Judge issues mixed ruling on Florida’s third-grade retention law

A Leon County circuit court judge has come down in favor of families challenging Florida’s third-grade retention practices, ruling that school districts ignored the children’s right to alternative forms of promotion and the state Department of Education allowed that to happen.  In her order, Judge Karen Gievers highly criticized the Hernando County school district for…

FSBA #FridayFive – Week of August 21, 2016

FSBA #FridayFive – 5 Things You Should Know Each week, FSBA Executive Director, Andrea Messina compiles 5 Things You Should Know from education news. US judge blocks White House’s transgender school bathroom policy The best places for children in 2016 Unaccompanied Minors In The US Experience Problems Getting An Education Education NEXT 2016 Education poll…

Zika in the Classroom? How Students in 9 Florida Schools Are Confronting a Public Health Emergency

Nine South Florida schools began the fall term this week on Zika alert, after more than a dozen cases of locally transmitted virus have been reported in the surrounding one-square-mile area.  Crews from the Miami Dade County Public Schools have been eliminating standing water, where mosquitos breed, in Miami’s Wynwood and Midtown neighborhoods, according to…

Judge Weighs Third-Grade Policy After Contentious Hearing

A state judge is weighing a decision that could shake Florida’s education-accountability system following a marathon hearing Monday in Tallahassee.  After nearly nine hours of testimony and arguments, Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers wrapped up a hearing on state and local policies for allowing students to move to the fourth grade but did not rule…

Florida’s testing contractor loses $4.8 million for 2015 exam problems

The testing company that administers Florida’s key standardized exam has lost nearly $5 million because of problems that marred the roll out of the computer-based tests in 2015, the Florida Department of Education said Friday.  The department said American Institutes for Research, or AIR, will reimburse the state or lose payments that total $4.8 million.…

Judge Halts Obama Administration’s Transgender-Student Rules Nationwide

A Texas federal judge issued a nationwide order late Sunday, temporarily halting application of the Obama administration’s guidance on transgender students while a 13-state legal challenge on the issue, led by Texas, is decided.  The case is one of a number of legal challenges related to the May guidance, in which the U.S. Departments of…