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.
Sen. John Legg, R-Port Richey, says some Florida schools might not be ready for a fall 2014 deadline for new education standards and testing.
Port Richey Republican Sen. John Legg has founded a charter school and is chairman of the Senate Education committee.
So people listened when Legg raised some of the first warnings about whether Florida would be ready for new English, literacy and math standards — and the accompanying tests — by the start of the 2014 school year. Legg recently sat down with StateImpact Florida to discuss state progress on the new standards.
Florida is one of 45 states which have fully adopted the Common Core State Standards. The standards require students know fewer topics, but have a deeper understanding. The new standards will also come with new standardized tests.
Tea Party members, Lois Miller, right, and Charlie Batchelder, left, hold signs to protest Common Core across the street from Marion Technical Institute where school administrators were meeting on Southeast Fort King Street in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, April 3, 2013.
The training session by Washington, D.C.-based FreedomWorks was tied to a rally protesting a national conference on Common Core State Standards. The two events were scheduled for neighboring hotels on June 29.
Hotel officials told FreedomWorks they were concerned about unpredictable crowds after seeing people mention the protest and training session on social media.
Florida State College at Jacksonville is questioning a new national ranking of education schools.
A Florida college rated “substandard” in national rankings of education schools said the rankings were “inaccurate and misleading” and rely too much on information obtained on the Internet.
But Tiffany Hunter, Florida State College at Jacksonville dean of education, said the school only has an early childhood education program. Florida has two certifications for early childhood education and elementary education, Hunter said, and the requirements for each are different.
Therefore, the school should not have been included in the evaluation of elementary education programs.
“It seems very apparent that the evaluation was inaccurate and misleading on all levels for our program at FSCJ,” Hunter said by email. “There is a division between Early Childhood and Elementary education and it does not appear to be understood by the NCTQ.”
State and education leaders will also need to provide help outside the classroom, such as bolstering school college and career counseling, better tracking and analysis of federal financial aid applications and developing a statewide program to encourage students to go to college.
Florida schools are now transitioning to Common Core State Standards, which outline what students should know by the end of each grade. The standards are intended to ensure that every high school graduate will be ready for college-level work or qualified for a job with a salary which could support a family.
But The Florida College Access Network analysis argues that increasing academic rigor alone won’t be enough. The group provides research and advocacy with the goal of increasing the percentage of Floridians with higher education degrees or credentials.
Got a question about Common Core standards? Drop us a line.
StateImpact is answering reader-submitted questions about the Common Core, a new set of expectations for what students should know and be able to do in math and English at each grade level. Florida is one of 45 states that have fully adopted the Common Core.
Today, we’re answering a question posed from a reader (in Arizona, thanks for reading!) about financial literacy education and a question about what Common Core standards say about teachers teaming up on lessons.
I teach financial education for grades K-12 on behalf of a credit union. My question relates to aligning the presentations that I make to the Common Core Standards.
In previous years, I would review the performance objectives under the Social Studies Standard, and prepare lessons that addressed these performance objectives (e.g., budgeting, saving money, checking accounts). In this way, my presentations were in sync with what the students had to learn.
With the new standards will there continue to be performance objectives to which I can refer? If not, what will replace these performance objectives? Will Common Core Standards affect personal finance objectives, and if so how?
Hillsborough County schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia asked the State Board of Education to review the school grading formula.
The State Board of Education has asked that a panel of school superintendents and other education officials to review the state’s school grading system and potentially recommend changes.
Superintendents from Hillsborough and Miami-Dade schools said that they are concerned changes to the school grading system will mean a dramatic drop in school grades.
The board approved changes to the system last year — such as including the test scores of students at special education centers and raising the target score on the state reading test. Additional changes are set to take effect this year.
The school grading system tries to combine many measures of school performance, such as test results or the percentage of students taking advanced courses, into an easy-to-understand letter grade. The grades can determine which schools receive additional help to improve results, or influence property values.
The grading system has also drawn criticism for being punitive and putting too much emphasis on test results.
Hillsborough County schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia said at the state board’s Tampa meeting today that a district analysis shows test scores are rising, but according to the state formula, the district saw “unexplained and large drops in learning gains.”
“We have other assessments that show kids making gains,” Elia said. “When we’re seeing it and this test isn’t showing it. We’ve got a problem.”
University of Central Florida elementary education students discuss how to incorporate books, maps, magazines and other materials into lesson plans. The program earned strong marks in a new national ranking.
Update: Florida State College at Jacksonville is challenging the NCTQ rankings. The school argues it only has an early childhood education program, but NCTQ included the school in its ranking of early childhood education programs.
The school’s dean says early childhood and elementary education certifications have different requirements, and the two should not be combined.
Five Florida teacher training programs have landed on a list of schools dubbed “substandard,” according to a new national ranking of education programs.
Five Florida schools earned a “consumer warning” label from NCTQ.
“Teacher candidates are unlikely to gain much, if any, of value in return for their investment,” the report says. “Further, school districts should be aware that in our view these programs only provide minimal, substandard training to their candidates.”
Those schools are: Chipola College; Edison State College; Florida State College At Jacksonville; Northwest Florida State College; and St. Petersburg College.
One Florida school was singled out for praise: The University of Central Florida. The report named UCF to its honor roll for secondary education programs with low tuition. The school also earned the highest rating in the nation for special education training.
P.G. Schafer, a Tea Party member, holds a sign to protest Common Core across the street from Marion Technical Institute where school administrators were meeting on Southeast Fort King Street in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, April 3, 2013.
Opponents of new education standards adopted by Florida and 44 other states are planning an Orlando protest later this month, according to an invitation sent to StateImpact Florida.
And Washington, D.C.-based non-profit FreedomWorks will hold a session to educate and train activists opposed to the standards the same day.
Florida Parents Against The Common Core are organizing the event. The protest will be held June 29 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes.
Known as Common Core, the standards have drawn criticism from those on the political right and left across the country. Critics worry the standards aren’t as good as current standards in some states and will mean a loss of local control over education. They also worry about the cost and emphasis on standardized testing.
Sarasota County middle school students work on math problems in a “classroom of tomorrow.”
Actress Mayim Bialik works on algebra problems with Sarasota County students.
Sarasota County middle school math teacher Brenda Fuoco, in 2013.
Actress Mayim Bialik works on math problems with Sarasota County middle school students (from left) Amanda Folsom, Daphne Waggener and Gracie Brasacchio.
Chris Pfahler, who manages the STEMsmart program for the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
The stories talk to teachers rated “most effective” about how they approach the job, analyze if there is a correlation between evaluations and pay and gives readers interactive ways to explore state and school evaluation data.
Ohio has a statewide teacher evaluation that makes it easier to compare teacher scores — known as value-added — across district lines.
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