Students who entered high school in the past decade and earned Florida’s standard high school diploma no longer have to take remedial courses, according to the law passed last year. In the past, about half the students who took the state college placement exam had to take at least one remedial course.
Florida college officials say those students are more likely to be returning to school while managing a job and a family. (For more on why this happens, check out our 13th Grade series)
The intent of the law was to make it easier and faster for students to finish their degrees. The Florida State researchers want to find out if that’s the case.
“This is the most significant state law affecting developmental education that we are aware of anywhere in the country,” FSU professor Shouping Hu said in a statement. “Because of its sweeping nature, it is critical that we begin documenting and evaluating its impact from the very beginning.”
Gov. Rick Scott said he supports a bill that would allow some undocumented immigrants access to in-state tuition..
Gov. Rick Scott said he will support a Senate bill granting in-state tuition to some undocumented immigrants because the bill also would prevent universities from raising tuition above what lawmakers approve, according to the Associated Press.
Lawmakers have considered in-state tuition the past several years, but the bill has never made it through both the House and the Senate in the same year. House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, supports in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants and Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater has introduced the bill in the Senate.
Uncertainty about Florida's next statewide test leaves some teachers and administrators uncomfortable.
Florida schools will be giving a new standardized test about a year from now. But which test is still up in the air until Education Commissioner Pam Stewart announces her choice later this month.
Not really, said Christina Phillips, a language arts teacher at Tampa’s Monroe Middle School.
“We’re doing everything in our power right now to prepare them for when they actually take that test,” she said. “Of course, we’re kind of, you know, sailing a ship out in the ocean not knowing exactly where we’re going right now because we don’t know exactly what the new test is going to be.”
Dorn said we won’t know how much will change with the test until the decision is announced.
“It might be tests that are interesting and challenging,” he said. “It might be tests that are very close to what students experience with FCAT — or somewhere in between.”
Miami Jackson High School's grade will remain a B, after the Florida Department of Education rejected the school's challenge.
Miami Jackson Senior High School has lost its appeal to become an A-rated school after disputing test scores , the Miami Herald reports.
The Florida Department of Education said the scores from students learning English would not have changed the school’s grade:
The state’s ruling was expected, even though Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in January that the “English Language Learner” students in question should not have counted toward the calculation of the school’s 2012-13 letter grade because they had not been enrolled in a U.S. school for a full year prior to the start of testing, as state law requires.
School and district testing officials argued that the disputed test scores caused Miami Jackson, which earned enough points to receive an “A,” to miss out on a requirement that at least a quarter of students test at proficient reading levels in order to avoid a one-grade drop.
Monroe Middle School teacher Dawn Norris hears a difference in her language arts classes since she starting using Common Core standards two years ago. It’s how the 13-year teacher knows the new standards are working.
Middle schools across Florida will begin using the new math and language arts standards when classes start this fall. But most middle schools in the Tampa area, where Monroe is located, are already using Common Core.
John O'Connor / StateImpact Florida
Monroe Middle School teacher Dawn Norris talks to her students about how to write an essay about fairy tales. Norris has been teaching based on the Common Core standards for two years. Since making the switch, she says her students have taken more control of the lessons.
Common Core has been fully adopted by 45 states. But the standards have been criticized for their quality, for reducing local control over classroom content and for continuing emphasis on student test results to determine whether teachers and schools are successful.
“What I’ve noticed in my classes now is they’re loud. And that’s OK,” Norris said. “Where in the old days it was, no, you want that silent classroom, but the more they talk, they’re all on task. They’re all working on that same common goal.”
A new bill would make chewing these into guns a less severe offense in Florida schools.
Pop-Tarts chewed into the shape of a gun would not be grounds for suspension under a bill passed Thursday by the House Education Committee.
The bill is supposed to cut down on the number of students arrested because of zero tolerance policies.
The ‘Toaster Pastry Gun Freedom Act’ is known as the Pop-Tart bill after a 7-year-old in Maryland was suspended from school for biting his snack into the shape of a gun.
Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala – the man behind Florida’s Stand Your Ground law – sponsors the bill.
“I think it does lay down the proper balance and hopefully will be an example and an opportunity for administrators to feel they are empowered to make those common sense judgments,” Baxley said.
In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott promoted his $18.8 billion budget for education.
NEA Public Relations/flickr
FEA President Andy Ford
But if it were up to Florida Education Association president Andy Ford, there would be even more money going to Florida’s public schools.
The Florida Education Association is the state umbrella group for Florida teachers’ unions. Before the legislative session began, Ford sat down with StateImpact Florida to talk about policy priorities this year.
Q: Where is FEA on the Common Core State Standards now?
A: We support the standards and even the Florida version of the standards. We think those improvements were actually for the better. But we have some problems with the implementation. There hasn’t been sufficient time put in place to move from one system to the other. We also don’t have the resources to be able to make the transition. And we’re just moving too quickly, we need to slow it down a little.
This year teachers are teaching the standards. The test the kids are going to take is based on the old standards. So there’s going to be some confusion there. Continue Reading →
Education Commissioner Pam Stewart's suggested school grading formula changes were approved by a Senate committee Tuesday.
A Senate panel has approved changes to the state school grading formula which echo those proposed by Florida schools chief Pam Stewart, the Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau reports.
The bill looks similar to recommendations made last month by state Education Commissioner Pam Stewart. It eliminates the bonus points schools can earn, as well as the so-called triggers that automatically cause a school grade to drop. It also removes several factors from the complex formula used to evaluate high schools, including five-year graduation rates and some college readiness measures.
Schools would continue to receive A-F grades during the transition to a new formula. But there would be no consequences for poor performance in the first year.
The education committee made two tweaks to Stewart’s original recommendations. They added a provision that would give middle schools credit for participation and performance in high-school classes. They also added language that would exempt children with complex disabilities from state testing, in response to recent discussions about the plight of profoundly disabled children.
As Florida prepares to move to new K-12 math and language arts standards this fall, state Democrats have joined school superintendents and the Florida PTA in asking for a three-year delay before school performance is judged using Common Core.
School grades are partly based on student test results. Tests tied to the new Common Core standards are expected to be more difficult, and perhaps half as many Florida students will meet state goals.
Gov. Rick Scott is asking lawmakers to revoke a law which allows state universities to request up to an additional 15 percent tuition increase.
Gov. Rick Scott is asking lawmakers to eliminate the state’s tuition differential law, which allows universities to request as much as a 15 percent tuition increase each year.
Scott has fought higher education tuition hikes since he took office in 2011.
“We are changing how we fund higher education,” Scott said, according to the prepared version of his State of the State speech, “but if we want to make higher education more accessible to low and middle-income families we have to make it more affordable.
“We will hold the line on tuition,” he added moments later.
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