A new report projects just 18 percent of the 2012 high school graduates in Florida who took the ACT test would do well in first year college courses.
Florida students aren’t as prepared for college as students in other states.
That’s according to this year’s Condition of College and Career Readiness report released Wednesday.
It looks at ACT test scores to project how well high school grads would do in first year college courses.
About 70 percent of Florida’s graduating class took the ACT test — 118,420 students total — but only 18 percent of those test-takers are considered college-ready.
The national average of college-ready students is 25 percent.
Florida’s average score was among the lowest of all states — only Arizona, Mississippi and Tennessee did worse.
Here are the percentages of college-ready students by subject area test.
The study looked at school funding in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The researchers argue a good state education funding scheme does two things: Spends more money on education relative to the state’s wealth, and is “progressive,” allocating more money to school districts with higher poverty rates.
One section of the 4th grade exam had students measure volume change as ice melts. Seventy-one percent of those tested accurately measured the change in volume. But only 15 percent were able to back up their conclusion with data.
Officials with the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the NAEP, were concerned U.S. students struggled with more difficult problem-solving.
The vote is the strongest opposition yet to the FCAT and Florida’s accountability system to assure teachers, schools and districts are educating students.
Palm Beach and Broward county school boards have already approved a similar resolution. Alachua, Flagler and Pinellas boards are weighing the measure.
The resolution is based on one authored by Parents Across America, a group that opposes so-called high stakes testing the privatization of public education. More than 400 Texas school boards have approved the resolution.
Read the Hernando County school board version after the jump:
And that got former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s attention.
Bush wrote a letter to committee members asking them to abandon their plans to officially condemn Common Core. The committee took Bush’s advice last year, though ALEC has since opposed Common Core.
UPDATE: ALEC education task force director Adam Peshak says that a task force approved a resolution opposing Common Core in December, but the Board of Legislators has yet to vote on the resolution. The resolution is not ALEC policy until the board votes, Peshak says. More on those distinctions here and here.
The incident is an example of the unique national position Bush occupies on education. He’s able to work with Democratic groups — such as on federal Race To The Top grants — while standing up to the conservative wing of his own Republic Party on issues Bush supports, such as Common Core.
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney outlines his education plan Wednesday.
Presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney rolled out his education plan Wednesday in Washington, D.C.: More school choice options; reward high-performing charter schools and help them expand; require easy-to-read school report cards.
And if Romney’s influences were still a bit cloudy, he made them explicit in his speech to the Latino Coalition.
“And leadership makes a huge difference,” Romney told the group. “When Jeb Bush became governor of Florida, reading scores of Hispanic students in that state’s school system were dismal. He brought focused innovation and passionate leadership. Today those scores have risen dramatically.
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