For the second time this week, a credible, independent analysis shows Florida students leading the pack in progress.

Between 1992 and 2011, Florida students made bigger gains than students in four other “mega states” in fourth- and eighth-grade reading and fourth-grade math, according to a report released Thursday by an arm of the U.S. Department of Education. In each case, they moved from below the national average to meeting or exceeding it. Low-income and minority students in particular showed traction.

“There is something real going on there,” said Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, according to Education Week.

The center’s comparison followed Wednesday’s College Board report that showed Florida continues to climb the charts on Advanced Placement exams. The Sunshine State now ranks fourth in the percentage of high school graduates passing AP exams. Over the past decade, it ranks second in progress.

Broken-record alert No. 1: Florida’s trend lines shouldn’t be a surprise, given reports like this, this, this, this and this in the past year alone. Yet there remains a lingering perception, cultivated by critics, that Florida’s public schools are sub par and stagnant.

For Thursday’s report, the center for the first time compared scores from Florida, California, Texas, New York and Illinois – the states with the biggest student populations and arguably the biggest challenges. It used results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a battery of tests better known as “The Nation’s Report Card” and considered the gold standard among standardized assessments.

In eighth-grade math, Florida students made gains but remain below the national average. Elsewhere in the report, they were singled out often. (more…)

PolitiFact on PIRLS. PolitiFact looks into Gov. Rick Scott’s statement about how well Florida fourth-graders fared on the recent PIRLS results. The ruling: Mostly True.

Charter school funding. Palm Beach district officials are upset by state budget proposals that would once again give a modest amount of capital outlay money to charter schools and none to district schools. Palm Beach Post.

Class size reduction. Some Broward school board members are worried the district is pushing more students into AP classes to avoid class-size penalties. South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Economies of scale. The Orange County School District joins with other big districts across the country to buy food together and drive down costs. SchoolZone.

School security. A defense expert gives South Florida teachers a day-long session on how to react to armed intruders in their classrooms, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. A Flagler mom pays for an armed deputy to patrol her child's school, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal.

School spending. Refinancing debt could ease Brevard’s budget crisis. Florida Today.

Testing protest. Is anybody in Florida going to kick it up a notch? Gradebook.

Mentors. A Winter Haven program links students with professionals. Lakeland Ledger.

ESE lawsuit. The latest from Hillsborough. Gradebook.

Don’t back up, don’t back down. “Compromise” may be a watchword for 2013, but it wouldn’t be a good thing for education reform, writes Jeanne Allen, founder and president of The Center for Education Reform, in the Huffington Post. She points to Florida as a state that hasn’t compromised on accountability and school choice – and, as a result, has seen rising student achievement.

Acknowledging progress. Pointing to the recent PIRLS results as a “crucial mark of excellence,” the Miami Herald editorial board says Florida schools are making gains but need more money.

Tony Bennett. His views on Common Core and teacher evaluations. Gradebook.

More on charter school closing. School Zone weighs in on the one in Flagler that shut down during the holiday break.

Say no to Robin Hood. Some Seminole County parents don’t like the idea of using family incomes as a factor in drawing new school boundary lines. “The school board needs to stop playing Robin Hood,” one said. School Zone.

Inappropriate. The Hernando school district’s CFO posts pornographic images and makes critical comments about the superintendent online during work hours, reports the Tampa Bay Times.

After Newtown. School district officials in Palm Beach County say metal detectors aren't the answer, reports the Palm Beach Post. Armed officers and deputies will be at every Hillsborough elementary school when students return Monday, the Tampa Tribune reports. School resource officers will be in every Alachua elementary, beginning today, reports the Gainesville Sun. Beefed up security in Marion, too, reports the Ocala Star Banner.

Tony Bennett on testing voucher students. From Gradebook: “I do believe we have a responsibility, be it at a public school or whatever, when we are spending taxpayer dollars - and I go back to what I believe we should do, set expectations, set standards and hold people accountable - that we should be able to prove that schools perform for the money they are given.” Full Q&A in Tampa Bay Times here.

More Tony Bennett. Lakeland Ledger: “Let's just hope he brings to the position a more inclusive management style than that of his predecessors."

“Life is combat.” From the Palm Beach Post’s Jac Versteeg: “Good morning, children, and welcome to your first day of first grade at Eddie Eagle Charter School. We will be piloting the new NRA curriculum the Florida Legislature has mandated for all public schools. My name is Mr. LaPierre.” Putting deputies in elementary schools makes more sense that arming teachers, editorializes the Northwest Florida Daily News.

Ed funding. The Gainesville Sun’s Ron Cunningham references the Legislatures “slash-and-burn approach to funding education” in his year-ahead column. The Ocala Star-Banner’s editorial board says the state’s “cheap route on education” is to blame for the Marion school district’s failure to meet class-size requirements. The Sun makes the same case for noncompliance in Alachua County.

On the right track. Broward Community College President J. David Armstrong notes how much academic progress Florida has made in the past decade. South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Career academies. Students in Palm Beach County’s career academies will get a chance to shadow professionals at their jobs, thanks to a partnership with the business community, reports the Palm Beach Post.

Rocky year in the rearview. A glance at the past year in Florida education from the Tallahassee Democrat. Some superintendents want a break from new mandates in 2013, the Democrat also reports.

School grades don’t show much. Editorializes the Palm Beach Post.

It's not news that Florida Gov. Rick Scott is a strong supporter of parental school choice. But some of his comments Wednesday night in Tampa are still noteworthy. Scott was the keynote speaker at the annual donor appreciation dinner for the state’s tax credit scholarship program, which now serves more than 50,000 low-income students.

In the excerpts below, Scott refers to John Kirtley, who founded Step Up For Students and now serves as its chairman. Step Up administers the scholarship program and co-hosts this blog. Scott also refers to results released this week from a test called PIRLS – the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, which is given to a representative sampling of fourth graders from around the world. In reading, Florida students finished second only to their peers in Hong Kong. Here's a sampling of what you'll hear from Scott in the video:

Over 50 percent of the families in our state make less than $50,000 a year. Every one of them has the same goal we have: They want to be able to choose where their child gets an education …

I tell people all the time: you can get anything passed in Florida you want, if you can explain how it impacts a family making $40,000 a year. This impacts families making $40,000 a year. Families like mine that lived in public housing. Families like mine that the father never had a job at Christmas. Families like mine that didn’t have the money to pay for junior college, college …

If every child has a choice, then the thing I ran on – getting the state back to work – will actually happen. There is no reason for this state not to be No. 1 in job creation. But the only way that’s going to happen is through a great education system. And a key component of that is choice, which makes everybody better and gives different students – like my daughters are both different – different opportunities. …

What John started, what you’re continuing, is forcing the rest of the country to change. Because they see how well Florida is doing. I don’t know if you saw the numbers yesterday, but everybody can be proud of our students. In the international test, we’re right at the top. We weren’t at the bottom. We were at the top.

Florida mirage? As the Foundation for Excellence in Education summit gets underway today, Reuters takes a look at Florida’s academic progress in the Jeb Bush era and writes “a close examination raises questions about the depth and durability of the gains.”

Grad rates. Florida’s aren’t good, according to a new U.S. DOE report, reports Gradebook.

$10,000 bachelor’s degrees. Gov. Rick Scott challenges state colleges to come up with innovative ways to bring down costs, reports the Tampa Bay Times. The Times editorial board calls it a “publicity stunt.” Board of Education member Roberto Martinez is also not impressed. More from the Orlando Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Florida Times-Union, Miami Herald, Tampa Tribune.

Proposed school closings in Brevard and the connection to new charter schools. Florida Today columnist Matt Reed.