A listener heard our recent story about Florida’s teacher evaluation formula, and asked us to post it on the StateImpact Florida Facebook page. “You’ve made so much of its complexity,” Chris Harris wrote. “It seems the best way to demonstrate that is to publish it in its entirety.” We agree, so here it is with […]

Reader Scubus has a detailed response to yesterday’s story about Florida’s teacher evaluation formula: You know how hurricane models vary in their predictions, and are not often in agreement or 100% accurate?  That is a similar mathematical model.  They are only as good as the underlying assumptions. In addition, study after study shows that children […]

Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, wants to grade parents, but readers gave her idea failing marks. Dirhart argues grading parents does nothing but generate ill will: This is a total waste of time, and will just lead to more teacher bashing.  Yes, many parents are not doing a good job.  There is little we can really […]

Few things get teachers talking quite like their paycheck, so we knew a recent post about a teacher salary study would get some reaction. And did it ever. Most people criticized the study, conducted by two conservative-leaning think tanks, with some picking apart the methodology. A few said the criticism of teacher pay is the […]

Based on November’s voter turnout in Ohio, it’s no surprise readers were ready to respond to our story this week that Florida leaders likely won’t initiate a collective bargaining fight in Florida this year (despite past statements to the contrary). On Facebook, Angela Howard said there’s little advantage to collective bargaining anyway: I don’t understand […]

Last week we ran a story talking to attorneys about what the law requires for students with disabilities. One expert we spoke with, Joy Zabala with the Center for Applied Special Technology, responded to clarify her position. Zabala said she’s most concerned that portions of federal disability law intended to provide access to students with […]

We’re guaranteed a few comments every time we write about Gov. Rick Scott on StateImpact Florida. A recent post about a petition to remove Scott’s signature from college diplomas was no different. Readers rekindled the debate about whether Florida universities should “drive” more students into science, technology, engineering and math fields. Trena G said government […]

When is a hug innocent or inappropriate? Administrators at Southwest Middle School in Palm Bay adopted a zero tolerance, no-hugging policy so school officials would not have to differentiate. But, that policy resulted in the in-school suspension of two Florida middle school students for hugging even though the principal said it appeared innocent. Zero tolerance […]

In politics, they talk about hitting the “third rail” – a topic so controversial that it’s almost deadly. And this week, we think we’ve touched the third rail of education policy: teacher pay.