Teachers. Either masochists or saints. StateImpact Florida.
Teacher conduct. The Gilchrist County teacher of the year is put on leave following allegations of inappropriate conduct with female students. Gainesville Sun.
Teacher pay. The chair of the Marion County School Board says 160 first-year teachers will be spared their jobs if all teachers forgo their state bonus money. Ocala Star Banner.
Teacher protest. Two Manatee High teachers unveil a mural replica of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" - their version made from garbage because the district did not have money for materials - to protest budget cuts. Bradenton Herald and Sarasota Herald Tribune.
Subs. Recent graduates from a Palm Beach County high school give back - by returning as substitute teachers. Palm Beach Post.
Charter schools. A struggling charter in Deland is fighting to stay open. Daytona Beach News Journal.
Common Core. Will Common Core state standards undermine school choice? Jay P. Greene: Yes. Checker Finn: No.
School spending. Small towns in Miami-Dade chip in to pay for a school nurse. Miami Herald.
School districts. Manatee is in a crisis "more dire than anticipated," new Superintendent Rick Mills says, according to the Bradenton Herald. District officials release an economic recovery plan, reports the Sarasota Herald Tribune. (more…)
Catholic schools. Yet another Catholic school closes, this one in Palm Beach County, with many students turning to charter schools. South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Charter schools. One in east Hillsborough will close after multiple issues, reports the Tampa Tribune. Dayspring Academy in Pasco, co-founded by state Sen. John Legg, wants to expand to two more campuses, reports the Tampa Bay Times.
Virtual schools. A struggling teen in Hernando takes 10 online courses in a comeback surge to graduate on time. Tampa Bay Times.
Accountability. Florida has taken steps to prevent gaming of the system. EdFly Blog.
Common Core. The Council of Chief State School Officers opposes delays in accountability requirements as states adjust. StateImpact Florida.
Teacher pay. Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browning says the Leg didn't increase funding enough to give teachers the raises that Gov. Rick Scott envisioned. Gradebook.
Teacher conduct. A Polk teacher who said she and her father were dying was apparently lying so she could skip school. WFTV. (more…)
Charter schools. Excel Leadership Academy in West Palm Beach makes its case to stay open before an administrative law judge, reports Extra Credit. The Daytona Beach News Journal looks at a struggling charter in Flagler.
Virtual schools. The Palm Beach Post looks at the potential financial hit to Florida Virtual School from recent legislative changes. Education Week offers a short write-up on Florida's online expansion.
School rankings. Take some with a grain of salt, some with a truckload, writes Matt Di Carlo at the Shanker Blog. Three Marion high schools are among the best in U.S. News & World Report, reports the Ocala Star Banner.
School closures. Dozens rally against proposed closures in Brevard. Florida Today.
School spending. Increased funding from the Legislature still may not be enough to get Marion out of a hole, reports the Ocala Star Banner. The school board in financially troubled Manatee takes a closer-than-usual look at contracts and spending, reports the Bradenton Herald.
Teacher evals. The Quick & The Ed offers a legal analysis of the recently filed lawsuit. (more…)
Jeynes
For many school choice supporters, enrollment growth across many sectors is reason to cheer. But new research may give policymakers pause about whether they're pursuing the options that result in the best academic outcomes.
William Jeynes, a professor at California State University, Long Beach, and a senior fellow at the Witherspoon Institute, found students in religious schools were, on average, a full year ahead of their peers in traditional public and charter schools. After controlling for parental involvement, income, race and gender, the students were, on average, seven months ahead.
The findings, recently published in the Peabody Journal of Education, were based on a first-of-its-kind meta-analysis of 90 studies that compared academic performance across the three sectors. Jeynes also found:
The implications for school choice, he said, are obvious. (more…)
Parent trigger. Who are Sunshine Parents, a group tied to parent trigger? Tampa Bay Times. More on AnswerSheet. More questions about who signed or didn't sign a petition in support of parent trigger, reports The Buzz.
Turnaround schools. A number of schools in Pinellas and Hillsborough face prescriptive state intervention plans because they continue to struggle, reports Tampa Bay Times. Finding the right applicants to re-staff Lacoochee Elementary, a similar school in Pasco may be tough, the Times also reports. But don't give up on it, writes a volunteer in a Times op-ed. More from the Tampa Tribune.
Charter schools. Lawmakers agree to give charters $91 million for construction and maintenance, reports the Tampa Bay Times. The Lakeland Ledger writes up the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools report on the research showing academic gains for charter students. An appeals court sides with the Seminole school district in its decision to deny a charter school application, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
Career academies. An aerospace academy at Boynton Beach High School has big plans. Palm Beach Post.
Vouchers. Bad. Gainesville Sun.
Teacher pay. The House and Senate reach a compromise that Andy Ford applauds. The Buzz. More from Associated Press and Tallahassee Democrat. (more…)
Alabama: Gov. Robert Bentley signs the tax credit scholarship bill into law after the Alabama Supreme Court lifts a restraining order from a circuit court judge that prevented the bill from being sent to him (NPR). More from AL.com. The Alabama Education Association is running ads accusing lawmakers of betrayal for approving the bill (Sand Mountain Reporter).
Indiana: Gov. Mike Pence tells a crowd of several thousand school choice supporters that vouchers and charter schools are key pieces in ed reform (Indianapolis Star). More from Associated Press, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Evansville Courier & Press. The proposed voucher expansion raises concerns about cost (Associated Press).
Pennsylvania: Lawmakers are set to consider several bills that would alter funding formulas for both virtual and bricks-n-mortar charter schools (Pittsburg Post Gazette).
