Teaching

Background

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

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July 18, 2012

How 20 Minutes With A Principal Determines 12 Months Of Teacher Pay

When Florida teachers were evaluated last year, the stakes for most of them were pretty low. No more. Soon, teacher evaluations will be tied to teacher pay. Starting this year, half of a teacher’s evaluation is based on a classroom observation by the school principal. (The other half is based on a formula that predicts how students should […]

July 17, 2012

Tennessee Study Identifies Shortcomings In Teacher Evaluations

A report on Tennessee teacher evaluations could have big implications in Florida as well. The report found Tennessee schools “systematically failed” to identify low-performing teachers through a combination of student test score improvement and principal evaluations, according to The Tennessean. Often, a principal’s evaluation and the teacher’s student testing score did not match. Three-quarters of […]

July 5, 2012

How Losing a Principal Can Hurt Students

Principals are the key to making a school successful. That’s what the research shows. So what happens when a superintendent pulls several top performing principals out of their roles to fill upper management positions? That’s the move Leon County Superintendent Jackie Pons made, and now he’s defending his decision to reassign seven of his principals.

June 24, 2012

FCAT Grows Up…Or Out of Control?

The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is all grown up. But has it grown into a monster? That’s the question raised by a Tampa Bay Times article recounting the birth and adolescence of the FCAT: Florida has tested students for decades, but since its inception 14 years ago the FCAT has evolved from a simple measure […]

May 30, 2012

Merit Pay At The Top Of Florida Teachers’ Concerns

What if you threw a party, but no one who was invited appreciated your hospitality? That’s what happened with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which recently sponsored a teacher town hall meeting as part of the American Graduate project. A group of Hillsborough County teachers boarded a bus to Jacksonville for the event. The […]

May 25, 2012

USF Polytechnic Starts Transition Into Standalone University

Work has begun to get Florida’s 12th public university up and running. Florida Polytechnic University (FPU) will be a member of the State University System after splitting off from the University of South Florida (USF). It was known as USF Polytechnic in Lakeland until the Florida Legislature voted to make it an independent, standalone university. […]

May 24, 2012

The Things College Doesn’t Tell You About Teaching

Editor’s Note: This is a first-person story from WUSF reporter Yoselis Ramos, who is studying to become a teacher. She recently hopped a bus with other teachers to attend a Jacksonville town hall meeting. Along the way she spoke with her fellow travelers about what its like to lead a classroom. You can watch “American […]

May 17, 2012

FCAT Writing Results Show ‘Teaching To The Test’ Could Be A Good Thing

When students started being graded on spelling, grammar and vocabulary this year, most students failed the state’s standardized writing exam. The Florida Board of Education lowered the passing score during an emergency meeting so more students would pass. But a veteran English teacher in Florida says this is a sign students aren’t being taught the […]

May 16, 2012

Early Release Days On The Chopping Block In Manatee County

Early release days may be coming to an end in Manatee County schools. The school board discussed the idea during a workshop Tuesday but made no decision For the last five years, the school district has ended the day almost two hours early on what has become known as “Wacky Wednesdays.” The move was designed […]

May 8, 2012

After Further Review, UMass Education Students Object To New Evaluation

Teachers-in-training at the University of Massachusetts are leading a protest against a pilot national teacher evaluation program being developed by testing giant Pearson and Stanford University, the New York Times reports. The students and their instructor are worried that turning over two 10-minute videos and a 40-page test to a faceless evaluator will not produce […]

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