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Seeds of Success:
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| Broward County Teacher Wins Outstanding Young Educator Award |
| Polk Community College’s Educator Preparation Institute Includes ESOL Training |
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| Branching Out: |
| 8th Annual Meeting of Schools and Medicaid: A Dynamic Partnership |
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13th School Attendance Symposium: Linking Attendance to Positive Engagement |
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August 24, 2007 |
Vol. 1, Issue 16 |
News Slices
State Board of Education Chooses
Applicants To Interview For the Commissioner of Education Position
The State Board of Education (SBE) voted unanimously on Tuesday, Aug.
14, to accept seven applicants from a pool of 24 to be interviewed for
the Florida Commissioner of Education position. Each of the seven interview
candidates was recommended to the SBE by PROACT Search, Inc., after a
comprehensive screening process determined that they met board-established
position profile/criteria. The interview candidates selected by the SBE
are as follows: Dr. William Harner, Dr. Earl Lennard, Dr. Joseph Marinelli,
Dr. William Moloney, Dr. Eric Smith, Mr. James Warford and Dr. Cheri Pierson
Yecke. For continuing updates on this process, visit www.proactsearchinc.com/florida
or via the Department’s Web site at www.fldoe.org/commissionersearch.
Commissioner Blomberg Announces
Results of 2007 School Grades Appeals
Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg recently announced the results
of the 2007 school grades and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) appeals.
Each year, school districts may submit appeals to the Department of Education
(DOE) for school grades and AYP designations required by the federal No
Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. This year, districts submitted appeals on
behalf of 42 schools, including 15 school grade appeals, 14 AYP appeals
and 13 for both school grades and AYP, up from 33 appeals last year, but
down from 49 appeals the previous year.
"The school grades appeals process is an important tool in Florida’s education accountability system,” said Commissioner Blomberg. “It helps ensure that our schools are receiving the most accurate grade possible and that special circumstances are given a process for consideration.”
For the full story, visit www.fldoe.org.
Department of Education Launches New Teacher Misconduct
Web Site
The Florida Department of Education launched a new
Web site that enables the general public to check if disciplinary action
has been taken against a Florida educator’s certificate. Using an
online database, visitors to the site are able to obtain information on
teacher misconduct cases brought to the state level. Currently, the available
information includes action dates, complaint summaries and descriptions
of final outcomes, including any penalties that may have been applied
to an educator's certificate. Similar to other licensed professionals
such as physicians, accountants and pharmacists, Florida educators are
subject to action against their certificate for substantiated misconduct.
Visit the site at www.myfloridateacher.com.
2007 Marked the Largest Ever Increase
In Florida High School Graduates Taking the ACT
Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg recently
announced Florida’s largest ever increase in both the number and
percentage of high school graduates who took the American College Test
(ACT). This year, 81,527 of Florida's 2007 high school graduates took
the ACT, an increase of 23 percent (15,228 graduates) over 2006. Nationwide,
the number of ACT-tested graduates increased only 8 percent.
In addition to the record number of graduates who
took the ACT, Florida saw a large increase in the percentage of students
who took the ACT as compared to last year. Of Florida’s 153,100 high
school graduates, 53 percent took the ACT in Florida compared to 45 percent
(147,700 graduates) the prior year and 42 percent nationally. The ACT
is one of two college entrance tests Florida students can choose to take.
For the full story, visit www.fldoe.org/news/2007/2007_08_15.asp.
Florida Missing Children’s Day
Governor Charlie Crist and America’s Most Wanted
host John Walsh will recognize law enforcement officers, citizens and
canine trailing teams from around the state for their efforts in missing
children investigations and honor Florida’s missing children on Monday,
September 10 during the 2007 Florida Missing Children’s Day. The
Florida Knowledge Network and the Florida Channel will broadcast the ceremony
from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. ET. Schools can contact their district ITV coordinators
or PBS Affiliate for technical information on how to view this program.
For further viewing information, visit www.FloridaKnowledgeNetwork.org.
VPK Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate Rule Workshops
The Florida Department of Education Office of Early
Learning will conduct seven workshops throughout the state in September
to obtain input on the methodology for calculating the 2006-07 Voluntary
Prekindergarten Provider (VPK) Kindergarten Readiness Rate. These rates
are calculated based upon the performance of VPK “graduates”
on the state’s kindergarten screening instrument. The state’s
first Readiness Rates were released in June 2007 (for more information,
go to www.fldoe.org/news/2007/2007_06_19.asp). To see dates for
upcoming workshops, go to http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-4566/07-25att.pdf.
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Schools Named
For Outstanding Community Involvement To qualify for this award, schools must achieve 100 percent of the DOE's required criteria in the categories of family involvement, business partnerships, volunteers, student community service, and School Advisory Councils. As part of the application process, schools were required to compile and submit portfolios documenting and quantifying community service work and activities accomplished during the 2006-2007 school year. The Five Star School Award was established in 1995 to recognize the contributions made by community involvement in student success. For more details, visit www.fldoe.org/SuccessStories/2007/08-06.asp. Polk Community College’s Educator Preparation
Institute Includes ESOL Training Polk Community College's (PCC) EPI is placing English
for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) certified instructors in
each of the seven course segments to qualify instructors to teach,
model, instruct and assess diverse populations. By incorporating
ESOL content into their EPI curriculum, students attending PCC are
now eligible for 120 ESOL in-service points. Through this partnership
with Polk County Public Schools, PCC aims to produce qualified K-12
teachers who can remove language barriers so students can achieve. |
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Branching Out |
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The 8th Annual Meeting of Schools and Medicaid: A Dynamic Partnership will be held at the Embassy Suites-Lake Buena Vista Resort, 8100 Lake Avenue, Orlando, Fla., Oct. 17-19. This meeting is designed for school district personnel who are actively involved or interested in the implementation and administration of the Medicaid program in schools. The program will present information related specifically to the Florida Medicaid certified school match fee-for-service and administrative claiming programs. The meeting will provide participants the opportunity to learn valuable information, identify issues for resolution, and share ideas related to the coordination of schools and Medicaid services. Meeting attendance is limited to school district personnel (ESE Directors, Student Services Directors, Medicaid Contacts, and Finance Officers), Agency for Health Care Administration headquarters staff and area school services representatives, and Department of Education staff. For more information, visit http://ssn.usf.edu/medicaid/conference_oct2007/default.htm. 13th School Attendance Symposium: Linking
Attendance to Positive Engagement Sponsored by the Florida Department of Education,
the Student Support Services Project, and the Florida Association
of School Social Workers, the 13th School Attendance Symposium provides
a statewide forum for sharing and promoting proven practices that
positively impact school attendance and student achievement. The
program agenda will also include information updates on state and
federal requirements that impact school attendance policy, and district
implementation. For more information, visit
http://sss.usf.edu/AttendanceSymposium/2007/index.html.
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For more information on this electronic newsletter, please e-mail thecore@fldoe.org.