The Florida House is pushing to force school districts to turn over a portion of local property taxes to charter schools. These schools are housed in privately owned buildings on privately owned land that would be improved with public dollars. Some legislators are pushing to steer more
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The House and Senate released their Education budgets last week with the Senate proposing more per pupil funding and less charter school construction money than the House. The House version asks property tax payers to bear much of the funding burden while the Senate expects the state
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The 2016 Florida Legislative Session begins Tuesday. What should public education supporters expect? Well, not much according to policy leaders in Tallahassee. Congress passed a sweeping overhaul to No Child Left Behind at the end of 2015, keeping annual testing but providing a great deal of flexibility
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6 Things you need to know about the end of No Child Left Behind In 2007, Congress was supposed to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act (No Child Left Behind). Eight years later, it looks like they will finally get around to it. Yesterday, the Senate Education
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Last year members of the Student Alliance for Public Schools conducted research at 4 high schools in Hillsborough County about barriers and needed supports related to high school graduation. They found that what students identified as the most important element in their quest for a diploma is
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The Florida Department of Education released the findings of the state mandated validity study of its Florida Standards Assessment this morning. The study found the test to be reliable and it can be used to evaluate teachers and determine school grades. However, the report recommended that the
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Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature passed a law requiring a validity study of the state’s new annual test that replaced the FCAT. The Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) was first used last school year and it’s implementation was fraught with technology problems and reports of flawed questions. Two different
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Currently, there has been a growing backlash against standardized testing in K-12 education. Parents have long complained that their students are being overtested resulting in a loss of instruction time. Federal and state policies like No Child Left Behind have driven the hyper-testing phenomenon as bureaucrats are hungry for
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OK…we have to take a minute to brag. One of our students is featured in the Tampa Bay Times for his founding work with the Student Alliance for Public Schools. Full disclosure- he’s also the son of our Executive Director, Melissa Erickson. But, that doesn’t matter. Daniel
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This year’s Youth Leadership Conference was a lot of fun! 40 students from 7 Tampa area high schools met at Jefferson High School for three days of collaboration, brainstorming and creativity. The students are members of the Student Alliance for Public Schools. They are working on student led solutions
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