Recently, President Barack Obama admitted he’d made a mistake when it comes to public schools. Like most people with big news to share – he posted it on Facebook. “I also hear from parents who, rightly, worry about too much testing,” Obama said in a video posted to the White House’s Facebook page. For more […]
A proposal to limit students to 45 hours of testing a year is unlikely to reduce the amount of time spent on exams, according to a survey of Florida’s largest school districts. Districts say they don’t currently track the time individual students spend on testing. Calculating the number is complicated. The amount of testing varies […]
Today in Tampa, lawmakers, superintendents, businesspeople and state university staff will gather to talk about using technology in Florida classrooms. The summit was the idea of Senate Education chairman John Legg, R-Trinity. We asked him what he wanted to accomplish: Q: You are gathering some school and education leaders together…to talk about school technology. Why […]
A key Senate lawmaker may put less emphasis on test scores to determine which students qualify for state financial aid for college — possibly including Bright Futures. Instead, scholarships and grants would depend more on taking tougher classes in high school. Senator John Legg, R-Trinity, said he and other lawmakers have heard complaints and concerns […]
We sat down with Senate Education Committee Chairman John Legg to talk about the recently completed legislative session. Legg said it was a good year for schools, with the budget boosting per student funding and lawmakers adding more options for students who want to earn college credit while still in high school. On the year’s […]
Sondra Hulette and her granddaughter joined dozens of anti-Common Core protestors as they circled a fountain outside the Orange County school district offices last month. Inside the building, the State Board of Education was about to rename Common Core as “The Florida Standards.” But outside, Hulette and others chanted “Stop Common Core!” “Keep education local!” […]
Florida students could choose computer programming courses instead of a foreign language as part of a bill to help Florida schools add more technology and digital instruction. The bill would require state colleges to accept two years of computer programming if the courses applied to a student’s major. State universities would have the option of […]
The Florida Department of Education could suggest about 40 changes to the state’s K-12 standards, including requiring the teaching of cursive writing and the use of decimals when counting money. But Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said the changes were minor and would have little impact on students, teachers and administrators preparing for the final […]
Wednesday the Florida Legislature will start in on the heavy lifting of this year’s session with regard to education policy. The Senate Education Committee has asked education commissioner Pam Stewart to outline the agency’s plan and update lawmakers on where things stand with the final switch to new K-12 English language arts and math standards […]
The chairman of the Senate education committee is asking the Florida Department of Education to have its plans for new standards and assessments ready when commissioner Pam Stewart speaks at a meeting next week. The education committee will meet Wednesday in Tallahassee. Chairman John Legg said what Stewart says could determine whether lawmakers delay new […]
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