Editors note: This post was written by WLRN reporter Luc Cohen. The presidents of more than 100 U.S. research universities signed a letter to President Obama and Congressional leaders urging them to make it easier for international students to get jobs in the country after they graduate. The letter argues that highly skilled workers in STEM fields […]

Gov. Rick Scott has created another task force. It comes on the heels of his new public safety panel charged with examining the Stand Your Ground law. This one will concentrate on reforming the State University System. Scott says the Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform will look at how the State […]

Florida’s Board of Education is meeting tomorrow to debate changing the state’s school grading system. The proposal has drawn criticism from educators and parents — particularly a proposal to include students with disabilities in the formula. Here’s seven questions about what’s being proposed, how it could affect schools and why it matters. 1. Why is […]

Last month, Gov. Rick Scott told the Florida Department of Education to rank all of Florida’s 3,078 schools from best to worst. That list was released last week — to criticism that it relied mostly on FCAT scores and did not take poverty into account. So, my colleague John O’Connor and I wondered how U.S. […]

Florida’s state universities have been doing a lot of thinking about science, technology, engineering and mathematics education recently, spurred by Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature’s interest in turning out more graduates ready for high-tech jobs. Last week WUSF Mark Schreiner profiled a University of South Florida researcher trying to figure out what attracts students […]

University of South Florida professor Will Tyson recently won a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant to study science, technology, engineering and math education, known as STEM. STEM is a hot topic in education circles as policy makers try to figure out ways to produce more graduates with high-tech skills necessary for a transforming economy.Gov. […]

Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon said state lawmakers trying to benefit their own parochial interests have muddied the mission of the state’s higher education system. Cannon, R-Winter Park, said the House will study how to improve the system because the state’s economy is tied to a “strong and dynamic” higher education system, according to prepared […]

Yesterday we asked why there were so many A and B high schools, according to the latest grades. The folks at the Jacksonville Public Education Fund have an answer in the chart at right. It’s because the state grades have very narrow ranges on a 1,600-point scale and many school found a way to quickly […]