Florida

Putting Education Reform To The Test

Florida Teachers Will Attend Summer Camp For Common Core Standards

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Florida kindergartners are already being taught using Common Core standards thanks to curriculum created by their teachers.

Florida teachers and school administrators will get help this summer understanding how to implement Common Core State Standards.

The new standards are designed to make sure high school graduates are adequately prepared for college or the workforce.

The standards are based on international benchmarks at each grade level. Common Core assessments will be given at least twice a year, and students must be able to explain their answers.

But teachers are still trying to figure out how to teach the standards.

A poll released last week by the American Federation of Teachers finds that three-quarters of public school teachers surveyed support CCSS. But only about a quarter say their districts have given them the resources and tools they need to successfully teach the standards.

As a result, AFT is pushing for a moratorium on Common Core assessments until educators are better “trained and equipped to help their students master this new approach to teaching and learning.”

The Florida Department of Education is trying to help.

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Study: Schools And Colleges Are Teaching The Wrong Type Of Math

mjymail (tiggy) / Flickr

Most students are being taught math they will never use, while schools skimp on or omit foundational skills student use more according to a new study.

Community college students are needlessly assigned to remedial math classes to learn lessons they won’t use during their studies, according to new research from a Washington, D.C. group.

And the study also found that many high school graduates are not learning subjects they will need to use in their careers.

The study was produced by the Washington, D.C.-based National Center on Education and the Economy and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“What these studies show is that our schools do not teach what their students need,” the authors wrote, “while demanding of them what they don’t need; furthermore, the skills that we do teach and that the students do need, the schools teach ineffectively. Perhaps that is where we should begin.”

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Newsweek: Florida Boasts 115 Of The Nation’s Best Public High Schools

http://www.ib-bhs.com/

The International Baccalaureate School at Bartow High in Polk County is ranked 2nd in the nation for best high schools by Newsweek.

More than 100 Florida public high schools are among America’s best — including the second-best high school in the country — according to Newsweek.

The magazine ranks the country’s top 2,000 public high schools each year.

Newsweek says the winners are “those that have proven to be most effective in turning out college-ready grads.”

The ranking are based on school-submitted data for 2011-2012.

Florida has five schools ranked in the top 20:

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Bennett Isn’t Backing Down To His Critics

Gina Jordan/StateImpact Florida

Commissioner Tony Bennett says parents are the best experts on their kids' schooling.

Education Commissioner Tony Bennett is a lightning rod for criticism — and he knows it.

He had his share of critics in Indiana, where he lost his reelection as state superintendent last November.

“We couldn’t overcome the rhetoric of the teachers unions and the undercurrent that they generated,” Bennett told The Huffington Post a day after his defeat.

“It was a mandate to basically say that Tony Bennett isn’t a good person who doesn’t like public education,” Bennett said.

He quickly found work in Florida, where he was eager to join state leaders who were not opposed to parental choice or to competition.

But Bennett continues to take hits from opponents who say he wants to privatize public education and just shouldn’t be trusted.

Here’s a sampling of comments from StateImpact Florida readers:    Continue Reading

Governor Launches Victory Tour To Celebrate Teacher Raises

Florida Governor's Office

Gov. Rick Scott makes a stop at Piper High School in Broward County to tout $480 million for teacher raises.

Gov. Rick Scott hopes teachers remember his efforts to get them more money, now that the Florida Legislature has adjourned.

Scott embarked on a Teacher Pay Raise Pep Rally Tour today as part of National Teacher Appreciation Week.

Scott requested $480 million for raises. He got the full amount, but it won’t be doled out exactly as he wanted.

He was hoping for across-the-board raises of $2,500 for every teacher.

Instead, lawmakers approved raises that will vary based on teacher evaluations and effectiveness rankings.

Other school personnel will also be eligible for pay boosts.

Scott said districts will have flexibility in carrying out the raises in coordination with their collective bargaining agreements.

