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 released some teacher evaluation data for the 2011-12 school year on Dec. 5. This is the first time the state has released data for the new mandatory teacher evaluations. Continue reading
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A blogger with the Foundation for Excellence in Education is playing tenacious D over a Reuters story critical of former Gov. Jeb Bush.
Remember that Reuters story last week which took a longer look at claims that Florida schools have improved under former Gov. Jeb Bush’s leadership?
A blogger for the Foundation for Excellence in Education — one of two foundations Bush started to support his education agenda — has responded. Mike Thomas counts the Reuters piece among stories “crafted to reach a pre-ordained conclusion.”
Thomas cites a list of examples where he feels the story’s author cherry-picking contrary data or just ignored evidence entirely. This includes improving test scores from black and Hispanic students; expanding access to Advanced Placement courses; increasing the percentage of students taking the SAT — and earning higher scores.
He also faults the story for attributing school improvement to a constitutional amendment limiting class sizes, when the amendment was not fully phased in until after Florida schools had started showing improvement.
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The PERT is a computerized test to determine whether students require remedial help before taking college-level classes.
Along with our partners at the Florida Center for Investigative reporting, we’ve been telling you about the growing need for remedial courses at Florida’s state colleges.
Students are required to take remedial courses because of their scores on PERT — the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test. The test is given to high school students to determine if they need remedial help.
Half the students who took the state’s college placement test in the 2010-2011 school year failed at least one section of the test and were placed in a remedial course. (PERT was introduced in 2010 to begin replacing the state’s former test, Accuplacer, so these figures are for the older test.)
So what is PERT? And who has to take it?
PERT is three-section computerized test, with 30 questions in each section, used to determine if students are ready for college-level courses.
The student’s answers on 25 questions determine their placement, while the remaining five questions are used for field testing in order to maintain a bank of questions for use on the test. Students do not know which questions count and which do not.
Kyle Stokes / StateImpact Indiana
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction delivers his concession speech on Election Day.
We interviewed Tony Bennett back in the spring to ask him about his relationship with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
With news Bennett has applied to be Florida’s next Education Commissioner, this quote from Bennett seemed relevant:
“But I think Indiana was really the first state to really adopt the Florida model…I would say to you that there are probably very few, if any, states that are as closely aligned to the Florida model as Indiana.”
Elle Moxley / StateImpact Indiana
Indiana Superintendent of Public Education Tony Bennett has applied to become Florida Commissioner of Education.
Tony Bennett, who lost his reelection bid to remain Indiana’s education chief, says he has applied to become Florida’s education commissioner.
Bennett is a close ally of former Gov. Jeb Bush. Bennett has led Chiefs for Change, an education advocacy group tied to Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to submit an application for Florida’s Commissioner of Education position,” Bennett said in a statement to our colleagues at StateImpact Indiana. “The Sunshine State’s consistent commitment to providing all students a top-notch education is impressive and inspiring. I look forward to participating in the next stages of this process.”
Sagette Van Embden / Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Shakira Lockett, 22, spent three semesters taking remedial classes before she began working on college-level courses. Lockett, who attended Miami Dade College’s Wolfson campus in downtown Miami, completed her associate’s degree in mass communications and journalism in May.
Florida’s K-12 public education system has graduated hundreds of thousands of students in the past decade who couldn’t read, write or solve math problems well enough to take some college-level courses.
More than half of high school graduates who took the college placement test in the 2010-2011 school year found out they had to take at least one remedial course in college to boost basic skill. These students couldn’t pass at least one subject on the placement exam used to assess the abilities of incoming students.
Florida’s 28 public community and state colleges are required to accept anyone with a high school diploma or G.E.D.
Students taking remedial classes have a harder time getting through college. They must pay for — and the state must subsidize – these basic-skills courses. They do not receive credit toward graduation for remedial classes, and can’t take courses that do count for credit until their skills improve. The result for these students is a longer path to graduating college.
Many of those students never complete their studies.
The need for remedial education is a nationwide problem. But it’s a significantly worse problem in Florida than elsewhere, despite the state’s reputation as a pioneer in overhauling K-12 education.
Some 54 percent of Florida students who took the state college placement test need remedial work in at least one subject. The national average for first-time students needing remediation is 40 percent.
Demand for remedial courses in Florida has doubled since 2007.
John O'Connor / StateImpact Florida
Some of the signs at Thursday's protest by disabilities advocates.
About two dozen protestors gathered Thursday to ask Hillsborough County school officials to change school policies after three students with disabilities dies following school-related events this year.
The most important change they requested is that all aides working with students with disabilities are properly trained.
But the group also had a more detailed list of requests that ranged from simple things, such as changing who to call first in an emergency, to a more contentious request that Florida fully implement the Medicaid expansion under the federal Affordable Care Act health care law.
Medicaid is a federally-funded but state-run health insurance program for the poor and disabled. Participating in the federal expansion, they said, would allow the state to better tailor programs and services for the disabled and allow more disabled to receive care at home rather than an institution.
Here’s what else the protestors were requesting:
John O'Connor / StateImpact Florida
Allison Tremblay, left, and Christine Felix joined those asking for more required training for school employees working with the disabled. Three students with disabilities have died following school-related events.
Since January three Hillsborough County students with disabilities have died during school-related events.
Isabella Herrera, 7, died in January after she had trouble breathing on a school bus.
Jesse Shillingford, 15, drowned at a back-to-school party hosted by a charter school.
And Jennifer Caballero, 11, wandered away from a gym class — and five aides — and drowned in October.
Now, a group of parents wants more training for those working with students with disabilities.
About two dozen protestors gathered at the Children’s Trust in Tampa, holding signs reading “Cut$ Co$t Lives” and “Stop School Abuse.”
Some asked for Superintendent MaryEllen Elia and school board member Candy Olson to resign.
Clearwater resident Melissa Tremblay helped organize the event. She says when she heard about the recent deaths she thought about her daughter with Down syndrome.
Tremblay says people who work with students with disabilities must be trained.
“We are definitely looking for mandated training, especially for the aides,” she says. “When you pull somebody in out of the cafeteria to become your child’s aide it’s not safe, and it’s not educationally relevant.”
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images News
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels closed things out at the Education in Action summit.
Day 2 of the Education in Action conference started with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talking about what his agency was doing well — and where they had fallen short.
Much of the day’s discussion focused on teacher training, improving principles and how to explain Common Core State Standards and make sure they are implemented.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels closed things out with a speech that urged education reformers to “go big or go home,” including taking a hard-line with unions because the two sides can not work together.
Here’s a collection of reactions from the summit, after the jump.
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Five Florida school districts are finalists in the latest round of Race to the Top grants.
Five Florida districts have been chosen as finalists for a total of $400 million in federal Race to the Top grants.
Broward, Charlotte, Manatee, Miami-Dade, and Seminole county schools were among the 61 finalists chosen from 372 applications. The department expects to award 15 to 25 grants, which will be announced by year’s end.
The grants are intended “to support locally developed plans to personalize and deepen student learning, directly improve student achievement and educator effectiveness, close achievement gaps, and prepare every student for success in college and careers,” according to the agency. For more details on what the agency is looking for, click here.
“These finalists are setting the curve for the rest of the country with innovative plans to drive education reform in the classroom,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement. “This competition was designed to support local efforts to close the achievement gap and transform the learning environment in a diverse set of districts, but no matter who wins, children across the country will benefit from the clear vision and track records of success demonstrated by these finalists.”
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