Florida School Boards Association
Less than a month after the Department of Education touted the validity of a new standardized test, Florida school superintendents issued a statement saying they have “lost confidence” in the state’s public-school accountability system. “We have witnessed the erosion of public support for an accountability system that was once a model for the nation,” the…
When Florida’s school superintendents lose confidence in the state’s entire system of accountability and call for a complete review, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart had better pay attention and change course. With one stinging voice, the superintendents say the botched rollout of the Florida Standards Assessments means the test is of no use in grading schools,…
Sept. 18–Just because the cyber attack on Florida’s online exams was routed through 29,000 computers scattered across the globe and investigators closed the case without an arrest doesn’t mean it was a random assault. Disrupting the debut of new statewide tests last spring simply required a target Internet address and someone with cash — by…
Florida Board of Education members on Monday called for as high as possible cut scores for the Florida Standards Assessments — even tougher levels than the Department of Education review panels have recommended. They suggest that more Florida students might pass the test with lowered standards, but in the long run they won’t be as competitive nationally…
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…
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…
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…
Florida might have one of the perks of no state income tax, but according to one personal finance website, the Sunshine State has among the “least fair” state tax systems in the United States. WalletHub released its annual survey this morning of “2015’s Most & Least Fair State Tax Systems,” and Florida came in near…
Every day, 20,000 students miss school in Miami-Dade County. Community leaders on Friday announced a plan to get those students in class — even if it means going door-to-door. “We’re going to have to lace up our boots, come out of our heels and put on some flat shoes,” said school board member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall.…
Over the summer, the Florida Legislature agreed to spend $44 million to fund a scholarship program that will award big bonuses to teachers who got high SAT and ACT scores before entering college — even if they took the test decades ago and can somehow locate their scores. The proposal was so, well, kooky, that…