On this episode, redefinED managing editor Donna Winchester asks Tuthill about a landmark education choice bill filed Thursday in the Florida Senate. Sponsored by Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. (R-Hialeah), SB 48 would merge Florida’s five choice scholarship programs into two and add flexible spending options in the form of education[Read More…]
Teacher Empowerment
From public school teacher to rebel for educational choice
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – First day of school. Pick-up time. As 375 giddy students clotted in The Foundation Academy courtyard, Nadia Hionides, the K-12 school’s founder and principal, made the rounds. She asked returning students how their summers went. She asked the new ones if they made new friends yet. One[Read More…]
‘Historic’ private school conference kicks off in Lakeland
Lakeland, Fla. – More than 850 private school educators packed Victory Christian Academy this morning for a two-day conference featuring national speakers and workshops on teaching, learning and student assessment in Florida. The conference, organized by the state’s largest scholarship funding organization, draws its audience from educators whose schools participate[Read More…]
revisitED: Lessons from a school choice trailblazer
Civil rights activist Mary McLeod was a school choice pioneer, opening a private, faith-based school for African-American girls in Daytona in 1904. The state of Florida may honor her with a statue in the U.S. Capitol. (Image from Wikimedia Commons.) Editor’s note: This month, redefinED is revisiting the best examples[Read More…]
Florida’s Teacher of the Year focuses on social, emotional learning
Editor’s note: redefinED is paying tribute to National Charter Schools Week with this spotlight on Joy Prescott, 2019 Florida Teacher of the Year. To learn more about the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, click here. To read an earlier story about Prescott, a fourth-grade teacher at Pemayetv Emahakv Charter[Read More…]
Mother-son team collaborate to offer education choice
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – When Julia Musella enrolled her son Luciano in preschool in Italy, her understanding of education underwent a sea change. “People were talking to children as if they were adults,” she said. “They were respecting their intelligence. They were really fostering community, working collaboratively, cooperatively, giving them[Read More…]
Teacher-led micro schools, ESAs create opportunity in Native American education
I had the opportunity recently to visit a new, small private school on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona. The school illustrates an education trend that is providing a new avenue for addressing America’s largest achievement gap. The United States has done very poorly by Native Americans, including but[Read More…]
revisitED: ‘A voice of calm’ for students with Autism
Editor’s note: redefinED is supporting National Autism Awareness Month each Saturday in April by reposting articles from our archives that celebrate those who champion the educational rights of children with autism. Today’s post, which originally appeared in June 2018, features a dedicated teacher who refused to give up on a[Read More…]