The Florida Department of Education is recommending lowering the passing score on the FCAT writing test to 3.5 from 4.
Florida’s Board of Education has called an emergency meeting tomorrow to talk about state writing test standards.
According to materials the board has posted online, the state Department of Education is recommending lowering the required score needed to pass the test to 3.5 from 4 (out of six).
That might be because the percentage of students passing the test has nose-dived this year after the state board increased grading standards this year.
The change would dramatically increase the percentage of students who would earn a passing grade score this year, according to the report.
Florida Christian College has sued over access to a state grant program for private colleges.
Editor’s note: This post was written by WLRN reporter Tasnim Shamma.
Earlier this month, Florida Christian College in Kissimmee filed a lawsuit against the state for not being allowed to enroll in the Florida Resident Access Grant (FRAG) program because of a disagreement with the Florida Department of Education about whether the college has a “secular purpose.”
About half of the 380 undergraduate students at the college are Florida residents who could be eligible for the $2,000 annual grants at private colleges.
Officials at the college assert that it does teach secular subjects. So even if it offers a “biblically based education”, it does prepare students for secular jobs. The federal Constitution allows government benefit programs to include religious organizations as long as the overall purpose of the program is secular.
Editors note: This post was written by WLRN reporter Tasnim Shamma.
As a new documentary about bullying hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles today, a growing number of South Florida schools are taking on the issue of students abusing and picking on their classmates.
More than 40 Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County have signed up for an anti-discrimination program called “No Place for Hate.”About 35 pre-K schools have joined the program in Palm Beach County.
And Pasadena Lakes Elementary School in Broward County just joined a growing list of South Florida schools certified as “No Place for Hate” Wednesday.
Lily Medina, theĀ Education Project Director with the FloridaĀ Anti-Defamation League, says that the outreach has been focused on South Florida based on where they were able to receive grants. But the ADL’s “No Place For Hate” program hopes to expand to North Florida and Central Florida soon.
Advanced calculus teacher, Orlando Sarduy writes out the mathematical equation that will help grade teachers and determine how much they get paid. The formula considers 10 factors that influence how well a student does in school, but student poverty is not one of those factors.
Florida is using a mathematical formula to calculate how well teachers are doing their jobs. The grade it spits out will help determine how much a teacher gets paid and whether that teacher can keep his or her job.
But the formula is so complex even an advanced calculus teacher and former college math major canāt understand how it works.
CHARLES TRAINOR JR. / Miami Herald
Advanced calculus high school teacher, Orlando Sarduy, writes out the formula that will grade and help determine the pay of Florida teachers. Even for a college math major like him, the formula is too confusing to understand. He calls it a "mathematical experiment."
Coral Reef High School teacherĀ Orlando Sarduy says just reading the formula is difficult for him.
StateImpact Florida and the Miami Herald partnered up to deconstruct the equation andĀ try to figure out what’s going on here. We asked statisticians and policymakers how the formula works. The answer we got: No lay person, teacher or reporter can understand it. So just trust us.
āI would reallyĀ challengeĀ any sort of decision maker to look at [the formula] and explain it,ā Sarduy said. āI understand just the basics, but this is really the technical nitty-gritty of whatās going on, and to me it looks the same as it would to a lay person, like āwhat’s going on here?āĀ Continue Reading →
While we’re waiting for the White House and the U.S. Department of Education to say why they approved Florida’s No Child Left Behind waiver request, let’s review what they said about the application in December.
Below is the December 20, 2011 letter to the Florida Department of Education outlining initial concerns.
At the time, the feds were concerned that some student groups weren’t included in Florida’s grading system, that the system did not place enough emphasis on graduation rates and that the application did not emphasize enough student sub-groups, which can include minority and low-income students.
The University of South Florida has responded to Gov. Rick Scott's questions about students and graduates.
A few weeks back Gov. Rick Scott sent state universities a list of questions for data on university students and graduates — including how much they are earning.
It’s all part of Scott’s push to realign state universities so that they produce more graduates in fields expecting job growth. Scott has emphasized science, technology, engineering and math fields, or STEM, in particular.
University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft has responded with a 106-page letter outlining the entire USF system’s efforts.
A parent is asking Gov. Rick Scott to reconsider a new state law requiring Bright Futures recipients submit a federal financial aid application.
Why should a student need a parent to fill out a financial aid application to renew a merit-based scholarship if the student pays for his or her education?
And why should a parent put their personal information at risk if they receive no benefit from the scholarship?
That’s what Palm Beach County resident John Loeffler is asking in a letter he wrote to Gov. Rick Scott last week.
“It’s kind of crazy, it doesn’t make sense,” Loeffler said.
University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft told two state Senators that any audit of USF Polytechnic is up to the regional campus chancellor.
Republican state Sens. Paula Dockery and Mike Fasano asked Genshaft to audit USF Polytechnic after learning the school hired regional chancellor Marshall Goodman’s son to run a business incubator program. The school also planned to spend $500,000 on a promotional video.
USF Poly, in Lakeland, is pushing to become an independent university. A state board could consider that request next month.
Bangladesh native, Shamir Ali, now 25, was picked up in a workplace raid in Miami last week and now faces deportation. Ali arrived to Florida when he was seven years old and is DREAM Act eligible.
In August 2011, the Obama administrationĀ announcedĀ it would prioritize deporting people convicted of crimes.
That meant shifting resources away from low-priority casesāsuch as undocumented children who came to the U.S. at a young age, or DREAM Act kids, and others.
One idea behind the new policy was to protectĀ DREAM Act-eligible kidsĀ from deportation in case Congress were to soon approve the federal bill that would provide a path to citizenship to some undocumented immigrants.
But last Friday, 25-year-old Shamir Ali, a DREAM Act-eligibleĀ undocumented Florida resident, was denied deportation relief by the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office Director, Marc Moore (see the letter from Moore below). Continue Reading →
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