Florida and feds in a showdown over when to test students still learning English

Federal education officials have decided Florida does not know best when it comes to school accountability and English-language learners. State legislators, supported by educators and advocates, changed the law in the spring to reflect that students still learning English should not be expected to immediately excel on Florida’s annual tests. They gave the students two…

The Numbers Don’t Lie: See Florida’s Shocking Data on Poverty, Wages & Income Inequality

Florida is the nation’s second most poverty-stricken state, at 19.5 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s supplemental poverty measure in 2012, and reported by the Tallahassee-based Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy (FCFEP) in a new August brief released Monday. Entitled ‘The Condition of Florida by the Numbers,’ the FCFEP paper also notes…

Guidance for Schools Issued on How to Keep Parents Better Informed on the Data They Collect on Students

The U.S. Department of Education today announced new guidance for schools and districts on how to keep parents and students better informed about what student data is collected and how it is used. In the guidance issued by the Department’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center, schools and districts are urged to be proactive in communicating how they use student…