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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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February 23, 2015

How A Private Middle School Is Preparing Students For High School Success

It’s 7:30 a.m. and the fifth through eight graders at Academy Prep in midtown St. Petersburg are lined up outside to recite the school pledge. It’s a cool February morning and they’re a little fidgety until Head of School Gina Burkett raises two fingers above her head and all goes quiet. The pledge starts with […]

February 20, 2015

Why Do-It-Yourself Charts Help Students Remember Math Lessons

The 5th grade math lesson at Frances S. Tucker Elementary School asked students to do a lot of things. They were learning how to use a line plot to organize and visualize data. They had to add fractions to find a total for the amount of cake or glasses of apple juice students consumed. Then, […]

February 19, 2015

Miami-Dade Classrooms Using Computerized Math Lessons

On one side of Yaliesperanza Salazar’s math class at Miami’s Frances S. Tucker Elementary School, students were learning to group data and draw conclusions using a line plot. But another lesson was happening on the other side of the class, one tailored for each student using i-Ready computerized instruction. i-Ready tests each student, identifies the […]

February 16, 2015

Why Elementary Math Lessons Are Changing In Florida Schools

At dinner tables across Florida, parents and their elementary school children are trying to solve a math problem: What’s going on with my kid’s homework? Florida is one of dozens of states that has switched to new math standards based on Common Core. The standards outline what students should know in every grade. Experts say […]

February 11, 2015

Proposed Limit Might Not Reduce Testing Time

A proposal to limit students to 45 hours of testing a year is unlikely to reduce the amount of time spent on exams, according to a survey of Florida’s largest school districts. Districts say they don’t currently track the time individual students spend on testing. Calculating the number is complicated. The amount of testing varies […]

January 27, 2015

Everybody Loves STEM

Retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro broke a long silence yesterday, and we couldn’t resist pointing out this education-related gem. He mostly touched on the push to open U.S.-Cuba relations. But in a statement to the University Students Federation, Castro put in a plug for STEM education — science, technology, engineering and math. From the Miami […]

January 26, 2015

Study: Florida Schools Should End Corporal Punishment

Two University of Florida researchers say Florida should join other states which have outlawed corporal punishment to discipline students. Florida is one of 20 states which allows schools to spank or paddle misbehaving students. Twenty-six of the state’s 67 districts allow corporal punishment. Some districts require a parent’s approval, others do not. UF education professors […]

January 25, 2015

New Book Looks At The History And Future Of Testing In U.S. Schools

Lots of people think there’s too much testing going on in schools right now. It’s one of the most contentious issues in education. Lawmakers want to scale back the amount of time Florida students spend taking tests. But at the same time, Florida is rolling out a new test tied to new math and language […]

January 15, 2015

Amateur Radio Club Connects Miami Students With Space Station

At first, the kids in the auditorium at Richmond Heights Middle School weren’t sure they’d hear a voice above the ear-burning static. Dade Radio Club of Miami president Miguel Garate kept signaling the space station. “NA1SS, NA1SS, this is Richmond Heights. Over,” Garate said repeatedly, trying to hail the space station. They had just minutes […]

January 5, 2015

Why Small Schools Might Be Better For Students Than Small Classes

The School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) in Tallahassee has just over 300 students, and the waiting list to get in is much longer. Maureen Yoder is one of the founders of the 15-year-old K-8 charter school. “We started this school with the intent of keeping it small because we want to create a school […]

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