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…)