Broward Teachers Union president Sharon Glickman, with Broward County schools superintendent Robert Runcie, calling for changes to the teacher evaluation system in October.
Florida lawmakers’ decision to end mandatory final exams for every class will mean that more teachers’ performance will be judged on subjects they don’t teach.
Concerned about the amount of testing in schools — and pressured by activists and educators — this year lawmakers rescinded a state law that requires school districts to have a standard final assessment in any class that doesn’t already have a statewide exam. In most cases that’s a test, but it could be a final project or compilation of a student’s work.
Many districts jumped on the chance to get rid of the tests, which are also known as end-of-course exams.
But eliminating end-of-course exams means confronting an old problem again: Florida law requires teachers are evaluated based on whether students miss, meet or exceed expected results on state standardized tests. So how do you rate teachers if there’s no test?
Several large Florida schools districts say they will use state test scores to evaluate those teachers. That means some art, music or gym teachers will be judged based on their students’ scores on the state reading test.
“In some cases teachers are definitely not happy with it,” said Sharon Glickman, president of Broward Teachers Union. “And to a certain extent we’re not either. But it’s the best of, I hate to say it, two evils.”
John Oliver spent 18 minutes taking on standardized testing, teacher evaluations and all things “accountability” related on his show, “Last Week Tonight.”
And, of course, Florida plays a starring role.
Warning: Salty language, off-color jokes and test monkeys ahead.
Twice this year contractor American Institutes for Research made changes to their system which prevented students and administrators from accessing the exam. Some students were even booted in the middle of completing the test.
But Sen. John Legg, a Pasco County Republican, says there’s little support for that.
“Quite frankly the Legislature is not heading in that direction,” Legg says, “nor are senators and House members even talking about that. To cancel a contract in the middle would be very costly.”
Corinthian Colleges, the parent company of Everest University, agreed to sell or close all its campuses. This campus in Boston has closed. Florida campuses were sold.
About 300,000 Florida students attend a for-profit college, which often specialize in training low-skill workers for a new career.
But students often find their degree doesn’t qualify for the career they were seeking, and they graduate withe tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
Vasquez spoke with StateImpact Florida about what he discovered:
Q: Michael, you have spent a year looking at how for-profit colleges, career colleges, operate in Florida. Why don’t you kind of sum up what you’ve found?
A: Sometimes career colleges, which are mostly for-profit, sometimes they do a good job with students. They take students who are typically non-traditional older students. Maybe, if they’re younger, they probably weren’t the best students in high school.
“Today’s announcement should come as welcomed news to everyone who recognizes that too much testing deprives our students of valuable instruction time,” district superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said in a statement. “In making these decisions, we’ve taken a logical and responsible approach to address the concerns of students, teachers and parents.”
Miami-Dade will give no end-of-course exams to elementary school students this year.
The district will field test 10 middle and high school end-of-course exams, but the results will not have any consequences. Those 10 subjects include five science courses, three history courses and two Spanish courses.
The district will field test new exams each year.
UPDATE: As the Tampa Bay Times‘ Gradebook blog notes, Charlotte and Walton County school districts have also suspended required use of local end-of-course exams.
A storyboard created by Claudia Morell, a student in Broward College's Visual Arts and Design Academy.
A new program at Broward College has just eight students and seeks to train the next generation of South Florida artists and designers.
The school hopes to earn a national certification for the Visual Arts and Design Academy this spring – becoming the first community college in the South to have that.
Florida’s higher education system has put a focus on training workers for health care and other high-demand fields in recent years. And lawmakers have encouraged school districts to start career-training programs.
“People don’t realize the relationship, frequently, between science and art,” said Broward College art professor Leo Stitsky. “If we do away with pure science there would be no computer. If we do away with art there would be no Apple.”
The Florida Council on Economic Education says personal bankruptcies have increased 2200 percent in the last 40 years. That’s one reason why the council is leading a campaign called Require The Money Course.
Bills filed in the Florida House and Senate would require high school students to take a one-semester financial literacy course. But with just three weeks left in the legislative session, the proposals (House bill 29 and Senate bill 92) haven’t been discussed by committees.
Now, there’s another option in the Florida Senate to get the class into high schools if the legislative proposals fail. An alternative is now part of the Senate budget plan for the state starting in July. It would create a required financial literacy pilot project in Broward County schools and a grant program that would enable other districts to participate.
A survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling finds about three-quarters of Americans think they would benefit from professional help with their everyday finances.
Criminology major Justin Buis, a junior at Florida State University, has friends who could use the help.
“They have a certain amount of money for a semester and by the time the semester is halfway through, all their money is gone,” Buis says. “They’re living on gas station food or ramen noodles because they don’t know how to manage their money.
An example of a hands-on science classroom. Paul Cottle says students are more engaged than with a traditional lecture.
As a physics professor at one of Florida’s public universities, I am always looking for ways to encourage students and their parents to take on the challenge of majoring in science or engineering in college.
A few weeks ago, I visited with parents of middle and high school students who attend a science-oriented school near downtown Orlando. The parents wanted to know how to keep their kids on track for science and engineering careers. I told them that their kids should keep taking math and science courses – including calculus and physics – all the way through high school.
And then I shared what I think are the two most important things for future scientists and engineers (and their parents) to look for in a college. One is classroom instruction that actively engages students and is based on studies on how students learn best. The second is the opportunity for students to get involved in cutting-edge scientific research programs early in their undergraduate years.
W. Kent Fuchs is the new president of the University of Florida. During his time at Cornell University, he helped establish a New York City campus.
Three months ago Kent Fuchs became president of the University of Florida, leaving New York’s Cornell University.
Fuchs says Florida universities are adding new faculty, but opposition to higher tuition means more pressure to find private donations.
The University of Florida is also expanding a new online program, with a goal of eventually enrolling 24,000 students.
Fuchs sat down with WLRN’s StateImpact Florida reporter John O’Connor to talk about the issues in higher education.
Q: Tell us a little bit about the state right now. You’ve been here three months. What have you learned so far? Where do you think things are? And where do you think they’re going?
A: When I look at the national landscape, the University of Florida, and indeed the state universities across our state, are in a different place than many of our peers.
StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives. Learn More »
