Monthly Archives: October 2015

I recently shared with a group of educators a story I had heard about a rising senior high school student who was ranked second in her class and who intended to apply to one of the nation’s elite science and … Continue reading →

Commissioner Stewart argued during yesterday’s State Board of Education meeting that her recommendations for FSA cut scores are more rigorous than last year’s FCAT cut scores.  The plot above compares the passing rates that would result from the Commissioner’s recommendations … Continue reading →

Florida’s 8th graders are now among the nation’s worst in math, according to the results of the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) which were released this morning. According to the results, only 26% of Florida’s 8th graders are … Continue reading →

Florida State University’s strategic planning process is underway.  Here is the input I’ve submitted through two channels so far: There is no postsecondary education issue in Florida more urgent than this: The share of SUS bachelors’ degrees in science and … Continue reading →

Florida’s students performed near the national averages on the tough new AP Physics 1 and 2 exams, according to the state-level information on May 2015 exam results recently released by the College Board. Florida score distributions are very close to … Continue reading →

Paul Simon sang that there must be fifty ways to leave your lover. I haven’t been able to find fifty ways that students are convinced to leave the proper high school math course progression after Algebra 2 by not taking … Continue reading →

FSU’s Physics Department will host a panel discussion by four distinguished high school physics teachers about the challenges and opportunities of high school physics teaching this Thursday, October 22, beginning at 3:45 pm in the department’s lecture hall in UPL … Continue reading →

The number of black engineers graduated by Florida State University has dropped by almost half over the last decade.  Other science departments are struggling with black enrollments as well.  Given this, it’s worth considering the New York Times piece from … Continue reading →

Occasionally, someone will ask what it’s like to be involved in a teaching reform effort at a research university, as I have been for the last decade.  The answer to that question was published a few years ago in Physical Review … Continue reading →

State Senator and former Yahoo executive Jeremy Ring has proposed requiring two computer coding credits in high school for Bright Futures eligibility (SB 468).  His bill also requires every Florida high school to provide computer coding instruction.  If Ring’s bill … Continue reading →