Testing. More districts cut back local end of course exams. Tampa Bay Times. Palm Beach Post. Tallahassee Democrat. Former Education Commissioner Tony Bennett recalls the testing dilemma Florida faced during his tenure. Gradebook. The anti-testing movement has reached a tipping point, a guest columnist writes for the Florida Squeeze.
Catholic schools. Educators say their schools will benefit from the Notre Dame ACE Academies' expansion into Central Florida. Florida Catholic. A Catholic school administrator is moving on after a lengthy tenure leading a Miami all-girls school. Miami Herald.
Graduation. How do reading scores, retention, discipline and other issues correlate with high school completion? Gradebook. It's part of a search for answers on legging graduation rates in Hillsborough schools. Tampa Bay Times.
College readiness. Fordham's Chester Finn notes Florida's recent changes to remedial courses in a look at the meaning of college readiness. Flypaper.
Superintendents. Manatee's embattled superintendent plans to step down this summer. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Testing. Controversy continues to swirl around a revamp of state testing and school accountability laws. Sunshine State News. Testing results might not be public until some time in December. Tampa Bay Times. Orlando Sentinel. A jab against test prep (and a call for a broad curriculum) from a MythBusters star strikes a nerve. Tampa Bay Times.
School choice. A controlled choice policy is likely on its way out in the Miami-Dade enclave of Coral Gables. Miami-Herald. Don't let low-income students get caught in the political crossfire over a school choice lawsuit, a state Senator writes in a Florida Politics column.
Superintendents. A host of current and former elected officials and school administrators may be jockeying to run for Leon County school superintendent amid an FBI probe of the district. Tallahassee Democrat. Hillsborough could hire a new superintendent ahead of schedule. Gradebook. Unions weigh in on a Palm Beach candidate. Palm Beach Post. Manatee's former superintendent returns to rebut criticisms. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Charter schools. A rejected charter school prevails on a state appeal. Palm Beach Post. redefinED. A Naples Daily News reporter wins an award for his reporting on shuttered charter schools.
Class size. Miami-Dade teachers complain of classroom crowding. NBC Miami.
Charter schools. The Tampa Bay Times spends time with Hillsborough's charter school gatekeepers. Charter schools with good results should be allowed to share in local property taxes collected for school construction, a municipal charter leader writes in the Fort Myers News-Press. The News-Press disagrees in an editorial. A Pensacola charter school under scrutiny has a history of issues. Pensacola News-Journal.
Busing. Hillsborough district busing of mostly black, inner-city students to the suburbs may be harming those students' achievement. Tampa Bay Times.
Testing. A student's anti-testing speech gets national attention. Tampa Tribune. Students prepare to sit for state assessments as lawmakers finish work on testing and accountability changes. Panama City News Herald. The legislation includes a validity check, and state officials are fine with that. Gradebook. Will computerized testing work this time around? Tampa Bay Times. Some students opt out. Panama City News Herald.
Superintendents. Hiring an outsider could take the Palm Beach school district in a different direction. Palm Beach Post. Volusia's new superintendent prepares for his first school board meeting. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Class size. Bills giving district schools more flexibility under state class size rules keep coasting through the Legislature. Gradebook.
Boundaries. A rezoning plan irks parents. Pensacola News-Journal.
Community involvement. Elementary students on an International Baccalaureate track design projects for the greater good. Bradenton Herald. High school students get a visit from Manatee's elections supervisor. Bradenton Herald.
School boards. Volusia County's school board chairwoman says she plans to join new organization of pro-school-choice school board members. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Charter schools. A long-shot bill could dramatically slow the growth of Florida charter schools. Naples Daily News.
Testing. School district superintendents raise computerized testing concerns. Gradebook. Palm Beach Post. Lawmakers are under pressure to address testing issues in the upcoming legislative session. Associated Press.
Black history. Hillsborough schools plan to revamp their black history curriculum. Tampa Bay Times. A Manatee County school honors its namesake during Black History Month. Bradenton Herald.
Superintendents. A Georgia superintendent wins a national award over Hillsborough's MaryEllen Elia. Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Tribune.
Performance. Pasco schools aim to set a holistic set of school performance goals. Tampa Bay Times.
