Florida business leaders put a spotlight Wednesday on the promise and potential pitfalls of Common Core - the tough, new academic standards that are rolling into Florida schools and will help re-shape teaching, learning and testing.

At a wide-ranging, day-long education summit in Orlando, several participants suggested a public awareness campaign to inform parents about the changes – which may be initially painful when they're implemented in the 2014-15 school year - and to rally broad support in a way that has eluded many of the state’s other, recent education reforms.

“These tend to be Tallahassee conversations. But if we don’t do this right, it becomes a Miami conversation or a Jacksonville conversation” and not in a positive way, Marshall Criser III, president of AT&T Florida and chairman of the Florida Council of 100, told redefinED during a break. “We have an opportunity and responsibility to take this back to our communities ... Because if not us, then who?”

“The state should own this initiative,” Education Commissioner Tony Bennett told attendees, reminding them of the marketing effort a decade ago for Just Read, Florida. “It shouldn’t be teachers against people. It shouldn’t be the state against schools, state against districts. This should be a statewide rollout that says this is important to our children and this is important to the future of our state.”

The Council of 100 sponsored the summit with the Florida Chamber Foundation, the National Chamber Foundation and the Institute for a Competitive Workforce. About 100 people attended, including three lawmakers, two superintendents, Board of Education Chairman Gary Chartrand and Florida Education Association President Andy Ford.

Spurred by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Common Core standards in math and language arts have been adopted by 44 states. They’re well-thought-out and well-vetted. They’re benchmarked against international standards. They’re designed to instill a deeper knowledge than state standards do now. In the long term, supporters say, the higher bar will better prepare students for college and careers and an ever-more-competitive world. In the short term, though, ouch: They’re expected to result in a steep drop in test scores – and all the angst that comes with it.

“That’s a pain point,” Criser said. “But people have to understand that’s good,” he continued, because it’s the first step on a better path.

The discussion around Common Core has centered almost exclusively on public schools. But its gravitational pull is expected to be so strong that the impact will be felt at the private schools, too, to varying degrees. (more…)

AP results. Florida students rank No. 4 in the nation in the percentage of graduates passing an AP exam. redefinED. Tampa Bay Times. Miami Herald. Tallahassee Democrat. Orlando Sentinel. CBS Miami. Florida Today. Associated Press. Fort Myers News Press.

Tutoring oversight. The Tampa Bay Times elevated a handful of bad actors to taint the overall tutoring effort in Florida and ridicules a program championed by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy to help low-income families, writes Steve Pines, executive director of the Education Industry Association, in an op-ed response to the Times series and editorial.

Teacher evals and school grades. Despite the concern of Education Commission Tony Bennett and others, the two systems are not meant to be in sync. Shanker Blog.

More conspiracy! Now in Education Week.

Class size flexibility. There's bipartisan support for a bill to provide that. StateImpact Florida.

Common Core. Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett talks more about the why's behind Plan B. Education Week. (more…)

Digital learning. Lawmakers are set to consider a digital education bill that would allow school districts to create "innovation schools" similar to charter schools. Gradebook.

Parent trigger. House version is filed, reports SchoolZone. Democrats concede they probably don't have the votes to stop it this year, reports Naked Politics.

Magnet schools. The Orange County School Board has a wide-ranging discussion about the district's offerings. SchoolZone.

Charter schools. The governing board of a charter school in Sarasota County votes to end its management contract with the Imagine charter network, but the company immediately files suit. Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Common Core. Having a Plan B is not a bad idea, writes EdFly Blog. Education Commissioner Tony Bennett notes the politics of CC are tricky, too, reports StateImpact Florida.

Teacher evaluations. Contrary to perception, charter schools have to abide by the new teacher evaluation law just like district schools. StateImpact Florida.

Wall of Shame. Teachers at Tampa's Jefferson High get an F for word choice, writes Tampa Bay Times columnist Sue Carlton.

Teacher shortage areas. Tallahassee Democrat. (more…)

Course choice. Florida students in K-12 and higher education could pick courses provided by entities outside the traditional public school system under bills filed Thursday by Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg. SchoolZone.

Jeb Bush. He meets with lawmakers in the Capitol and predicts passage of the parent trigger bill. Coverage from Palm Beach Post,  Miami Herald, Tallahassee Democrat.

More parent trigger. Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford are enthusiastic, reports StateImpact Florida. More from Sunshine State News.

Gifted academy. Orange school board members discuss the possibility of a K-8 gifted academy in the face of competition, including one parent's call for a gifted charter school. SchoolZone.

Common Core. The language of key lawmakers and Education Commissioner Tony Bennett suggest an implementation delay is in the works. Gradebook.

Gays and lesbians. A Gay-Straight Alliance at Carver Middle School in Lake County could teach teens much-needed respect and tolerance, writes Orlando Sentinel columnist Lauren Ritchie.

Bullying. A girl's beating at school is captured on video and put on facebook. Tampa Bay Times.

