Washington Post education blogger Valerie Strauss looks at the legacy of former Washington D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee and concludes that Rhee left something behind in a rush to overhaul that city’s schools. While Rhee was pushing a controversial teacher evaluation system that led to hundreds of firing, Strauss writes, she did not address fundamental […]
This story is a collaborative investigation between The Miami Herald and StateImpact Florida. Read the Herald’s story. People who want to start up their own charter school must go through a rigorous application process. But after that initial hurdle, the school founders get a lot of freedom over how to run their publicly-funded schools and who to hire. […]
Colleges will need to produce more science and technology graduates, according to Gov. Rick Scott’s economic agenda released Wednesday. Less than 20 percent of Florida university system graduates earn degrees in science, technology or math — also known as STEM — Scott wrote in a release. That rate of STEM graduates will not fill the […]
Teacher merit pay systems need less objectivity and more accountability if they are to work, argues an economist at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. Rating and paying teachers based on student test scores is unlikely to improve teachers, writes Arnold Kling. It is easier to “game” the system if it is based on a simple formula, […]
Charter Schools USA is one of Florida’s largest for-profit management companies, with 25,000 students in three states. The company was just awarded a contract to help turn around three Indiana schools taken over by the state. Charter Schools USA CEO Jonathon Hage is a one-time adviser to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and helped draft […]
For 15 years Florida has conducted an experiment in public education. The goal was to improve the entire education system by granting charter schools more leeway to innovate. Welcome to StateImpact Florida’s Charter Schools 101 series examining the effect those schools have had on students, teachers, parents and communities — and what comes next. One […]
Waiving No Child Left Behind rules will put less emphasis on testing, according to a release from the federal education department. The agency breaks down the impact on the three major parties in the education system. For teachers: ESEA flexibility will move accountability systems toward decisions that are based on student growth and progress. They […]
The Florida Board of Education could recommend lawmakers revise the state school performance system at a meeting tomorrow. School districts have complained the system sets higher standards for the state’s lowest-rated schools. For a low-rated school to pull itself off a watch list the district must improve more rapidly than other state districts. The result […]
Is it possible to evaluate a college professor the same way NFL scouts measure the speed, strength and quickness of college athletes? Florida Gov. Rick Scott wants to have that debate. He’s looking to a controversial Texas proposal as a guide. The Texas model has sparked a Lone Star backlash from schools concerned the plan […]
Lawmakers gave a delayed go-ahead this week to compete in the latest round of federal Race to the Top education grants — this time for early childhood education projects. Here’s what to know about the latest version of the federal program to spur education innovation. 1. Another Race to the Top grant? The federal education […]
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