The State Board of Education removed the first word from interim Education Commissioner Pam Stewart’s title last week. But Board member Kathleen Shanahan had a strange question for a job interview: Tell me again who you work for? “And I just want to make sure from Pam, that she understands – with full clarity – […]

Pam Stewart twice stepped in to replace departing Florida education commissioners. Today she got the job long-term. The State Board of Education unanimously chose Stewart to be the state’s education commissioner. She follows Tony Bennett, who resigned from the post last month. Board member John Colon said he wanted the continuity Stewart brings to the […]

Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed. Marie Roberts is the kind of person most education policy-makers dream of attracting to the teaching profession.   She intelligent, sensitive and able to handle a classroom full of teenagers. She is herself a public school graduate and an Ivy League-educated woman of color. She’s also […]

An Indiana report has found that school grading formula changes former Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett made in 2012 while the elected superintendent of Hoosier State schools were “plausible” and “consistently applied” to all schools. Indiana lawmakers requested the review after the Associated Press published emails showing Bennett and his staff discussing how to change […]

Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed. How often do budding investment bankers leave the field in their mid-20s to try their hand at teaching? Not often.  And that’s only one of the things that makes Henry Rodriguez special.  We met him earlier in this series as he helped a disengaged student […]

Nan Rich is a former state Senator who was the first Democrat to announce she’s challenging Gov. Rick Scott in 2014. Rich stopped by the WUSF studios Wednesday for a Florida Matters interview with Carson Cooper. Here’s what she said about education. You can hear the full interview Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. on WUSF. Q: […]

Florida educators have kicked off a three-day education summit in Clearwater to discuss standards, testing, the state school grading formula and teacher evaluations. Gov. Rick Scott invited more than three dozen people to the summit, including parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, representatives from unions and other professional groups, lawmakers, business leaders and others. So far, participants […]

A new school year is underway for children across Florida. A new year brings with it the potential of new learning, new skills, and new challenges. Are our kids learning what they need to in order to compete in the global job market of the future? WLRN’s Sunshine Economy looked at the education industry with […]

Gov. Rick Scott has called state education leaders together for a three-day summit in Clearwater starting today. Scott has put four items on the agenda: State education standards known as Common Core; the test which will assess those standards and (mostly) replace the FCAT; how Florida should revise its A-through-F school grading formula; and teacher […]

Students failed nearly 1.3 million Advanced Placement exams last year, according to an analysis by Politico. And the overall passage rate for the exams has declined since 2002. In addition, The College Board, the nonprofit which administers the Advanced Placement exams, said research no longer supports the idea that students benefit just by taking the […]