Florida

Putting Education Reform To The Test

Bush Foundation Promoting Common Education Standards Online, On Air

The education foundation founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has launched a new web site and advertising campaign to support the Common Core math and language arts standards facing criticism in many states.

The campaign by the Foundation For Excellence in Education is called “Learn More. Go Further.”

The web site features videos of teachers (they volunteered) answering common questions and explaining the standards, and interactive maps showing where the standards have been challenged. An ad began airing yesterday on television and cable and will run for 10 weeks, said Allison Aubuchon, a spokesman with the Foundation for Excellence in Education, which is sponsoring the campaign.

The advertising campaign in the Tampa Bay region targets local news and cable networks such as Animal Planet, HGTV and The Family Channel.

The teachers, there are four of them, are also spreading the campaign on social media.

“It is important that all Floridians continue to learn about the countless academic gains our state has made and the direction we’re headed as we move to higher standards,” Aubuchon said in a statement. “The campaign and site provide resources and tools to make learning and sharing this information easier.”

Continue Reading

Conversation About The Cost Of College Starts In Florida

Graduation day at Northwest Florida State College.

sean.flynn / Flickr

Graduation day at Northwest Florida State College.

NPR has started a series of conversations about paying for the rising cost of college.

For their first interview, NPR spoke with David Sherker, a student at Coral Reef High School in Miami, and his family. President Barack Obama recently spoke at the school to encourage students to apply for federal financial aid and prod Congress to approve $100 million in ideas to make college more affordable.

The rising cost of college is frightening. From the story:

The College Board says the average at public four-year colleges and universities increased by 27 percent beyond the rate of inflation over the five years from the 2008-09 academic year to 2013-14. After adjusting for inflation, the cost of tuition more than tripled between 1973 and 2013.

That reality has been forcing more and more students to take on staggering debts. Among all students who graduated from four-year colleges in 2012, seven in 10 left with debt.

And that debt load is heavy — an average of , according to the Institute for College Access and Success. Just 20 years ago, fewer than half of college students graduated with debt, and the amount was less than $10,000 on average.

But as we and others have noted: Not going to college will cost you. The earnings gap between those with a bachelor’s degree and those without is at a 50-year high.

Listen to the interview below:

Continue Reading

Florida Schools Chief Picks AIR For Next Statewide Test

Florida schools chief Pam Stewart is recommending the American Institutes for Research to produce Florida's next statewide test.

Screen capture

Florida schools chief Pam Stewart is recommending the American Institutes for Research to produce Florida's next statewide test.

Education Commissioner Pam Stewart has recommended the American Institutes for Research produce Florida’s next statewide exam.

The new, as-yet-unnamed test is required because Florida is finishing the switch to new math, language arts and literacy standards largely based on the Common Core State Standards adopted by Florida and 44 other states. The current Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test was not designed for the new standards.

“The new assessment will include more than just multiple choice or simple fill-in-the-blank questions,” Stewart wrote in a letter to parents. “Students will be asked to create graphs, interact with test content and write and respond in different ways than on traditional tests.”

Continue Reading

Explaining The Push For ‘Pay It Forward’ Tuition Plans

A Florida lawmaker has introduced a bill which would make college tuition free, but students would repay the cost over time.

thisisbossi / Flickr

A Florida lawmaker has introduced a bill which would make college tuition free, but students would repay the cost over time.

A Florida lawmaker has proposed allowing students to attend college tuition-free, and then repay the cost with a percentage of their salary after graduating.

The proposal has been nicknamed “Pay It Forward” tuition because students making their payments keep tuition free for future generations of college students. Students might pay their Alma mater between 2 percent and 6 percent of their annual salary for as long as 25 years, depending on the terms of the program.

The idea was first proposed in Oregon, which is creating a pilot program for lawmakers to consider. In Florida, Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, introduced SB 738, which would launch a pilot program to create a Pay It Forward program.

Pay It Forward seems tempting on its face. The University of Florida charges $6,270 a year in tuition. The median Florida salary is $41,334 for a household with one earner. Assuming 3 percent payback over 25 years, that University of Florida degree would cost $31,000.

“It’s disarmingly apparent that it sounds like a good deal,” said Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor of higher education policy at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Continue Reading

FSU Will Examine Florida Colleges’ Remedial Course Changes

Florida State University researchers will study what eliminating remedial requirements means for Florida College System students.

CSUF Photos / Flickr

Florida State University researchers will study what eliminating remedial requirements means for Florida College System students.

Florida State University researchers have won a grant to study the effects of a new state law making remedial math, reading and writing courses optional for many students at Florida’s two- and four-year state colleges.

Students who entered high school in the past decade and earned Florida’s standard high school diploma no longer have to take remedial courses, according to the law passed last year. In the past, about half the students who took the state college placement exam had to take at least one remedial course.

National statistics show students who take remedial courses are less likely to finish their studies. The courses do not earn college credit, and student can not start on their degree until finishing the courses.

Florida college officials say those students are more likely to be returning to school while managing a job and a family. (For more on why this happens, check out our 13th Grade series)

The intent of the law was to make it easier and faster for students to finish their degrees. The Florida State researchers want to find out if that’s the case.

