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.
A screenshot of the Florida Virtual Academy website. The schools are affiliated with K12, Inc. the Florida Department of Education is investigating whether the company used improperly certified teachers in Seminole County.
Editor’s note: Trevor Aaronson is a reporter with the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.
Thousands of Florida students already are taking classes from Virginia-based K12, Inc, the nation’s largest online education company.
Students in traditional schools, in charter schools and who are homeschooled can already take K12 classes in 42 county school districts.
Now, the company is trying to set up charter schools across the state. But these aren’t your traditional charter schools — they’re online schools where students never set foot in a building.
School officials across Florida are asking, “Why?”
“I’m not sure what need it would fill,” said Judi Zanetti, chairwoman of the Marion County School board.
K12 says online charters are just one more way to customize education for students. The schools allow students to learn at their own pace and take classes on their schedule.
But school district officials and researchers worry the K12 may be trying to avoid scrutiny from local educators.
Viola Davis stars as a teacher in "Won't Back Down," which opens Friday.
The big education movie “Won’t Back Down” is opening this week.
The movie tells the fictional tale of a Pittsburgh parent and school teacher fighting to turn around their failing school.
The movie is based on parent trigger legislation being considered around the country, including Florida. Supporters hope that “Won’t Back Down” can focus a spotlight on the issue, just as “Waiting For Superman” did on charter schools.
Both movies were produced by the same company, Walden Media.
A Florida Department of Education task force will meet this afternoon to talk about a new proposal to change state law for district and charter school facilities funding.
Under the proposal, districts would be required to provide facilities funding to charter schools based on the number of students enrolled. Funding would be compulsory, ending the current practice of choosing facilities funding by need.
School districts would have the option of raising local property taxes an additional .15 mills to pay for charter school facilities. Districts can currently levy 1.5 mills on taxpayers for school facilities.
President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney both appeared at NBC News’ Education Nation event in New York City today.
Here’s video of the two interviews. Obama sat down with Savannah Guthrie in a pre-recorded interview while Romney was interviewed by Brian Williams and took audience questions.
The law firm, Faruqi and Faruqi, cites a StateImpact Florida/Florida Center for Investigative Reporting report about Florida investigating the company for possible using improperly certified teachers. According to emails and other documents, K12 officials asked teachers to sign rosters which included students they had not taught.
Two Florida school districts, Brevard and Volusia, are surveying parents to check which teachers taught their children.
Volusia schools spokesman Nancy Wait said the district has verified 13 K12 teachers were certified in the courses they taught, but has yet to hear back from some parents.
Teachers are selling lesson plans through an online marketplace. It seems unlikely vintage lesson plans will be worth more.
A Georgia Kindergarten teacher has earned more than $1 million selling lesson plans to other teachers through a website, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
Deanna Jump’s story is unusual, but two teachers have earned more than $300,000 and nearly two dozen have earned more than $100,000.
Since signing on to the site, she has created 93 separate teaching units and sold 161,000 copies for about $8 a pop. “My units usually cover about two weeks’ worth of material,” she says. “So if you want to teach about dinosaurs, you’d buy my dinosaur unit, and it has everything you need from language arts, math, science experiments, and a list of books you can use as resources. So once you print out the unit, you just have to add a few books to read aloud to your class, and everything else is there, ready to go for you.”
This American Life host Ira Glass talks about his experience covering education in the September 14th episode.
StateImpact Florida hit the road for Orlando this week, and so we packed a few podcasts for the trip.
We highly recommend a fascinating piece by This American Life that takes a look at the growing body of research about “non-cognitive skills,” such as resilience, tenacity and self-control. Research shows that the stress from living in a low-income home can inhibit brain development — and the development of these soft skills.
The show looks a how these skills are more useful in helping students complete high school or college. And unlike cognitive ability, experts say these skills can be taught and learned.
Improving education was one of the five points in Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's jobs plan during a Thursday campaign stop in Sarasota.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was in Sarasota Thursday, laying out his ideas for improving the economy.
Romney’s five-point plan included an education plank.
Romney praised former Gov. Jeb Bush and borrowed a key idea. He also pledged to allow federal dollars to follow the student, which would let parents to better choose the best school for their child.
“We’re going to give our workers the skills they need to succeed and make sure our kids are getting the education they need to succeed. For that to happen it’s time for us to put the kids first, the teachers up there with them, the parents and put the teacher’s union behind.
True merit pay — the kind of compensation for job performance found in most industries — provides effective employees with continued employment and regular raises while ineffective workers lose their jobs. If you do a good job you get to keep getting a pay check and if you don’t you have to look for work somewhere else. That’s true payment for merit because un-meritorious workers stop getting paid altogether.
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