Recently I reported that Florida’s students with disabilities exceeded multiple states statewide averages for all students on multiple 2022 NAEP exams. This is both encouraging (for Florida) and disturbing for much of the rest of the country. But wait the news gets better (worse) still. Above are charts showing NAEP[Read More…]
Tag: students with disabilities
Education Week: Florida’s graduation rate still low, still rising fast
The latest report on Florida’s public school graduation rate tells a familiar but underreported story: The rate continues to be both among the nation’s worst – and its fastest improving. Florida’s graduation rate in 2013 was 76 percent, putting it 5 percentage points below the national average and No. 43[Read More…]
FL Senate proposes new path on school choice accounts for disabled students
The Florida Senate has proposed taking a new path on legislation that would create individual accounts for special-needs students. Under a rewrite approved this morning by the Education Appropriations panel, the legislation would create “enhancements” of the existing services for children with disabilities. Earlier versions of the bill would have[Read More…]
Private voucher schools hit by funding change to Florida Virtual School
In a new twist on the legislative funding changes crimping Florida Virtual School, private schools that accept state-funded McKay Scholarships for special needs students may now lose money when McKay students take FLVS classes. Private schools learned last week about the possible fallout, which could result in students dropping Florida[Read More…]
Florida roundup: School grades, charter schools, Space of Mind & more
Charter schools. What happened to the Ben Gamla charter school in Pinellas is a “study in bad charter school governance.” Choice Words. Parents try to figure out what to do now that a struggling charter school in Deland is closing. Daytona Beach News Journal. Ditto for the parents of a[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Rick Scott, career education, school zoning & more
Charter schools. A Palm Beach County School Board member questions whether it’s appropriate to allow a charter school to stay in a district building that needs millions of dollars in renovations. Extra Credit. Career education. Manatee students make a splash in two national competitions – one in technology, and the[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Parent power, special needs students, atheists & more
Parent power. Gov. Rick Scott signs into law a bill that gives parents of disabled students more say over their kid’s education. Orlando Sentinel, Associated Press. Virtual schools. Scott also signs the digital learning bill into law. Florida Current. Charter schools. The Lakeland-based Achievement Academy, a charter for students with[Read More…]
Feds going too far in plan to oversee private voucher schools?
by Allison Hertog I have dedicated my life to helping disabled students – first as a special education teacher and, for the last many years, as an attorney for parents of disabled children. As strongly as I support the rights of disabled students to be educated on an equal playing field[Read More…]