John O'Connor / StateImpact Florida
Miami-Dade superintendent Alberto Carvalho, from right, Gov. Rick Scott and Southside Elementary principal Salvatore Schiavone tour the school last month.
Miami-Dade superintendent Alberto Carvalho said Florida leaders should rethink the scope and purpose of education testing and give schools more time to prepare for new math and language arts standards.
Carvalho’s proposal was published online and emailed to reporters. Carvalho has also been tweeting excerpts since Monday.
Carvalho draws a hard line at eliminating testing, even as some Florida school districts float the idea of boycotting state-required exams.
“Respectful accountability is a data tool of truth that enables and empowers appropriate intervention,” Carvalho wrote. “Simply relying on an “impression” of achievement is not enough, as history has taught us.”
Continue Reading →
Ashley Lopez / WGCU
Testing opponents quietly show support for speakers at Tuesday's Lee County school board meeting. The board voted 3-2 to reverse its state testing boycott.
The Lee County school board has reversed its decision to reject state tests, after board member Mary Fischer changed her mind.
Last week the board became the first in Florida to refuse to offer state tests to its students on a 3-2 vote. The test are required by state law, and the results help determine everything from who can graduate high school or move on to the next grade, to state grades for public schools and teacher evaluations and pay.
Several news outlets reported that the crowd mostly opposed the use of state tests, but several speakers urged the district to reverse the decision and come up with another plan first. District superintendent Nancy Graham said she was concerned the decision could put the district’s $280 million in state funding at risk.
We’ve gathered a Storify from this morning’s meeting:
Continue Reading →
John O'Connor / StateImpact Florida
Ivan Bertaska, Anderson Lebadd and Edoardo Sarda run their robotic boat through the motions on the Intracoastal Waterway near Dania Beach.
On the Intracoastal Waterway near Dania Beach, Ivan Bertaska was getting ready to captain his vessel.
Bertaska wants to check the boat’s capabilities by having it speed up and slow down as it carves a wavy wake across the Intracoastal.
“The wave pattern actually gives me a good range of velocities,” he said, “so at first we go about two knots and then we get to the top corners where we’re making sharp turns we’re going about one knot. So I get a good operational range of the vehicle.
“We get a lot of funny looks from boaters.”
Funny looks because Bertaska and a team of other engineers are building a boat that can drive itself.
The team is from Florida Atlantic University and Villanova University in Philadelphia. It includes FAU student Edoardo Sarda and Villanova student Anderson Lebbad. They’re traveling to Singapore in October for the Maritime RobotX Challenge.
And they’re one of just three teams from the United States chosen for the competition.
Continue Reading →
