Education

One of Florida’s political sages is about to punch the time clock one last time. Dr. Ed Moore, current President of ICUF, announced his retirement in July. Robert Boyd will take over as president on Sept. 1.

School is almost over, and that means camp time for the kids. Tallahassee offers a diverse range of camps for all interests.

From March 23 to May 4, the Havana History and Heritage Center is hosting the Smithsonian Institution’s “Crossroads: Change in Rural America,” a Museum on Main Street exhibition.

Following an executive order from Gov. DeSantis to replace Common Core academic standards with new world-class standards, the Florida Department of Education is reviewing the current standards for kindergarten through 12^th grade in order to make recommendations for revisions.

A new WikiProject, Women in Red, demands greater recognition for female historical figures by increasing the number of biographies about women on Wikipedia.

The Florida Department of Education (FDOE) recently announced a new program to help students who have been victims of harassment, bullying, or other violence at school. The Hope Scholarship is available on a first-come, first-served basis to children enrolled in Florida’s K-12 public schools.

Joy Prescott, a fourth-grade math teacher at Pemayetv Emahakv Charter School in Glades County, was chosen from nearly 200,000 Florida public school teachers as the 2019 Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) Teacher of the Year.

The 2018 Best High Schools were announced this month, utilizing criteria based on the number of gold and silver medals received in schools across the country. Medals are awarded for student achievement on statewide tests, graduation rates, college preparation and passing scores on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests.

This year’s hurricane season took a toll on Florida, Texas and the Carribean. For those students displaced by the storm, the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF)-affilated schools are making it a little easier to get back to work.

Florida K-12 schools have the most diverse student body in our state’s history, yet the percentage of highly segregated schools doubled over the past two decades.

Start preparing early: Talk with your kids in high school about what they enjoy doing, what their strengths are, and what they may want to go to college for.

Last week, I had the pleasure of celebrating 14 years with the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF). It has been my great honor to be a part of a network of 30 private, nonprofit educational institutions that expand access to higher education for all Florida students.

Florida’s public schools showed strong signs of improvement with report cards released last month by the Department of Education. More than half of our state’s 3,200 schools achieved an A or B grade, increasing to 57 percent from last year’s 46 percent.

Want to know how your child’s school is performing? The Foundation for Excellence in Education just released Know Your Florida School – a type of school report card. This free, online tool makes it easy to find and understand information about Florida schools and see how they compare to others.

Serving as FSBA’s executive director has been both challenging and rewarding. The voice for Florida school districts since 1930, FSBA’s mission is to increase student achievement through the development of effective school board leadership and advocacy for public education.

To parents, few things are more important than their children’s education. The Florida Department of Education is proud to share a new, easy-to-use website called Florida Students Achieve. It provides a central location for families to access information to make the best education decisions for their students.