Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed. A student went home to complain to her mom about Mattie Williams, her social studies teacher. The mother went straight out to the school for a conference. To the mother’s surprise, she found herself sitting face-to-face with her own former teacher from a generation before […]

Florida schools have just one more academic year to phase in a new set of education standards under the Common Core—and Principal Angela Maxey is ready. “I’m truly a proponent for standards-based Common Core education. I’m passionate,” says Maxey, who works at Sallye B. Mathis Elementary School in Duval County. Her school is a math, […]

Nikolai Vitti knows how dissimilar Florida’s school districts can be — but as the new Superintendent of Duval County Public Schools, he also recognizes common challenges. Vitti arrived in North Florida last November, leaving behind a job as chief academic officer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. On the surface, Miami-Dade and Duval represent two very […]

About 10,000 educators from around the country are in Atlanta this week for the National Education Association’s annual meeting. The group will debate issues from school safety to immigration reform as the NEA develops its legislative priorities for the coming year. Florida Education Association President Andy Ford says Common Core State Standards and assessments will […]

Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed. There are some real perils to systems which try to reduce teacher performance to a single number, such as many of our new “value-added” formulas. The first is that whatever you decide to measure — and, implicitly or explicitly reward — is what you are […]

Seven days learning. That’s how much more Florida’s traditional public school students learned in reading compared to students in charter schools, according to a new national study of charter school performance. In math, Florida charter school students were even with their traditional public school peers. The Center for Research on Educational Outcomes at Stanford University […]

Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed. The new term of art within the educational conversation about how we sort the good teachers from the bad is “value added.” We stole the phrase from economics. But in the educational context, it brings to mind the great George Orwell quote: “The slovenliness of […]

Before she retires, Shara Holt is getting teachers around the state ready to use Common Core standards. Holt is a literacy coach in St. Johns County who’s spent 41 years as an educator. Florida is one of 45 states transitioning to Common Core State Standards right now. It’s a new way of teaching that focuses heavily […]

State leaders should not overlook improving science lessons while schools prepare for new English, literacy and math standards, according to a Florida State University physics professor. Paul Cottle said the state is unlikely to bolster science standards if schools are struggling with the Common Core State Standards scheduled to take effect in the fall of […]

Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed. Let’s take a moment to look closely at test scores, which are the basis of our new “teacher accountability” system. I just got back the test results for the students at the magnet school where I taught this year, and I honestly don’t think they […]