Florida School Boards Association
When the Lee County School Board voted recently to rid its classrooms of state-mandated tests, it backed off the next day after realizing the state could punish it if it stood firm. Last month, the Pasco County School Board said it wanted to end the first semester of 2015-16 before winter break. But state law…
Hoping to strike while interest remains high, groups advocating on behalf of Florida’s English language learners have begun circulating proposed changes to state law governing these children’s education. The organizations have begun working with South Florida lawmakers, whose constituencies include large numbers of non-English speakers, to promote rules they say would more fairly account for…
If Florida stays its current course on standardized testing, Kim Johnson believes her son will become a casualty of the system when he starts third grade next year. He learns differently than other kids his age, but he’ll have to take a test that doesn’t account for those differences. And if he fails it, Johnson’s…
Florida government leaders have challenged federal rules regarding when to count the test scores of children still learning English. It’s not fair to include their results in school grading measures, the officials argue, before the students are ready. Matt DiCarlo of the Albert Shanker Institute, who closely monitors Florida’s accountability system, contends that if the…
Calif.—For years, Craig Foster, a retired Wall Street executive turned public school activist, has been zipping up and down the Pacific Coast Highway seeking support for a split between Malibu, the mostly wealthy, mostly white city of beachfront bungalows and modernist mansions, and Santa Monica, the equally picturesque but less moneyed city that shares its…
Virginia’s legislators and governor should embrace a total ban on gifts of any value from private interests, including lobbyists, to lawmakers. I say this not because I think politicians can be bought with a free cheeseburger or Redskins tickets. I do not believe that at all, but it seems clear that a great majority of…
In reflecting on former NYC Education Commissioner Joel Klein’s forthcoming book on his tenure leading the nation’s largest public school district, the New York Times‘ Frank Bruni notes that Klein refers to teacher quality as “the biggest factor in the education equation.” For years now, the voices talking about teacher quality have grown louder and louder. Each…
The politics of extreme ideology has turned Florida public education into a testing factory. Unwilling to accept any responsibility for hyper-testing, politicians and reformers blame school districts. A prominent education reformer recently told the press, “They really need to look inward,” insinuating that districts are the reason for too many tests. If our school districts…
BARTOW | For the first time this year, school districts across Florida will get state funding to help increase the use of technology in schools. The Polk County School Board approved a plan Tuesday for how the district would spend nearly $1 million it will receive. The Digital Classroom Plan includes a budget for wireless…
Here is all you need to know about the absurdity of education in Florida: For several months, dozens of school boards across the state have implored our leaders in Tallahassee to hit the brakes on high-stakes testing. And then on Monday, a state senator stood before School Board members in Lake County and implored them…