DeVos Q&A: U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos talks about undocumented students, the variety of education options, Title 1 funding, bilingual education and more in a question and answer session during a visit to Florida last week. Miami Herald.
Teacher evaluation changes: The Brevard County School District is making changes in the way it evaluates teachers and administrators. The district is eliminating the Professional Growth Plans, cutting back on classroom observations and killing the deliberate-practice portion in evaluations of administrators. "We think there are much better ways to evaluate and assess instruction while giving teachers more time to focus on our babies," says Superintendent Desmond Blackburn. Florida Today.
Making over schools: The Miami-Dade County School District is about halfway done with a $1.2 billion project to update the looks of schools and their technology. Glass walls, open spaces, interactive whiteboards and wi-fi are in, while rows of desks in boxy classrooms, narrow hallways and dim cafeterias are out. The changes are financed by a bond voters approved in 2012. Miami Herald.
Bond projects database: The Broward County School District is launching a website in May that will have details about every school construction project in the district's $800 million bond program. Listed will be projected costs, a completion date and any changes for every school project. Voters approved the bond to repair schools and update technology in November 2014, but construction still hasn't started on many projects that were scheduled to begin in 2015. Sun-Sentinel. (more…)
Pledge problems: After some parents protested when their children brought home a waiver to opt out of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at school, the Leon County School District is removing the form from the student handbook. The district apologized for the confusion, and now will simply ask parents to sign a form confirming they have read the handbook, which describes the process to opt out of saying the Pledge. WTXL. WTVT. Tallahassee Democrat. WFSU. WCTV.
School testing: Scores on the most recent ACT tests show that many graduating seniors are unprepared for college-level classes. The average test score dipped from 21.0 to 20.8, and only 38 percent of students achieved the benchmark in at least three of the four core subjects tested - reading, English, math and science. In Florida, 81 percent of graduating students took the ACT, and the average score was 19.9. Associated Press. The Lee County School Board reluctantly passes a testing schedule for the school year. "Is it what we want? Probably not. Is it the best that staff said it could come up with, where it would be approved by the state? Yes, at this time," said board member Jeanne Dozier. Fort Myers News-Press.
Defining participant: The act of participating in the Florida Standards Assessments testing is defined by the state as answering a single question, deputy education commissioner Juan Copa said this week in a court hearing over the state's third-grade retention policies. Answering one question allows a school to count that student in the participation rate, which is important because schools must have a rate of 95 percent or lose money from the state. Copa also said the definition of participating may change from year to year. Gradebook. Both sides are awaiting a ruling by a Leon County judge on the retention case that is narrow in focus but could have a huge impact on the state's accountability system. Orlando Sentinel.
Education poll: Support for charter schools, school testing and merit pay for teachers is rising among Americans, but declining for Common Core standards, school vouchers and teacher tenure, according to an annual survey by the journal Education Next. Orlando Sentinel. Politico. (more…)
