When I was the Democratic Leader in the Florida House, Tim Tebow made a ceremonial visit to the floor of the Legislature after leading the Gators to a national championship. My colleagues fawned on him, grabbing photographs and autographs. The Speaker at the time, Marco Rubio, was the most excited. Marco, a football player himself …
The Florida Legislature has declared a petty and unseemly war on the state’s Supreme Court. In retaliation for rulings they disagreed with, the Legislature is proposing massive overhauls of the court, intended to make the judicial branch both weaker and less independent. One proposal would require Justices receive a 60% vote in a general election …
I’ll be pretty happy when FCAT week is over. My oldest is in an advanced math class, and for some time now the class stopped teaching its normal curriculum in order to reteach the FCAT math they learned a year or two ago. So they are preparing for the FCAT, even if it means neglecting …
I just finished reading a second Department of Education press release in so many weeks touting how terrific Florida’s High Schools are performing. The press statements rely on graduation rate statistics (that only Florida is using), and a new “self-test” that is being given to high schools under recently enacted legislative guidelines. While I hate …
Here are my thoughts on Pearson’s failure to deliver the state FCAT grades on time (note: I absolutely hate the way the FCAT is overemphasized – but if you pay a company $250 million and they fail to do the only thing they are paid to do, heads ought to roll!): Pearson’s failure and the …
It’s no wonder that Floridians are losing faith in their government. More public officials in Florida are charged with corruption than in any other state. But the problem isn’t simply criminal wrongdoing. The truth is much of what is wrong isn’t even illegal. We have a state government that operates largely in the shadows; a …
A call out to my Palm Beach friends from “testing is not teaching,” and the CTA — good luck today. Your issues over testing and education policy are not unique to your county and many parents of public school kids, like me, all over Florida will be rooting for you. Florida has gone test crazy …
A Call Out to Palm Beach Parents and Teachers – Testing is not Teaching! Read More »
