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.
Ask students how often they’re bullied at school and you’re likely to get a different answer than if you look at official Florida statistics.
Florida schools reported one bullying case for every 423 students during the 2010-2011 school year — or less than one-quarter of one percent of students — according to Florida Department of Education data.
Florida schools have several criteria that harassment must meet before it qualifies as bullying. For schools to consider harassment bullying there must:
1) Be an imbalance of power in the relationship or a perceived imbalance of power.
Florida continues its summer training to prepare teachers and administrators for Common Core, the next generation of curriculum standards and testing. Here’s what else is happening in Florida education this week:
Monday: The University of South Florida Board of Trustees has called an emergency conference call at 3:30. Last week the Florida Board of Governors granted USF’s requested 11 percent tuition increase.
The Common Core Summer Institutes continue, this time in Ft. Lauderdale. Monday through Thursday teachers and administrators will learn about the Common Core requirements and how they will change curriculum and testing in Florida schools.
Thursday: The Florida Charter School Appeal Commission begins two days of hearings on charter school applications denied by local school boards. All six appeals on the agenda are in Palm Beach County.
Shayne Ijames, 13, committed suicide in Port St. Lucie on May 2, 2012. The family suspects he was bullied after a text message came in on his phone that said, "happy funeral."
Parents said they had pulled their children from school because of a threat or fear of bullying. Adults said the story took them right back to school hallways where they were treated similarly to Austin Beaucage.
Former Student said, in his or her experience, bullying was not taken seriously in Florida’s rural schools:
Growing up as the only Indian kid in a small Florida town (Class of 2000), I’m really sad to see that nothing has changed. I will never forget the first (and only) time I went for help to school administrator because two kids were bullying me.
His response “Are you sure it was those two boys? I know their parents!”.
Editor’s note: This post was written by WUSF’s Mark Schreiner.
Sam DuPont and Audrey Buttice were once mild-mannered USF Ph.D. students.
As part of a National Science Foundation-funded fellowship program, they’d visit elementary schools around the Tampa area and do science demonstrations. But they thought that they could reach more students by videotaping their work—they just needed a hook.
DuPont says they found their answer while waiting in line at Disney World.
“At first we’re like, ‘Pirates!’ and we’re like, ‘Nah, that’s not good.’ Then we’re like, ‘Clowns!’ and we’re like, ‘Ah, that’s a little too juvenile,’ and then we were like, ‘Ah, I got it, superheroes!’ and from there, that’s history!”
So, along with classmate Robert Bair, they came up with new alter egos and a back story–a lab accident that transformed them from normal scientists to super-powered members of The Scientific League of Superheroes.
The University of Central Florida asked for a 15 percent increase — the board said no. Florida Gulf Coast asked for a 15 percent increase, but wound up with 12 percent. New College of Florida got a 15 percent raise.
The board proposed a 15 percent increase for Florida State University — it failed. Then they tried a 14 percent hike — spiked again.
The board then proposed a 13 percent increase, which failed without a majority on an 8-8 vote.
That’s when Florida State University president Eric Barron put his foot down.
The study looked at school funding in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The researchers argue a good state education funding scheme does two things: Spends more money on education relative to the state’s wealth, and is “progressive,” allocating more money to school districts with higher poverty rates.
The report’s conclusions echo our investigative story from last year that found 86 percent of Florida charter schools do not enroll any children with profound disabilities — compared to more than half of district schools which do.
The GAO report also found the largest gap was for students with intellectual disabilities. District schools enrolled students with disabilities at a rate nearly twice that of charter schools — though those students are a small percentage of the total student body.
But charter schools were more likely than district schools to have high percentages of students with disabilities. That’s likely because of schools such as the UCP charter chain in Orlando and Tampa’s Pepin Academies which specialize in autism or other disabilities.
One section of the 4th grade exam had students measure volume change as ice melts. Seventy-one percent of those tested accurately measured the change in volume. But only 15 percent were able to back up their conclusion with data.
Officials with the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the NAEP, were concerned U.S. students struggled with more difficult problem-solving.
Federal student loan rates will double on July 1 unless Congress strikes a deal to extend the lower rates.
Students enjoying a temporary reprieve in federal student loan rates know that the deal comes the an end July 1 — unless Congress can reach an agreement to extend the lower rates.
The Miami Herald has a nice rundown on who will see their rates jump to 6.8 percent from 3.4 percent and who won’t. The story also lays out the political challenges facing any Congressional deal.
The potential rate increase comes as students and families are increasingly finding college unaffordable, and the financial hits are coming from all directions: federal Pell grants can no longer be used for summer classes; state financial aid programs such as Florida’s Bright Futures scholarships have been scaled back; double-digit tuition increases have become the norm.
But not all undergraduates would be affected by the rate increase. Subsidized Stafford loans are awarded only to low-to-moderate income students, while unsubsidized loans (which anyone is eligible for) are already set at 6.8 percent, and so would not be affected by the July 1 deadline.
Anyone who took out a loan before July 1 — whether you’re still in school or have graduated — would also be unaffected, as student loan rates are fixed at the time you borrow.
The vote is the strongest opposition yet to the FCAT and Florida’s accountability system to assure teachers, schools and districts are educating students.
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