Wisconsin: The state is holding back voucher funds from five Milwaukee private schools it says have financial and/or reporting issues (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Three private schools that lost accreditation continue to receive voucher funds because of a loophole in state law (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
Ohio: Gov. John Kasich proposes to hike charter school funding by 4.5 percent (Cleveland Plain Dealer).
Florida: One city in Florida turns its district schools into charter schools in an effort to boost quality (redefinED). A prominent Democrat helps lead the effort (redefinED). More than 600 gather in Orlando for the Black Alliance for Educational Options' annual symposium (redefinED). Legislation to require safety alerts for private schools clears two more hurdles (redefinED).
Tennessee: Gov. Bill Haslam's voucher proposal clears the House Education Committee (Associated Press). But a Republican senators puts forward a broader, alternative proposal (The Tennessean). The Rocketship charter school network plans to open eight schools in Nashville, beginning next year (Getting Smart). Nashville school district officials are stunned (The Tennessean). They also worry about the financial fallout of a bill that would create a statewide charter school authorizer (The Tennessean). (more…)
The community takeover of Lake Wales public schools feels so much like an educational Camelot that it is easy to forget this romance was spawned by Florida’s charter school conversion law. It’s also easy to forget that its local benefactor was a powerfully connected Democrat.
Students at Bok Academy Middle celebrate their school's designation as an Apple School of Distinction.
The account of these schools and their champion, Robin Gibson, so ably reported this week by redefinED associate editor Sherri Ackerman, is a poignant reminder that school reform and school choice can indeed start in the homes of parents who think children are not getting what they deserve. Gibson, an attorney who helped run campaigns for former Democratic governors Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham, and was once chairman of the state university Board of Regents, thought his own children and the tiny city of Lake Wales were being hampered by public schools that were treated like stepchildren. So he began an effort, in 2002, to convert them to charters.
“I don’t think there’s anything partisan about it, if you’re for a first-class education system, ’’ Gibson says today. “I think everyone’s for that. I’m an advocate for what works, and I’m an advocate for educating the entire demographic.’’
Unsurprisingly, there was resistance. But Gibson and his friends brought sophistication and enterprise to the effort, taking over five schools in 2004 and starting a sixth from scratch. The charter campuses of Lake Wales now enroll 3,800 students – ranking them ahead of 15 of the state’s school districts in size – and the academic success has put the schools on track to be designated "high performing" under charter law.
The Lake Wales conversions provide educational as well as political lessons. (more…)
Charter schools. Education Week writes up the state report that compares the test scores of Florida charter schools and district schools. Diane Ravitch sees a stunt. The Bay school board postpones a decision on whether to deny a charter school's renewal due to financial concerns, reports the Panama City News Herald. A news STEM-oriented charter is coming to Collier County, reports the Naples Daily News.
School choice. The waiting for thousands of parents begins as the Palm Beach County school district finishes up the lottery for magnet schools and career academies. Palm Beach Post.
Career education. A major bill to boost it clears the Senate Education Committee. StateImpact Florida.
Teacher pay. Pinellas teachers will get their regular rate of pay for a summer learning program that Superintendent Mike Grego initially recommended would be at a reduced rate. Gradebook.
Superintendents. Miami-Dade's Alberto Carvalho gets a contract extension, a raise and lots of praise, reports the Miami Herald: "Don’t test him out on free agency,” said Delio Diaz, executive director of the Dade Association of School Administrators, comparing Carvalho to a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. The Hernando school board interviews four candidates, reports the Tampa Bay Times.
School zoning. The latest changes in Seminole means a total of 3,000 students will be reassigned. Orlando Sentinel.
Charter schools. Tallahassee Democrat columnist Byron Dobson takes issue with last week's DOE press release about charter school performance, which was headlined, "Report shows charter school students outpace traditional public school students." "Somehow the DOE headline comes across as a slam against public schools," he writes.
School choice. The Escambia school district is set to offer more public school options within geographic zones, prompting School Board Chairman Jeff Bergosh to say:“What we’re doing is the logical next step in public education. Because of this ancient system of geographic boundaries, it shuts out students from being able to go to a better school. This moves the ball forward and allows parents an opportunity.” Pensacola News Journal.
Career education. The Tampa Tribune likes where the Legislature is headed with career education.
Parent trigger. Authentic parents vs. authentic lobbyists, writes StateImpact Florida. An update from SchoolZone. Privatization, says this op-ed in the Ledger.
Digital learning. The conversion in the St. Johns district is welcome but challenging. St. Augustine Record.
Private schools. The Tallahassee Democrat profiles a 40-year-old Episcopalian school whose alumni include the children and grandchildren of Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee. (more…)
Parent trigger. This year's version clears its first hurdle on a party-line vote. Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Associated Press, Tallahassee Democrat.
Charter schools. A state Department of Education reports says charter school students are outperforming traditional public school students in just about every head-to-head match up. Fort Myers News Press, redefinED, Gradebook, Sunshine State News.
Magnet schools. The Tallahassee Democrat applauds the Leon County school district for expanding them.
School spending. To deal with a projected budget shortfall, Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browning recommends eliminating all media specialists and reading coaches. Tampa Bay Times. Marion Superintendent George Tomyn, meanwhile, is planning to restore full-time music and art teachers, and media specialists, to all schools. Ocala Star Banner. The Manatee district has taken steps to recover from a $3.4 million budget deficit. Bradenton Herald.
Flipped classrooms. Some teachers are trying it into Flagler and Volusia. Daytona Beach News Journal.
Common Core. StateImpact Florida has three questions for Orange Superintendent Barbara Jenkins. (more…)
