Florida
April 30, 2015
FL: Gov. DeSantis Signs Bills Addressing Early Childhood Education and Literacy Rates
May 4, 2021
Florida is the latest state to take steps to expand early learning programs and tackle declining literacy rates, two topics that have remained at the forefront of officials’ plans to reopen schools, make up for learning lost to the pandemic, and strategically invest billions of...
FL: Education Commissioner Waives High-Stakes Consequences of Tests
April 9, 2021
As spring testing kicked off across the sunshine state this week, Florida education officials confirmed that typical “high-stakes” consequences of the exams, like grade promotions and school accountability measures, would be paused this school year. Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said the move would alleviate the...
FL: State Officials Extend English Proficiency Testing Window, Make Test Optional
January 31, 2021
In an effort to keep the flow of academic data flowing while accommodating the concerns parents have in sending their children to test in-person, Florida education officials announced that the state’s English proficiency exams will be optional this year. The state’s public school chancellor, Jacob...
Florida Legislators Introduce Bill to Let English-Language Learners Test in Native Languages
November 30, 2019
While the Every Student Succeeds Act requires states “to ‘make every effort’ to provide required exams in languages other than English if needed,” Florida’s Department of Education received an exemption in 2017 by arguing that English is Florida’s official language. Now, a bipartisan group of...
Forum Featuring African-American Educators in Florida Focuses on ESSA’s Impact on the Community
October 30, 2019
A town-hall-style meeting—themed “Lessons from the Past”—held at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale brought together policymakers and stakeholders for a discussion of ESSA and how the law “holds schools accountable for how students learn and achieve, while also providing...
Florida Releases School Spending Data
August 17, 2019
In the Florida Phoenix, Diane Rado reports on the Sunshine State’s release of school-level spending data as required by ESSA. This data, she says, could be “an eye opener,” given the incredible disparity in per-student spending from school to school. For example, “in the Collier...
Florida Launches New Report Cards
March 5, 2019
Jeffrey S. Solochek reports for the Tampa Bay Times that ESSA “placed several new requirements on states, to make it easier for parents to access and understand data about how their schools and districts are performing.” And this week, Florida delivered on part of these...
Florida Lawmakers Introduce ELL-Exam Bill
March 1, 2019
Jeffrey S. Solochek reports for the Tampa Bay Times that two Miami-area Democrats in the state legislature have introduced companion legislation (SB 1590 / HB 1213) that would allow Florida’s English-language learner students to take state exams in their first language. If approved, “the measure...
Sunshine State, Feds Continue Wrangling Over Accountability Plan
September 14, 2018
Jeffrey Solochek reports for the Tampa Bay Times that the Sunshine State’s latest ESSA plan redraft addresses a number of the issues raised by the U.S. Department of Education. However, according to the Department’s Libby Witt, “some of the revisions that FDOE made in the...
August 28, 2018
Rosa Castro Feinberg, Former Miami-Dade School Board member and current co-chair of LULAC Florida’s Government and Media Relations Committee, asks a good question in this article: “Why is Florida the only state that’s not in compliance with federal education standards?” The answer is pretty clear...
Advocacy Groups Call on DeVos to Reject Florida ESSA Plan
August 14, 2018
Florida remains the only state that has yet to have its ESSA plan approved by the U.S. Department of Education, and UnidosUS and the Florida chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens want it to stay that way—at least for now. Corey Mitchell reports in Education...
3 Things to Know About Florida’s Unapproved Education Plan
July 31, 2018
Florida is now the last state waiting for its ESSA plan to be approved by the U.S. Dept. of Education. In this piece for The 74, Blair Mann of the Collaborative for Student Success answers all your questions about what the holdup might be and...
Florida, Fed Impasse Could Cost Sunshine State $1.1 Billion
July 23, 2018
Daarel Burnette II at Education Week takes a look at ESSA and Florida—the only state still awaiting federal approval for its accountability plan. “We’re still working with the feds,” Cheryl Etters, a spokeswoman for the state’s department of education told Education Week. “As soon as we have...
Florida is Last State Awaiting ESSA Plan Approval
July 17, 2018
The Tampa Bay Times’ Jeffrey Solochek asks: “What to do?” Despite the fact that the Trump Administration “has in many ways held up Florida’s education system as a model for the nation” and “hired many former Florida education officials to top jobs in its own education...
Florida (Finally) Submits Revised Plan
April 23, 2018
According to Jeffrey Solochek in the Tampa Bay Times, the Florida Department of Education has submitted its revised ESSA plan, “months after the U.S. Education department said multiple revisions were needed.” In the updated version, state education officials said they “had filed for a waiver...