Testing. The Orlando Sentinel has a primer on the state's new assessments. Some parents say they plan to pull their children out of state standardized testing even though the law doesn't provide an avenue to do so. Sun-Sentinel. Lake County-area lawmakers talk standards and testing with the Leesburg Daily Commercial. Lawmakers seem poised to respond to the recent testing outcry, an Orlando Sentinel columnist writes. Pasco schools add up the cost of standardized testing. Gradebook.
Lawsuits. A Super Bowl ad takes aim at the lawsuit challenging Florida's tax credit scholarship program. Saint Petersblog. The lawsuit is misguided because the program doesn't hurt public school funding, Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart writes in the Palm Beach Post. The namesake for Florida's McKay scholarships criticizes the suit in the Bradenton Herald. The program is administered by scholarship funding organizations like Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog and employs the author of the post.
Private schools. A new private high school is coming to Collier. Naples Daily News.
Charter schools. The Hillsborough County School district releases data on the zoned schools of students who attend charter schools. Tampa Bay Times. A Lake Wales charter school is set to get a new freezer. Winter Haven News Chief.
School choice. Southwest Florida school districts open choice applications. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Teacher pay. Broward's teachers union deadlocks with its school district while trying to negotiate raises under the state's new performance pay law. Sun-Sentinel. Brevard teachers protest a lack of pay raises after the passage of a tax referendum. Florida Today.
Teachers unions. The national American Federation of Teachers organization intervenes in the management of Orange County's local union. Orlando Sentinel.
District leadership. The Tampa Tribune dissects the Hillsborough School Board's recent vote to oust Superintendent MaryEllen Elia. Finding a replacement could be tough, with so many districts in the market for new leadership. Tampa Bay Times. St. Lucie County has picked five finalists for its top district leadership post. St. Lucie News-Tribune. The ouster of Volusia's superintendent took an ugly turn, a Daytona Beach News-Journal columnist writes.
School choice. Florida's school districts are increasingly embracing parental choice. Tampa Bay Times. A total of nearly 1.5 million Florida sutdents participate in some form of school choice. redefinED. Nearly 2,000 students and parents celebrate National School Choice Week in Jacksonville. redefinED. WJCT.
Virtual education. Education Next surveys the virtual education landscape in Florida and elsewhere.
PLSAs. Gov. Rick Scott proposes a $5 million increase for Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts. Gradebook.
Teacher evaluation. The last gasp of a lawsuit challenging Florida's teacher merit pay law founders in an appeals court. Gradebook. Sentinel School Zone. News Service of Florida. There's an uproar over testing and teacher evaluations in Manatee County. Bradenton Herald.
Superintendents. What's the benefit of an elected superintendent? Pensacola News-Journal. Volusia's superintendent is now set to retire ahead of schedule. Daytona Beach News-Journal. A Tampa Bay Times columnist and reporter dive deeper into the ouster of Hillsborough's school superintendent.
Testing. Brevard school district officials question whether parents can opt out of testing. Florida Today. Big Bend-area lawmakers plan to seek testing changes in Tallahassee. Tallahassee Democrat.
Charter schools. A key lawmaker files a bill to give district schools some of the flexibility enjoyed by charter schools in exchange for greater academic accountability. Sentinel School Zone. Gradebook. The Duval school board may vote to terminate a small, struggling charter school. Florida Times-Union.
Curriculum. Angry parents weigh in on district textbook decisions during a marathon school board meeting in Collier County. Naples Daily News.
Superintendents. The Hillsborough school board votes to terminate MaryEllen Elia, the award-winning but embattled superintendent of one of the country's largest school districts. Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Tribune. WTSP. WFTS. Business groups had rallied around her. Tampa Tribune.
School choice. Open enrollment begins in Lee County. Naples Daily News. Fort Myers News-Press.
Charter schools. New checks on charter schools join testing among South Florida districts' top legislative priorities. Sun-Sentinel.
Curriculum. A showdown over textbooks in Collier schools could be a preview of controversies elsewhere. Naples Daily News.
Teachers. The first year in the classroom proves exhausting but fulfilling for a teacher profiled by the Orlando Sentinel in an article highlighting challenges with teacher turnover. Orange County teachers will get raises and bonuses under a new contract. Orlando Sentinel.
