StateImpact Florida

StateImpact Florida A collaboration among NPR and member stations to examine how education and education reform issues affect you.

StateImpact Florida journalists John O’Connor and Sammy Mack travel the state to report on how education issues affect you. StateImpact Florida is a project of WUSF Public Media, WLRN Public Media, WJCT Public Broadcasting and NPR.

Talking about the time spent testing -- and not how the test results are used -- isn't addressing the real problem, crit...
11/02/2015

Talking about the time spent testing -- and not how the test results are used -- isn't addressing the real problem, critics of testing say.

Recently, President Barack Obama admitted he’d made a mistake when it comes to public schools. Like most people with big news to share – he posted it on Facebook. "I also hear from parents who, rightly, worry about too much testing,” Obama said in a video posted to the White House's page. F…

"Our present relationship with testing is like holding a wolf by its ears: We don't like it, but we can't let go" -- why...
10/26/2015

"Our present relationship with testing is like holding a wolf by its ears: We don't like it, but we can't let go" -- why President Obama's call to limit testing has no teeth.

The president's pledge to reduce school tests is meaningless.

The president says U.S. schools test too much. Will his call to cap testing time change anything?
10/26/2015

The president says U.S. schools test too much. Will his call to cap testing time change anything?

President Obama said students are spending too much time in the classroom taking tests, many of them unnecessary, and urged officials in the country’s schools to help.

“We had more applicants than we could service so we had to hold a raffle,” said Marta Garcia, principal of Royal Palm El...
10/26/2015

“We had more applicants than we could service so we had to hold a raffle,” said Marta Garcia, principal of Royal Palm Elementary School, near Florida International University. Three students applied for each slot in Royal Palm’s EFL program.

“Parents have realized that it really makes a difference in their child’s education,” Garcia said. “To truly be biliterate and bilingual, it is a big advantage.”

Most of the students at Royal Palm Elementary in Miami have Spanish-speaking families. But those families also want their kids to speak – and read and write – more Spanish in school. So teacher Alexandra Martin is leading her 1st grade class through “Vamos Papa,” with each child reading a passage fr…

The federal government just released a report looking at the black-white achievement gap. It found something remarkable:...
10/19/2015

The federal government just released a report looking at the black-white achievement gap. It found something remarkable: "White student achievement in schools with the highest Black student density did not differ from White student achievement in schools with the lowest density."

Translation: After controlling for socioeconomic status, white students essentially had the same test scores whether they went to a school that was overwhelmingly white or one that was overwhelmingly black.

It has long been established that poor and minority children do better in integrated classrooms. But there's more and more to suggest that the benefits spread to all students.

“Graduation rates turn out to be a lot more complicated to measure than you would think, than anybody in their right min...
10/19/2015

“Graduation rates turn out to be a lot more complicated to measure than you would think, than anybody in their right mind would ever think."

It sounded like a story guaranteed to irritate taxpayers: a national study out of Rutgers university says more and more public high school students are taking longer than four years to graduate. Instead, they're in school for five or six -- or more -- years! But Florida school officials say that's…

Was a state bonus program targeted for Teach for America recruits? Some teachers think so, but the organization says the...
10/13/2015

Was a state bonus program targeted for Teach for America recruits? Some teachers think so, but the organization says they had nothing to do with the idea.

"Who are these bonuses for?" It's a question we heard from teachers over and over again while reporting on the new Best and Brightest Scholarships. They're not actually scholarships -- they're bonuses worth up to $10,000 for teachers who scored in the top 20 percent of students when they took the SA…

Is the uprising against Common Core over?
10/12/2015

Is the uprising against Common Core over?

The standards that naysayers love to call “Obamacore” has become the reality on the ground for roughly 40 million students.

“I think that this also really shows an ongoing misunderstanding by the people who are making education policy about wha...
10/12/2015

“I think that this also really shows an ongoing misunderstanding by the people who are making education policy about what standardized tests can do,” Kinney said. “Who do you want to reward with this program?”

In Brigette Kinney’s design class at Ada Merritt K-8 center in Miami, one of the key concepts is editing and revising ideas after getting feedback. Her 8th graders created role-playing games based on books they read. And then adjust the games, after watching their classmates play. Kinney hopes Flori…

The first batch of Florida Standards Assessments results breaks down students results into quartiles.
09/30/2015

The first batch of Florida Standards Assessments results breaks down students results into quartiles.

Florida school districts received the first round of test results from the Florida Standards Assessments this week. The results show what percentage of students in each district scored within each quartile of all Florida students taking the exams. Parents can expect more detailed scores for their st…

Thursday is the deadline for teachers to submit SAT and ACT scores for a new bonus. The two testing companies say they'v...
09/29/2015

Thursday is the deadline for teachers to submit SAT and ACT scores for a new bonus. The two testing companies say they've been swamped with requests.

Miami teacher Brigette Kinney said she doesn’t always hear about school news when classes are out for the summer. So Kinney missed the word that lawmakers set aside $44 million for bonuses based on SAT and ACT scores during a special summer budget session. Teachers who scored in the top 20 percent t…

Has political correctness gone too far on college campuses? A group is now tracking free speech policies.
09/28/2015

Has political correctness gone too far on college campuses? A group is now tracking free speech policies.

Know the joke about how many college students it takes to screw in a light bulb? Probably not, since it’s not a real joke. Nor is the decision some comedians are making to avoid college campuses where they say students today are too easily offended. Back in June, comedian Jerry Seinfeld told ESPN ra…

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