School enrollment: Enrollment growth in the Palm Beach County School District is slowing, with new students totaling under 1,000 for the first time in more than a decade. The latest head count shows 196,000 students, about 880 more than last year. “We did expect a little more growth,” says chief[Read More…]
Tag: Tom Knight
Florida schools roundup: Investigation on testing urged, security deal and more
Testing investigation: Six conservative legislators are calling on the Florida Department of Education to investigate whether three school districts deliberately limited the number of low-performing 7th-graders taking the state end-of-course civics exam in order to earn better school grades from the state. Sen. Dennis Baxley and Reps. Jason Fischer, Michael Bileca, [Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: School grades improving, unions lose case and more
School grades improve: The number of Florida schools getting a grade of A or B from the state this year is up 2 percentage points, from 56 to 58 percent, according to the Florida Department of Education’s annual report. The state also says the number of schools receiving a D[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Test questions, exams weighting, security and more
Test investigation requested: Two members of Florida school districts and the Florida Coalition of School Board Members are calling for an investigation of significant decreases in the number of students from Duval, Manatee and Polk counties who took the state’s civics end-of-course exams. Polk had 3,736 fewer 7th-grade students take[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: District force ripped, security, tax measures and more
District’s force blasted: A Palm Beach County grand jury looking into school security issues a report blasting the school district’s police department, calling it “understaffed, underfunded and underpaid” and saying it is misleading the public about how well it’s protecting schools. “If the Palm Beach County School Board and the[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Florida aces nation’s report card, security and more
Nation’s report card: Florida is the only state that improved in the National Assessment of Educational Progress math exam, according the annual report from the National Center for Education Statistics. Florida is also just one of nine states showing improvement in the reading exam. Among the nation’s larger districts, Hillsborough County was[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Teacher protests, texting troubles and more
Teacher protests: The proliferation of teacher protests across the United States is a sign of a deepening dissatisfaction with the conditions of the educational system, such as low teacher pay, a sense of not being valued, violence in schools, budget cuts and funding inequalities, says Darleen Opfer, an education analyst at[Read More…]
Florida schools roundup: Backpacks, cell phones, podcast teacher and more
School security: Clear backpacks were in use Monday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the verdict is in: the students don’t like them. Some say they aren’t effective and convey a false sense of security, and others say it’s an invasion of privacy. Many personalized the backpacks with protest[Read More…]