Add U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida to those opposing shared education standards fully adopted by Florida and 44 other states. The standards, known as Common Core, have been under fire from those on the political right and left. Conservatives argue the federal government coerced states with money to adopt the standards, undermining local control […]
Lauren Case already knows what she’s going to say on the first day of school when her students ask what she did over summer break: “I saw a rocket launch; it was awesome. You want to go too? Maybe you should become an engineer,” says Case, a 10th grade science teacher at South Fork High […]
Opponents of new education standards adopted by Florida and 44 other states are planning an Orlando protest later this month, according to an invitation sent to StateImpact Florida. And Washington, D.C.-based non-profit FreedomWorks will hold a session to educate and train activists opposed to the standards the same day. Florida Parents Against The Common Core […]
A coalition of private schools which accept publicly funded scholarships for students with disabilities says a majority of their members would no longer take the scholarships if they were required to administer the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. In a letter posted on the redefinED blog, the Coalition of McKay Scholarship Schools says their member survey […]
For the first time, a majority of experts surveyed by a Washington D.C.-based education consulting are concerned about the progress Florida and 21 other states are making developing the next generation of standardized test. A majority of “political and policy insiders” Whiteboard Advisors surveyed said the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers […]
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was in Sarasota Thursday, laying out his ideas for improving the economy. Romney’s five-point plan included an education plank. Romney praised former Gov. Jeb Bush and borrowed a key idea. He also pledged to allow federal dollars to follow the student, which would let parents to better choose the best […]
The Lumina Foundation hosted a panel discussion in Ybor City Tuesday discussing the importance of graduating students with a post-secondary degree. The foundation, which is an underwriter of StateImpact Florida, has one big goal: to increase the percentage of Americans with high-quality degrees to 60 percent by 2025. According to a report by the Georgetown University Center […]
Gov. Rick Scott is drawing a line on tuition hikes this year. He wants state universities to find other ways to deal with budget cuts. At a contentious Board of Governors meeting in June, many universities asked for the maximum tuition increase. A few got it; most did not. But some colleges are heeding Scott’s […]
Florida pays International Pearson Inc. millions of dollars to administer the FCAT during its current five year contract – $249 million dollars to be exact. But Pearson also spends money – up to $800,000 – to lobby state legislators, as central Florida’s WFTV reports. Public records show Pearson spent at least $580,000 on lobbyists since 2007. This […]
How does a science lesson turns Kafkaesque? Blogger Robert Krampf got a taste of the absurdist ends to which author Franz Kafka used bureaucrats when he brought concerns about practice questions on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test science exam to the state Department of Education. Krampf found four of 25 practice science questions used inaccurate […]
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