We’re wrapping up 2012, which means it’s time to peer into the crystal ball for what’s coming up in 2013. Florida’s new education commissioner is likely to be the big story, but Common Core is on the horizon as well. Here’s what we’ll be watching for in the next year. Tony Bennett – Florida’s education […]

2012 was a busy year in Florida education. One state education commissioner left, while another will take the reins early next year. And Florida got great news on an international comparison. Here are the biggest education stories of 2012, with links to StateImpact Florida coverage. International test results — The biggest education story of the […]

Florida voters don’t like education proposals pushed by state leaders and Gov. Rick Scott. Really don’t like them, according to a new Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll. Quinnipiac pollsters say voters are “dead-set” against a series of school reform efforts by state leaders. The worst offender is a plan to set different achievement goals for students […]

The State Board of Education is expected to choose Florida’s new Commissioner of Education this week. The three finalists will be interviewed this afternoon in Tampa. They were chosen from an applicant pool of more than sixty. Interim Commissioner Pam Stewart did not apply. She also serves as Florida’s Chancellor of Public Schools. Stewart took […]

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 […]

Supporters of new Common Core national education standards have won a battle within the American Legislative Exchange Council about whether to support or oppose Common Core. Over the weekend ALEC rejected a proposal to oppose Common Core, according to The Ed Fly blog. The vote is important because ALEC is influential among conservative policy makers […]

Indiana voters threw out the a Superintendent of Public Instruction with close ties to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. In Idaho voters overturned three laws based on policies Bush has supported in Florida. But Bush doesn’t take those results personally — it’s about Indiana and Idaho and not Bush’s policies. Bush says overall the results […]

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush urged more emphasis on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test results during his two terms in office. But Bush isn’t mourning the end of the FCAT when a new Common Core State Standards — and tests — fully take effect in the fall of 2014. Bush says FCAT was never meant […]

Our sister sites StateImpact Indiana and StateImpact Idaho have done a great job covering big education-related election stories this year. In Indiana, Democrat Glenda Ritz upset Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett. While in Idaho, voters appear to have repealed three laws — known as “Students Come First” — which sparked opposition from state and […]

Indiana education superintendent Tony Bennett was new to office and looking to make dramatic changes to his state’s schools. The biggest? Require third graders pass a state reading test or get held back. But the state lawmakers were hesitant. So Bennett and Gov. Mitch Daniels, both Republican, called in some help: Former Florida Gov. Jeb […]