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 to pay more. It’s early in the budget…
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 to states on how to use the results.…
Today, Florida’s Board of Education met to determine cut scores for the Florida Standards Assessment tests given last spring. In September, after months of input from a 300 person Reactor Panel and a teacher panel, Commissioner Stewart released her recommended cut scores, or passing rates. The Board of Education debated them at their November meeting…
We had so much fun on Saturday! We helped give away over 40,000 books to children in a one day event called “Home Library for the Holidays.” The event was presented by First Book and sponsored by Molina Healthcare, American Federation of Teachers, Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, United Way Suncoast. and us! People starting lining…
Today, President Obama will sign the Every Student Succeeds Act into law. Earlier this week, the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill which is the replacement for No Child Left Behind. The new policy will hand much more control for education decisions to the states. The bill, known as the Every Student Succeeds Act, replaces…
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 Committee, joined by more than a dozen House…
8 Things You Need to Know About FSA Scores (and what you can do about it) The Florida Standard’s Assessment (FSA) was given for the first time last March but final grading for the test has yet to be determined and there’s a lot riding on it. The test, given to all 3rd through 10th graders,…
It’s that time of year again. Time to sit down with your child’s teacher. As with most things in life, preparation is the key to a successful parent teacher conference. A good parent teacher conference can result in a collaborative relationship that will last the school year. A positive relationship between the caregiver and teacher…
Florida school districts were finally given student FSA scores by the Department of Education. They are beginning to release this information to parents. However, the reports will not tell parents whether their student has passed the test or even how well they scored. Passing scores (also called cut scores) will not be set by the…
In case you missed it, Florida’s testing obsessed accountability is coming under some fire of late. Here’s a round up of many of the articles, columns, and editorials from around the state addressing the use of the controversial FSA results in Florida’s accountability system: Parents lack meaningful say in their child’s education -Lakeland Ledger Florida…