Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorJune 17, 2015

It’s incredibly ironic to me that the University of Central Florida was started in 1963 near the nation’s spaceport to help support the exploration of the universe, and that now we find ourselves in a position as the nation’s second-largest university to exert a lot of influence on our own little piece of that universe. […]

Guest AuthorApril 16, 2015

Florida has successfully operated tax credit education scholarships for 13 years. More than 70,000 underprivileged students throughout Florida currently benefit from these scholarships, which provide important school choice options. These students, whose household incomes are only 5 percent above the poverty level, two-thirds of whom are black or Hispanic, and the majority of whom live […]

Mark FerruloFebruary 19, 2015

Do you think Florida’s school accountability system, with punitive high-stakes testing and unreasonable mandates, is out of control? To teachers and other folks on the front lines in the fight to improve our public schools, it most definitely is. Last week, more than 6,000 teachers, parents, education advocates and other concerned Floridians participated in the […]

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 […]

Shannon NickinsonAugust 21, 2014

Most people do resolutions in January. I think Pensacola — and all of Florida — should dare to be different. I think August is a great time for a resolution. A resolution to take the mantra of “each one, teach one” seriously and to heart. The school year is beginning. The sales tax holiday is […]

Guest AuthorJune 17, 2014

Every June, I write thank you notes to my twin sons’ teachers. I include a gift card, and words of appreciation for all their hard work. I also encourage them to spend the gift cards on tequila shots or therapy sessions. This year, my kids’ last in middle school, we experienced two truly ineffective teachers. […]

Julie DelegalJune 12, 2014

California Superior Judge Rolf Treu has swallowed the corporate-reform narrative on education –hook, line and sinker. According to the Los Angeles Times, the judge agreed with attorneys representing nine student plaintiffs who contend that it’s teacher tenure law — not student poverty, not state underfunding, not bureaucratic largesse, not any other factor — that disproportionately […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 6, 2014

She stood six inches shorter than the student, but the teacher had somehow managed to get into his face anyway. Her body language screamed as loudly as her voice. “Hit me! Go ahead! I’ll lay you out, boy!” The young man’s face was tense, but he never flinched. He refused to be provoked. Let’s get […]

Tag: teachers
Image via AP.

Todd Dagenais: When you have a chance to influence the universe …

John Legg: Don't let vulnerable kids get mired in politics of education

Mark Ferrulo: Education community overwhelmingly opposes punitive testing

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

Shannon Nickinson: Take time to improve a child’s future, our future prosperity

Catherine Durkin Robinson: Thanking bad teachers for making me a hero

Julie Delegal: Judge gets it wrong in California teacher-tenure case

Deborah Hansen: Adults are often the people who teach kids how to bully