After repeatedly saying he was against raising tuition at Florida’s colleges and universities, Gov. Rick Scott on Friday vetoed a bill that would have allowed the state’s top two universities to hike tuition at will.
The state already allows public institutions to raise tuition up to 15 percent a year. But Florida State University in Tallahassee and University of Florida in Gainesville would have been able to raise fees even more in an effort to bring costs in line with the country’s other top tier research institutions.
In his veto letter, Scott noted the difficulty many students and families already have paying for higher education. Continue Reading →
The New York education department released the controversial The Hare and the Pineapple reading test section Friday.
Monday’s post about New York’s education department officials throwing out the now-infamous “The Hare and the Pineapple” section of its statewide reading was a lesson in reading comprehension itself.
Readers disagreed on whether the section of the test was fair or not.
The University of Florida is scrapping a plan to trim and restructure its computer science and engineering department, according to the Gainesville Sun.
School president Bernie Machen cited “overwhelming negative response.”
A Forbes story about the proposed cuts made waves on social media sites (though the story misstated some of the facts.)
Krampf found four of 25 practice science questions used inaccurate definitions or had multiple answers that were scientifically correct.
But only one answer was correct in the eyes of the state Department of Education.
Maybe the life lesson learned from the FCAT science exam practice questions is more important to students than the test itself — that sussing out the right answer often depends on who is asking the question.
“They bend over backward to say ‘Yes, your science is correct, but we’re right,'” Krampf said. “‘And that’s the way it is.’
Florida Republican U.S. Senate candidate Connie Mack downplayed the importance of student loan interest rates during an interview with MSNBC this morning.
Mack said he felt other issues were more important to Floridians.
“I want to talk about what’s happening here in the state of Florida,” Mack said, referring to people losing jobs and their homes.
“I’m telling you that people who are watching your program today and if they’re in Florida, what they’re concerned about is jobs and the economy and how we’re going to balance a budget with a $16 trillion debt and a $1.4 trillion deficit. Chuck, this is what people down here are talking about…we will absolutely be able to cast a vote, and when that happens we’ll be happy to do so.”
The New York education department released the controversial The Hare and the Pineapple reading test section Friday.
The New York education department took the unusual step of releasing a state reading test section last week after Internet buzz about the confusing passage and questions built to a roar.
The passage was called the “Hare and the Pineapple,” and was authored by children’s author Daniel Pinkwater.
Typically test questions are not released to the public.
The story strikes the tone of a fable, with a talking pineapple challenging a talking hare to a race. The forest critters spend the rest of the story trying to suss out the pineapple’s intentions in throwing down the gauntlet to the hare.
At Booker T. Washington High School, students likes Danna Contreras, took turns taking the online FCAT reading test because there aren't enough computers for sophomores to take the test at the same time.
Danna Contreras doesn’t like the new FCAT.
The sophomore at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami emigrated from Colombia three years ago.
She wears thick, pink-rimmed glasses and she squints a lot. She says the new computerized version is harder to take.
“I think I am better with paper, not on the computer because sometimes my eyes hurt,” she said.
That’s not the only reason she’s worried about her reading score.
“I have difficulty speaking English and the vocabulary is really hard,” she said.
Students are taking a new, harder version of the FCAT this year, called FCAT 2.0.
The test is supposed to be harder to pass and the stakes are higher than ever.
Earlier this week we wrote about “Happy Scientist” blogger Robert Krampf, who criticized some of the questions, answers and background material on practice materials for the FCAT science test.
Krampf argued the test presented one multiple choice answer as correct, when a number of the answers were scientifically correct.
Krampf took his concerns to the Florida Department of Education, who told him the questions had been approved by a committee. An agency employee told Krampf that though one question had multiple answers that were scientifically correct, only one answer was included in the 5th grade curriculum.
StateImpact Florida readers showed no mercy towards the test. Here’s fcatastrophe:
Gov. Rick Scott's deadline for deciding the future of USF Poly is near.
Gov. Rick Scott is in a tough position when it comes to signing or vetoing legislation that would create a Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland independent from the University of South Florida system.
The decision is due Saturday, but the Lakeland Ledger and others have reported Scott will announce his decision today.
The consequences for signing the bill (or allowing it to become law without a signature) is that Scott risks angering his most loyal supporters — Florida’s Tea Party activists. If Scott vetoes the bill, the ghost of Polk County Sen. JD Alexander could haunt from his term-limited grave.
So what will he choose, and why? Here’s five possibilities.
Some St. Johns County students had trouble logging in to take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test online, according to the St. Augustine Record.
Florida is expanding the use of computer-based testing. The problems were with test contractor Pearson, school officials said. Pearson is being paid $254 million over four years to administer the FCAT.
But coupled with problems a science teacher and blogger found with practice material questions, it got us wondering just how many issues students, schools and teachers are having with the FCAT.
We’d like to hear your stories about what has worked and, especially, what is not or has not worked with the FCAT. Heard of any errors? Please post them in the comments, or email us at joconnor AT stateimpact.org. Well check them out and let you know what we find.
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