Week.
Bush wrapped up the tour in the debate class by answering questions from journalists so the students could see how a press conference works.
He talked testing and Common Core State Standards with StateImpact Florida’s Sammy Mack:
A screenshot from the ACTAspireFlorida.org website. The state is expected to choose a new exam in March.
Testing firm ACT has launched a website to advertise and educate the public about its new exam as the Florida Department of Education decides which test will mostly replace the FCAT.
The ACT Aspire is one of five exams which submitted bids to become Florida’s test for use with new Common Core math and language arts standards. The American Institutes for Research, CTB/McGraw Hill, McCann Associates and Pearson also submitted bids.
Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said she will recommend a new exam in March. That could be one of the five bidders, or she could recommended another choice.
ACT spokesman Dianne Bean said the site, ACTAspireFlorida.org, could help answer questions about the new exam.
“A lot of people don’t know much about assessments,” she said, other than just “hearing things.”
“We’re a reputable company that’s been around a long time.”
President Barack Obama delivers his 2010 State of the Union speech.
President Barack Obama again asked Congress to expand access to early childhood education programs and defended a major federal grant program, but didn’t propose any new initiatives.
President Barack Obama placed education at the center of a broad strategy to bolster economic mobility and combat poverty—calling on Congress in his State of the Union speech to approve previously unveiled initiatives to expand preschool to more 4-year-olds, beef up job-training programs, and make post-secondary education more effective and accessible.
“Last year, I asked this Congress to help states make high-quality pre-K available to every 4-year-old,” said Obama, whose education agenda in his second term has shifted away from K-12 toward prekindergarten and college affordability. “As a parent as well as a president, I repeat that request tonight. But in the meantime, 30 states have raised pre-K funding on their own. They know we can’t wait.”
Obama used his speech to mount an indirect defense of the common-core standards and a more spirited, direct defense of the program that spurred states to adopt them: Race to the Top. This, too, from an administration that has been blamed for threatening the future of the Common Core State Standards by supporting them—and from a president who hasn’t talked much at all about Race to the Top in recent major speeches. He credits his Race to the Top competitive-grant program with helping raise standards—and performance (which many may argue it’s too soon to tell).
Several analyses of the address pointed out that funding universal pre-k is going to be a hurdle. Claudio Sanchez of NPR put it this way: Continue Reading →
Both Gov. Rick Scott and lawmakers want to spend more money on school technology. The question is the best way to do so.
The chairman of the Senate’s Education Committee said Gov. Rick Scott and lawmakers want to spend at least $40 million, and likely more, to upgrade school Internet capacity and add new computers, tablets and other digital tools.
Sen. John Legg, R-Port Richey, said education technology is a priority for Scott and both Republican and Democratic legislative leaders.
Legg said $40 million in Scott’s proposed budget — to be released in full tomorrow — is a starting point.
“I think that was a placeholder,” Legg said, “an indication of a willingness to fund, this year, technology. I think we need to do better. I think we need to do a little bit more.”
The 2013 exhibit hall at FETC, an annual education technology conference in Orlando.
FETC, one of the nation’s oldest and largest education technology conferences, kicks off today in Orlando.
But for the first time teachers, principals and educators won’t have to travel to Orange County in order to participate.
About 50 FETC events, including keynote speeches and many of the seminars where teachers share tips and tricks, will be broadcast online. Conference organizers say the online experience will be as good as attending in person.
“You will possibly have a better experience right there on your computer,” said Sean Brown, vice president of Sonic Foundry, the company broadcasting FETC online. “We are going to give any teacher who tunes in as a virtual attendee a seat in the room.”
In many schools, zero tolerance discipline policies dictate harsh punishment—expulsion, suspension and arrest—for breaking rules.
But, as StateImpact Florida has been reporting, some districts are reconsidering zero tolerance over concerns about a rise in the number of children arrested on campus.
One of those districts walking away from zero tolerance is in Broward County, where the schools formed a unique coalition with law enforcement, local and state courts, and the NAACP to re-write the school codes.
StateImpact Florida spoke with one of the members of that partnership—Gordon Weekes, chief assistant public defender with Broward County’s juvenile justice division—who has been a critic of zero tolerance in the past.
The standards outline what students should know at the end each grade.
“I wanted to share what I do in my classroom with other teachers around the United States,” said Buddoo, who has six years experience. “Many teachers may not necessarily know what the differences need to be within their current lessons.
“If other teachers have access to those methods I think it will improve lessons across the board.”
Felecia Hatcher is on a mission. She wants to bridge the tech education gap in Florida’s schools and give underserved students the chance to become web-based entrepreneurs.
Hillary Lindwall / WLRN
Felecia Hatcher helps a student write HTML code.
She started the program Code Fever last year to reach that goal.
“Technology will allow [the students] to build their businesses and catapult their ideas much faster and definitely much cheaper,” Hatcher says.
An entrepreneur herself — she founded the ice-pop store Feverish Pops — Hatcher says the kids she works with benefit from seeing someone from a similar background succeed in business.
“What they see is what they’ll be,” Hatcher said. “I want to show kids that no matter where you come from … there is huge potential for you. You can  literally do anything that you want to do right now in this world.”
The Florida Association of District School Superintendents want state leaders to replace the A-through-F grades with a new system by 2017. The new reports would add other factors, such as attendance, discipline, parent involvement and more.
But Stewart told a State Board of Education meeting Tuesday she does not support going without grades, even temporarily, as Florida makes the switch to Common Core. Florida is one of 45 states to fully adopt Common Core. The new tests are expected to be harder and fewer students are expected to hit state target scores.
“I don’t think that suspending school grading is the right thing to do for students,” she said.
Stewart said she is working on changes to the school grading system and will propose them at the board’s next meeting in February. Stewart told lawmakers earlier this month that the formula would focus on three factors: student proficiency on state tests; whether student scores are improving; and graduation rates. She expects to recommend a new statewide test in March.
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