Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Larry GriffinOctober 17, 2016

To passers-by at the political rally on the green courtyard outside the Fairwinds Alumni building at UCF, where a U.S. Senate debate was to happen later that night, both U.S. Senate candidates must have sounded bad. Patrick Murphy‘s detractors called him privileged and said his record was among the least effective in Congress, so how could […]

Guest AuthorAugust 12, 2015

There’s been a lot of talk about patron use of technology in theaters, the most recent story of course being Patti LuPone snatching a phone out of a texting audience member’s hands in the middle of a scene during Shows for Days at the Lincoln Center Theater. LuPone, a Tony and Grammy award-winning actress who […]

Guest AuthorJuly 22, 2015

When I first began my teaching career it was in an inner city school where extreme poverty permeated nearly every child’s life. It hung in the air outside the chain-link fence surrounding the school like an oppressive fog, waiting to engulf my students as soon as the school day ended. Knowing what they were headed toward […]

Guest AuthorJuly 6, 2015

Monday, July 6, 2015 Dear Community Meeting Participant, I want to thank you for taking your valuable time a few days ago and joining us at Glades Central High School for my community outreach meeting. As I stated at the meeting, I am not coming in leading with solutions and best practices — I am […]

Associated PressApril 24, 2015

The House on Friday voted 80-36 for a bill that would let children enroll in any school in the state regardless of where they live. The provision is included in a comprehensive education bill that now heads to the Florida Senate. If the bill (HB 1145) becomes law families could enroll in any public school […]

Guest AuthorApril 21, 2015

Florida’s schools are supposed to prepare our students for success in life. Whether pursuing higher education or entering the workforce, we expect that students are ready for the real world based on what they learn in the classroom. But there is one area where we are perpetually failing the next generation: financial literacy and managing […]

Guest AuthorApril 20, 2015

The Florida Credit Union Association (FCUA), an affiliate of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions & Affiliates (LSCU), works year-round to empower Florida students with the financial education and understanding they will need as they transition into fiscal independence and become successful contributing members of society. This month, the FCUA is especially proud to be […]

Guest AuthorApril 8, 2015

Student privacy has been much in the news lately, given the revelations that Pearson, creator of the new PARCC tests and one time creator of the FCAT, is monitoring social media to look for breaches of test security. (PARCC is the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.) Not surprisingly, there’s a bill […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 15, 2015

The ironically named Student Success Act of 2011 mandated something called the Valued Added Model, which attempts to quantify each teacher’s influence on each student. The complicated formula purports to predict what a student’s normal gain scores on a standardized test will be from one year to another. If a student gains more or loses […]

Tag: students
Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zeleneskyy, Vladimir Putin. Image via AP

Rally outside U.S. Senate debate at UCF gleefully energized against both candidates

Heather Gibson: Let theater take you to a new world … without ringing, glowing cellphones

Andy Ford: Free public schools to help break shackles of poverty

Catherine Martinez: An open letter to Palm Beach County Superintendent Robert Avossa

Bill would let students cross county lines for school

Sen. Jeremy Ring: Money matters for Florida’s high school students

Patrick La Pine: Teaching Florida students about economics is crucial

Catherine Martinez: Social media, data mining undermine test privacy

Catherine Martinez: 'Value Added Model' of no value to teaching