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Parent University Provides A Lesson On New Common Core Standards

John O'Connor / StateImpact Florida

Joanne Land, right, and Lowry Elementary teacher Kimberly Henriquez, sort vocabulary words into tiers to learn more about how Common Core standards work. Land was one of hundreds of parents who attended a recent Parent University session. Many parents said they wanted to learn more about Common Core standards and testing.

The small group of parents hovered over a list of words, deciding where to sort “cloud,” “photosynthesis,” and “google.”  They paid particular attention to words indicating facts, evidence or conclusions.

Words such as analyze, convince or insight. Students will use these words to support their conclusions, analysis and opinions.

“This is the key category,” said Hillsborough County reading teacher Jane Mertens, explaining the significance of what she called “Tier 2” words. “This is college and career readiness. This is the vocabulary – that common language of comprehension.”

This is Parent University, and these students are studying new education standards known as Common Core. Florida and 44 other state have fully adopted Common Core standards, which will be used in every Florida grade beginning the fall of 2014.

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How Parent Trigger Opponents Claimed #ParentEmpowerment As Their Own

@GatorBonBC / Twitter

Just over 24 hours ago, the Tallahassee-based Foundation for Florida’s Future sent out an email asking parent trigger backers to tweet their support.

The bill died in the Florida Senate earlier this week on a 20-20 tie vote — for the second year in a row.

The bill would allow parents at schools earning a failing grade to choose how to restructure the school, including firing staff and administrators, closing the school or converting to a charter.

It’s the last option that drew criticism. Opponents argued Florida was passing the bill just prior to new standards kicking in which would ensure more Florida school earned a failing grade. The Florida PTA, the NAACP and other advocacy groups fought the bill.

The Foundation, started by former Gov. Jeb Bush, backed the bill along with national advocacy groups StudentsFirst and Parent Revolution.

The Foundation for Florida’s Future email included pre-written tweets to cut and paste into Twitter posts. So how did the campaign turn out? We’ve put together a Storify, after the jump.

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“Do I Have The Discipline?” And Other Questions You Should Ask Before Signing Up For An Online Degree

Governor Rick Scott signed a broad-ranging education bill this session that—among many changes—establishes an entirely online bachelor’s degree program through the University of Florida.

The University of Florida will offer bachelors degrees that can be completed entirely online.

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The University of Florida will offer bachelors degrees that can be completed entirely online.

UF already has experience offering online courses and degree programs that allow students to finish the last two years of a bachelor’s degree online. But this is the first time a Florida university—or any state school in the country—will offer an entirely digital degree.

Still, there are models for what this new online institution at UF might look like. Models like Western Governors University—a private, not-for-profit university with more than 40,000 students in 50 states.

WGU president Robert Mendenhall has been with the school since 1999. He spoke with StateImpact Florida about lessons learned and what UF administrators and students can expect of online degree programs.

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Tweet That: Bush’s Foundation Not Giving Up On Parent Trigger Bill

Foundation For Florida's Future

The Foundation for Florida's Future is out with a new video after the defeat of the parent trigger bill. A provision of the bill lives on after it was added to another piece of legislation.

The Foundation for Florida’s Future isn’t giving up on the parent trigger bill. They’re asking people to announce their support on Twitter and other social media with ready-made post to cut and paste.

The bill — officially titled Parent Empowerment in Education — would give parents more power in choosing how to change a chronically failing school.

But it died this week, just as it did last year, in a 20–20 tie vote in the Senate.

The foundation, an education policy organization founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush, sent an email today with the subject line: “We will not ignore parents.”

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Who Supports, Opposes The Common Core?

Elle Moxley / StateImpact Indiana

Common Core opponents rallied in January at the Indiana statehouse.

Earlier this week we told you why opponents of new education standards fully adopted by 45 states have found less traction in Florida than in Indiana, Alabama and other states.

The standards, known as Common Core State Standards, will allow Florida to compare students performance to other Common Core states and students around the globe.

Our colleagues in Indiana — as part of our “Core Questions” series — answered a reader question about who supports and opposes the Common Core and why.

There are three top reasons why people support the Common Core, StateImpact Indiana’s Elle Moxley writes:

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