Growing number of homeless students concerns local, national officials

LEESBURG — According to the U.S. Department of Education, 71,277 Florida public school students were homeless last year, a figure that has grown since the Great Recession. In Lake County alone, local school officials report homelessness affects more than 2,600 students. Doug Major, special events coordinator for the Educational Foundation of Lake County, is not…

Florida issues guide for understanding upcoming student test reports, as concerns remain

The Florida Department of Education is forging ahead with its plan to issue and use Florida Standards Assessment results this fall, releasing its explanation of how student test reports will look when they’re published. Students will be assigned a T-score and a percentile rank for each of the exams they took. These are intended to…

Miami-Dade school leader pushes state board on school grades

A fight over standardized testing and school accountability came close to home on Monday, when the Florida Board of Education’s traveled to fertile ground for criticism: Miami-Dade County. At issue during the board’s monthly meeting was the state’s plan to issue school letter grades based on new state tests given in the Spring. School superintendents…

5 Things We Learned From An International Study On Technology In Schools

Last week the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development released the results of a global study looking at the effect of technology on 15-year-olds test scores. The group oversees one of the most important international exams, so their research matters. And the research matters even more to Florida because state law requires schools spend half of their…

House education chair: If you want to opt out of tests, go to private school

TALLAHASSEE — If parents don’t want their children to take standardized tests, they should send them to private schools, the chair of the House education committee said on Friday. “In public school … you cannot opt out of the tests,” Rep. Marlene O’Toole, a Republican from Lady Lake, told reporters after a committee meeting on…

Florida accountability laws need ‘total rewrite,’ Pasco superintendent says

Florida’s education accountability system has lost credibility among too many Floridians to remain effective as-is, Pasco County schools superintendent Kurt Browning said Friday. Without changes, “I think it’s just going to get worse,” said Browning, the only superintendent to attend the state Senate Education Committee’s Thursday hearing on testing. “Whether real or perceived, school administrators,…