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Putting Education Reform To The Test

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Stories about students and the initiatives designed to improve performance. Are the many education reforms Florida has adopted having an impact?

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June 19, 2014

Florida Students Go Online To Join Algebra Nation

Algebra Nation Video Clips from Study Edge on Vimeo. The first year Florida ninth graders took the state’s Algebra 1 end-of-course exam, less than half those students passed the test. Students must pass the exam to earn a high school diploma, so the results worried school officials. In the two years since, districts are trying […]

June 16, 2014

More Florida Students Passing State’s End-Of-Course Exams

More Florida students passed the state’s final exams for algebra, biology, geometry and U.S. history, according to test results released Monday. The tests, known as end-of-course exams, are required by state law. Students must pass the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam to graduate high school. State leaders were pleased with the results. “I think that is […]

Summer Boot Camp Might Solve A Ninth Grade Algebra Problem

About half of Florida ninth graders failed the state’s Algebra 1 exam on their first attempt last year. The class — and passing the exam — are a high school graduation requirement. We’ll find out today if those numbers improved when the Florida Department of Education releases this year’s end-of-course results. But Pinellas County schools […]

June 11, 2014

The Sunshine Economy: Common Challenges, Changing Classrooms

Our partners at WLRN put together a special education hour of the Sunshine Economy this week. The conversation ranged from a talk with Broward County’s superintendent about Common Core to a chat with a group of high school students about diversity in the classroom: In this edition of The Sunshine Economy: The school year may […]

June 9, 2014

How An Arts Program Is Changing A School’s Identity

When Jonathan De Leon left his home state of New Jersey to teach at North Miami Middle School in 2007, he immediately saw possibility — both in the school and the students. A post-graduate teaching job in an affluent neighborhood in Philadelphia quickly convinced De Leon that North Miami Middle — persistently a low-achieving school, […]

June 4, 2014

How A Conflict In Florida Policies Means The End Of A Student Help Desk

A recurring theme in Florida education is that policies intended to address separate issues can and do conflict with each other. For instance, Florida lawmakers changed high school graduation requirements last year so that students no longer have to complete Algebra II. Research shows most students won’t use Algebra II in their careers, and many […]

More Florida Schools Must Add Extra Reading Instruction

Florida will expand the number of schools required to add an extra hour of reading instruction this fall, Education Week reports. Two years ago lawmakers required the 100 elementary school with the lowest scores on the state reading test to add an extra hour for reading. Now, the 300 lowest-scoring schools will have to add […]

June 2, 2014

New Online Exams Will Also Test School Districts’ Technology

Ocoee High School just west of Orlando opened less than a decade ago. But technology-wise, the 2,300-student school is already obsolete. Ocoee is part of $14 million project to outfit seven Orange County schools with fast, wireless Internet and new classroom technology. The first step was ripping out and replacing miles of fiber optic cable […]

May 29, 2014

Report: It Will Cost $3.2 Billion To Upgrade Schools To Wireless Internet

President Barack Obama’s proposal to equip nearly every school with high-speed wireless Internet will cost $800 million per year — $3.2 billion total by the 2018 deadline — according to a new estimate given to the Federal Communications Commission. The initiative is important to Florida schools for two reasons. First, schools are switching to new […]

May 26, 2014

Will New Florida Standards Leave Time For Creative Writing?

Jackie Mader / The Hechinger Report Laurie Langford, a second grade teacher at West Defuniak Elementary, helps two students look for evidence in a reading passage about public sector jobs. This story is the fourth of a six-part series with the Hechinger Report looking at how schools are preparing for the Common Core State Standards […]

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