A panel of journalists revisited questions raised during the WLRN Miami Herald Town Hall meeting in Fort Lauderdale last February.
The journalists quoted here are Mary Ellen Klas of the Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau and Aaron Sharockman of PolitiFact Florida and the Tampa Bay Times.
Q: Across-the-board raises for state teachers were one of Gov. Scott’s two top goals this session. He got the money, but the Legislature decided how it would be spent. Is this a victory or defeat for Gov. Rick Scott? Continue Reading →
Florida kindergartners are already being taught using Common Core standards thanks to curriculum created by their teachers.
Florida teachers and school administrators will get help this summer understanding how to implement Common Core State Standards.
The new standards are designed to make sure high school graduates are adequately prepared for college or the workforce.
The standards are based on international benchmarks at each grade level. Common Core assessments will be given at least twice a year, and students must be able to explain their answers.
But teachers are still trying to figure out how to teach the standards.
A poll released last week by the American Federation of Teachers finds that three-quarters of public school teachers surveyed support CCSS. But only about a quarter say their districts have given them the resources and tools they need to successfully teach the standards.
As a result, AFT is pushing for a moratorium on Common Core assessments until educators are better “trained and equipped to help their students master this new approach to teaching and learning.”
The Florida Department of Education is trying to help.
The Foundation for Florida's Future is out with a new video after the defeat of the parent trigger bill. A provision of the bill lives on after it was added to another piece of legislation.
The Foundation for Florida’s Future isn’t giving up on the parent trigger bill. They’re asking people to announce their support on Twitter and other social media with ready-made post to cut and paste.
The bill — officially titled Parent Empowerment in Education — would give parents more power in choosing how to change a chronically failing school.
The foundation, an education policy organization founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush, sent an email today with the subject line: “We will not ignore parents.”
House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz say teachers may get their raises sooner than expected, but the size of the raises will be based on performance.
Teachers might not have to wait another year for a raise after all.
But according to the budget, that money won’t be in paychecks until June 2014.
Lawmakers say a technical fix should get teachers their raises before next year.
“We need to give the school districts a little more flexibility to spend that money sooner, and we can do that in a conforming bill,” House Speaker Will Weatherford said.
The legislation that failed last year on a tie vote in the Florida Senate seems to have a better shot this time around, with a new makeup of lawmakers and a few concessions.
The Senate is expected to pass the Parent Empowerment in Education bill, which gives parents a bigger say in how to deal with a chronically failing school.
During a Senate hearing yesterday, the bill was amended to give the final say to the local school board, although the board would have to issue a report explaining its decision if it differs from the parents’ turnaround option.
That’s different from the version approved by the House, which gives the State Board of Education the final authority if the school board and the parents disagree.
The Governor’s Office says the funding provides every teacher a minimum of a $2,000 pay raise, with raises as high as $3,500 for teachers rated “highly effective.”
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