Sagette Van Embden / Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Shakira Lockett, 22, spent three semesters taking remedial classes before she began working on college-level courses. Lockett, who attended Miami Dade College’s Wolfson campus in downtown Miami, completed her associate’s degree in mass communications and journalism in May.
Florida’s K-12 public education system has graduated hundreds of thousands of students in the past decade who couldn’t read, write or solve math problems well enough to take some college-level courses.
More than half of high school graduates who took the college placement test in the 2010-2011 school year found out they had to take at least one remedial course in college to boost basic skill. These students couldn’t pass at least one subject on the placement exam used to assess the abilities of incoming students.
Florida’s 28 public community and state colleges are required to accept anyone with a high school diploma or G.E.D.
Students taking remedial classes have a harder time getting through college. They must pay for — and the state must subsidize – these basic-skills courses. They do not receive credit toward graduation for remedial classes, and can’t take courses that do count for credit until their skills improve. The result for these students is a longer path to graduating college.
Many of those students never complete their studies.
The need for remedial education is a nationwide problem. But it’s a significantly worse problem in Florida than elsewhere, despite the state’s reputation as a pioneer in overhauling K-12 education.
Some 54 percent of Florida students who took the state college placement test need remedial work in at least one subject. The national average for first-time students needing remediation is 40 percent.
Demand for remedial courses in Florida has doubled since 2007.
The most important change they requested is that all aides working with students with disabilities are properly trained.
But the group also had a more detailed list of requests that ranged from simple things, such as changing who to call first in an emergency, to a more contentious request that Florida fully implement the Medicaid expansion under the federal Affordable Care Act health care law.
Medicaid is a federally-funded but state-run health insurance program for the poor and disabled. Participating in the federal expansion, they said, would allow the state to better tailor programs and services for the disabled and allow more disabled to receive care at home rather than an institution.
Governor Rick Scott announces the “$10,000 Degree Challenge” at St. Petersburg College.
More community colleges are accepting Gov. Rick Scott’s challenge to create $10,000 bachelor’s degree programs.
Scott issued the challenge Monday, calling on colleges to create affordable programs in high-demand areas like information technology, education, and engineering.
Already more than half of the 28 institutions that comprise the Florida College System have announced they will consider the proposal.
Roberto Martinez said it was a well-intentioned but bad idea to ask colleges “to issue a $10,000 bachelor’s degree without commensurately increasing state funding.”
He wrote, “With the deep budget cuts over the last five years, it is difficult to conceive cutting the cost of instruction even further while maintaining a quality education.”
Allison Tremblay, left, and Christine Felix joined those asking for more required training for school employees working with the disabled. Three students with disabilities have died following school-related events.
Now, a group of parents wants more training for those working with students with disabilities.
About two dozen protestors gathered at the Children’s Trust in Tampa, holding signs reading “Cut$ Co$t Lives” and “Stop School Abuse.”
Some asked for Superintendent MaryEllen Elia and school board member Candy Olson to resign.
Clearwater resident Melissa Tremblay helped organize the event. She says when she heard about the recent deaths she thought about her daughter with Down syndrome.
Tremblay says people who work with students with disabilities must be trained.
“We are definitely looking for mandated training, especially for the aides,” she says. “When you pull somebody in out of the cafeteria to become your child’s aide it’s not safe, and it’s not educationally relevant.”
Faculty at Brevard Community College and 27 other community colleges may be impacted by proposed changes to the way continuing contracts are awarded.
State education leaders are holding a workshop this afternoon on hiring requirements at state colleges
The State Board of Education wants to update the process of issuing continuing contracts — the community college version of tenure — and align the rule with Florida statutes.
Under the proposed rules, full-time faculty would have to meet theses requirements to be eligible for continuing contracts:
They must have completed five years of satisfactory service in the same college.
They need the recommendation of the president and approval by the board.
They must comply with criteria including continuing professional development, subject matter knowledge, feedback from students, and service to community.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels closed things out at the Education in Action summit.
Day 2 of the Education in Action conference started with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talking about what his agency was doing well — and where they had fallen short.
Much of the day’s discussion focused on teacher training, improving principles and how to explain Common Core State Standards and make sure they are implemented.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels closed things out with a speech that urged education reformers to “go big or go home,” including taking a hard-line with unions because the two sides can not work together.
Here’s a collection of reactions from the summit, after the jump.
Organizers put an emphasis on “high performing” because they want the lowest performers shut down.
Greg Richmond, President and CEO of NACSA, acknowledged that many charters are not serving students well.
“According to an analysis we have conducted on charter school performance on state reading and math tests, at least 900 charter schools across the country are performing in the lowest 15 percent of all public schools within their state, and that’s unacceptable,” Richmond said.
“We didn’t start the charter movement in order to create more under-performing schools.”
As part of the “One Million Lives” campaign, NACSA is promoting three types of state policy for smarter growth and stronger accountability in charters:
Broward, Charlotte, Manatee, Miami-Dade, and Seminole county schools were among the 61 finalists chosen from 372 applications. The department expects to award 15 to 25 grants, which will be announced by year’s end.
The grants are intended “to support locally developed plans to personalize and deepen student learning, directly improve student achievement and educator effectiveness, close achievement gaps, and prepare every student for success in college and careers,” according to the agency. For more details on what the agency is looking for, click here.
“These finalists are setting the curve for the rest of the country with innovative plans to drive education reform in the classroom,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement. “This competition was designed to support local efforts to close the achievement gap and transform the learning environment in a diverse set of districts, but no matter who wins, children across the country will benefit from the clear vision and track records of success demonstrated by these finalists.”
Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talked about Common Core and other education issues at a summit hosted by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
The biggest news in education this week is the Foundation for Excellence in Education’s two-day summit in Washington. D.C. we gathered what people were saying on Twitter about the event and about education, after the jump.
We chose California, another large state with a diverse population, neighboring Georgia and Iowa, the state with the highest overall graduation rate. The federal data breaks down rates among subgroups, both by race and by issues such as disabilities, English knowledge and wealth.
The gap between Florida’s graduation rate for Hispanic students and a higher performing state such as Iowa is less than the gap between Florida’s and Iowa’s white and black students. And the graph makes it clear that other states are doing a better job helping students with disabilities graduate.
About StateImpact
StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives. Learn More »
