Selecting new superintendent tops among challenges to come. ...more

December 30, 2009

Detroit's (predominantly black) public schools are the worst in the nation, and it takes some doing to be worse than Washington, D.C. Only 3 percent of Detroit's fourth-graders scored proficient on the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test, sometimes called "The Nation's Report Card." Twenty-eight percent scored basic and 69 percent below basic. "Below basic" is the NAEP category when students are unable to demonstrate even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at their grade level. It's the same story for Detroit's eighth-graders. Four percent scored proficient, 18 percent basic and 77 percent below basic. Michael Casserly, executive director of the D.C.-based Council on Great City Schools, in an article appearing in Crain's Detroit Business, (12/8/09) titled, "Detroit's Public Schools Post Worst Scores on Record in National Assessment," said, "There is no jurisdiction of any kind, at any level, at any time in the 30-year history of NAEP that has ever registered such low numbers." The academic performance of black students in other large cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles is not much better than Detroit and Washington. ...more

December 26, 2009

Bill and Melinda Gates reportedly won't be here Thursday, but about 400 other people plan to attend a gala to celebrate Hillsborough County Public Schools' $100 million grant. ...more

December 8, 2009

Student performance at Florida's charter schools falls far below that at traditional public schools, according to a Stanford University report. ...more

June 17, 2009

President Barack Obama embraced merit pay for teachers Tuesday in spelling out a vision of education that will almost certainly alienate union backers. ...more

March 10, 2009

According to Education Week magazine, Florida offers its young people an above-average public education while not spending as much on schools as most other states. We call that a bargain. ...more

January 10, 2009

Last spring, Florida lawmakers sought to ease the pressure the FCAT applied on public high schools by developing a more rounded appraisal of student performance. ...more

December 28, 2008

Last spring, Florida lawmakers sought to ease the pressure the FCAT applied on public high schools by developing a more rounded appraisal of student performance. ...more

December 27, 2008

Those seeking a part-time teaching position need not apply at this time to the School Board of Highlands County, which has a hiring freeze on substitute teachers. ...more

December 21, 2008

Hillsborough County schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia is donating $42,437 she received in performance bonuses this year to the Hillsborough Education Foundation. ...more

December 20, 2008