Monthly Archives: October 2013

From the article “Gains in Teacher Quality” by Dan Goldhaber and Joe Walch, published in Education Next: Finally, we see little change across years in the relative propensity of STEM and non-STEM majors to become teachers. There has been a gradual … Continue reading →

Here they are, in all their glory.  If you look really hard, in the back you can see former FAMU Physics Department Chair, Associate VP for Research and Saint Charles Weatherford, keynote speaker and former FSU Physics Department Chair Mark … Continue reading →

Update (Tuesday, 8 pm):  The Tampa Bay Times has published my letter. I’ve fired off a letter to the editor at the Tampa Bay Times in response to this morning’s editorial titled “Florida’s scores:  not bad”, about the state’s results on the NAEP-TIMMS linking … Continue reading →

Biology is the predominant K-12 science subject – almost the “official K-12 science subject” – of the State of Florida, and many other states as well.  I occasionally note, both on this blog and in op-eds (which are much more … Continue reading →

The New York Times says the NAEP-TIMMS linking study is good news for American students, but I don’t agree. See for yourself here: NAEP-TIMSS_FINAL_embargoed And take a look at the Orlando Sentinel story, which includes my grumpy comments about Florida’s performance. And here is … Continue reading →

Among the arguments made opposing the continued implementation of the Common Core standards in Florida during three public hearings last week, the most publicized were slurs like “Communist Core” and statements that have since been revealed to be outright falsehoods. … Continue reading →

Seventy-six talented middle schoolers from three Florida cities were inducted on Friday into the Future Physicists of Florida during a ceremony on the FSU campus.  FPF aims to encourage students to take the challenging high school courses necessary to prepare … Continue reading →

Florida TaxWatch has sent its members two op-eds published in the Tallahassee Democrat last Sunday.  One was written by middle school math teacher and Leon School Board candidate Alva Swofford Striplin, while the other was written by (wait for it) me. While … Continue reading →

Update (4:00 am Friday):  Travis Pillow’s report in the Tallahassee Democrat is here. While the Tallahassee stop on the Florida Education Commissioner’s Common Core tour was relatively reasonable, with few mentions of communism, the USSR and the NSA, Jeb Bush railed against … Continue reading →

From the Miami Herald’s coverage of the Davie Common Core hearing, titled “Critics at forum blast controversial new school standards as ‘Communist Core’”: Broward’s passion-filled event at times featured boos or applause. Though not everyone who showed up was opposed to Common … Continue reading →