UnitED For Florida Children

Florida’s public schools have been under attack in the last 10 years, with a strong focus on accountability. The primary measurement used to ensure this accountability is student scores on standardized tests, with the assumption that these tests are accurate measures of student learning, teacher effectiveness and overall school quality. Scores on the Florida Standards … More The Florida Standards Assessment and Accountabiity

The first week of the 2018 legislative session in Tallahassee begins January 9. Do your representatives know what your priorities are for education? As elected officials, they have a civic duty to represent their constituents, so it’s important that we communicate with them about what’s important to us. It can be difficult and time consuming … More 2018 Legislative Session – What do we want from Public Education?

The following was shared recently by a Florida teacher (published with permission): “After 22 years, I don’t know if I have it in me anymore. I am a teacher. I will always be a teacher. I love teaching, but this isn’t teaching. Everything I am required to do is about preparing my students for “the … More Teaching in a high stakes accountability system

During the 2016 session, the Florida legislature passed a bill known as HB 7069. A combination of many other proposed legislative actions regarding education, the bill was one of the most highly contested in recent years. It barely passed the senate, and thousands of Florida citizens, including Superintendents and School Boards, petitioned Governor Scott to veto the … More Urge your district to fight to save public education

  We refuse the state mandated tests because we CARE about learning, not about a test score. We refuse the state mandated tests to protect our kids from testing abuse and from being used by the state as tools by which they evaluate teachers and schools. We honor our children’s teachers. We fight to restore … More Thank you, teachers

On February 7, 2017, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Education. The confirmation was one of the most contested appointments in recent history, having passed by a tie vote in the Senate with the Vice President stepping in to break the tie. Many factors make DeVos unqualified for the role, not the least … More Betsy DeVos: the Silver Lining

The misuse of high stakes standardized tests in our nation’s public schools has changed the way our children are educated, the way schools and teachers are measured, and even public perception of our schools. We have become obsessed with a focus on what is easily measured at the expense of everything else. The emotional toll it’s taking … More Take Back Florida Schools

The following post is shared, with permission, from Meredith Jewell – a former public high school math teacher in Florida who is now teaching in the Philippines. Meredith is a staunch supporter of public education who hopes her story might bring to light the notion that Florida does not have to use tests in the way … More Testing in Florida: View from a former teacher