Third-grade reading results: Eighty-one percent of the state's third-graders posted passing scores on the Florida Standards Assessments reading exam this year, according to the Florida Department of Education. Fifty-eight percent of students scored at Level 3 or high, meaning they met grade-level expectations, which is an increase from 54 percent last year. The 19 percent who scored at Level 1 - about 43,300 students - face retention if they can't pass an alternate test or demonstrate proficiency through a portfolio of classroom work. Tampa Bay Times. Orlando Sentinel. Sun Sentinel. Palm Beach Post. Florida Times-Union. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Space Coast Daily. Brevard Times. Bradenton Herald. Associated Press. News Service of Florida.
New achievement plan: An agreement is reached on a 10-year plan to eliminate or greatly narrow the achievement gap between white and black students in Pinellas County. The Concerned Organization for the Quality Education of Black Students had been suing the Pinellas County School District, alleging that it was shortchanging black students throughout the educational process. The agreement, reached Friday, addresses the lingering issues on graduation, student achievement, advanced coursework, student discipline, identification for special education and gifted programs and minority hiring. District officials have committed to providing quarterly progress reports and responding in a more timely manner with reliable information. Both sides are calling the agreement a "turning point" for the district. Tampa Bay Times.
From high school to med school: Four graduates of Florida Atlantic University High School have been admitted directly into the FAU College of Medicine. The four students will begin training as doctors in 2018 and be eligible for residency at age 22 or 23. It's believed to be the only program of its kind in the United States. FAU High is a school where students can earn high school and college credits at the same time. Sun Sentinel. (more…)
Weapons at schools: Two legislators file bills that would stiffen criminal penalties for people who carry guns and other weapons within 1,000 feet of a public school. Anyone breaking the law would be charged with a second-degree felony and could get up to 15 years in prison or fined $10,000, according to the bill filed by Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation. Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, filed the House companion legislation. Sunshine State News.
Security at Jewish schools: The Florida House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee approves a bill that provides $1.5 million to boost security at all Jewish day schools in Florida. The bill would pay for bulletproof glass. Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, says the bill is a response to the increasing number of bomb threats to Jewish schools in the state. Florida has 35 Jewish day schools in nine counties. redefinED. Florida Politics.
Open enrollment: More than 3,000 students in Osceola and Lake counties want to transfer schools under the state's new open enrollment law, which allows transfers to any public school that has openings. The Osceola school district has received 2,477 applications, and the Lake district about 900. Orange and Volusia counties are taking transfer applications now, and Seminole begins signups April 16. Officials in all four counties say there are limited spaces available in schools. Orlando Sentinel. The Clay County School Board is expected to vote April 6 on a proposed plan to deal with open enrollment. District officials say 11 schools are under the 85 percent enrollment threshold, and 1,557 spots at those schools will be available for transfers. Florida Times-Union.
That's our satellite: A satellite built by students at the Weiss School in Palm Beach Gardens will be launched into space by NASA sometime in 2018, 2019 or 2020, according to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. The WeissSat-1 will study bacteria that has thawed after being trapped in ice. The Weiss satellite is one of 34 chosen by NASA, and is only the second built by elementary and middle school students. Palm Beach Post. (more…)
Recognition money: The Florida Department of Education is handing out 36 percent less recognition money to schools this year. Last year, 1,673 schools received $134.58 million. This year, 1,226 schools are getting $85.7 million. State officials say the decline is due to the number of schools with A grades falling from 1,184 to 754. Officials attribute to decline to harder Florida Standards Assessments tests and higher standards for individual school grading. Florida Times-Union.
Testing cutbacks: Another bill is filed in the Florida Senate that would push most state-mandated testing to the end of the school year, but this one also calls for an end to five specific exams, state oversight of teacher evaluations and the rules that tie teacher evaluations to student test scores. It also wants a written alternative to computers and allow districts to use national tests like the ACT or SAT instead of the 10th-grade language arts section of the Florida Standards Assessments. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, and Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, would kill the ninth-grade language arts Florida Standards Assessments test and end-of-course exams in Algebra 2, civics, geometry and U.S. history. Orlando Sentinel.
House vs. feds: The Florida House Education Committee will consider a resolution Tuesday that asks Congress to "end all current, and prohibit any further, interference by the United States Department of Education with respect to public school governance." The resolution also asks Congress to turn Title 1 funding for low-income children and IDEA Part B funding for disabled students into block grants controlled by the states. Gradebook.
Teacher evaluations: There are more than 2,800 teachers in the Manatee County School District, and only three received unsatisfactory evaluations. Two others were told they needed to improve. "Highly effective" was the evaluation 48.1 percent of the teachers received. Fifty percent were judged to be "effective" and 8 percent weren't evaluated at all, according to Florida Department of Education statistics. Teachers with highly effective ratings in other state districts ranged from 97 percent in Okaloosa County to 6 percent in Putnam County. Teachers suggest the disparity in the numbers points to the pointlessness of the evaluation process. Bradenton Herald. (more…)
Bathroom fights: The Duval County School District, the school board and Superintendent Nikolai Vitti are being sued over the district's policy that permits children to use the bathrooms that conform to their gender identity. The suit was filed by Wes White, a Republican running for state attorney, on behalf of Wryshona Isaac and her four children. The suit says the policy "denies her children a safe and supportive environment.” Florida Times-Union. Florida Politics. Washington and Holmes counties school officials say they will not follow the Obama administration directive urging districts to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that conform to their gender identity. Panama City News Herald. The Collier County School Board is asking for input from the community to help set a bathroom policy for transgender students. All board members say the letter from the U.S. government was an "overreach." Naples Daily News.
