Legislative agenda will focus on student success in college and careers Governor Rick Scott today announced his College and Career FIRST (Focusing Investments on Results for Students and Teachers) education agenda for the 2013 legislative session at the Market Watch Education Summit. During last month’s education listening tour, Governor Scott met with parents, teachers, students, [...]
Today, I visited Fort Walton Beach High School and Davidson Middle School in Crestview to meet with teachers and students where I heard ideas about how we can make sure our students are successfully prepared for college and the workforce. Many of the teachers expressed the need for an efficient testing system that would effectively [...]
Today, Governor Rick Scott met with students, teachers and parents at Fern Creek Elementary and Ocoee Middle School in Orange County. He also met with the Florida Association of District School Superintendents in Orlando.
“Fern Creek Elementary, a school that has a large homeless youth population, has a faculty and staff that deeply care about the safety of their students. Many teachers expressed that while it is sometimes challenging, the ability to get parents involved is key to getting students to succeed in their math and reading abilities. Ann and I also had the opportunity to read to students at Fern Creek and it is clear the teachers there create a positive leaning environment for all grade levels,” said Governor Scott.
“Parents in Ocoee today talked about the need for their kids to be prepared to enter the workforce when they graduate. It was great to see students developing those skills at an after-school program at Ocoee where students were learning to design and create video games.”
For photos of this event, please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/flgovscott/tags/education/
Yesterday, I visited Lexington Middle School in Fort Myers and Madeira Beach Fundamental School in Madeira Beach to hear ideas from parents and teachers on how we can improve Florida’s education system. At both schools, parents and teachers talked about creating a path for students to gain needed career skills in high school. Ensuring our students are best prepared for the workforce, whether after college or immediately following graduation from high school has been a common goal I heard throughout my meetings.
Teachers also suggested ways for the state to make sure that assessments can maximize student achievement. Later in the day, I was fortunate to meet with members of the Florida Parent Teacher Association who discussed the need for students to be prepared to get jobs after they graduate. Today, my education listening tour continues with meetings in Ocoee Middle School followed by dinner with the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.
Ann and I talked with students, administrators and teachers at Southwest Miami High School yesterday about how to best prepare Florida’s students for college and careers. We were welcomed by Southwest Miami High School Principal Carlos Diaz.
We visited classrooms where Southwest seniors were taking AP calculus and English. Students were also involved in the school’s Banking and Finance Academy – learning skills for future careers. While visiting the classrooms, I was asked by students about what the state’s outlook on jobs will be once they leave high school and college. Thankfully, Florida’s economy is heading in the right direction, with the largest drop in unemployment of any state over the last 20 months and growing tourism and other economic indicators.
After visiting classrooms, we talked to a group of teachers. Each of them offered great suggestions on how requirements and regulations from the state could be changed to allow them to focus more on student learning. The Southwest faculty also shared that they often could use help to purchase supplies for their classrooms that they now pay for personally. We ended our conversation by discussing the state’s accountability system. Just as I experienced in business, teachers rely a great deal on measurement to assess student progress. They stressed the need for consistency in the assessment system as the state transitions to Common Core standards in order to keep students on track to graduate.
I look forward to more great conversations with parents, students and teachers on how to improve our education system in Fort Myers and Madeira Beach today.