Sparking the evolution of education choice
All-boys and all-girls education may get a push from the Florida Legislature. A bill filed by Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah, would establish a statewide pilot project, allowing up to five large Florida school districts to designate an elementary school as a single-gender school in its core classes. The academic[Read More…]
It’s only fitting: Florida, a trailblazer in expanding school choice, will be among the busiest states during National School Choice Week. This year’s celebration, which officially begins Sunday, is by far the largest ever, with more than 3,500 events in 50 states, up from 406 last year. Florida has at least[Read More…]
Sixteen second-grade girls rode the school bus with the windows open, pigtails and ponytails whipping in the wind. For many, it was their first trip outside the city. “It smells like grass,’’ said one girl. “It smells like McDonald’s,’’ said another. “No,’’ said teacher Matilda Bediako-Ortiz, holding her nose, “it[Read More…]
Vouchers need more accountability. So say David R. Colburn, director of the Askew Institute at the University of Florida, and Brian Dassler, chief academic officer for the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, in this exclusive op-ed for the Tampa Bay Times. Response here from the Heartland Institute, which says[Read More…]
by Kelly Garcia My all-boys classroom didn’t look like a Norman Rockwell. There were boys tapping pencils. Boys squeezing stress balls. Boys pacing while reading independently. Even boys sitting on their desks. But despite what some people may think from that description, it was also full of boys learning. In the[Read More…]
In a post yesterday, I asserted that Florida school districts are slowly adapting to a more market-driven public education system. This story in today’s South Florida Sun-Sentinel (“Broward weighs single sex schools to compete with charters, private schools”) illustrates my point. The article notes that single-gender classrooms in charter, parochial[Read More…]
