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In Florida, school choice verges on mainstream

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On May 2, 2012 in Charter Schools, Customization, General, Parental Choice, School Choice, Virtual Education

Some of us at redefinED will be at the American Federation for Children summit tomorrow and Friday, where there will be lots of discussion about school choice and education reform. As good a time as any, we thought, to offer a snapshot of where Florida stands. Check out these numbers, which Doug Tuthill, the president of Step Up for Students and a redefinED host, shared last week with business leaders at a Leadership Florida event:

The numbers (carefully compiled by Jon East, vice president for policy & public affairs at Step Up) are from 2010-11 and we know in many cases the current figures are even higher. Charter school enrollment, for example, topped 175,000 this year, and the tax credit scholarship program serves more than 39,000 students. Altogether, the numbers underscore two things we emphasize at redefinED: School choice – the kind that allows parents to go beyond their neighborhood school - is becoming mainstream in Florida. And the lines between “public” and “private” are more blurred here than in any other state.

The AFC conference agenda includes Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and an all-star line up of choice experts and advocates. We’re hoping to have a little time to update you on what’s going on with blog posts and tweets. For the latter, follow us at @redefinEDonline.

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redefinED roundup: Voucher politics in Wisconsin, Jeb Bush in S.C., school choice defense in Florida and more

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On April 30, 2012 in Charter Schools, General, Parental Choice, redefinED roundup, School Choice, Virtual Education

Florida: State Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson responds to newspaper questions about charter schools and vouchers. (Tampa Bay Times Gradebook blog) He suggest school choice critics have a double standard. (redefinED)

Wisconsin: Vouchers have become an issue in the Democratic primary for governor between candidates Tom Barrett and Kathleen Falk. (wispolitics.com)

South Carolina: Jeb Bush talks education reform and school choice at a summit for educators, lawmakers and business leaders. (Associated Press) Parents rally for choice as Legislature considers several proposals. (The State)

Connecticut: Public school choice lottery leaves thousands of Hartford-area students without the school of their choice. (Hartford Courant)

Virginia: State Board of Education approves the state’s first full-time virtual school. (Richmond Times-Dispatch) Continue Reading →

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redefinED roundup: Voucher plan advances in Alaska, Florida Virtual School gets more scrutiny and more

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On March 19, 2012 in Charter Schools, General, Parental Choice, Private Schools, redefinED roundup, Religious education, School Choice, Virtual Education

Alaska: Voucher bill gains ground in the legislature. (Alaska Dispatch)

Florida: Florida Virtual School, a national model, comes under more scrutiny for its effectiveness. (Education Week.)

Indiana: Indiana Supreme Court agrees to hear voucher case. (Associated Press) More competition from school choice means school districts must step up marketing, a columnist argues. (Lafayette Journal & Courier) All-boys charter school coming to Indianapolis. (Indianapolis Star)

Minnesota: Big money being poured into school reform campaigns. (Minneapolis Star Tribune) Continue Reading →

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On virtual education, some districts are learning to adapt

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On January 23, 2012 in Customization, General, Virtual Education

Four school districts on Florida’s east coast are joining with Indian River State College and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the world’s largest publisher of educational materials, to form a regional virtual school to compete with the Florida Virtual School (FLVS).  Florida recently passed a law requiring every student to pass an online course to graduate and Florida districts are worried they’ll lose revenue if students meet this requirement by taking FLVS courses.  We want “to keep the resources within the region,” said St. Lucie Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon.

After years of trying to protect their market share by denying parents choices, Florida school districts are increasingly acknowledging that parental choice is the new normal and they’ll need to improve their programs if they’re going to keep parents in district schools.  Hopefully this greater emphasis on customer satisfaction will benefit students, educators, taxpayers and parents.

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Another Florida district goes virtual

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On November 29, 2011 in General, School Choice, Technology and Innovation, Virtual Education

This recent Gainesville Sun article provides another example of how public education is expanding to include private and home schooled students. The Alachua County School District, where the University of Florida is located, will soon be offering online middle and high school courses through a partnership with the Florida Virtual School. According to the article, “The eSchool will begin in January and is open to all students — public, private and home-schooled students.”

The district is hoping to recoup lost market share and revenue through these new course offerings: “One positive for the district, officials said, is that money paid by the state for student enrollment, also known as full-time equivalent funds, will come to the district instead of going to the Florida Virtual School.”

Even small school districts in Florida have now concluded the old distinctions between public and private education no longer exist. It’s a new world.

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The power of pause and repeat

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On October 19, 2011 in Customization, General, Virtual Education

The stunning success of Khan Academy, an online learning experiment that has now delivered more than 80-million free lessons worldwide, is well documented at this point. But to listen to MIT and Harvard whiz kid Salman Khan describe his journey is to appreciate the extent to which he has only scratched the surface. For those who are not convinced that digital learning will play a significant role in modern education, Khan shows us four math classrooms in Los Altos, California, public schools that he has flipped upside down.

In those classrooms, teaching is first introduced at home. As homework, students sign in to the online collection of 2,600 videos and interactive software. They proceed at their own pace and, with the benefit of pause and repeat, can dwell on a difficult concept without worrying what a teacher or classmate might think. The next day, the students begin to work through problems in class, as the classroom teacher then becomes a roving mentor who is able to expand upon the lessons from the previous night and work at a deeper level with students at their own pace. In just one year, the number of students in remedial math classes that were deemed to be proficient or advanced nearly doubled and the number of students deemed to be far below basic disappeared.

