Sunrise charter school mass-fires teachers

by: Bob Norman| Local 10 News October 5, 2015 It was about a month into the school year that Joshua Brooks’ five young children, who attend the new Paramount Charter School in Sunrise, told him the news. “I just picked them up one day and all their teachers were gone,” Brooks said, still incredulous. “I’m…

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Time to throw out Bush-era education reforms

by: John Romano|Tampa Bay Times October 2, 2015 For the longest time, it seemed educational reformers could do no wrong. They had the theories, they had the platform and, most importantly, they had the power. So George W. Bush’s Texas Miracle begat the nation’s No Child Left Behind law, which was around the same time…

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How many votes does it take to elect a Florida legislator?

photo: Scott Keeler, Tampa Bay Times by: Kristen M. Clark and Mary Ellen Klas Miami Herald|Times Tallahassee Bureau October 2, 2015 TALLAHASSEE When Florida lawmakers return to Tallahassee for another redistricting special session on Oct. 19, they will talk a lot about how to comply with court guidelines when redrawing state Senate districts. But they’ll…

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Another view on Florida’s proposed testing cut scores

by: Jeffery S. Solochek|Tampa Bay Times October 2, 2015 When Florida’s superintendents released their recommendations to revise the state education accountability laws, their original proposal relating to testing cut scores was notably absent. While gone, though, it was far from forgotten. As preliminary test results became public, Duval County superintendent Nikolai Vitti, who once headed…

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Blackburn: No faith in school accountability system

  by: Dr. Desmomd Blackburn, Brevard Public Schools superintendent October 1, 2015|Florida Today In the two months since I became the new superintendent of Brevard Public Schools, I have spent numerous hours engaging in dialogue with the citizens of this county —hearing of their pride in our accomplishments and learning about the challenges they feel…

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What lies ahead in the 2016 Florida legislative session?

Legislators are attending committee meetings now to hash out which bills will make it into the next session.  Since this is a presidential election year, the 2016 Florida Legislature convenes on  January 12th. Every year, most of the same politicians are assigned bills designed to move the “education reform” agenda closer to its ultimate goal of…

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FL Sups declare no confidence in Accountability system

Parents, teachers and education advocates across the state are relieved that the Florida Association of District School Superintendents (FADSS) has joined them in declaring an open distrust of the high-stakes FSA testing scheme and its broken credibility.  FADSS issued a unanimous statement today confirming that they had lost all confidence in the state’s school accountability…

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