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 Florida Department of Education has released a list of suggested changes to Florida's Common Core standards.
The Florida Department of Education has released a list of proposed changes to the state’s K-12 standards, known as Common Core.
The list includes 13 changes to the English language arts standards and 33 changes to the math standards, nine of which are new standards.
Many of the changes were suggested by teachers.
Florida is one of 45 states to fully adopt Common Core, which outlines what students should know at the end of each grade. But the standards have been criticized from both the right and the left over concerns about reducing local control, the quality of the standards and other issues.
One focus of the changes is making sure the standards are appropriate for elementary school students, particularly kindergarteners. One change would no longer require kindergarteners to have to know the author’s name, for instance.
Lawmakers required the extra hour of instruction for three school years, beginning in 2012-2013.
The OPPAGA review looked at 96 schools (1 closed prior to the 2012-2013 school year, while three others closed after 2012-2013 school year). The review asked three questions:
Did the schools move off the low-performing list?
Do test results show student reading improving?
Are students as schools with the required extra hour of instruction improving more than peers at schools which don’t have the extra hour?
The report found the answer to the first two questions was yes, and more limited success on the third question.
School officials said one class at most of the county’s schools will try out the new exam. Students will take the math and language arts exam in two sections, once in March and another in May.
Florida is replacing most of the FCAT as part of the switch to new K-12 standards, known as Common Core. Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said she will recommend a new exam by the end of March.
Hillsborough schools spokesman Stephen Hegarty said the district signed on before PARCC became public enemy number one for the next generation of standardized tests.
“It’s good to be a part of that,” Hegarty said. “We saw it as being a benefit.”
This round of hires is funded with an additional $4.7 million of state and university funds. The school will hire faculty in nanomedicine, social network analysis, creative writing, obesity research, African studies and more.
“We run the whole gamut from science to engineering…to the social sciences to the humanities,” University of Florida provost Joe Glover said.
Education Commissioner Pam Stewart on a listening tour with Gov. Rick Scott.
The Florida Department of Education could suggest about 40 changes to the state’s K-12 standards, including requiring the teaching of cursive writing and the use of decimals when counting money.
But Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said the changes were minor and would have little impact on students, teachers and administrators preparing for the final switch to new standards, known as Common Core, when classes start this fall.
Stewart spoke to the Senate Education committee Wednesday, outlining the agency’s plans for adjusting Common Core, choosing a new statewide test, altering the state’s school grading and teacher evaluation rules and protecting student data. Lawmakers had asked her to appear as they made plans for the upcoming legislative session.
“With the total, spread over K-12, of being 40-some changes, I don’t think would have a serious impact on each grade level,” Stewart said.
Teacher Darcy Bedortha is writing about her 15 months working in a K12 online school.
A former teacher at a school run by online education firm K12, Inc. said she felt overwhelmed by the size of her class rosters and that online classes weren’t the right choice for the mostly poor communities K12 targeted.
I was an English teacher, so my students would write. They wrote of pain and fear and of not fitting in. They were the kinds of young people who desperately needed to have the protective circle of a community watching over them. They needed one healthy person to smile at them and recognize them by name every day, to say “I’m glad you’re here!” Many of my former students do not have that.
The last thing these young people needed, I came to realize during my time with K12 Inc., was to be isolated in front of a computer screen. A week or two or three would often go by without my getting a word from a student. They didn’t answer their email, they didn’t answer their phones. Often their phones were disconnected. Their families were disconnected. My students also moved a lot. During my first year at the school I spent days on the phone trying to track students down. This year I struggled to not simply give up under the weight of it all.
Bedortha left her job with K12 in November after 15 months with the company. She said she struggled with the choice to write about her experience because some students depend on and benefit from the virtual school.
Sen. John Legg, R-Port Richey, says lawmakers need some advice from education commissioner Pam Stewart on Wednesday.
Wednesday the Florida Legislature will start in on the heavy lifting of this year’s session with regard to education policy.
The Senate Education Committee has asked education commissioner Pam Stewart to outline the agency’s plan and update lawmakers on where things stand with the final switch to new K-12 English language arts and math standards (scheduled for this fall), choosing a new standardized test to mostly replace the FCAT (first use scheduled for early 2015), upgrading school technology, teacher evaluations and more.
StateImpact Florida recently sat down with Legg to talk about the session.
“We’re going to kind of jump in to the deep end of the pool in January,” Legg said. “Those issues…will probably dominate the legislative session.”
Legg said Wednesday’s meeting will be key for lawmakers setting their agenda for the upcoming session. Legg said lawmakers could plan what they will and won’t do during the session based on what Stewart says.
Lawmakers expect Education Commissioner Pam Stewart to have a plan for the switch to Common Core. Stewart will speak to the Senate Education Committee next week.
The chairman of the Senate education committee is asking the Florida Department of Education to have its plans for new standards and assessments ready when commissioner Pam Stewart speaks at a meeting next week.
The education committee will meet Wednesday in Tallahassee.
Chairman John Legg said what Stewart says could determine whether lawmakers delay new exams, or make changes to the school grading formula or teacher evaluations.
“We’ve held off on asking her to come before us up until now because we felt they needed adequate time to assess these issues,” Legg said. “We’ve given that time and we’ve asked them to come forward with their recommendations and their plan in January.”
Every Florida grade is scheduled to switch to the new standards this fall. The standards outline what students should know at the end of each grade.
The political debate over the standards will continue in 2014, but more of the debate about the new standards will switch to implementation.
The Florida Association of District School Superintendents say they need more time to make the switch. They’re asking for an additional three years to gradually add more grades. They’d also like to throw out the school grading formula in favor of a new system measuring school progress.
The State Board of Education, lawmakers, Gov. Rick Scott and other education leaders will have to decide whether to stay on schedule or delay the final switch. They’ll also have to decide when Florida students will take the new exam tied to Common Core for the first time, now scheduled for early 2015.
Education Commissioner Tony Bennett is under criticism resigned his post on August 1. Pam Stewart was chosen to replace Bennett.
Here’s our pick for the biggest education stories of 2013 — a few of which will likely dominate 2014 as well.
Tony Bennett’s Resignation
Bennett came to Florida in January with a reputation as a rising star among self-proclaimed education reformers and a leading voice for the Common Core English, literacy and math standards fully adopted by 45 states. He also came on the heels of losing his reelection bid as Indiana’s state schools chief to Democrat Glenda Ritz.
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