FSBA Friday Five – 10/5/18

Click below to read Executive Director Andrea Messina’s top picks for this week’s education news. Read. Learn. Share. Retweet. Oracy—purposeful dialogue focused on the exploration of complex idea—extends student thinking: Read more What students say about their own approaches and attitudes toward school: Read more The importance of a culture of thinking: Read more The power…

Betsy DeVos Releases ESSA Guide for Parents

Parents: Can’t make heads or tails of the Every Student Succeeds Act? The U.S. Department of Education has put together a cheat sheet for you.  U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos unveiled the “parents’ guide” at a roundtable in Mississippi, with parents, students, and educators, as part of her four-state “Rethink School” tour. Read More

Spending Bill Boosting Education Funding Clears Congress, Heads to Trump

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is very close to knowing how much money her department has to spend in the next fiscal year.  On Wednesday, the House approved a spending package that includes fiscal 2019 funding for the U.S. Department of Education. The legislation, which the Senate passed last week, includes several increases for…

Florida wins approval for its federal accountability plan

Florida has finally gotten its federal education accountability plan accepted.  U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos sent Florida commissioner Pam Stewart a formal letter acknowledging the approval on Wednesday.  Florida had been the only state in the nation not to have an approved plan. It went through five revisions — including one submitted on Monday — before DeVos…

Florida ‘Best and Brightest’ bonus lawsuit heads to mediation

A year-old case contending Florida’s “Best and Brightest” teacher bonus program discriminates against educators of a certain age or race is headed to mediation in November.The complaint focuses on the part of the 2015 program that relies upon  college entry exam scores, which many teachers — particularly those who entered the profession through a community college…

When New Teachers Get Mentoring, Student Math Scores Can Go Up, Study Shows

When new teachers get ongoing support from mentors, they’re better able to engage students and use assessment in instruction, and their students score higher on math assessments, according to a new study.  The study, conducted by SRI Education, is an independent analysis of the New Teacher Center’s mentorship program, funded through a 2016 federal Investing…

More Florida counties are voting to raise local taxes for schools. Is it a message to lawmakers?

In a video that appeared on YouTube in mid-May, the Republican-controlled Florida House of Representatives said “union bosses and their media allies” were pushing a “myth.” It wasn’t true, they said, that state funding for public schools had increased only 47 cents per student this year.  Three months later, as the new school year got…