John O'Connor is the Miami-based education reporter for StateImpact Florida. John previously covered politics, the budget and taxes for The (Columbia, S.C) State. He is a graduate of Allegheny College and the University of Maryland.
The University of Florida’s education school and a UF graduate also teamed up on a project, creating the online Algebra Nation. Algebra Nation is a combination of online videos, traditional workbooks and an always-available online network of professionals and peers able to help students solve for Y.
Algebra Nation surveyed teachers about what they wanted, said Ethan Fieldman, the founder of a tutoring firm that helped launch Algebra Nation. Most teachers weren’t happy with the available online videos and wanted something more tailored for Florida’s math standards.
“Khan Academy videos are nice,” Fieldman said, “but they’re boring, and the students want to connect with real people…that they can see on the screen.”
The percentage of students passing all four of Florida's end-of-course exams increased last school year.
More Florida students passed the state’s final exams for algebra, biology, geometry and U.S. history, according to test results released Monday.
The tests, known as end-of-course exams, are required by state law. Students must pass the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam to graduate high school.
State leaders were pleased with the results.
“I think that is just a testimony to the great work that’s being done in our districts and in our schools and in our classrooms,” said Education Commissioner Pam Stewart.
The biggest improvement was on the U.S. History exam. Two-thirds of students passed the exam on their first attempt, an increase of 10 percentage points. Stewart said the increase might be because students enrolled in Advanced Placement history classes took the test to earn the state’s new scholar designation on their diploma.
On the required algebra test, 65 percent of students taking the test for the first time passed — and increase of one percentage point. But ninth graders are the largest group of students taking the algebra test, and the percentage of high school freshmen passing the exam held steady at 52 percent.
We’ll find out today if those numbers improved when the Florida Department of Education releases this year’s end-of-course results.
But Pinellas County schools aren’t waiting. Hundreds of incoming ninth graders will return to class this week to begin a six-week summer Algebra 1 boot camp.
About two-thirds of Pinellas County ninth graders did not pass the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam given last spring.
Students will use a computerized curriculum which will let them spend less time on concepts they understand, and more time on lessons they struggle with.
Students man a computer help desk at Ocoee High School and assist classmates. The school has to end the program because of a state requirement for end-of-course exams.
A recurring theme in Florida education is that policies intended to address separate issues can and do conflict with each other.
The number of Florida schools required to add an extra hour of reading instruction will increase this fall.
Florida will expand the number of schools required to add an extra hour of reading instruction this fall, Education Week reports.
Two years ago lawmakers required the 100 elementary school with the lowest scores on the state reading test to add an extra hour for reading. Now, the 300 lowest-scoring schools will have to add time.
Nearly half of teachers in Orange County schools missed at least 11 days of school — which NCTQ says is “frequently absent” — while 30 percent of Hillsborough County teachers missed that number of days.
Nationally, teachers were in their classrooms 94 percent of the time. The average teacher missed 11 days of school. Jacksonville and Orlando teachers missed more time, on average, while Tampa teachers missed less time than the study’s average teacher.
But the study found that teachers at high-poverty schools were not more likely to miss time than teachers at lower-poverty schools.
NCTQ collected 2012-2013 teacher absence data from 40 of 51 school districts in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. The study excluded teachers who had long-term absences due to illness or family reasons. Miami-Dade schools did not provide the data as requested by NCTQ, and were not included in the study.
“While these big city school districts are struggling to improve student achievement, they may be overlooking one of the most basic aspects of teacher effectiveness: every teacher being regularly on the job, teaching kids,” NCTQ president Kate Walsh said in a statement.
Thomas McNabb points out the changes made to an Ocoee High School science classroom, part of a $14 million program at seven schools to test the best ways to upgrade school technology.
Ocoee High School just west of Orlando opened less than a decade ago. But technology-wise, the 2,300-student school is already obsolete.
Ocoee is part of $14 million project to outfit seven Orange County schools with fast, wireless Internet and new classroom technology.
The first step was ripping out and replacing miles of fiber optic cable and adding devices teachers could use with their lessons.
Orange County schools’ infrastructure director Thomas McNabb walked through a science classroom, pointing out the changes.
The district added an interactive board at the front of the classroom and and a speaker system to amplify the teacher.
“It may or may not have had wireless, it just depended,” McNabb said. “There were 50 or 70 wireless access points throughout the building. The classroom amplification system was not in play here. All of that was nonexistent at…the end of last school year.”
Orange County schools are preparing for two technology-related deadlines. Florida lawmakers are requiring half of all classroom instruction is delivered digitally by 2015.
But the first deadline comes early next year when Florida students take a new suite of online exams. Millions of U.S. students will join them.
The tests are tied to the new Common Core standards fully adopted by 44 states.
The exhibit hall at FETC, an annual education technology conference in Orlando.
Marketplace, the daily business news show from American Public Media, is launching a new series on education technology.
The U.S. education market is worth $2 trillion, Adriene Hill reports.
The first story takes a look at where venture capitalists are spending their money. Some are investing in projects like Remind101, which lets teachers send out mass reminders for homework, field trips and any other deadlines.
Most schools have found the best way to accomplish those goals is with wireless networks and more laptops or other portable computers. But many Florida schools will need to be rewired, and districts will have to purchase or lease additional computers.
Orange County schools estimate it will cost roughly $280 million to upgrade their schools. Hamilton County schools superintendent Tom Moffses estimates it will cost $3.6 million for the 1,700-student district between Tallahassee and Jacksonville.
The percentage of Florida third graders passing state reading and math exams was unchanged this year.
The percentage of Florida third graders passing the state’s FCAT math and reading exams did not improve this year — remaining largely flat for the past three years — according to initial test results released Friday.
Fifty-seven percent of third graders scored at least a 3, the state’s passing score, on the reading test. On the math exam, 58 percent of third graders scored a least a 3. The reading and math tests are on a scale of one to five points.
The percentage of third graders at risk for being held back rose slightly, to 19 percent.
Florida law requires third graders scoring a 1 on the reading test be held back. Those students can still advance to fourth grade based on other test results or a portfolio of their work.
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