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.
Last week WUSF Mark Schreiner profiled a University of South Florida researcher trying to figure out what attracts students to STEM fields. This week Schreiner looks at a USF program trying to prepare better middle school STEM teachers for the classroom.
State universities leaders will likely discuss the issue when they meet with lawmakers Thursday morning.
Florida International Academy charter school students in Opa Locka, Florida.
A Hechinger Report story asks an important question: What happens to students when a charter school closes?
The story looks at Akron’s Lighthouse Academy, which is being shut down due to low state standardized test scores. Some parents had vowed to never send their children to district schools, but now make have to do so.
New York City recently decided that average was not good enough when it came to city charter schools. There are arguments for and against closing charter schools:
The Florida Department of Education has ranked more than 3,000 state schools.
Schools in Brevard, Miami-Dade and Okaloosa counties were the top rated elementary, middle and high schools, respectively, according to a school rankings the Florida Department of Education released Monday.
The agency followed up on its evaluation of state school districts by ranking all 3,078 schools from first to worst. Local school officials have criticized the district rankings because they are based solely on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores.
The elementary and middle school rankings are based on FCAT scores. The high school rankings use FCAT scores, but also includes graduation rates, accelerated coursework — such as Advanced Placement — and college or career readiness.
[spreadsheet key=”0Av06TaO9jXYrdDlpVmlPSUZ1TEk3OFNJandSZGNOVlE” source=”Florida Department of Education” filter=1 paginate=1 sortable=1]
Rep. Kelli Stargel's bill would require teachers to evaluate their students' parents.
Florida law requires grades for students, teachers, schools and districts. So why not parents as well?
Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, has introduced a bill — HB 543 — to do just that.
Fort Myers News-Press columnist Sam Cook thinks the proposed grades are a bad idea and unlikely to improve the relationship between teachers, parents and students.
“The bill will incite acrimony,” Cook writes. “Both sides will get defensive. Arguments will erupt. HB 543 won’t bring together parents and teachers. It will tear them apart.”
The four Republican presidential candidates met for a debate in Jacksonville Thursday.
Do the Republican candidates for president support the ‘Florida model’ for education?
On issues of accountability and school choice the answer is yes.
However, many in the field criticize the federal role in education and would reduce or eliminate the agency.
That puts some of the candidates in conflict with former Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican and the architect of much of Florida’s education policy since he first took office in 1999. Bush has argued the federal government should push states to raise standards on curriculum and testing.
U.S. Rep. David Rivera has introduced a new version of the DREAM Act.
U.S. Rep. David Rivera of Miami has taken a cue from the presidential contenders and introduced a new version of the DREAM Act providing a fast-track citizenship path for those who enter the military.
The original DREAM Act would have provided a citizenship track for the children of undocumented immigrants who had lived in the U.S. for years and enrolled in college or signed up for the U.S. military.
The bill passed a Democrat-controlled U.S. House in 2010, but died in the the Senate. Republicans subsequently took control of the House and the bill has languished.
University of South Florida students work on a high-tech project. A USF professor is studying STEM programs and students.
University of South Florida professor Will Tyson recently won a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant to study science, technology, engineering and math education, known as STEM.
STEM is a hot topic in education circles as policy makers try to figure out ways to produce more graduates with high-tech skills necessary for a transforming economy.Gov. Rick Scott has said Florida’s universities should retool their programs to produce more STEM graduates.
Tyson’s study will look at how STEM students developed their interest and then track their school and career performance.
WUSF’s Mark Schreiner spoke with Tyson about his study and what he hopes to learn.
School officials have criticized the rankings as a simplistic measure considering only Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores, and ignoring a district’s size, relative wealth and other underlying factors.
The Jacksonville PEF analyzed districts including some of that data and came up with a graph showing expected and actual performance (click on the graph above to expand).
Four Republican candidates for president debated in Tampa Monday.
Yesterday we published a guide to where the Republican presidential candidates stand on education issues.
Today we’ll let you hear from them in their own words.
We’ve selected a few YouTube clips, presented in alphabetical order. Please note that some of these clips are older, and not from the current campaign.
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