Florida School Boards Association
Nearly 98 percent of Florida’s public school teachers earned good evaluations for the 2013-14 school year, just as they’ve done for the past two years, data released today shows. Central Florida school districts, as we reported late last month, mirrored the state, with almost all teachers evaluated earning “highly effective” or “effective” ratings — the…
When the Lee County School Board voted in August to rid its classrooms of state-mandated tests, superintendent Nancy Graham says the district lost sight of a key factor: Children. Adults with political agendas on testing, accountability, Common Core and other issues held sway with passionate pleas, and board members took the bait. The conversation about…
MIAMI (AP) – It looks like a green, high-tech coffee can with tape-measure arms and side solar panels. The contraption contains four separate circuit boards that will measure temperature, acceleration and magnetic fields. It was designed by a team of students at David Lawrence Jr. K-8 School and Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High School,…
Time for courts to review Florida’s expansion of school voucher program. Florida’s courts must review the state’s school voucher program after this year’s massive expansion by the Legislature. The Florida School Board Association and the Florida Education Association — the teachers union — are among the plaintiffs challenging the legality of the program, which provides…
We’re taking this week to help parents and students understand the new Florida Standards Assessments, which students will take for the first time beginning in March. The math, reading and writing exam (reading and writing are combined as English language arts) is intended to measure how well students in third through eleventh grades understand Florida’s…
This spring, Florida students will take a brand new test tied to the state’s new math, reading and writing standards. This is the test that replaces the FCAT. It’s known as the Florida Standards Assessment, and it’ll be online. What’s on the test won’t be the only thing different about the exam. Students will also…
From dual-language kindergarten, when they are taught a pointer is un puntero, to the day they continue on to Lennard High School, students at the Redlands Christian Migrant Association charter schools get a specialized education. It conforms to state standards and, judging by the test scores, surpasses them. But the schools — an elementary and…
Jeb Bush made his mark as Florida’s governor by overhauling the state’s schools. As he ponders a potential run for president, his education policies — a likely cornerstone of a White House campaign — are drawing fire from critics who argue they place too much emphasis on testing. While the landmark education programs retain the…
Students in grades 4 to 7 will take Florida’s new standardized writing test using old-fashioned paper and pencil to quell educators’ fears that younger students don’t have the typing skills needed to take an online writing exam. Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said Tuesday the state will revisit the issue next year, before deciding whether the…
uring his recent campaign for re-election, Gov. Rick Scott called for a “thorough investigation” of standardized testing in Florida’s public schools. “That work has begun,” Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said this morning at the State Board of Education meeting in Seminole County. The Florida Department of Education, Stewart said, has begun the review that Scott,…