Superintendents. Hillsborough Superintedent MaryEllen Elia faces political pressure despite winning plaudits from her peers around the country. Tampa Bay Times. Her potential ouster could cost the district $1 million. Tampa Tribune. Tampa Bay Times. Accolades don't always insulate district leaders from hostile school boards. Tampa Bay Times. A one-month contract extension could net Palm Beach's superintendent $19,000 in pension benefits. Palm Beach Post.
Testing. People who support school choice but oppose parents opting out of high-stakes tests are being hypocritical, Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano argues. Parents need to help students prepare for new assessments, Gadsden County's superintendent says. Havana Herald, via Gradebook.
STEM. Students at Title I schools in Palm Beach County take part in neuroscience labs. Palm Beach Post.
Allegations. Volusia schools officials investigate allegations that district employees went out for a night on the town paid for by an instructional materials vendor. Daytona Beach News-Journal. An investigation clears Lee County's superintendent of wrongdoing. Fort Myers News-Press.
Magnet schools. Miami-Dade schools unveil a new planetarium to coincide with the debut of a new astronomy magnet program. Miami Herald. WSVN. More on the district's new school choice plans from the Herald.
Testing. Teachers are nervous about the challenges of preparing students for new standards and assessments. Tampa Bay Times. The new tests are expected to be longer and more difficult. Sun-Sentinel. Common Core lessons are tougher, but students are starting to rise to the challenge. Orlando Sentinel. What will lawmakers do about state testing? StateImpact explores.
School choice. Duval parents learn about district choice options during a public expo. Florida Times-Union.
Special needs. A new program in Volusia helps special needs students participate in sports. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Hillsborough schools recruit teachers with non-traditional backgrounds to teach special needs students. Tampa Tribune.
Community schools. Evans High School has improved results since it started offering tutoring, medical care and other services to students in its low-income neighborhood, Orlando Sentinel columnist Beth Kassab writes.
Tutoring. Lee County schools plan to drop free after-school tutoring in favor of a new summer program. Fort Myers News-Press.
Superintendents. Community leaders in Palm Beach hope the coming search for a new schools chief goes better than previous attempts. Palm Beach Post. An activist accused of extorting the Palm Beach superintendent faces additional charges. Sun-Sentinel.
Teacher evaluations. Hillsborough teachers say they should have had more input in developing the district's rating system. Tampa Bay Times.
Note: Today's roundup is longer than usual. It includes noteworthy Florida education news, blog and opinion pieces that appeared during our holiday break. Our Florida roundups are returning to their usual Monday-through-Friday schedule.
Lawsuits. A lawsuit challenging Florida school choice legislation is dismissed. Associated Press. Miami Herald. Education Week. News Service of Florida. Palm Beach Post. Capitol News Service. WFSU. Fort Myers News-Press. redefinED. The Tampa Tribune praises the outcome in an editorial. A separate lawsuit challenging the tax credit scholarship program threatens families' options, a USA Today guest column argues. The program is administered by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.
School choice. A Tampa Bay Times section on school choice highlights the growth of private and charter schools, the difficulty of getting a seat in some in-demand programs, increased offerings from the Pinellas County school district and expanded private scholarship programs. Duval schools draw attention to non-magnet choice programs. Florida Times-Union. Parents need timely school grades and other information to make the best school choices, the Sun-Sentinel argues in an editorial.
Common Core. States in the market for higher education standards are bound to find some overlap with the Common Core State Standards, the Fordham Institute's Michael Petrilli writes in the Tampa Bay Times.
Charter schools. Fewer Florida charter schools closed, and other indicators were positive even as scrutiny increased in 2014. Naples Daily News. Florida's well-known Charter Schools USA may take over as operator of schools in a troubled Pennsylvania district. York Daily Record. A planned Manatee charter pulls its application after the state appeals panel supports its rejection. Bradenton Herald.
Catholic schools. Catholic schools constitute the second-largest school system in Pinellas. Gradebook.
Virtual education. A new virtual learning center aims to provide an alternative to typical home education. St. Agustine Record.
Education politics. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush steps away from his education foundations, in what is seen as a step toward a possible presidential run. Washington Post. Education Week. A husband-wife duo includes a state representative and a school board member who support parental choice and want less bureaucratic regulation of schools. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
PLSAs. An article in National Affairs delves deep into the theory of action behind new parental choice scholarship account programs.
