More than half of Maryland students with disabilities or learning English didn't count towards the state's NAEP results. Florida excluded 12 percent of those students.
More than half of Maryland students with disabilities or learning English tested don’t count towards the Old Line State’s results on a key national standardized exam, according toThe Washington Post.
Maryland excludes the results of 62 percent of learning-disabled and English learners on the fourth grade National Assessment of Educational Progress reading exam. The state excludes 60 percent of those same students on the eighth grade reading exam. Both are the highest rates in the country.
NAEP recommends states not exclude more than 15 percent of student results. The national average is 12 percent. The NAEP reading and math exams are given every two years to a sample of students across the country.
Maryland officials say they allow a person or computer to read text aloud to those students on their annual exams. NAEP does not allow that accommodation, so the scores are not counted.
Florida excluded 12 percent of students with disabilities and those learning English from the 2013 NAEP results. Florida does not allow the “read aloud” accommodation on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
As the Post report, the change has a significant effect on Maryland’s score — especially compared to other states:
Florida school superintendents are asking lawmakers to extend the switch to Common Core standards and rewrite school grading and teacher evaluation requirements.
Florida school superintendents are asking state leaders to revamp the state’s A through F school grading system — including eliminating the letter grades — as the state completes the switch to new math, English and literacy standards.
Florida is one of 45 states to fully adopt Common Core, which outlines what students should know at the end of each grade. Supporters say the standards are more challenging and will prepare high school graduates for college or a job. Critics are concerned Common Core is a one-size-fits-all policy, won’t improve schools and may not be appropriate for young children.
Smith said school superintendents support the standards, but need more time to prepare.
Florida students improved their scores on all four sections of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, but eighth graders still trail the national average.
Florida student scores improved on a key national standardized test, including some of the largest eighth grade reading and math gains in the country.
But Florida eighth graders still trail the national average in math, according to results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as The Nation’s Report Card.
Florida eighth graders scored an average of 281, on a 500-point scale, in math and 266 in reading. The national average was 284 in math and 266 in reading.
In 2011, Florida eighth graders scored an average of 278 in math and 262 in reading.
Florida fourth graders scored an average of 242 in math and 227 on the reading exam. In 2011, Florida fourth graders scored 240 in math and 225 in reading.
Florida’s fourth grade gains were not considered statistically significant
The national fourth grade average was 241 in math and 221 in reading.
The math and reading exams are given to a sample of fourth and eighth grade students across the country and is considered the gold standard exam for comparing student performance across state lines. NAEP releases results every two years.
Students at Florida's community colleges can now skip remedial courses.
Most students at Florida’s community colleges now have a choice about whether they want to take the state’s college placement test and any remedial reading, writing and math courses they might require.
The law takes effect this spring — and students are registering for classes right now.
As a result, colleges have to check in with every new and returning student to find out if they’re exempt from remedial requirements. To find out who is exempt from the requirements, click here.
Hillsborough Community College has given its advisers a sort-of flow chart to run through with students. The outline asks new students for their high school transcripts and returning students for their college records and then proceeds from there.
Does the student need to take the college placement exam? Should they?
That’s because Florida lawmakers approved a law (SB 1720) which makes the courses and placement test voluntary for many students. Remedial courses force students to pay for refresher classes before starting on their degree. The classes do not count toward a student’s degree.
Students who entered high school in the past decade and earned Florida’s standards diploma no longer have to take the state’s college placement exam. Likewise, students who earn target scores on the SAT, ACT or the FCAT can use those scores to prove they do not need remedial courses.
Active duty military members are also exempt from having to take the placement exam and remedial courses.
After the jump, read the new law, the State Board of Education rule implementing the law and the legislative analysis of SB 1720. And click here to read our series on remedial education, 13th Grade.
Lawmakers created the university this spring after studying online options for two years. The online-only university will be part of the University of Florida and is scheduled to start classes in January. Supporters say the school will more access to a flagship Florida university, where 29,000 people apply for 6,400 slots each year.
The school will initially offer baccalaureate degrees in five majors and eventually expand to 35 majors by the fall of 2019.
UF Online will enroll both in-state and out-of-state students. School officials expect a total enrollment of 24,000 students by the school’s 10th year — 57 percent of students will be in-state and 43 percent out-of-state.
Online students will have access to the same support services as resident students, including health and wellness, personal support, mental health counselors and career advice. The business plan recommends online students will pay 75 percent of in-state tuition, or $112 per credit hour.
After the jump, you can read the full business plan.
Florida is backing out of its role as a leader on the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) assessment.
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Take it back? Gov. Rick Scott wants Florida to sever financial ties with the PARCC assessment
The PARCC consortium is made up of 18 states and the District of Columbia. The states are working together to develop a new, multistate assessment test that would measure students’ achievement in the Common Core.
Florida has been one of those states. When Charlie Crist was governor, the PARCC group won a $186 million federal grant to support its work—and Florida was put in charge of the money.
But now, controversy is churning over the Common Core standards, and Governor Rick Scott has asked to sever those financial ties.
A new report says changes former Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett made to Indiana's school grading formula were "plausible."
An Indiana report has found that school grading formula changes former Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett made in 2012 while the elected superintendent of Hoosier State schools were “plausible” and “consistently applied” to all schools.
Indiana lawmakers requested the review after the Associated Press published emails showing Bennett and his staff discussing how to change the school grading formula. The emails showed Bennett was concerned about the formula after a prominent charter school, Christel House Academy, initially earned a ‘C’ grade. The school earned an ‘A’ grade after the changes.
The Indiana report backs his claims, though does note the Indiana Department of Education needed to be more transparent and work more closely with lawmakers and the governor. In addition, the report found the departure of key staff members were a factor in a lack of quality control prior to releasing the school grades.
“The two adjustments administered to determine Christel House’s final grade were plausible,” John Grew and William Sheldrake, the report’s authors, wrote, “and the treatment afforded to the school was consistently applied to other schools with similar circumstances.”
Bennett called the charges “malicious” and “unfounded,” but said he did not want to become a distraction in Florida. The Associated Press first published emails, which showed Bennett and staff discussing how to make Christel House Academy an A-rated school.
“Every minute we spend defending the credibility of your commissioner because of what’s said 800 miles away,” Bennett said, “is a minute we waste that we should have been thinking about educating children in Florida.”
Bennett said the decision was “mine alone” and that Gov. Rick Scott offered his support.
“I end my tenure with my head held high,” Bennett said.
A new Florida law targets bullying, particularly online.
Last week Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill targeting bullying, HB 609, into law.
The law makes three big changes: Students can be bullied publicly or privately; defines cyberbullying as harassment using electronic means, such as email or impersonating someone online; and allows schools to get involved if off-campus bullying affects the targeted student’s on-campus education.
The law does not require school districts to monitor off-campus activity. The law also requires schools to teach staff and students about how to identify bullying and what to do if they see it.
We’ve posted the new law and noted some of the key changes, after the jump.
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