Monthly Archives: July 2016

A student who does well in a high school Algebra 2 course, sails through Florida’s Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT) math section and then crushes the lowest level “college” math course – College Algebra – has a path to earning … Continue reading →

If we add the enrollment rates for chemistry, physics, calculus and precalculus, we can see which school districts are doing the best job in preparing students for college majors in STEM fields. Not surprisingly, traditional STEM superpowers Seminole and Brevard … Continue reading →

A study from the University of Michigan published in the Journal of Higher Education last year showed that Algebra 2 is not adequate high school math preparation for a bachelor’s degree program (see an opinion piece on this issue on StateImpact Florida here). So … Continue reading →

According to the American Society for Engineering Education, high school courses in chemistry, physics and calculus provide a strong foundation for a college engineering major.  Those courses also provide strong preparation for college majors in math, computer science, statistics, physics, … Continue reading →

In some ways, the large spread in high school physics enrollment rates in Florida’s high schools is not a surprise.  Physics comes last in the traditional high school science sequence – after biology and chemistry.  And a student who likes … Continue reading →

Florida’s high school physics enrollment rate remains stuck at at 23 enrollments per 100 12th graders, about where it’s been since I started paying attention in 2009.  Given the rhetorical emphasis on STEM careers from Florida’s education and political leaders, … Continue reading →

The number of students taking physics in Bay County’s district high schools will more than double this fall over last year’s number. And those students will be in good hands.  Trust me on this.  Over the last six weeks, I … Continue reading →

At a high school swim team event I attended with my son several years ago, I sat with the mother of another swimmer named Kaitlyn and the “host parent” of an exchange student from Shanghai, China named Jenni. The host … Continue reading →

What are the most important issues for the next Leon County Superintendent of Schools to address? No matter what you’ve heard from the candidates about testing and standards (“NO COMMON CORE IN LEON COUNTY SCHOOLS!!”) it doesn’t matter, because legislators … Continue reading →

The Bay County School District appears to be starting down the road to an extraordinary turnaround in math and science.  You could become part of it by joining the team at the Deane Bozeman School, a public PreK-12 school located … Continue reading →