Florida

Putting Education Reform To The Test

Gov. Scott Avoids Question About House, Senate Private School Scholarship Dispute

Gov. Rick Scott at Tampa's Graham Elementary School.

John O'Connor / StateImpact Florida

Gov. Rick Scott at Tampa's Graham Elementary School.

House and Senate leaders are divided over whether students who receive a tax credit scholarship to attend a private school should have to take the state’s standardized test.

The dispute — the Senate wants the requirement, the House does not — has threatened to derail a bill which would expand eligibility for the private school scholarships.

At one point, Gov. Rick Scott agreed with Senate leadership about the testing. So we asked Scott if he still felt the same way at a visit to a Tampa school.

His answer was noncommittal.

“I think all of our education system likes measurement,” Scott said. “They want to get better. I have not met a teacher that doesn’t say ‘Look, I believe in measurement.’ We gotta have the right measurement for every school that we have. And I support what’s happening in our schools. We’re clearly doing the right thing when it comes to the results.

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Bandwidth, Computers, Classroom Space All A Challenge In Online Testing

Florida school districts have to upgrade networking and devices for new online testing.

ACS Amman / Flickr

Florida school districts have to upgrade networking and devices for new online testing.

Having enough high-speed Internet and computers are problems as Florida school districts transition to online testing tied to new math and language arts standards.

But testing rules have made classroom space and logistics a challenge as well.

Pensacola News Journal reporter Michael Scott Davidson outlines some of the issues in Santa Rosa County schools:

Wyrosdick said the school district has invested about $3.5 million to buy and upgrade infrastructure to meet the minimum specifications for testing systems. The standards are required but not funded by the Florida Department of Education, so a recent half-cent sales tax has financed the purchases.

There are other problems, too. Guidelines that dictate how far apart students taking the test must sit mean that in a close-quarter computer lab, not every available computer can be utilized.

Scheduling is a big problem because most classrooms aren’t outfitted with enough computers to conduct a standardized test, said Bill Emerson, Santa Rosa County assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment.

“It used to be if we had 300 kids taking the FCAT, we’d put them all in the cafeteria,” he said. “Now it takes 10 different classrooms to do that. And most of our schools don’t have 10 computer labs.

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Florida Polytechnic University Selects First President

Randy Avent, left, shakes hands with Florida Polytechnic Board of Trustees Chair Rob Gidel.

Courtesy of Florida Polytechnic University

Randy Avent, left, shakes hands with Florida Polytechnic Board of Trustees Chair Rob Gidel.

Randy Avent has a career of turning research into new defense, computer science and life science projects.

Florida Polytechnic’s Board of Trustees said they want Avent to inspire future entrepreneurs at the Polk County campus.

Avent was the board’s unanimous choice for the university’s first president.

“Dr. Avent personifies the innovative, entrepreneurial qualities that we hope to inspire in our future students,” Board of Trustees Chair Rob Gidel said in a statement. “As an institution focused on hands-on learning, we’re proud to welcome Dr. Avent, who has impressive experience and demonstrated commitment to applied research and academics.”

Avent is the associate vice chancellor of research development at North Carolina State University. He’s also led research for the Department of Defense and worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Labortory.

Avent will now negotiate a contract with the university, which the Lakeland Ledger reported is expected to come with a salary between $310,750 to $550,000. And the Florida Board of Governors must approve Avent’s selection.

Florida’s 12th university is scheduled to open in August.

The Florida Tests Which Will Remain After The Switch To Common Standards

The FCAT will mostly disappear from Florida schools next year. But like a zombie, the state's science exam will still carry the FCAT name.

Scott Beale / Flickr

The FCAT will mostly disappear from Florida schools next year. But the state's science exam will still carry the FCAT name.

The final bell begins tolling today for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

Florida schools are scheduled to complete the switch to new K-12 math and language arts standards based on Common Core this fall. New standards will require a new test.

So Florida is switching to math and language arts exams produced by the American Institutes for Research.

FCAT is going away — with one exception. Fifth and eighth grade students will still take the FCAT science exam. Florida State University physics professor Paul Cottle noted the exam will stagger on:

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Remembering FCAT, 1995-2014

This is the last year Florida students will sit for the FCAT.

Photo by Norm Robbie (Flickr) / Illustration by Sammy Mack

This is the last year Florida students will sit for the FCAT.

The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is dying, say Florida education officials. By this time next year, the FCAT will be replaced with a new, Common Core-aligned assessment.

FCAT was born in 1995 in the humid June of a Tallahassee summer.

The Florida Commission on Education Reform and Accountability under Gov. Lawton Chiles gave birth to the test. It was part of a series of recommendations that were meant to give local districts more control and a better sense of how their schools were doing.

“At some point we may look fondly at the FCAT and wish we had it back,” says Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association — the umbrella organization for Florida’s teachers unions.

Eventually, Ford and the FEA would become outspoken rivals of FCAT, but the relationship didn’t sour immediately.

“It gave me information as a classroom teacher,” recalls Ford. “Unfortunately it was used as a political football to be the decision-maker for every decision that anybody wanted to tie to a test.” Continue Reading

Hillsborough Superintendent Says District Is Ready For Medical Emergencies

Hillsborough County schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia asked the State Board of Education to review the school grading formula.