Early learning. News Service of Florida.

School calendar. SchoolZone.

Rezoning in Seminole. Orlando Sentinel.

Teacher pay. Gov. Rick Scott says he wants to set aside enough money in this year’s budget to give every district teacher a $2,500 raise. Coverage from Tampa Bay Times, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Naples Daily News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, Associated Press, Tallahassee Democrat, Pensacola News Journal. Politics and poll numbers are at play, the HT also writes. Teachers "suspicious," writes the Lakeland Ledger. Teachers "skeptical," writes the Tampa Tribune. Teachers unions "cautiously optimistic," writes the Florida Times Union.

Marco Rubio. The senator tells an audience at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that he’ll be pushing education reform, even if it’s not the sexiest issue: “The good news is it’s not partisan, the good news is it’s something that there’s broad support for," he said. "The bad news is because it’s not partisan. Because it’s not controversial, it’s not getting nearly enough attention as it needs to be getting." The Hill.

Tony Bennett and the Legislature. Gov. Scott cancels his appearance before the Senate Education Committee, but Tony Bennett talks to senators about voucher accountability, Common Core, SB 736, etc. Coverage from redefinED, SchoolZone (two posts here and here)  Gradebook (two posts here and here), StateImpact Florida and the Associated Press.

Slow down. Florida superintendents want a longer timeline to implement a suite of changes, including new tests and teacher evaluations, reports the Fort Myers News Press.

Charter schools. A new study based on Florida data suggests charter schools might not be any better than district schools at showing low-performing teachers the door. Shanker Blog.

Teacher preparation. The National Council for Teacher Quality gives Florida a B- (the best grade it gave any state) for its teacher preparation policies. SchoolZone. Sherman Dorn critique here. (more…)

New Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett offered more hints Wednesday that he is not satisfied with the current accountability framework for Florida private schools that accept students with vouchers and tax credit scholarships.

Making his first appearance before the Senate Education Committee, Bennett was asked by Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, for his thoughts on “holding everybody accountable that receives tax dollars.” His response:

“I would suggest to you that this is a place where with all candor, sir, that even some of my supporters have been uncomfortable in the past. Because I do believe that schools that receive state funds should be held accountable and I believe that accountability should be just as transparent as what we expect from our traditional public schools.

“So I would share with you that in Indiana, every school that received state funds got a letter grade that was all calculated the same way. A public charter school got its letter grade calculated the same way as the traditional publics. Schools that received vouchers – and we did have the nation’s most expansive voucher program, pure voucher program – they got a letter grade, based on the same measurements as our traditional publics. And that way the public could make an informed choice  around school quality.

“Now I know that constitutionally, the voucher situation here isn’t the same was Indiana. And I know there’s that discussion about state funds. So I want to lay that out there. But again, these were all schools that received money from the state budget.  And I believe as a steward of the state tax dollars, we have to think about making sure that our citizens know the performance of schools that receive state tax dollars. And our job is to set the expectations for those schools and drive to those expectations.”

Senators also asked Bennett about a wide range of other issues. His biggest priorities, he said: implementing Common Core standards and reviewing SB 736, the far-reaching 2011 law that changes how district teachers are evaluated and paid. (more…)

In an interview published this morning, incoming Florida education commissioner Tony Bennett tells Rick Hess that Gov. Rick Scott gave him two priorities: implementation of Common Core and Senate Bill 736.

The latter is the law, signed by Scott last year, that makes sweeping changes to how Florida teachers are evaluated and paid. As he did when speaking with reporters Wednesday, Bennett threw out the possibility of changes to SB 736, which has sparked widespread frustration because of new evals that even some reformers like Hess find problematic.

"Senate Bill 736 has created some challenges, but also some opportunities. It has and will continue to bring into focus how we think about the obstacles, the capacity challenges at the district level, and whether we need to make tweaks to the legislation," Bennett said. "When I met with administrators and teachers the other day, I said nothing is off the table in terms of 736. We want to make sure this is an effective, efficient, fair, measure of teacher effectiveness." Full interview here.

Tony Bennett’s shocking loss in Indiana has highlighted a deep and long-festering rift among some ed reformers over adoption of Common Core academic standards. Some observers pinned the loss on Republicans who see Common Core as federal intrusion tied to President Obama rather than a voluntary, state-led effort – and who saw Bennett as too cozy with it.

From Florida, one prominent Common Core advocate is pushing back.

In a letter last week to the American Legislative Exchange Council board of directors, Patricia Levesque, executive director of Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, politely takes issue with a draft resolution that would revoke a state’s adoption of Common Core. She calls the standards a “crucial foundation” for reform and says while they’ll better prepare students for a global economy, they “do not dictate what textbooks must be used or how a district’s curriculum should be set up.”

“Resolutions like this one,” concludes the letter, dated a day after the election, “draw attention and resources away from what’s important – properly implementing the improved standards and working together to provide a high quality education to all students.”

In a blog post two days later, Levesque is far more edgy. (more…)