Title VI compliance from U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights

Uncategorized

Title VI compliance from U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-resourcecomp-201410.pdf The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at U.S. Department of Education issued the Dear Colleague letter on Title VI compliance with regard to equal opportunity and equitable resources in school districts.  In other years, this has been a typically uneventful federal review…

Details

Florida School Boards Association completes its legislative platform

In the News, School Boards, Uncategorized

The Florida School Boards Association’s legislative committee has crafted and approved a two-page list of priorities for the 2015 session, and perhaps it comes as no surprise that testing and accountability reform tops the list. The platform, which goes to the general membership for ratification in December, calls for a delay in the consequences associated…

Details

Governor Rick Scott Honored Six Florida Teachers with Governor’s Shine Awards

Florida Schools, In the News, Teachers

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Governor Rick Scott recognized six educators who formerly served in various branches of the military with the Governor’s Shine Award for their service to our country and their contributions to Florida’s students. The Governor’s Shine Award is presented to Floridians who have positively impacted children through education. Governor Scott said, “It…

Details

Charter schools also raise concerns about Florida standard contract plan

Charter Schools, Florida Schools, In the News

School districts aren’t the only ones raising concerns about a plan to standardize charter school contracts in Florida. Some charter school representatives have indicated they have concerns about the proposal, which is set to be taken up next week by the state Board of Education, and might consider challenging a state rule creating a standard contract…

Details

Florida school boards: Standard charter contracts unconstitutional

Charter Schools, Florida Schools, In the News

Florida school boards are questioning the constitutionality of standard charter school contracts as the state Board of Education gets set to vote on rules creating them. Their objections appear in hundreds of pages of recent comments and letters to the state Department of Education. The Florida School Boards Association wrote in July: “We view this as an…

Details

Advocacy groups promote changes to Florida’s laws on English language learners

Assessments, Florida Schools, In the News

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…

Details

Florida’s ELL testing policy should apply to all students, researcher suggests

Assessments, Florida Schools, In the News, Standards

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…

Details