John O'Connor / StateImpact Florida

Hillsborough County schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia asked the State Board of Education to review the school grading formula.

Hillsborough County schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia is talking about what happened on a district bus when a child with muscular dystrophy stopped breathing and eventually died in 2012, now that the district has settled its lawsuit with the family.

In a column written for the Tampa Bay Times, Elia notes the school district has 85 to 100 medical emergencies requiring an ambulance every most months. She said the investigation found no criminal conduct, but that the school district has learned from Isabella Herrera’s death:

Despite testimony from several medical experts, there is no conclusive opinion as to whether different decisions on the bus would have yielded a different outcome. Regardless, our school district has worked to improve the reliability of our bus radio system and bolstered training for drivers, emphasizing that bus drivers can and should use their personal cellphones to call 911 when warranted. We have reached out for input from parents and professionals to see how we could improve services for special needs children — and have made multiple changes based on that input.

At the April 1 School Board meeting, at which the $800,000 settlement was finalized, Isabella’s mother made an impassioned plea to board members and to the school district to keep her daughter in mind when we make decisions regarding the most vulnerable among our students. I know that board members have taken those words to heart — and I certainly have.

Read the full column here.

Half As Many Students Will Meet Tougher Bright Futures Scholarship Requirements

About half as many students will qualify for Bright Futures scholarships when the school year begins this fall as did during the current year, according to new estimates from the Florida College Access Network.

That’s because lawmakers have steadily increased requirements for the primarily lottery-funded scholarships, raising minimum scores required on the SAT and ACT college entrance exams. Graduates must score at least 1170 on the SAT or 26 on the ACT to qualify for a scholarship this fall. That’s up from 970 on the SAT and 20 on the ACT in the 2008-2009 school year.

The Florida College Access Network estimates about half as many students will qualify for Bright Futures this fall.

Florida College Access Network

The Florida College Access Network estimates about half as many students will qualify for Bright Futures this fall.

One in three high school graduates qualified for the scholarships in 2009. This fall, just one in eight graduates are estimated to meet new minimum required scores.

“The value and need for a highly skilled and educated workforce have been highly touted by our state’s leaders in Tallahassee this session,” Florida C.A.N.! senior researcher Troy Miller said in a statement. “If these sweeping cuts to financial aid are enforced as scheduled, our state will find itself at a competitive disadvantage.”

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Mining Student Data To Keep Kids From Dropping Out

photo (15)

Sammy Mack / StateImpact Florida

It’s report card day at Miami Carol City Senior High, and sophomore Mack Godbee is reviewing his grades with his mentor, Natasha Santana-Viera.

The first quarter on Godbee’s report card is littered with Ds and Fs. This quarter, there are more Cs and Bs. He’s got an A in English.

“Congratulations on that,” says Santana-Viera. “When you need help, do you know where to go?”

“Straight to y’all,” says Godbee.

Lots of teachers talk to their students about their report cards. But this conversation is the result of a school initiative to monitor student data—looking for dropout risk before the obvious signs that a student is struggling. It’s part of a national program called Diplomas Now, which operates in several schools in Florida.

Talking to Godbee about his report card and his goals for the next quarter is just one piece of a strategic plan to make sure he stays in school.

Florida lawmakers are currently considering a proposed bill that would, among other things, create similar early warning systems in middle schools to flag students who are at risk of dropping out.

Checking In On Education Bills As Florida Legislature Reaches Halfway Point

The 2014 Florida legislative session has reached the halfway point.

StevenM_61 / Flickr

The 2014 Florida legislative session has reached the halfway point.

The 2014 Florida legislative session reached the halfway point last week, so we thought we’d check in on some of the big education bills.

The Budget

The House, Senate and Gov. Rick Scott mostly agree on education spending based on their proposed budgets.

Both the House and the Senate approved roughly $75 billion budgets last week which would add more money for K-12. The House is proposing the largest increase – adding $207.98 more per student next year, or just over 3 percent. The Senate spending plan increases per-student funding by $175 per student.

While both budgets would set a record for total state education spending, both budget fall short of the per-student high water mark of $7,126 set during the the 2007-2008 school year.

Schools are also likely to receive more money for maintenance after several years with almost nothing in the state budget to fix roofs, replace equipment and take care of other long-term repairs. The House budget includes $50 million for district school maintenance, while the Senate includes $40 million.

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New York Parents Organize Movement Against Common Core Tests

Parents at a Brooklyn school opt out of state tests earlier this week.

girlray / Flickr

Parents at a Brooklyn school opt out of state tests earlier this week.

The civil disobedience taking place during New York’s statewide testing season may offer a preview of what’s to come when Florida unveils new Common Core-tied tests next year.

This is the second year New York has used a home-grown test to assess its Common Core standards. The protests started last year and seem to be picking up steam in 2014.

Advocates of “opting out” of New York’s tests estimate that parents have chosen to withhold more than 30,000 students from the tests this year. Chalkbeat reported the number of students opting out of state tests in New York City schools has increased to nearly 640, up from 276 last year. And advocates argue that number could exceed more than 1,000 students.

That’s still a small percentage of the NYC student population, but the numbers are larger in other New York districts.

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