New:
Paula Dockery Nails It!
In a Tampa Bay Times article, LWV Florida board member Paula Dockery lists her legislative priorities for 2016. Extracted from the list are the following education priorities:
• Properly fund our traditional public schools for instructional costs and facility building, maintenance and repair before funding nonpublic assets.
• Drastically reduce the standardized testing in our schools and stop the practice of using test results for high-stakes purposes.
• Return the education commissioner to an elected position and member of the Cabinet by passing the joint resolution sponsored by state Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, and state Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah.
• Fully fund our colleges and universities to accommodate growth and facility needs.
If the legislature met these goals, perhaps the push to privatize our schools would diminish.
Kindergarten Achievement Gap
Family income and student achievement rise together. You know that. The Economic Policy Institute published its top graphs of 2015 showing it once again, but one chart focuses just on preschool.
If you compare kindergarten readiness for the lowest income groups to the highest, there is a full standard deviation difference. I wondered how many children were in the lowest groups, and how much money it would take to improve preschool education.
FEA Challenges Teacher Bonus Plan
The Florida Education Association (FEA) filed a complaint against the Best and Brightest bonus plan. The complaint was filed with the US Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and the Florida Commission on Human Relations. This is the $10,000 bonus for teachers with high SAT and/or ACT scores who received highly effective ratings. Well, not exactly. First year teachers were exempt from the teacher evaluation rating. Not enough money was allocated to cover the $10,000 cost per qualified teacher.
Schools Reflect Our Values
Poverty, race, and educational opportunity are intertwined. In a report by the National Educational Policy Center, housing is added to the mix. The authors explain the interaction between where we live and the opportunities available to us.
Divided communities have greater inequities in access to quality education and employment. Perceptions of the quality of schools based on the neighborhood income level become the reality. The more divided our communities, the greater the problems become. What can be done to reduce the inequities?
Warning: Array to string conversion in /home/lwveducation/public_html/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 1096
-
- League Members visit the office of Senator Marco Rubio
-
- League Members wait to see Senator Bill Nelson
-
- Education Team at the Department of Education
Pingback: Newly Surfaced Video of Moms for Liberty Advisor Reveals Religious Extremist Agenda - Bucks County Beacon