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.
Florida school superintendents are asking lawmakers to extend the switch to Common Core standards and rewrite school grading and teacher evaluation requirements.
Florida school superintendents are asking state leaders to revamp the state’s A through F school grading system — including eliminating the letter grades — as the state completes the switch to new math, English and literacy standards.
Florida is one of 45 states to fully adopt Common Core, which outlines what students should know at the end of each grade. Supporters say the standards are more challenging and will prepare high school graduates for college or a job. Critics are concerned Common Core is a one-size-fits-all policy, won’t improve schools and may not be appropriate for young children.
Smith said school superintendents support the standards, but need more time to prepare.
Study of those who used MOOCs offered by University of Pennsylvania professors found most already had a college degree.
The new generation of free, large-scale college courses offered over the Internet was supposed to make higher education, particularly at elite universities, accessible to to the masses. But a new survey of massive open online course, or MOOC, users show that most people who enroll are “elite, young and male” and already have a college degree.
The courses can enroll tens of thousands of students, though providers says as few as 1 in 10 students typically complete a course.
The University of Pennsylvania surveyed 34,779 students who enrolled in courses taught by Penn professors on Coursera. Both U.S. and international students were likely to already have a college degree, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education:
The Penn researchers sent the survey to students who had registered for a MOOC and viewed at least one video lecture. More than 80 percent of the respondents had a two- or four-year degree, and 44 percent had some graduate education.
The pattern was true not only of MOOC students in the United States but also learners in other countries. In some foreign countries where MOOCs are popular, such as Brazil, China, India, Russia, and South Africa, “80 percent of MOOC students come from the wealthiest and most well educated 6 percent of the population,” according to the paper.
In other developing countries, about 80 percent of the MOOC students surveyed already held college degrees—a number staggeringly out of proportion with the share of degree holders in the general population.
As insecurity in the private-sector labor market increases, the value of public-sector job protections effectively increases, meaning that candidates will be willing to accept lower pay in exchange for the guarantee that it will be nearly impossible to fire them. This is separate from the shrinking number of jobs in the private sector, which also conspires to make higher quality candidates available to school districts. Both factors together could give us a nice boost in teacher scores.
Of course, it’s also possible that a lot of college students suddenly and for no apparent reason decided they wanted to be teachers around the same time that the job market became massively more insecure. But I’m betting it’s no coincidence. Bad news for the graduating seniors, but good news for the nation’s schools.
Crist continues to criticize Scott for cutting the K-12 budget in 2011 and other policies such as requiring teachers are evaluated mostly based on student test scores. (Scott argues the cuts were necessary to close a budget shortfall Crist left behind. Scott has pushed for more K-12 funding the last two years.)
“I think education and the economy,” Crist said when asked about the most important issues in the race. “I think they go hand-in-hand.
“How can you talk about getting good, high-paying jobs for people if you don’t have a solid education system, that you support properly, and that you back up and you don’t demoralize public school teachers?”
Florida is one of 45 states to adopt the standards, which outline what students should know at the end of each grade.
Kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms are using the standards now. Other grades are using a combination of Florida’s outgoing standards and Common Core, and are scheduled to completely switch to Common Core at the start of the next school year in the fall of 2014.
Volusia County schools superintendent Margaret Smith told the State Board of Education this morning that schools need more time to train teachers and allow them to learn the standards and new classroom materials. Smith said schools are also adjusting to a new law requiring teachers are evaluated, in part, based on student test scores.
“Our concern is that there is no time..for teachers and students to prepare in an adequate way,” Smith said. “Our teachers need to be able to deliver the standards and the curriculum in a meaningful way.”
Follick said the board could receive those suggestions early next year.
Florida is one of 45 states which have adopted Common Core. The standards outline what students are expected to know at the end of each grade. But critics across the country have raised many concerns about the standards, including asking if the standards are in improvement, if Common Core will increase testing time and if the standards are appropriate for elementary students.
Charlie Crist is seeking the governor's office as a Democrat after once holding the post as a Republican. He's been leaning on education issues early to mark differences with Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
Charlie Crist has to close a sale.
The one-time Republican governor now wants to become governor as a Democrat.
But he needs to convince Democrats he’s now one of them if he has any chance of challenging Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
It’s why Crist is talking about his education record during the early days of the campaign — especially his 2009 decision to accept federal stimulus money.
That money ensured teachers stayed on the job, Crist said at his campaign announcement earlier this month in St. Petersburg.
“I am proud of my record as your governor. Investing in public education,” Crist said, before pausing.
“Education,” he said again, to applause. “And stopping the layoffs of some 20,000 school teachers during the global economic meltdown.”
Crist, Scott and former Democratic state Sen. Nan Rich are using education to distinguish themselves from each other. They are the only announced candidates for governor, though U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson or others might enter the race.
Former Florida education commissioner Tony Bennett.
Indiana’s Inspector General has filed an ethics complaint against former Florida education commissioner Tony Bennett for using state computers for campaign business in 2010.
The Associated Press reported documents showed Bennett had kept a database of campaign donors on state computers and had asked staff to parse campaign speeches by Democratic opponent Glenda Ritz:
Bennett, a Republican, served one term as state superintendent before being ousted by current schools chief Glenda Ritz. He resigned his post as Florida Commissioner of Education earlier this year after media reports revealed his team changed the school letter grades of several schools here in Indiana, including a charter founded by a prominent campaign donor.
“Throughout my time in public service I made every effort to be cognizant of and to follow state rules and guidelines for elected officials,” Bennett said in a statement. “I understand no conclusions have been made in this matter and I look forward to working with the Ethics Commission and the Inspector General’s office to demonstrate proper adherence to state rules and guidelines.”
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, right, chats with WUSF's Carson Cooper.
Shortly after becoming Agriculture Commissioner, Adam Putnam asked lawmakers to move the state’s school lunch program to his agency. Lawmakers approved the change in 2011.
Putnam stopped by WUSF’s studios this week for an interview with Florida Matters. Host Carson Cooper asked Putnam what has changed since his agency took over school food programs.
Q: One of your first priorities when you took office was to move the state school lunch program over from the Department of Education over to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. You called that a win-win situation. So are Florida kids scarfing down Florida fruits and veggies now?
A: They’re doing a lot better job about it than they were in the past. You know, it’s kind of indefensible in the past that you would have a child in a Plant City school eating Mexican strawberries. Or a child in the Orange County schools drinking Brazilian orange juice.
Florida is one of 45 states which have adopted the math, English and literacy standards, which outline what students should know at the end of each grade. Critics have questioned the quality of the standards, whether they are appropriate for young students and the cost of training teachers and purchasing new classroom materials.
Unfortunately, Florida employers face a skills gap in the state — an urgent shortage of a resource as basic as food, more valuable than gold and in higher global demand than oil. According to a study conducted by the Florida Council of 100, Florida businesses spend an estimated $3.5 billion each year training their employees in the basic skills they should have learned before entering the workforce.
The Florida Standards, our version of the Common Core State Standards as adopted by our state and 44 others a few years ago, give our schools an ambitious but reachable target to help close this gap. They focus on the key areas of mathematics and English language arts and help ensure that our high-school graduates are prepared to go to college or enter the workforce and compete in the global marketplace.
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