Daily recess: Elementary school students in the Orange County School District will be given 20 minutes of recess daily. The school board approved the measure, although it also allows teachers some discretion in how recess is scheduled. Orlando Sentinel.
Early education: Most of Florida's children eligible for the Head Start program aren't enrolled because there isn't enough money to add classrooms, according to a study by the National Institute for Early Education Research. Fixing the problem would cost about $20 billion a year. Orlando Sentinel. Washington Post. The 74.
District rankings: The St. Johns County School District is named tops in the state in an annual survey by Niche.com. The Seminole County School District is second, Okaloosa third, Sarasota fourth and Brevard fifth. Ratings are based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, including test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores and teacher quality. WPLG.
Failing schools: New Miami-Dade County School Board member Steve Gallon is proposing the district focus on improving schools that have received grades of D or F from the state. Florida Bulldog.
SpringBoard survives: The Hillsborough County School District will keep using English and math textbooks from SpringBoard. Teachers and students have complained about effectiveness of the materials, which the district buys from the College Board. Replacing the textbooks would have cost almost $12 million, a price the financially strapped district was unwilling to incur. Tampa Bay Times. (more…)
Amendments and education: State law requires a review and update of the constitution every 20 years. Republican lawmakers intend to use the opportunity to overturn the Supreme Court's decision that the school voucher program was unconstitutional and repeal the Blaine Amendment, which forbids state funds from going to religious institutions. The review will be conducted by the 37-member Constitutional Review Commission, which can put amendments on the 2018 ballot. Thirty-three of the members will be appointed by state Republican leaders. Miami Herald.
Extended days study: A Palm Beach County School District study indicates there has been little benefit to students from the state law requiring longer days at public elementary schools with the lowest reading scores. The district looked at the 58 times schools have been forced to extend the school day by an hour. In 22 cases, there was improvement in students' reading scores. In 26 cases there was none, and in 10 cases schools' performances worsened. Last year, the district estimates, the extra hour at 25 district schools cost $9 million. Palm Beach Post.
Early education benefits: Quality early childhood education is expensive but has lasting, positive effects in all areas of society, according to a new study by Nobel Laureate James J. Heckman, a University of Chicago economics professor. Every dollar invested in childhood education produced a return of $6.30, according to the study. For more than 30 years, Heckman tracked disadvantaged black children, 8 weeks to 5 years old, who were in an intensive child-care program in North Carolina. Florida Times-Union.
District cuts testing: The Volusia County School District is cutting the number of hours students are being tested. Fifth-graders, for example, will have 26 fewer hours of district assessment testing. Elementary students once were spending three times the hours taking district tests as students in neighboring Flagler and Seminole counties. Daytona Beach News-Journal. (more…)
Feds reject request: A state judge schedules a hearing today on the lawsuit against the Florida Department of Education's policy on retaining third-graders who do poorly on the state testing or opt out. The state asked a federal judge to take over the case, but the request was refused Friday. Fourteen parents are suing the state and six school districts, arguing that more factors should be considered if a student doesn't do well on the test, and that students who are doing well should not need a test score at all. Gradebook. Politico Florida. News Service of Florida. Associated Press. WFSU. Orlando Sentinel. Parents in Manatee County who think their child should be retained are told by school officials that there is no formal appeals process for that. Bradenton Herald.
Testing penalty: The company that administers the Florida Standards Assessments testing is refunding $4.8 million to the state for the problems with the testing in 2015. The American Institutes for Research has a $220-million, six-year contract with the state to run the annual language arts and math exams, which help determine school grades. Orlando Sentinel. Miami Herald.
Day 1: Schools open today in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Miami Herald. WSVN. Superintendent Lori White begins her final year when Sarasota County schools open today. White is retiring in February. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Teacher conduct: Administrators at St. Andrews School in Boca Raton are criticized in a report for doing nothing while a teacher had late-night meetings with students and even sleepovers. The report, commissioned by the Episcopal school, was released to parents. School officials have pledged to overhaul their policies. The teacher has not been charged with a crime, but is no longer employed by the school. Palm Beach Post. Sun-Sentinel. Associated Press. (more…)
Retention rules: Manatee County school officials say they will not consider a student's portfolio to justify a promotion to fourth grade if the student has not taken the Florida Standards Assessments test or a state-approved alternative. They say the state Department of Education supports their position. Bradenton Herald. Even while school districts are threatening third-graders with retention because they didn't take the state testing or an alternative, Florida law allows the use of a portfolio as an exemption to testing. Gradebook. Parents in the opt-out movement are headed for a showdown with Manatee County school administrators. Bradenton Times.
Legal fees rapped: The state spent $3.7 million for outside counsel to defend against the lawsuit that alleged Florida failed its constitutional mandate to provide a quality education for all public school students. A circuit judge dismissed the suit. Now one of those groups bringing it, Fund Education Now, is criticizing the state for that expense. The Florida Senate and House split the legal fees because the suit named Senate President Andy Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, as well as the state board and Education Commissioner Pam Stewart. A Gardiner aide says the Orlando Republican is “certainly comfortable with this investment of taxpayer dollars.” Politico Florida.
School crowding: If the courts rule that the Florida Tax Credit Scholarships are unconstitutional, as the Florida Education Association alleges, the state's already crowded schools might have to quickly absorb another 78,000 students. That could cause problems in some districts. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, administers the program. Tampa Bay Times.
Construction costs: School districts spend more on buildings using the construction manager-at risk approach than the traditional method of design-bid-build, according to a study by Clemson University researchers. The cost per square meter was $192 for the construction manager approach, and $148 with design-bid-build. The conclusion is based on a study of 137 school projects in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Engineering News-Record.
New schools planned: The Orange County School District is planning to spend up to $3 billion to build 16 schools in the next nine years to accommodate growth in the student population. Orlando Sentinel. The Palm Beach County School District is applying for a grant that could lead to the creation of an arts middle school in Boynton Beach and several other magnet programs at other schools. The grant from the U.S. Department of Education is worth $12 million over three years. Five schools would share the money. Palm Beach Post. (more…)
