Florida

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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October 17, 2012

Race-Based Scoring Controversy Gets Attention From Lawmakers

Governor Rick Scott doesn’t like the way the State Board of Education has proposed closing the achievement gap between students. The board released a five year plan that sets different passing thresholds on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) — which vary by student race and ethnicity. The plan calls for higher passing scores among Asian […]

October 16, 2012

Henry Frost: “Please Talk To Me Like Everyone Else.”

Henry Frost, the autistic Tampa student who wants to enroll in his neighborhood school, did a Q&A with a Huffington Post blogger. Here’s our favorite part, especially number 10: AZ: What are the top 10 things you wish people understood about you? Henry: #1 Please talk to me like everyone else. #2 Please don’t talk […]

Duval Schools Plan Also Included Race-Based Acheivement Goals

Duval County school board members are complaining about a state plan which sets differing academic targets by race, despite approving a similar plan in August the Florida Times-Union reports. Duval County school board member Tommy Hazouri said the local plan targets were informational and not part of the district’s strategic plan. Other board members said […]

October 15, 2012

Explaining Florida’s New Race-Based Achievement Goals

The State Board of Education is taking criticism for a new five-year plan which local school officials say sets lower goals for blacks, Hispanics and other groups than for white or Asian students. But the plan also asks for more improvement from those same black and Hispanic students than their higher-performing classmates, something supporters say […]

State Setting Standards For New Biology, Geometry and Science Assessments

Education leaders are taking public input this week on plans to set new achievement level standards for Florida students. The state is transitioning from the FCAT to the FCAT 2.0 and Florida End-of-Course (EOC) assessments. These tests will measure student achievement of the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS). Minimum standards must be in place […]

October 12, 2012

Feedback Loop: Autistic Student, Or Student With Autism?

Our story about Henry Frost’s efforts to enroll in his neighborhood school also sparked a discussion about language. Dean McIntosh criticized our describing Frost as a “student with autism.” The debate is over what’s known as “people first” language — that is emphasizing the person over the diagnosis. But McIntosh says you can’t separate autism […]

October 11, 2012

Nearly 29,000 Students Participated In Florida Summer Reading Program

We told you last June about the Summer Literacy Adventure. It was a reading challenge to keep kids interested in books during the summer break. First Lady Ann Scott visited students at summer camps and parks around the state encouraging them to read as many books as possible. Kids went online and pledged to read […]

October 10, 2012

What We Learned From Today’s #NPRedchat

Since early September, #NPRedchat has allowed us to take a deeper look at education and explore ways of engaging not only with our radio audience, but with the digital public on Twitter as well.  Today, we are talking with educators, parents and students from Florida to California, on critical education issues facing the nation. The […]

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