Sparking the evolution of education choice
Seventeen years ago, a group of business and community leaders in Tampa Bay decided to renovate rather than raze an old, abandoned public school. The spooky building with stately red brick once served generations of Cuban and Italian kids in Tampa’s historic Ybor City neighborhood. The group wanted to restore[Read More…]
Schools of excellence: Eighty-eight more Florida schools may be added to the 630 already designated as “school of excellence” by the state Board of Education at its meeting Thursday. Those schools earn the label by being in the 80th percentile or higher in points for Florida’s school grading system, then maintain[Read More…]
Class size changes: A proposal is filed with the Constitution Revision Commission that would make it easier for school districts to comply with the 2002 amendment capping class sizes, and redirect all savings toward increasing teacher pay to the national average. Patricia Levesque, CEO of the Foundation for Excellence in Education[Read More…]
Florida is making a concerted push toward personalized learning — tailoring lessons more closely to individual students and allowing them to advance through school based on what they know, rather than the amount of time they spent in class. Other states are, too, but there’s something noteworthy about Florida’s approach: It’s largely being led by[Read More…]
Lawsuit dismissed: Florida has not failed to fulfill its constitutional mandate to provide a quality education for all public school students, a circuit court judge has ruled. Judge George Reynolds III dismissed the suit brought by Citizens for Strong Schools and others against the State Department of Education and legislative leaders. The[Read More…]
Over the past few years, Florida has been overhauling its virtual education system to create what’s known as “course access” — policies that let students select courses from a menu of different options. Among other things, it provides an extra layer of educational choice. In addition to picking their schools, students can[Read More…]
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was tapped Thursday to succeed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at the helm of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. She’s no stranger to the education reform movement. She’s long been an advocate for school choice. This fall, during a keynote discussion at the foundation’s[Read More…]
A new report says the time has come for states to work together to manage the mix of new options that could soon be available to students through digital learning. The report by Digital Learning Now calls on state policymakers to “formalize the establishment of a multi-state network, focused on[Read More…]
