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.
UPDATE: K12 spokesman Jeff Kwitowski has responded, sending along a link to an op-ed from a TNVA teacher explaining the school grading system, and the school’s response. He also adds some context to the statistic about meeting state math standards. See his comment below.
Tennessee lawmakers say they are considering limiting K12’s Tennessee Virtual Academy enrollment if scores don’t improve.
Tony Bennett was Superintendent of Public Instruction in Indiana for one term. He lost his re-election bid in November 2012, and was appointed Florida's schools chief by Governor Rick Scott.
But Education Commissioner Tony Bennett told the State Board of Education politics are about to become an issue as well.
The standards, known as Common Core State Standards, have been fully adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia. Educators say the new standards ask what students know and require them to prove how they know it. Critics say the standards are no better than what many states have already adopted.
Bennett said Monday that some states are going to face sticker shock when they realize the cost of the new testing. Others, he said, might want to set lower passing scores than Florida.
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.
Florida lawmakers are considering allowing the state education commissioner to partially delay implementation of new, tougher education standards and testing.
“I think it’s going to be a challenge,” Legg says. “It’s going to be difficult to meet that deadline unless we start looking at significant investments or perhaps even delaying that deadline or looking at an alternative course.
“You don’t want to have students moving around the schools getting ready to do assessments, figuring that out mid-year. You want to have that plan in place before school starts, before you start doing the testing schedule. I’m real concerned that we’re not going to be able to implement it correctly.”
The standards, known as Common Core, have been adopted by 45 states. The standards put more emphasis on analysis and critical thinking, experts say, asking students to prove not only what they know, but how they know it.
Florida is one of 11 states with a tax credit scholarship. Here’s how it works.
Students are eligible for the program if:
Their family household income is no more than 185 percent of the federal poverty level. That’s about $43,500 for a family of four.
Were enrolled in a public school the previous year. The Legislature will consider a bill ending this requirement.
Are attending kindergarten or first grade.
Businesses can take a tax credit for donations to eligible “nonprofit scholarship funding organizations,” according to state law. Businesses can claim credits for corporate income taxes, insurance premium taxes, alcoholic beverage excise taxes, direct pay sales taxes and oil and gas severance taxes.
Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio delivered the Republican response to the State of the Union last night. He also proposed a federal tax credit scholarship similar to a program in Florida.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is proposing a federal tax credit to provide private school scholarships to students in low-income families.
The program is similar to a Florida tax credit scholarship program approved in 2001. More than 50,000 students are enrolled in the Florida program, claiming $229 million in benefits.
Individuals could claim a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for up to $4,500 in annual donations to groups awarding private school scholarships under Rubio’s plan, according to The Miami Herald. Businesses could claim tax credits for up to $100,000 in donations.
Students in families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level would be eligible for the program. For a family of four that totals $58,875.
“How can you have a C or D ranked school in which 85 percent, or 90 or 95 percent of the teachers are classified as effective or highly effective?” Gaetz told the Associated Press. “It seems to me that those two data points have to have some relationship to each other.”
It’s a question the Tampa Bay Times also looked at on Sunday, asking how Pinellas County schools earning the state’s highest report card grades could have relatively low school-wide teacher evaluation scores?
Akshay Desai resigned from the State Board of Education to focus on his struggling health care company.
Gov. Rick Scott filled three slots on the State Board of Education Thursday, reappointing John Padget of Key West and appointing Ada Armas of Coral Gables and John Colon of University Park.
The bill adds more restrictions to closed charter schools and requires charter schools to post their board, management firm and some spending online.
The bill also requires school districts to turn over empty buildings formerly used for K-12 education to charter schools at no cost. Charter schools must pay for maintenance or reimburse the school district for the cost.
Today is Digital Learning Day, an effort to raise awareness about the benefits of integrating more technology into education.
Today is Digital Learning Day, part of an effort to put more emphasis on the possibilities computers, the Internet and new technology offer to improve education.
Advocates argue access and customization are the biggest advantages to digital instruction. Students often find digital instruction more engaging — pull out those smart phones and Wi-Fi enabled iPods, students — and the materials can be more interactive and easily updated.
But Florida lawmakers believe in the advantages of digital learning and have required schools to deliver half of their instruction digitally beginning in the fall of 2015. The state requires students to take one online course in order to graduate high school. Florida students are also more likely to take a standardized test on a computer than in other states.
Michelle Rhee, the education firebrand/lightning rod who is the former chancellor of Washington, D.C. public schools, sat down for an interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last night.
Rhee founded education advocacy group StudentsFirst. Rhee has advised Florida Gov. Rick Scott. She is known for vociferously challenging teacher’s unions and promoting policies
Stewart particularly questioned Rhee about her treatment of teachers and the effect on professional morale. Stewart also asked if it was fair to minimize the effect of poverty and upbringing on student achievement, as Rhee’s brand of “no excuses” school policies often do.
The wave of new education policies, Stewart said, have left teachers feeling like a football team forced to adjust each time a new offensive is brought in.
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