Sunshine State Gets Extended ESSA Revisions Deadline
February 16, 2018
The Tampa Bay Times reports that Florida has received an additional extension to update its ESSA plan. State Education Commissioner Pam Stewart was required to submit revisions by February 16—which was already an extension from the original January 4 deadline—but Stewart asked the U.S. Department...
February 2, 2018
Education Week’s Daarel Burnette II and Corey Mitchell report that Florida is under “intense scrutiny” from Democrats, civil rights groups, and federal officials for “how it plans to hold schools accountable for the achievement levels of historically disadvantaged student groups” under ESSA.
Williams: Florida Trying to Circumvent ESSA
November 28, 2017
In a column on The 74, New America’s Conor Williams discusses Florida’s ESSA plan – and how the state is “proposing to leave ELLs’ progress toward proficiency out of the state’s system for measuring school quality.” Williams argues that in the “outline of what the...
State Plan Submissions and Drafts
October 17, 2017
Approved State Plans Alabama: Final Plan Approved (5/7/18) Alaska: Final Plan Approved (5/16/18) Arizona: Final Plan Approved (9/6/17) Arkansas: Final Plan Approved (1/16/18) Colorado: Final Plan Approved (5/7/18) Connecticut: Final Plan Approved (8/15/17) Delaware: Final Plan Approved (8/2/17) District of Columbia: Final Plan Approved (8/28/17) Georgia:...
September 21, 2017
After Florida submitted its ESSA plan, it “quickly became clear that the waivers the state Department of Education planned to seek were no longer there.” A “closer read of the final version, though, reveals that while the state did not request any formal waiver of...
The 74 Highlights FL’s ESSA Plan Process
September 21, 2017
The 74 highlights that Florida “may be trying to skirt the law when it comes to its public education plan,” which could “mean a delay or denial in federal education funding, an unscheduled overhaul of Florida’s school grades system, or a wink and a nod...
Florida Reconsiders Waiver Request
September 10, 2017
With little time before their deadline to submit an ESSA plan to the federal government, the Florida Department of Education “may scrap a plan to ask the government for a pass on a key part of its education law,” potentially throwing the process “into chaos.”...
Civil Rights Groups ask Sec. DeVos to Reject Florida’s Incoming Waiver Request
August 4, 2017
Several civil rights groups issued a joint letter to Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos urging her to reject Florida’s proposal to opt out on requirements related to disadvantaged students. Liz King, director of education policy for The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, argued...
July 20, 2017
Florida is seeking a waiver from “several fundamental portions of ESSA that dictate how schools handle some of the country’s most historically underperforming and disadvantaged students.” The state is “asking, among other things, that it not be required to judge schools based on how well English-learners...
FL Dept. of Ed Publishes Draft ESSA Plan
July 3, 2017
The Florida Dept. of Education published the state’s draft ESSA plan. The public comment period will remain open until July 31.
FL Education Commissioner Announces Plans to Submit ESSA Plan by Sept. Deadline
May 11, 2017
Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart announced the department has “no intention of scrapping its efforts to date in creating an ESSA state implementation plan.” Stewart stated Florida will continue to work to submit the original state plan by the Sept. 18th deadline.
FL Students Participate in Student-Focused Assembly on ESSA
February 2, 2017
Almost 200 students from Broward County participated in a student-focused assembly on ESSA. The Black Press of America (NNPA) coordinated the event through a grant “designed to raise public awareness about ESSA.”
FL Education Commissioner Pens Letter to Sec. King
August 5, 2016
Following the close of the public comment window for stakeholders on Florida’s accountability plan, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary John King. In her letter, she “touts Florida’s existing system, and reminds the secretary that the federal government cannot force...
FL Dept. of Education Accepting Public Input through July 22
June 29, 2016
The state Dept. of Education is accepting public input on each component of ESSA through July 22. The state Dept. of Education website divides the feedback into “specific sections named in the law, each title named in the law, and U.S. Dept. of Education draft...
FL Dept. of Education Holds First Online Public Input Session
June 17, 2016
The Florida Department of Education held its first online public input session on ESSA on June 20. In advance of the meeting, the Jacksonville Public Education Fund published a write up of the basics of the law and the Florida public input sessions, and provided...
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Releases State ESSA Primers
May 16, 2016
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s primers include individual state by state accountability system fact sheets, which detail each state’s current accountability system, what could change under ESSA, and what to be asking state leaders. See details about your state here.