Florida’s policy of retaining third graders based on state standardized test scores has a positive long-term impact on those students, according to a new study from the Brookings Institute.
Retention only works when the students who are held back are provided with extra instruction and the money to fund those programs, according to Harvard University researcher Martin R. West.
But Forrest Estep experienced sticker shock when he saw what the scholarships don’t cover. Estep is a student at Florida State University.
In the past, his Bright Futures Scholarship would have covered a lot more. But now?
“Here’s how much you owe for the fees,” he said, explaining the bill for his first semester. “It gave you a total. From that total I guess is where they took the percentage from, and it was barely any. It was like not even half.”
The Florida State bill was a lot more than Forrest Estep’s dad, Woody Estep, was expecting to pay.
“I think that was part of what was confusing me,” said Woody Estep, “because I thought it was going to be, ‘OK, here’s your total, you get a 75% discount off your total purchase.’ No, it was 75 percent off one item.”
Hillsborough County schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia says she's "committed" to the district.
Hillsborough County schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia says she’s committed to staying in the county.
Elia has been suggested as a replacement for state Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson, who has resigned his post and will leave at the end of the month.
Elia didn’t rule out the job, but says she has other priorities.
“I have a lot to do in Hillsborough and I’m very committed to Hillsborough,” she says.
Just 5 percent of new Hillsborough County teachers did not return this year. That's down from 28 percent two years ago. The district credits a mentoring program funded by the Gates Foundation.
Hillsborough County schools are retaining more than nine of every ten new teachers they hire with the help of a mentoring program funded by a $100 million dollar grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
That turnover doesn’t help students and the training costs are a drag on tight school district budgets.
Two years ago 28 percent of Hillsborough schools’ new teachers left after the first year. That’s when the district started using Gates grant money to pair up rookies with veteran mentors who had been pulled out of the classroom.
Hillsborough superintendent MaryEllen Elia says the rookies get tips on classroom management, lesson plans and how to make those plans connect with students.
Woody Estep wishes he’d bought into the prepaid program. His son attends Florida State University, where his Bright Futures scholarship last year covered just a portion of the tuition and none of the fees.
Now, Estep’s son is working his way through school while friends enjoy the benefits of having a prepaid plan along with Bright Futures money.
The Bright Futures program is on shaky ground as more students qualify for scholarships and the state has less money to pay for them.
A student’s financial need is not considered. The awards are based solely on grades, scores on college admission tests, and community service.
“I’m not saying take it away from somebody who earned it,” said Estep. “But if they have a scholarship already, it seems to me at some point somebody shouldn’t be getting money back to go out to dinner or to go on spring break.”
Leon County schools were most likely to seclude students last year, while Orange and Hillsborough county schools restrained students most often.
Leon County schools led the state in the number of students put into seclusion for behavior or safety reason in 2012, according to Florida Department of Education data.
Leon County schools used seclusion almost twice as often as the next district on the list, Pinellas County schools.
Orange and Hillsborough county schools were most likely to physically restrain students — more than 900 times each during the past school year.
Seclusion and restraint are most often used on students with disabilities. School officials say the techniques are often necessary to protect students and staff.
But education will get the spotlight at a handful of events held at the Republican National Convention in Tampa and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.
Hillsborough County schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia, University of South Florida student body president Brian Goff and George P. Bush, eldest son of Florida’s former governor, will join a panel on issues facing young Americans.
Jose Luis Marantes, co-founder of Students Working For Equal Rights, said it is risky for undocumented students to share their information with the federal government, but he said it took “power and energy” to win this right. “Watch what happens if when you try to take those rights away,” he said.
Miami Dade College president Eduardo Padron speaking with DREAMer Carlos Roa, an undocumented immigrant and engineering student at Miami Dade College.
DREAM Act supporter Estevan Roncancio at a news conference at Miami Dade College. Starting today, undocumented students who came to the country under age 17 can start applying for temporary status in the country under Deferred Action.
Immigrant activists says their next step is fighting for status for their parents and passing the DREAM Act.
More than 140,000 Florida undocumented students can now apply for a temporary work visa and a stay from deportation.
Both are part of a new federal initiative which makes its easier for young immigrants to remain in the United States legally. President Barack Obama ordered the change a year and a half after the failure of the DREAM Act in Congress. That bill would have eased citizenship requirements for young undocumented immigrants.
The program is known as deferred action.
You may request to be considered for deferred action if you: Continue Reading →
That’s why a middle school in Palm Beach County offers a four-day program each summer to get incoming sixth graders accustomed to their new environment.
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