Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed. Professionals should be responsible for their job performance and should be evaluated and retained accordingly. Who doesn’t agree with that? My problem isn’t with accountability or evaluating teachers.  My problem is with the schemes I’ve encountered so far in my career that have been designed […]
The State Board of Education has asked that a panel of school superintendents and other education officials to review the state’s school grading system and potentially recommend changes. Superintendents from Hillsborough and Miami-Dade schools said that they are concerned changes to the school grading system will mean a dramatic drop in school grades. The board […]
Last month Senate president Don Gaetz raised eyebrows when he questioned the accuracy of Florida’s new teacher evaluations. The evaluations are based on a complex statistical formula which weighs Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores and other factors to calculate how much a teacher influences student learning. The evaluations will eventually contribute to how much a […]
The Florida Department of Education released 2012 high school grades, part of the state’s school accountability system. The data includes each component of the school’s score and demographic data.
Nearly half of Florida high schools earned an ‘A’ grade and fewer schools earned failing marks, according to Florida high school report cards released Friday. The grades were aided by a number of changes approved by the State Board of Educations. The board lowered the passing grade on the state writing test, suspended the penalty […]
Wednesday the Florida Department of Education unveiled statewide teacher evaluation data, part of a new law that overhauls how teacher performance is measured in Florida. The agency held a press conference by phone to discuss the accomplishment. And then the data quietly disappeared that afternoon. The agency later admitted that Hillsborough County school officials had […]
Miami-Dade has overtaken Duval as the district with the highest number of “priority” schools, formerly known as “intervene.” They are the bottom five percent of the lowest performing “F” schools. Other low performers are labeled “focus.” These are the next lowest ten percent of schools. High schools with graduation rates under 60 percent fall into […]
University of South Florida education professor Sherman Dorn literally wrote (well, edited) the book on Florida’s education reform policies. So we grabbed him for a few minutes to ask what Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson’s resignation might mean long-term. Dorn says Robinson was put in a particularly difficult position and that Florida’s education chief is a […]
Yesterday we told you about a Tampa charter school which improved its grade from an F to an A despite tougher state standards this year. We thought we’d give credit to the other 294 schools (after the state Department of Education corrected the list) which improved their grades as well. Here they are, by the […]
Last year Mount Pleasant Standard Base Middle School’s grade dropped to an F from an A. Principal Yolanda Capers says the grade stung because she saw her students improving. “It’s devastating because…our students were still learning,” she says. “58 percent of our students made learning gains in reading. That’s a lot of learning gains. However […]
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