Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is headlining an education forum hosted by Central Florida University and The Orlando Sentinel this morning.
Bush plans to outline what school reforms are still needed, according to the Foundation for Florida’s Future, the non-profit group Bush founded. Bush has spent the past months weighing in on the dispute between the federal education department and Congress over reauthorizing the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Bush has encouraged adopting the Florida model: Report card-style grades for schools and districts; measuring teacher performance; and expanding school choice and online options.
Other speakers include Fund Education Now‘s Kathleen Oropeza, Orange County School Board Chair Bill Sublette, KIPP Reach founder Tracy McDaniel, and Hillsborough County Middle School instructor James Gibbs.
School districts have complained the system sets higher standards for the state’s lowest-rated schools. For a low-rated school to pull itself off a watch list the district must improve more rapidly than other state districts.
The result is that a district on a state watch list could earn a failing grade, school officials have said, while the same performance might earn another district a ‘C’.
The recommendations trim the number of schools improvement categories to 4 from 6. Only schools earning an ‘F’ grade could be considered among the lowest-rated schools.
Pasco County schools are considering a four-day week to reduce transportation costs.
Pasco County is considering a four-day school week next year to save about $3.5 million, the St. Petersburg Times reports.
Bus drivers and cafeteria workers would lose one day of work a week. Teachers would no longer be paid for five lunch breaks each week.
A 33-member task force will decide whether to recommend shortening the school week to the Pasco County School Board. Marion County is the only Florida district that has approved a four-day week for the 2012-2013 school year.
Is a four-day week disruptive for students and teachers? Parents, could you cope with the change?
The Florida Department of Education kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month by announcing the 2011 Hispanic Heritage Month Recommended Reading List.
“From Pensacola to Key West, Florida is home to strong Hispanic roots that have helped to shape our state in many positive and unique ways,” said Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson. He said the book list is meant to help students gain more understanding of Florida’s deep cultural connections.
Hispanic reading list by grade level:
Elementary Pre K-2 Nacho and Lolita by Pam Munoz Ryan Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale by Carmen Agra Deedy
Average teacher salaries for every Florida county.
Reader feedback is an important part of building StateImpact Florida’s education coverage. Feedback Loop will be a regular feature highlighting your questions, criticisms and comments.
Here’s what you said about our reporting this week.
Reader Catherine saw our blog post about testing giant Pearson’s tendrils throughout the growing education business. Catherine questioned the relationship:
I think it is significant that Pearson makes both testing and remedial materials. Shouldn’t that be a conflict of interest?
Republican 2012 presidential hopefuls traveled to Tampa for a Tea Party-hosted debate this week. CpmforRP2012 took issue with our characterization of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul’s education plan and that its scope went beyond homeschooling:
If you would read Dr. Paul’s section on homeschooling you would see that it is not only about homeschooling. It also talks about getting rid of the one-size-fits-all education system that clearly is not working now, and implementing an education system that is locally based.
And StateImpact Florida’s county-by-county map of teacher salaries continues to spark discussion. Reader Bryan Adams said it’s no incentive to teach:
Makes you want to encourage all your students to go into education!
Keep the comments coming. What do you want to see us cover?
So far, the site of the proposed USF Polytechnic campus is little more than a cow pasture. But USF Poly Chancellor Marshall Goodman compares his proposed new school to its neighbor a ways down Interstate 4.
“Now think for a minute about a visionary decades ago,” Goodman told the state Board of Governors. “He came to Florida from another state and what he saw was swampland, mosquitoes and gators. And he bought all of it that it could. And he dreamed of something better in that space: a mouse…Obviously, as a distinctive university, we would be able to develop and grow programs with greater flexibility that we can as a complex organization that has a number of competing interests,” he said.”
A marine science class at South Broward High. Kevius Morgan, center, and Taylor Drake, right.
With budgets for classroom supplies shrinking, some teachers in a South Florida school are promising students an irresistible incentive if they help stock the classroom: better grades.
“The teacher was like, ‘Okay, I’m running out of paper towels and I don’t know how you’re going to dry your hands after you clean them,” said South Broward High School senior Kevius Morgan.
“So if you bring in paper towels you get a letter grade up.”
Morgan ultimately got an A in art class for bringing them in.
At the same school, an Algebra II student said her teacher gave the class a list of supplies like rulers, markers and scrap paper to bring in. “She was like, ‘a letter grade up if you bring in whatever is on that list,” senior Taylor Drake said. She said her final grade went from a C to a B.
Teachers rally in March to protest budget cuts, including requiring teachers to take a three percent pay cut to pay for pensions.
Florida’s teacher union will challenge a law ending long-term contracts and requiring merit pay in court, according to the Associated Press.
The law, known as the Student Success Act or S. 736, was passed this spring. School districts are just starting to design systems to evaluate teachers and pay the highest-rated teachers more.
For more on why the legislature approved the law and what it requires, read this.
What do you think of the new requirements? What do you think of the lawsuit?
Gov. Rick Scott listens at a Miami business roundtable meeting in August. Scott has been circulating a Texas plan designed to quantify college and faculty performance.
Is it possible to evaluate a college professor the same way NFL scouts measure the speed, strength and quickness of college athletes?
The Texas model has sparked a Lone Star backlash from schools concerned the plan forces them to adopt a one-size-fits-all template, undermines research and damages the value of a degree. An organization of the nation’s top research universities has warned members about adopting the Texas reforms.
Supporters say the plan was meant to start a conversation. They believe they achieved that goal.
President Barack Obama unveils his jobs plan Monday at the White House.
President Barack Obama’s jobs bill would pump $1.7 billion dollars into Florida to preserve teacher and first responder jobs, according to details released this week.
Florida would also receive $1.3 billion to modernize and upgrade school facilities. The White House estimates the projects would support 16,600 jobs.
The bill also includes business and individual tax cuts and job training.
About StateImpact
StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives. Learn More »
