Charter schools. The charter schools in Pinellas expect to add 1,400 students this fall, for a total of nearly 6,500. Gradebook. A new charter school in Naples is offering a summer camp to boost literacy skills for ELL students entering kindergarten. Fort Myers News Press. The struggling Tiger Academy charter school in Jacksonville shows big improvement in its third grade FCAT results. Florida Times Union.

Private schools. Q&A with the new head of Tampa's Carrollwood Day School. Tampa Tribune.

Teacher transfers. Alexander Russo takes a look at a recent study examining involuntary transfers in Miami-Dade.

School spending. Pasco anticipates $1 billion in capital expenses through 2025 and $711 million from all funding sources. Gradebook. Pasco considers shifting some school start times to save money on bus routes. Tampa Bay Times.

Superintendents. The Tampa Bay Times profiles new Hernando Superintendent Lori Romano.

Porn. Pasco deputies arrest a 15-year-old high school student for possession of child pornography after school officials find a photo on her iPhone of two teens having sex. Tampa Tribune, Tampa Bay Times.

Head Start. The feds uphold the suspension of the Jacksonville Urban League as a program provider, citing health and safety issues. Florida Times Union.

I’m kind of glad the ruckus over the parent trigger is over for now. I continue to believe that despite how mercurial it was, there are far more issues that can unite parents, the press and policymakers, if only we can wall off the static and talk.

Perhaps this is one: I think most of us can agree that poor and minority students are getting shortchanged when it comes to getting the best teachers in traditional public schools. I think most of us can agree this is fundamentally unfair to students and teachers alike.

No matter how you define teacher quality – and let’s leave teacher evaluations out of this for now because, sheesh, that is a mess – poor and minority students get less of what is ideal and more of what isn’t. There are far more rookie teachers in high poverty schools, far more teachers who needed multiple attempts to pass certification exams, far fewer board certified. In many urban districts, the teacher transfer pipeline is one-way from inner city to leafy burbs. Given what we know about great teachers – that they are the biggest in-school variable in student achievement, that they can and do change lives – this is unconscionable.

The latest evidence is from a Stanford University study published last month. It’s based on data from the Miami-Dade School District. And it finds that even within schools, lower-performing students are more likely to be taught by the less-than-ideal teachers.

I wish issues like this got more media attention, especially in Florida. As far as I can tell, the only major news outlets that wrote about the Stanford study were Education Week and BET. I know reporters are under more stress than ever, and the timing – near the end of the Florida legislative session – couldn’t have been worse. But this isn’t a fleeting issue. (more…)

Everybody loves the underdog except when it comes to education reform. More than a week after the Florida Senate rejected the parent trigger bill, the story line is now David v. Goliath, with David (played by established parent groups like the Florida PTA and Fund Education Now) squeaking out a victory over Goliath (starring Jeb Bush, Michelle Rhee, and the Republican-dominated Legislature.)

The truth is, titans clashed while David was en route to his second job.

The underdogs who are lost in this narrative are low-income and working-class parents. They have virtually no one in their corner as they deal with conditions in their schools that would spark outrage – and quick remedies – if they happened in more affluent schools.

To take teacher quality and equity as an example: High-poverty schools have the highest teacher turnover rates, the most rookie teachers, the most out-of-field teachers, the most teachers who failed certification exams, the fewest board certified, etc.  We all know how destructive that is, year after year, kid after kid, generation after generation. And yet, it’s just kind of accepted. (more…)