“This is the most significant state law affecting developmental education that we are aware of anywhere in the country,” FSU professor Shouping Hu said in a statement. “Because of its sweeping nature, it is critical that we begin documenting and evaluating its impact from the very beginning.”

Continue Reading

Gov. Scott Supports In-State Tuition For Undocumented Immigrants

Gov. Rick Scott has asked that Florida give up its duties managing PARCC's money.

Governor Rick Scott/Stacy Ferris/flickr

Gov. Rick Scott said he supports a bill that would allow some undocumented immigrants access to in-state tuition..

Gov. Rick Scott said he will support a Senate bill granting in-state tuition to some undocumented immigrants because the bill also would prevent universities from raising tuition above what lawmakers approve, according to the Associated Press.

Lawmakers have considered in-state tuition the past several years, but the bill has never made it through both the House and the Senate in the same year. House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, supports in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants and Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater has introduced the bill in the Senate.

Standing in the way is Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who said he opposes the bill for those in the country illegally.

Continue Reading

Florida Educators Face Unknown Destination As They Wait On Test Decision

Uncertainty about Florida's next statewide test leaves some teachers and administrators uncomfortable.

djking / Flickr

Uncertainty about Florida's next statewide test leaves some teachers and administrators uncomfortable.

Florida schools will be giving a new standardized test about a year from now. But which test is still up in the air until Education Commissioner Pam Stewart announces her choice later this month.

A new test is needed because Florida schools will complete the transition to new math and language arts standards in every grade this fall. The standards are based on the Common Core standards fully adopted by Florida and 44 other states.

So does it matter to teachers if they don’t know yet who will create the test and what it will look like?

Not really, said Christina Phillips, a language arts teacher at Tampa’s Monroe Middle School.

“We’re doing everything in our power right now to prepare them for when they actually take that test,” she said. “Of course, we’re kind of, you know, sailing a ship out in the ocean not knowing exactly where we’re going right now because we don’t know exactly what the new test is going to be.”

Continue Reading

Florida Matters: Choosing The Next FCAT

Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart will soon choose an FCAT replacement.

shinealight / Flickr

Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart will soon choose an FCAT replacement.

Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart is expected to recommend a test to (mostly) replace the FCAT this month.

A new test is needed because Florida is finishing the switch to new K-12 math, language arts and literacy standards this fall. The standards are largely based on Common Core standards fully adopted by 44 other states and the District of Columbia.

This evening, WUSF’s Florida Matters takes a look at the test decision with University of South Florida education historian Sherman Dorn, Pasco County assistant superintendent Amelia Van Name Larson, and Melissa Kicklighter, a vice president with the Florida PTA.

Dorn said we won’t know how much will change with the test until the decision is announced.

“It might be tests that are interesting and challenging,” he said. “It might be tests that are very close to what students experience with FCAT — or somewhere in between.”

Continue Reading

Follow-Up: State Rejects Miami Jackson High School’s Grade Appeal

Miami Jackson High School's grade will remain a B, after the Florida Department of Education rejected the school's challenge.

chrisinplymouth / Flickr

Miami Jackson High School's grade will remain a B, after the Florida Department of Education rejected the school's challenge.

Miami Jackson Senior High School has lost its appeal to become an A-rated school after disputing test scores , the Miami Herald reports.

The Florida Department of Education said the scores from students learning English would not have changed the school’s grade:

The state’s ruling was expected, even though Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in January that the “English Language Learner” students in question should not have counted toward the calculation of the school’s 2012-13 letter grade because they had not been enrolled in a U.S. school for a full year prior to the start of testing, as state law requires.

School and district testing officials argued that the disputed test scores caused Miami Jackson, which earned enough points to receive an “A,” to miss out on a requirement that at least a quarter of students test at proficient reading levels in order to avoid a one-grade drop.

Continue Reading

What A Florida Middle School Has Learned So Far Teaching Common Core Standards

This story is part of a series from The Hechinger Report and StateImpact Florida looking at how Florida schools are getting ready for Common Core standards. Read — and listen to — the first story here.

Monroe Middle School teacher Dawn Norris hears a difference in her language arts classes since she starting using Common Core standards two years ago. It’s how the 13-year teacher knows the new standards are working.

Middle schools across Florida will begin using the new math and language arts standards when classes start this fall. But most middle schools in the Tampa area, where Monroe is located, are already using Common Core.

Monroe Middle School teacher Dawn Norris talks to her students about how to write an essay about fairy tales. Norris has been teaching based on the Common Core standards for two years. Since making the switch, she says her students have taken more control of the lessons.

John O'Connor / StateImpact Florida

Monroe Middle School teacher Dawn Norris talks to her students about how to write an essay about fairy tales. Norris has been teaching based on the Common Core standards for two years. Since making the switch, she says her students have taken more control of the lessons.

Common Core has been fully adopted by 45 states. But the standards have been criticized for their quality, for reducing local control over classroom content and for continuing emphasis on student test results to determine whether teachers and schools are successful.

“What I’ve noticed in my classes now is they’re loud. And that’s OK,” Norris said. “Where in the old days it was, no, you want that silent classroom, but the more they talk, they’re all on task. They’re all working on that same common goal.”

Continue Reading

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 »

Economy
Education