The Florida Department of Education released some teacher evaluation data for the 2011-12 school year on Dec. 5. This is the first time the state has released data for the new mandatory teacher evaluations. Continue reading
University of West Florida/flickr
Dr. Judy Bense, president of UWF, said there will be no tuition hike requests in exchange for more funding from the state.
In a rare show of unanimity, Florida’s university presidents say they won’t pursue a tuition increase this year if the state will give them more funding.
The presidents came together at the Capitol Wednesday to announce the Aim Higher Campaign.
“Fundamentally, the system is underfunded…compared to the rest of the country,” University of North Florida President John Delaney said.
“Approximately 30 percent is spent less in Florida than compared to the national average on each student,” Delaney said.
yuan2003 / Flickr
A blogger with the Foundation for Excellence in Education is playing tenacious D over a Reuters story critical of former Gov. Jeb Bush.
Remember that Reuters story last week which took a longer look at claims that Florida schools have improved under former Gov. Jeb Bush’s leadership?
A blogger for the Foundation for Excellence in Education — one of two foundations Bush started to support his education agenda — has responded. Mike Thomas counts the Reuters piece among stories “crafted to reach a pre-ordained conclusion.”
Thomas cites a list of examples where he feels the story’s author cherry-picking contrary data or just ignored evidence entirely. This includes improving test scores from black and Hispanic students; expanding access to Advanced Placement courses; increasing the percentage of students taking the SAT — and earning higher scores.
He also faults the story for attributing school improvement to a constitutional amendment limiting class sizes, when the amendment was not fully phased in until after Florida schools had started showing improvement.
textbookace/flickr
Members of the Florida House are learning terms they'll be using frequently as they help craft the education budget.
The new members of a House education budget panel got a lesson today in how to do their jobs.
It’s information the Florida House Education Appropriations Subcommittee will need before starting the work of crafting a massive education budget for 2013-14.
The state’s education budget this year is $20.3-billion. That’s 29 percent of Florida’s $70-billion budget for 2012-13.
Subcommittee Budget Chief Allyce Heflin tried to prepare members for the work ahead.
“This subcommittee will receive an allocation,” Heflin said. “That is a pot of money within which you have to live.”
She explained terms like base budget, conforming bills, and legislative budget requests.
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The PERT is a computerized test to determine whether students require remedial help before taking college-level classes.
Along with our partners at the Florida Center for Investigative reporting, we’ve been telling you about the growing need for remedial courses at Florida’s state colleges.
Students are required to take remedial courses because of their scores on PERT — the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test. The test is given to high school students to determine if they need remedial help.
Half the students who took the state’s college placement test in the 2010-2011 school year failed at least one section of the test and were placed in a remedial course. (PERT was introduced in 2010 to begin replacing the state’s former test, Accuplacer, so these figures are for the older test.)
So what is PERT? And who has to take it?
PERT is three-section computerized test, with 30 questions in each section, used to determine if students are ready for college-level courses.
The student’s answers on 25 questions determine their placement, while the remaining five questions are used for field testing in order to maintain a bank of questions for use on the test. Students do not know which questions count and which do not.
Sarah Gonzalez / StateImpact Florida
English teacher Vallet Tucker teaches 10th grade honors students. She says she's not surprised that more than half the students who took Florida's college placement exam in the 2010-2011 school year failed at least one subject.
Shakira Lockett was a pretty good student in elementary, middle and high school. The Miami-Dade County native says she typically earned As and Bs in English classes.
Math was always something of a struggle for Lockett. Still, she got through her high school exit exam with a passing grade and went on to graduate from Coral Gables Senior High School in 2008.
She went straight to Miami Dade College. Then, something unexpected happened: She flunked the college placement exams in all three subjects – reading, writing and math.
That didn’t mean she couldn’t attend the school; all state and community colleges in Florida have an open-door policy, which means everyone is accepted. But it did mean she had to take remedial courses before she could start college-level work.
“When they told me I had to start a Reading 2 and Reading 3 class, I was like, ‘Serious?’” Lockett said. “Because I’ve always been good at reading.”
Lockett, who is now 22, spent a year-and-a half taking remedial classes before she could start her first college-level class to count toward her degree in mass communication and journalism. The seven extra courses cost her $300 each.
Lockett found having to take remedial classes discouraging.
“It makes you feel dumb,” Lockett said. “And you ask yourself, ‘Is there something wrong with me?’”
Lockett’s experience actually is quite normal in Florida. In 2010-11, 54 percent of students coming out of high school failed at least one subject on the Florida College System’s placement test, according to an investigation by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting and StateImpact Florida.
That meant nearly 30,000 students – high school graduates – had to take at least one remedial course in college.
Kyle Stokes / StateImpact Indiana
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction delivers his concession speech on Election Day.
We interviewed Tony Bennett back in the spring to ask him about his relationship with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
With news Bennett has applied to be Florida’s next Education Commissioner, this quote from Bennett seemed relevant:
“But I think Indiana was really the first state to really adopt the Florida model…I would say to you that there are probably very few, if any, states that are as closely aligned to the Florida model as Indiana.”
FADA_Member/flickr
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford
It’s committee week in Tallahassee.
Florida lawmakers are arriving for their first batch of committee meetings since the election.
Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford assigned members to committees and subcommittees, including seven panels relating to education.
This week is largely about introductions and getting organized.
Lawmakers will tackle preliminary work before going into the regular legislative session in March.
All meetings are open to the public and most can be streamed online.
Elle Moxley / StateImpact Indiana
Indiana Superintendent of Public Education Tony Bennett has applied to become Florida Commissioner of Education.
Tony Bennett, who lost his reelection bid to remain Indiana’s education chief, says he has applied to become Florida’s education commissioner.
Bennett is a close ally of former Gov. Jeb Bush. Bennett has led Chiefs for Change, an education advocacy group tied to Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to submit an application for Florida’s Commissioner of Education position,” Bennett said in a statement to our colleagues at StateImpact Indiana. “The Sunshine State’s consistent commitment to providing all students a top-notch education is impressive and inspiring. I look forward to participating in the next stages of this process.”
Thomas Hawk / Flickr
Remedial courses cost students and schools money. And the need for remedial courses makes it less likely students complete their studies -- and likely boost their earnings.
Students and Florida taxpayers pay a price for remedial education in several ways
From 2004 to 2011, Florida’s remedial education costs for both students and schools ballooned from $118 million to $168 million. At the same time, state college funding has declined $544 million since 2007, causing tuition increases and creating a greater need for publicly funded financial aid.
Research shows that young adults with college degrees earn about 40 percent more than those with some college and around two-thirds more than people with a high school diploma.
The dropout rate of Florida’s 2010 graduating class cost the state $132 million in lost income and $19 million in lost federal taxes, according to an American Institute for Research estimates.
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