Khan also showed the progress of one student, a student who moved so haltingly in the beginning weeks that he might have been demoted a level. That student, after finally mastering the topics that did not come easily, excelled so quickly that he finished the semester at the top of his class.

“So the paradigm here,” Khan said, “is that instead of holding fixed the amount of time you have to learn something and then the variable being how well you know it, we’re saying let’s make the variable how long it takes you to master a concept, and let’s make the fixed thing that you’ve really mastered the concept. … In classrooms today, you can fail an exam, and you’re still expected to move on  to the next concept.”

Khan, a former Boston hedge fund analyst, wowed a crowd of 800 educators, advocates and elected officials with a speech at the National Summit on Education Reform in San Francisco that is available online at the Foundation for Excellence in Education.

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From the archives: The FEA on lost influence

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On August 4, 2011 in Charter Schools, Education and Public Policy, General, School Choice, Testing and Accountability, Unionism, Virtual Education

Now that a document highlighting lobbying machinations at an AFT affliate in Connecticut has stoked another conversation about teacher unionism and parent empowerment, redefinED wanted to reach into its archives and pull out a memo from the public policy director at the Florida Education Association that also reflects on a singular concern among teachers unions: lost membership.

RedefinED host Doug Tuthill reported on the memo last fall after FEA policy director Jeff Wright urged members to head to the polls and keep Rick Scott out of Florida’s governor’s mansion. Why? Wright said that Scott would enhance merit-pay practices and expand school choice, specifically pointing to enhanced voucher, charter and virtual school policies along with “merit pay in its worst form” that would “obliterate FEA’s and our local unions’ influence.”

“If we are no longer strong due to reduction in the number of people served by public schools,” Wright continued, “then they can do what they want with the education budgets of today.”

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U.S. News to collect online education data

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On June 29, 2011 in General, Virtual Education

While we don’t typically cover higher education, the latest announcement from U.S. News & World Report that the publication will begin to collect data from all online bachelor’s and five master’s degree level education programs in the United States does reflect the growing appetite for information on this burgeoning form of education delivery. Below is an excerpt from a letter U.S. News editor Brian Kelly sent to college presidents to inform them of his project:

Dear ________,

I’d like to ask for your help. Later this year, U.S.News & World Report will be publishing an expanded directory of online education programs with more detailed information including rankings and other searchable data. With the rapid growth of online programs in higher education, prospective students are asking for more, and more useful, data to make informed choices. We are creating a site that will bring the same quality of information to online consumers, and the same opportunity for schools to connect with those students, that we’ve brought to brick and mortar institutions over the last three decades. I’d like to make sure that we’re able to represent your school with the most accurate, updated information.



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Florida expands virtual education with physical limitations

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On May 4, 2011 in Charter Schools, Customization, Education and Public Policy, General, Virtual Education

Florida expanded its virtual learning horizon today, even as it once again reminded us that age-old education boundaries won’t easily cede to global technology.

The bill that senators sent to Gov. Rick Scott, HB 7197, was a clear victory for online education, adding more public and private options. School districts will be required to give students access to at least three different providers for part-time and fulltime virtual programs. Florida Virtual School, the nation’s largest and most successful public virtual school, will be allowed to provide fulltime programs for all grade levels and part-time not only for high and middle school students but also for accelerated fourth- and fifth-graders. High school students will be required to take an online course for graduation. All providers will be held to similar academic accountability standards and will receive similar reimbursement.

Patricia Levesque, executive director of former Gov. Jeb Bush’s foundation and digital learning initiative, helped push the effort. “A decade ago, the idea of providing every student in Florida with a customized education was just a dream,” she said after the Senate vote. “But that dream can become reality through today’s technology. Increasing access to quality digital learning in our schools will bring Florida’s classrooms into the 21st century and prepare our students for success in today’s global market.”

The bill did contain reminders of the obstacles that remain. Legislative staff attorneys and education analysts refused to accept a broader strategy offered jointly by Florida Virtual and its private competitors that would have allowed both to operate statewide, giving simpler options to all students. They deemed, with some justification, that such an approach would be challenged and found unconstitutional. That’s because Florida’s constitution, like that of many states, apportions oversight of education based on the physical location of students and schools. That means school boards are in charge, even when they need not be. Continue Reading →

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Nation’s top public virtual leader endorses private competition

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On April 8, 2011 in General, Parental Choice, Virtual Education

As a bill allowing other virtual education vendors to bring their services to Florida makes its way through the Legislature, the president and CEO of the nation’s largest public online school told an audience gathered Thursday in New Orleans at the Education Writers Association conference that she welcomes the competition.

“We feel like that every program is different and has its own personality, and parents and students will choose what’s best for them,” said Julie Young, who pioneered the Florida Virtual School 14 years ago. “I think it’s good.”

Young said that she had once worried about whether virtual education options should be expanded in Florida. But those concerns have eased thanks to state officials’ push for more accountability and vendors’ own drive to provide a quality service, she said.

In a separate interview with redefinED, Young said that because Florida Virtual School is recognized as a top national model of virtual education programming, the programs offered by other providers who enter the arena will be compared to it. This past year, FVS grew by 38 percent, with 213,926 course enrollments and 97,183 students. That’s three times more than the second-closest state. The bill, SB 1620, that was approved unanimously Tuesday by the Senate Education PreK-12 Committee contains numerous standards supported by FVS and aimed at assuring quality curriculum and monitored results.  

“I think Florida Virtual School set the bar,” she said.

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