More than two-thirds of Florida residents polled say public school students should have to take Spanish, according to a monthly University of Florida economic survey. You’d expect South Florida residents might see a reason to require students to study Spanish — gateway to Latin America, and all — and they do. But the University of […]
While Florida’s Bright Futures scholarships no longer pay the entire tuition bill at the state’s public universities as they once did, they are still a valuable source of financial support for thousands of students. Recent increases in the minimum scores on SAT and ACT college entrance exams required for Bright Futures eligibility have sparked some […]
The US high school graduation rate is at an all-time high. But why? NPR Ed partnered with 14 member stations around the country to bring you the stories behind that number. Check out the rest of the stories here in our slideshow. And find out what’s happening in your state. Eight times Brandon Lewis has taken Florida’s Algebra […]
This spring, Florida students will take a brand new test tied to the state’s new math, reading and writing standards. This is the test that replaces the FCAT. It’s known as the Florida Standards Assessment, and it’ll be online. What’s on the test won’t be the only thing different about the exam. Students will also […]
Lots of people think teaching students computer programming is a good idea. But where coding fits in schools is a difficult question. Is it a science? A language? Career training? Florida lawmakers proposed, but did not approve, letting students substitute coding for foreign language or physical education courses required for a high school diploma. The […]
Ryan Seashore starts off every CodeNow workshop with a simple request — write out step-by-step instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. A CodeNow teacher pretends to be a robot, and follows the students’ orders exactly as they’re written. Students quickly find that asking a computer to perform an everyday task isn’t so […]
“This idea is to learn a language you have to talk it…you have to engage in it.” That’s how Algebra Project founder Bob Moses described the principle underlying the program. Math is a language. And like any language, teachers need to help students translate the language into terms they understand. But like the students learning […]
Adding more math and science courses to high school graduation requirements made students more likely to drop out, according to a recently published study by Washington University researchers. The study compared course requirement changes between 1980 and 1999. Florida was among a group of states with the most required math and science courses — six. […]
Algebra Nation Video Clips from Study Edge on Vimeo. The first year Florida ninth graders took the state’s Algebra 1 end-of-course exam, less than half those students passed the test. Students must pass the exam to earn a high school diploma, so the results worried school officials. In the two years since, districts are trying […]
About half of Florida ninth graders failed the state’s Algebra 1 exam on their first attempt last year. The class — and passing the exam — are a high school graduation requirement. We’ll find out today if those numbers improved when the Florida Department of Education releases this year’s end-of-course results. But Pinellas County schools […]
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