Feds order ESSA revise: The U.S. Department of Education says Florida is among 10 states that will have to revise their plans on implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act. The department's letter to Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart says the state's plan does not fulfill ESSA requirements in three areas: identifying schools with large achievement gaps between student subgroups, including English-language learners' proficiency scores in the state's accountability system, and providing the state's tests in students' native language. The letter informs the state it has no choice but to change its plan to comply with ESSA. Education Week. Politico Florida.
Graduation rates: Florida school districts are expecting graduation rates for the class of 2017 to fall because the state's new education law, H.B. 7069, won't allow them to count students who left for private schools. Legislators fashioned the bill to stop districts that were suspected of funneling students who couldn't pass the state's test to alternative schools, where they could graduate without passing the tests. But many educators think the law unfairly penalizes schools that try to help students who struggle with the traditional graduation path. TCPalm.
Personalized learning: A pilot program on personalized learning would be opened to any school district in the state under bills filed by Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mount Dora, and Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg. A 2016 law created the pilot program for school districts in Pinellas, Palm Beach, Lake Seminole counties, and the P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, to experiment with “competency-based learning” that allows students to progress at their own pace. The bills would also change the words "competency-based" to "mastery-based." redefinED.