Charters on notice: The Pinellas County School Board votes unanimously to cancel contracts with three Newpoint Education Partners charter schools in 90 days unless several financial and curriculum problems are corrected. Another charter school, Florida Virtual Academy, also was given notice because it has not met the requirements of a corrective action plan. The four schools have almost 1,000 students and collect $6 million in public money. Tampa Bay Times. WFLA.
School resegregation: The number of U.S. public schools that were both poor and racially segregated jumped from 7,009 in 2001 to 15,089 by 2013-2014, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. Los Angeles Times. Education Week.
Girls rule: For the first time, girls outscore boys on the National Assessment of Educational Progress national test of technology and engineering literacy among eighth-graders. Washington Post. THE Journal. (more…)
Testing cutbacks: Hillsborough County elementary students will have fewer tests next school year, and principals and teachers will have more say on what tests are given and when, and how to use the results. Parents and teachers have long complained about the district's "formative tests," which measure what children know early in the year, followed by end-of-the-year tests. Tampa Bay Times. WTVT. The tentative contract agreement between the Polk Education Association and the Polk County School District would give teachers the option not to use the controversial district end-of-year exams, instead creating a measurable “student achievement objective." The school board will vote on the contract next week. Lakeland Ledger.
Top teacher finalist: Precious T. Symonette, a creative writing teacher at Miami Norland Senior High, is one of five finalists for Florida Teacher of the Year. The winner will be announced in July. Miami Herald.
Choice expansion: The school choice movement in Florida was invigorated by the Legislature's actions during this year's session, says state Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah. He says there is now a "political will" to continue the expansion of choice. Diaz made the remarks during a luncheon about the benefits of school choice in Florida. Miami Herald.
School district problems: Polk County's public schools are driving skilled employees and their children out of the county and hurting the economy, says Lakeland Economic Development Council President Steve Scruggs. "High skill, high wage employees won't put their kids in our schools," Scruggs said at the city's annual strategic planning retreat. Lakeland Ledger.
Budget overruns: Despite having just $50,000 left in its police department's budget, the Broward County School Board signs an agreement to pay the city of Coral Springs $601,000 for police officers in the school. District officials say the money will come from the reserve fund. The board discovered last week that there are $2.5 million in overruns in the police department budget. Sun-Sentinel. (more…)
District growth: Rapid growth is putting a strain on the Volusia County School District. Officials say more than a quarter of the county's schools are over capacity, and the district expects an additional 1,300 students in August. Daytona Beach News-Journal. The St. Johns County School Board and district officials are making plans to deal with expected growth that is at least partially spurred by the state's new open enrollment law. St. Augustine Record.
Charter school growth: The latest report on student migration in Hillsborough County shows that charter middle and K-8 schools are growing rapidly and, in some cases, that is eroding diversity in the district schools the children leave behind. Gradebook.
Funding problems: The Hernando County School District has tightened spending to bring its financial reserves to the level required by state law. That's led to schools hiring fewer substitutes and having more split classes as students of absent teachers are distributed to other teachers' classes. Tampa Bay Times.
Fighting in schools: Parents, community leaders and school officials meet to talk about solutions to the recent outburst of fights at Leesburg High School. “What is going on in the Leesburg community that is fraying the social fabric of the lives of our students, our community’s most valuable asset?” asked moderator Sheila Smalley. Daily Commercial. Two students are arrested and three are hospitalized after a fight in the lunchroom at Edgewater High School in Orlando. The fight began between two girls. When they wouldn't stop, a school resource officer used pepper spray to break it up. Orlando Sentinel.
Superintendent's book: A book written by Alachua County School Superintendent Owen Roberts is raising questions about plagiarism. Two experts say the book, A Framework for Improving School Systems in the 21st Century, uses large portions of text from other sources verbatim. That strays from academic norms, they say. Roberts says it's not plagiarism because he made references to authors before starting passages and listed their resources in the bibliography. Gainesville Sun. (more…)
School construction spending: The Florida Association of District School Superintendents fires off a letter to legislators to refute the allegations that school officials have misspent millions in construction dollars. The association claims some legislators are misrepresenting the data in order to shift construction money to charter schools. Tampa Bay Times. Orlando Sentinel.
School testing: The U.S. Department of Education is offering states suggestions on how to cut back on the time students spend on standardized testing. Associated Press. Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day falls on April 18, but that's a Florida Standards Assessment testing day. So Palm Beach County is moving its observation to March 18. Palm Beach Post.
Education commissioner: A bill that would ask voters to make the education commissioner position an elected one and give it Cabinet status is probably dead, according to its House sponsor, Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach. The bill was approved by the Florida Senate Ethics and Elections Committee Tuesday, but no hearings are scheduled in the House. TCPalm. Gradebook.
Recess bills: Self-described "recess moms" of Florida are lobbying state senators to take action on a bill that would require 20 minutes of recess a day in elementary schools. The bill is moving through the House, but has yet to get a Senate hearing. Gradebook. Politico Florida. (more…)
