The results show what percentage of students in each district scored within each quartile of all Florida students taking the exams. Parents can expect more detailed scores for their students next month.
The state is now setting cut scores for the the exams, which will determine what percentage of students are meeting state goals. Eventually, the state plans to issue A-to-F grades for every public school that will include Florida Standards Assessments results.
Miami teacher Brigette Kinney holds copies of her GRE scores and the state law creating the new teacher bonus program. She qualifies for the bonus -- up to $10,000, depending on how many teachers qualify -- but may not be able to compete the paperwork in time.
Miami teacher Brigette Kinney said she doesn’t always hear about school news when classes are out for the summer.
But Kinney said she didn’t learn about the bonuses until she returned to school in August — and that may have been too late.
The deadline to apply for the scholarships is Thursday. Kinney meets the requirements, but she’s not sure if her scores will arrive in time.
“I was told it would take two to four weeks to get my score, which I knew was going to be very tight” said Kinney, who teaches English and design in the International Baccalaureate program at Ada Merritt K-8 center.
Some top comedians say they're not performing on college campuses because students are too easily offended. A group is now tracking speech policies on campus.
Know the joke about how many college students it takes to screw in a light bulb?
Probably not, since it’s not a real joke. Nor is the decision some comedians are making to avoid college campuses where they say students today are too easily offended.
Back in June, comedian Jerry Seinfeld told ESPN radio that he was joining Chris Rock, Larry the Cable Guy and others who won’t play college campuses because they’ve become too politically correct.
“I hear that all the time,” Seinfeld told ESPN Radio. “I don’t play colleges, but I hear a lot of people tell me don’t go near colleges — they’re so PC.”
The band GOODING performs at Miami Beach High School. The band visits schools around the country to play their music and teach financial lessons.
You might be forgiven for mistaking Miami Beach High School’s auditorium for the Fillmore Thursday.
Students waved lit cellphones above their heads.
They sang along with “whoa-oh-oh” choruses.
But when the concert ended, they got a lesson in what some have dubbed nature’s most powerful force.
“It’s called compounding interest,” says Gooding, the guitarist who uses only the one name professionally and is lead singer of a band by the same name (though in all caps). “Raise your hand if you know what compounding interest is? I won’t make you say it. Awesome.”
If you watch shows like CSI or have seen a car commercial, you’ve probably heard GOODING’s music.
The more technology, the worse the performance on tests — This was the big conclusion. The students who spent the most time using computers or on the Internet in school did worse than expected on international tests.
The students who ranked in the middle for technology use — what the OECD called moderate use — did the best on international tests.
“That’s pretty sobering for us,” said Andreas Schleicher, who leads the OECD’s education efforts. “We all hope that integrating more and more technology in school is going to help us actually to enhance learning environments. Make learning more interactive…but it doesn’t seem to be working like this.”
FDLE has closed its investigation of the FSA hacking, but is offering few answers about who did and why.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has closed its six-month-old investigation into a cyber attack during Florida Standards Assessments testing this spring. The agency isn’t saying who tried to shut down testing by overloading servers, or why.
But law enforcement officials said no personal student data was accessed during the attack.
FDLE said they found more than 29,000 Internet addresses were used to swamp servers run by test contractor American Institutes for Research. Some of the addresses were in the U.S., but most were believed to be foreign.
Education Commissioner Pam Stewart thanked the agency for a quick response.
“I want to reassure our state’s students, parents and educators that, because of the nature of the cyber-attack, no student information was accessed and the content of the assessment was not compromised,” Stewart said in a statement. “I am pleased that the additional safeguards were effective, and we will continue working with AIR to ensure they have all of the necessary protections to provide for a smooth testing experience this year.”
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development oversees the largest international math and reading exams in the world. The group recently looked at the availability and use of computers and Internet in school and compared it to how those countries were doing on international tests.
One conclusion: the more time students spend online in school, the worse they do. Students with moderate technology use performed best on international exams.
“That’s pretty sobering for us,” said Andreas Schleicher, who leads the OECD’s education efforts. “We all hope that integrating more and more technology in school is going to help us actually to enhance learning environments. Make learning more interactive…but it doesn’t seem to be working like this.”
At some schools only a small percentage of students who attend using federal grants or loans earn more than a high school graduate a decade after enrolling in college.
The data links students who received federal financial aid to what they reporting earning on their tax forms a decade later.
Just one-third of students who attended four Dade Medical College campuses earned more than a high school graduate. Earnings also typically were low for students attending one of Florida’s Bible colleges.
Bus routes have been redrawn. And the district sent up flares, looking to hire anyone who wants to drive a bus.
It’s the first crisis new superintendent Robert Avossa has had to face since taking over the job in June. And he says it could have been avoided if district leaders had listened.
“The lesson to be learned is that our bus drivers, right? Sort of the low man on the totem pole,” Avossa told a gathering of business leaders last week, “were waving the big red flag to the management over in transportation saying ‘We have a problem.’ And the management decided not to listen…That’s problematic.”
Avossa has traveled all over Palm Beach County to find others with similar advice about how to run the district.
Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and chief academic officer Marie Izquierdo.
The superintendent of Florida’s largest district says an outside review of the state’s new test shows that Florida students weren’t being tested on what they were expected to know.
Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho says a review of the Florida Standards Assessments released today shows that on some exams as many as one in three questions weren’t testing Florida standards. That’s because Florida hired a contractor, the American Institutes for Research, which repackaged test questions originally written for a Utah exam.
Standards outline what students should know at the end of each grade.
“Teachers taught Florida standards,” he said, “but kids were not assessed on Florida standards.”
Carvalho says that and other problems identified by an outside reviewer, Alpine Testing Solutions, are enough reason for the state to not issue A-to-F school grades this year. Carvalho was backed by the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. The group issued a press release saying it still had “serious concerns” about the Florida Standards Assessments.
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