As schools open for a new school year, they’ll also start encountering student poverty and homelessness. At last count — the 2013/2014 school year — the number of homeless students had risen to more than 71,000 in the state’s public schools. For many of these children, a brand new school uniform may be out of […]
Students who are considered homeless by Florida schools can be living in hotels, trailer parks, in campgrounds or doubled up with friends or relatives. And with as many as 71,000 or more homeless students in the state the challenges can extend beyond the kids and families to include the schools. For most kids school is […]
Family and wealth — and not education — are the most important factors in whether a child succeeds in life according to 30-year study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Children whose parents were married and working ended up better off than peers in poor or single-parent homes. Just 33 of the nearly […]
Chris Guerrieri is a Jacksonville art teacher who also blogs about education. Last month he sent us an email about Florida’s Common Core standards. “My question was: How does Common Core affect poverty?” he asked. More than half of all Florida students qualify for the federal free and reduced-price lunch program. It’s a short-hand way […]
Florida students had some of the nation’s largest gains between 2003 and 2011 on a key national standardized test, according to a new analysis by Education Sector, a nonpartisan policy research group. The analysis tracked fourth and eighth grade math and reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, considered the model test for […]
While charter schools are an increasingly popular option for Florida students, a University of Central Florida researcher says they don’t perform as well as district schools. Dr. Stanley Smith, a professor at the University of Central Florida’s business school, analyzed school grades of Florida elementary schools last summer, examining the effect of poverty and minority […]
StateImpact Florida hit the road for Orlando this week, and so we packed a few podcasts for the trip. We highly recommend a fascinating piece by This American Life that takes a look at the growing body of research about “non-cognitive skills,” such as resilience, tenacity and self-control. Research shows that the stress from living […]
Florida is one of three states scoring below average on four measures of school funding fairness, according to a national report card. The report was produced by the New Jersey-based Education Law Center and Rutgers University researchers. The authors argue state funding formulas should send more money to districts with higher poverty rates. The study […]
Asking whether poverty is included in the Florida formula to evaluate teachers is posing the wrong question, according to Matthew DiCarlo at The Shanker Blog. DiCarlo is referring to a recent story where some educators questioned the lack of a poverty factor in the state teacher evaluation formula. State officials argue poverty is irrelevant because […]
A bill seen mostly as an effort to give immigrant families cheaper college tuition rates has died in the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee. The failed SB 106 would have allowed undocumented students and legal Florida residents with undocumented parents to pay in-state tuition rates, which are up to three times less expensive than the out-of-state […]
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