Governor Scott signed HB 7069 into law at a private, voucher school in Orlando. It was a fitting setting for a bill that funnels billions of taxpayer dollars into private voucher and charter entities with little to no public oversight. This bill was created by jamming 55 different education bills into one unwieldy, 278 page…
The Florida Department of Education released school grades this week. Across the state, districts saw their grades rise with the number of schools earning A’s and B’s increasing by 20 percent. 79 percent of schools that were an F a year ago saw an increase of at least one letter grade, including Melrose Elementary in…
Grad Day for Tampa Bay 2017 was a huge success! Held Thursday, March 2nd in the Hilton Tampa Downtown, students and community members from Hillsborough and Pinellas counties came together to raise graduation rates for the entire region by focusing on building youth-adult partnerships. The students were the stars of Grad Day. Over 200 youth from…
In an eleventh hour move, Senator Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) added over a hundred pages of policy changes to two unrelated bills. The amendments attach numerous bills together in what is commonly referred to as a “train.” Some bills, thought to be long dead, now comprise two runaway “trains” moving through the Florida Senate. The controversial…
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…
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 supportive relationships. The students presented their findings to the…
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 test not be used for student level consequences,…
The 47th annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public Attitudes Toward the Public Schools is out. The poll, called “Testing Doesn’t Measure Up for Americans,” is the longest continuously running survey of Americans’ attitudes toward public education. Not surprisingly, this year’s survey shows that Americans want less testing for students and teachers and more funding for…