Monthly Archives: July 2015

I received several thoughtful e-mails in response to yesterday’s Tallahassee Democrat op-ed on the decline of black students’ share of Florida State University System bachelors’ degrees in science and engineering.  (All the data in that op-ed was given in more detail … Continue reading →

Demographics don’t determine enrollments in STEM pipeline courses in high schools.  If the graph of district-level math and science scores from last week’s Orlando Sentinel rankings against free and reduced price lunch rates didn’t convince you, here is a school-level look, courtesy … Continue reading →

Instead of opening with any more words than those in the title, I’ll just lead with a graph of the district scores in the Orlando Sentinel Math and Science Rankings plotted against the percentages of students receiving free or reduced … Continue reading →

The Orlando Sentinel has published a ranking of all 67 Florida school districts based on their enrollments in high school upper level math and science courses as well as a similar ranking of individual Central Florida high schools. And yes, I ran … Continue reading →

From the 2015 edition of the report “The Economic Value of College Majors”, released earlier this year by the Georgetown Center on Economics and the Workforce, here are the top 25 college majors ranked by salaries for degree holders aged 25-59.  … Continue reading →

Physics is the high school science course that provides the gateway to STEM careers. So school districts that care about science make sure that their students take physics in high school, right? Well, not always. Which school districts are “good … Continue reading →

Seminole County’s Superintendent of Schools, Walt Griffin, has proposed that Florida test all of its high school students using a college entrance exam as the state’s standard measurement of high school achievement levels (as reported by Leslie Postal at School … Continue reading →

When State Senator Bill Montford told me that he was just an old Calhoun County boy, I figured it was a typical (for Bill) self-deprecating remark. I was wrong.  He was actually boasting. The elementary and middle schools in the … Continue reading →

The news about Florida’s Best and Brightest Teacher Scholarship Program has finally circulated around the state and nation.  After Jeff Solochek’s original article at the Tampa Bay Times appeared, newspapers around Florida published articles on the program, and articles also … Continue reading →

Faced with a school full of kids from disadvantaged backgrounds who are going to struggle to make it into the middle class when they grow up, most elementary school principals and teachers double down on what they see as most … Continue reading →