Florida School Boards Association
After a year that saw parents rise up against standardized testing, Florida lawmakers on Wednesday said they are prepared to improve the state’s assessment program. “We have a chance to do a rewrite so we can ensure that we are not over-testing our children, and ensure that we provide a road map to the districts…
MIAMI — A federal judge has ruled that Florida’s health care system for impoverished and disabled children violates several U.S. laws. In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan said lawmakers had for years set the state’s Medicaid budget at an artificially low level, causing pediatricians and other specialists for children to opt out…
One of the key issues surrounding the latest release of Florida’s individual school grades is the higher bar the state employs as enshrined in law. When more than 75 percent of the state’s high schools earn A’s or B’s in one year, the grading criteria gets tougher the next. That occurred in 2013, so this…
The standoff between Florida and the federal Education Department about testing students learning English is over, and Florida will get its way. The federal agency will allow the state to start counting English-learners results after two years in school. The feds wanted the state to count results after one year. Read the full article
Marion County officials with the school district and the teachers union on Tuesday welcomed a state review of standardized testing practices of all the state’s 67 public school districts. State Education Commissioner Pam Stewart ordered the review late Monday and asked the Department of Education to gather accurate information about the number of tests districts…
At last. Some sanity has made its way into the frenzied world of high-stakes testing. It wasn’t easy to get to this point and, incredibly, it wasn’t assured, though anyone who has studied a foreign language for a trip abroad would understand. The U.S. Department of Education — DOE — reversed its unhelpful policy that…
Teacher and parent groups say Florida public school students are spending too much time taking – and getting ready for – assessments. Now, Senate President Andy Gardiner says lawmakers will likely hold hearings to review the amount of testing being done. “I think the jury’s still out on, you know, are we over testing,” Gardiner…
Dozens of Florida charter schools withstood tougher high school grading rules and kept their top marks in a new state accountability report released today. For both charter and district schools, there were more F’s and fewer A’s in Thursday’s annual release of high school grades than a year ago. Elementary and middle school grades came out earlier this…
The number of Florida high schools earning an A in the last academic year fell by 25 percent as the state again changed its grading criteria. The state’s graduation rate, meanwhile, inched up to 76.1 percent, an 11-year high, the Florida Department of Education reported Thursday. Pasco County had the Tampa Bay region’s highest graduation…
TALLAHASSEE — Lower gas prices and rising consumer confidence prompted state economists on Monday to boost revenue estimates for next year’s budget by $622 million. The calculations improved the odds that Gov. Rick Scott will deliver on his campaign promise to cut taxes and fees, which lawmakers must approve. When Scott first announced a plan…