Florida

Putting Education Reform To The Test

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Background

Merit pay; eliminating tenure; new teacher evaluations — how are school, district and state policies affecting how educators and their students perform?

Latest Posts

February 8, 2013

Teachers Question Why Proposed Pay Raises Come Before Teacher Evaluations

Sarah Gonzalez / StateImpact Florida 5th grade teacher Beverley Dowell says she hopes the Governor “isn’t trying to buy teacher votes” when he suggested every full-time teacher in the state get a pay raise before their evaluation results come in. Most districts won’t start identifying, and potentially removing, low-performing teachers from their schools until next […]

How A C-Rated School Can Be Full of Effective Teachers

Last month Senate president Don Gaetz raised eyebrows when he questioned the accuracy of Florida’s new teacher evaluations. The evaluations are based on a complex statistical formula which weighs Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores and other factors to calculate how much a teacher influences student learning. The evaluations will eventually contribute to how much a […]

January 30, 2013

Three Things We Learned Wednesday At An Education Technology Conference

We spent the day poking around FETC, one of the nation’s largest education technology conferences. We played with the latest toys and sat in on a few discussions about how schools in Florida and elsewhere are using technology. Here’s what we learned: 1) Use The Old Bait And Switch Palm Beach Gardens High School media […]

January 28, 2013

What to Expect At FETC, An Education Technology Conference

With Florida schools looking to add more technology to their lessons, FETC opens in Orlando this week. FETC is one of the nation’s largest education technology conferences. About 10,000 educators will meet to talk about trends, swap ideas and check out hundred of companies presenting their newest products. It’s a chance for Florida school districts […]

January 24, 2013

Lawmakers Get Update On Teacher Evaluations And The Student Success Act

A Florida House panel heard an update today on teacher evaluations and the state’s implementation of the Student Success Act, also known as Senate Bill 736. The Florida Legislature passed the law in 2011 that changes the way teachers are evaluated and paid in an effort to improve student learning in K-12. The law is […]

January 11, 2013

Teachers Get Help With Common Core Lessons Through CPALMS

As states start phasing in Common Core standards in public school classrooms, no Common Core textbooks have been written yet, and new assessments are still being developed. So, teachers are creating their own lesson plans as they begin to implement the standards. They’re not doing it alone. A Race to the Top grant from the […]

December 5, 2012

2011-2012 Florida Teacher Evaluation Data, By School

The Florida Department of Education released some teacher evaluation data for the 2011-12 school year on Dec. 5. This is the first time the state has released data for the new mandatory teacher evaluations.

November 29, 2012

Why It Might Become Harder For Florida College System Professors To Earn Tenure

State education leaders are holding a workshop this afternoon on hiring requirements at state colleges The State Board of Education wants to update the process of issuing continuing contracts — the community college version of tenure — and align the rule with Florida statutes. The Florida Department of Education is taking public input on the […]

November 13, 2012

Historian: Teachers Should Study Subject, Not Education

60 Minutes profiled historian David McCullough on Sunday night. McCullough believes the U.S. is illiterate when it comes to history and says part of the blame is due to how the U.S. trains teachers. Teachers should have to study a subject and not education, McCullough says. Teachers must be passionate and knowledgeable about a subject […]

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