The authors note that Florida ranked in the top 11 in the last four years in Education Week’s annual Quality Counts report.
“That’s not just because of policies on paper that sound good;” they write, “it’s also because the state has moved the needle on student achievement, particularly for low-income kids.”
The “Accountability is Essential” briefing finds that Florida has to stay on track to maintain the significant gains made for students over the last decade.
The report suggests the path forward must include more challenging coursework for students once they’ve mastered content. It also should analyze how well prepared students are for post-secondary learning and careers.
Student authors Joshua Partridge, 10 and Joshua Johnson, 11.
For today’s installment in our series, The Secret Lives of Students, students wrote and reported on class punishment.
Editor’s note: This post was written by elementary school students Joshua Johnson, 11, and Joshua Partridge, 10.
By Joshua Johnson and Joshua Partridge
This is an unreasonable procedure that teachers use: one student acts up and the whole class is punished for the one student’s actions.
This can cause bullying, the whole class can turn against the teacher, it’s not healthy to take away recess for a whole class, and it’s just not effective. Continue Reading →
Now, she’s returning to the private sector as a partner at MedAffinity Corporation, a Tallahassee-based company that provides electronic health records to physicians.
Layman’s last day with the university system is July 20.
Miami-Dade public schools’ technology education is getting a $75,000 boost from a Verizon Foundation.
The Education Fund will dole out the grant to help Miami Dade teachers and students in STEM programs – science, technology, engineering and math – during the upcoming school year.
The money will help teachers to implement a new initiative called “bring your own device.” It focuses on the use of mobile computing devices for learning.
Teachers will start training on how to use mobile technology in the classroom next month.
The district is working toward having students and staff connect their personal devices, like smartphones and iPods, to the district’s wireless network during class.
Garcy Lawson, 12, says using technology in class keeps students interested, but also distracts them.
For today’s installment in our series, The Secret Lives of Students, we hear from one student about the good and bad aspects of using technology in the classroom.Â
Editor’s note: This post was written by elementary school student Garcy Lawson.Â
By Garcy Lawson, 12
One thing that I like about school is that we use a lot of technology. Our assignments are online; we e-mail our teachers for help and use online textbooks.
These things are all great as they keep students interested in class. But a lot of times, they also cause distractions.
Someone always has a problem with someone else’s desktop wallpaper, and feels as if they have to comment. Continue Reading →
Miami teacher Karla Mats teaches special education science at Hialeah Middle School. She says she was observed by her principal for 20 minutes out of the school year, and she says that isn't enough time to fairly rate her performance.
When Florida teachers were evaluated last year, the stakes for most of them were pretty low.
No more. Soon, teacher evaluations will be tied to teacher pay.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is leading an effort to make it easier for foreign graduates of U.S. universities to get a work visa.
Editors note: This post was written by WLRN reporter Luc Cohen.
The presidents of more than 100 U.S. research universities signed a letter to President Obama and Congressional leaders urging them to make it easier for international students to get jobs in the country after they graduate.
The letter argues that highly skilled workers in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — are in high demand in the U.S. work force and necessary for global economic competitiveness.
The university presidents call on Congress to provide students who graduate from American universities with advanced STEM degrees with a “clear path to a green card.”
“After we have trained and educated these future job creators, our antiquated immigration laws turn them away to work for our competitors in other countries,” the letter reads.
The presidents of the University of Miami, Florida State University, the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida all signed the letter.
High school advanced calculus 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."
The report found Tennessee schools “systematically failed” to identify low-performing teachers through a combination of student test score improvement and principal evaluations, according to The Tennessean. Often, a principal’s evaluation and the teacher’s student testing score did not match.
Three-quarters of Tennessee teachers earned the highest scores of 4 or 5 on their principal’s evaluation, but just half of teachers earned a 4 or 5 based on test data.
The results were similar at the other end of the scale.
Principals awarded scores of 1 or 2 to just 2.5 percent of teachers. But 16 percent of teachers earned a 1 or 2 based on test scores.
Of those teachers who scored a 1 based on test scores, the average principal score was 3.6.
Asatta Mesa, 12, says teachers have taught her to read the FCAT questions before she reads the passage, so she can know where to look for the answers.
For today’s installment in our series, The Secret Lives of Students, we hear about tricks students have learned to pass the FCAT.
Editor’s note: This post was written by middle school student Asatta Mesa who is participating in the summer school program, Breakthrough Miami.Â
By Asatta Mesa, 12
As a student in Florida, I’ve been taking the FCAT since the third grade.
I am now entering the eighth grade, meaning that I have spent five years and a countless number of months preparing and taking a test that will not help me gain any knowledge or help me for the future.
FCAT takes so much time away from the education of students.
You learn tricks just to pass a test and then never apply those tricks to living in society. Continue Reading →
The study shows Florida scores increased, on average, by 3.2 percent of a standard deviation a year. That means Florida students improved by more than two grade levels during the 19-year period studied.
Those gains came despite Florida ranking at the bottom of states for increasing per pupil spending.
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