Charter School Governance Training

Jean Miller

Rule 6A-6.0784, Florida Administrative Code (FAC), Approval of Charter School Governance Training, was approved by the State Board of Education on June 17, 2008.  The rule implemented section 1002.33, F.S., by requiring every member of the governing body of a charter school operating in Florida to participate in governance training on or before August 1 of each calendar year.  Read more »

FACSA News

Carolyn K. Bridges

I hope that each of you had a wonderful and restful holiday season.  Although it is only February, it feels as though it was a long time ago, especially with the challenges facing our schools and districts as we battle the budget shortfall, declining enrollment and the impact of the challenges of the changing economy on our students and staff. Read more »

Judy's Journal: Book Review

Judy Stein

Every now and then, a book comes along that expands your educational vision and serves as a “bolt of lightning” and such a book is the one reviewed here. Those of us who worked inside the educational establishment for many years, always wondered if what we did meant as much as we thought.  We toiled in the old world of “best practices” and “professional development” activities. We believed in “turnaround schools’ and that all children can learn in the ways we considered effective.  Here is a book that questions these practices and looks for another way through educational entrepreneurship.  Read more »

FPSCC Annual Conference

Yolanda Miranda-Hill

The mission of the 2008 Florida Public School Choice Consortium (FPSCC) annual conference was to provide stakeholders the opportunity to learn about the latest research on school choice, collaborate with colleagues from across the state, and participate in professional development sessions.  Attendees included district management teams, college and university faculty, parent liaisons and advisory councils, and school choice community members.  The event was a success.  Often events such as this concentrate on a particular component appealing to a specific cohort.  
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Florida Public School Choice Consortium’s Online Calendar

Nigel Whyte

The Florida Public School Choice Consortium (FPSCC) is working to refresh and renew its website with a more contemporary look and feel and functionality with a new public share calendar.  Look for a reorganized site with rich updated information, member access only pages and a new online calendar in the coming weeks. 

This new calendar is hosted on the www.FPSCC.net website, has a search feature, and one can submit events and items for inclusion by clicking on “Add New Entry” at the bottom of the page.  The www.FPSCC.net site averaged over 2,000 unique visitors last quarter, so others can see events of interest that you post.

The new public calendar can be viewed and used at http://www.fpscc.net/calendar/month.php.

Entrepreneurship EMPOWERS Everyone!

The 2009 Celebration of National Entrepreneurship Week, February 21 - 28, 2009, represents the third year of nationwide recognition of the heritage of entrepreneurial leadership in America, and encourages support for the growth of entrepreneurship education as a lifelong learning process.   The Week is the response to the US Congress Resolution 199 in 2006, advocating the recognition of National Entrepreneurship Week at the local, state, and national levels.

The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education is proud to host the challenge of celebrating National Entrepreneurship Week 2009.  Read more »

The National Center on School Choice

Recently, at the Florida Public School Choice Consortium’s Annual Conference, Dr. Mark Berends, Director of the USDOE/Institute for Education Sciences-funded National Center on School Choice, participated in a national webcast entitled Public School Choice: From Research to Practice.  

The National Center on School Choice provides extensive information about different forms of choice, such as magnet schools, charter schools, voucher programs, and choice under NCLB.  Various articles and research are provided with the click of your mouse.  Read more »

Florida Career Pathways Network’s Annual Fall Symposium

The Florida Career Pathways Network held its annual Fall Symposium October 29-31 at the Jupiter Beach Resort.  This year’s symposium featured Best Practices from around the state related to the development and implementation of Career Pathways Initiatives.  It was an opportunity for practitioners to take advantage of a barrage of professional development workshops that ranged from topics such as Florida Ready to Work to Connecting High School to Colleges through articulation agreements.   A new feature of the Symposium included a Town Hall Meeting style panel discussion moderated by Constance Scotchel-Gross, Manager of Career Education with School District of Palm Beach County.  Participants on the panel included: Marsan Carr, FACTE Executive Director; Dr. Sandra Harwell, ACTE Program Director; Gary Hines, Sr. VP for the Palm Beach Business Development Board; Dr. Ed Massey, Indian River State College President; and Michael Waninger, Region 20 Workforce Development Board VP.

Congratulations to all of the 2008 “Best Practices” award winners from Palm Beach County, Florida: Susan Bantang, West Boca Raton Community High School; Kathleen Gamble, Palm Beach Community College; J.C.  Perrin, West Boca Raton Community High School; and Mollie Rhodes, Palm Healthcare consultant.

NATPL Annual Conference

Constance Scotchel-Gross

The National Association for Tech Prep Leadership (NATPL) in partnership with the National Career Pathways Network (NCPN) held its annual conferences in Cincinnati, OH on October 22-25, 2008.  Both the NATPL and NCPN offer some of the best professional development you could find this year on Tech Prep and Career Pathways. Featured among the professional development sessions were two sessions presented by Constance Scotchel-Gross, Manager of Career Education and Dr. Jeraline Marsh on “Strengthening the Connection between High School and College.
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Southeast Coalition of Essential Schools Center Update

Bill Storms

Bill Storms, former Choice Supervisor and CTE Director for Sarasota County Schools, was selected as the new Executive Director of the Southeast Coalition of Essential Schools Center. Beginning on January 1st, Storms began to guide the organization through tough economic times and ever tightening school budgets. At a time when many Florida districts have restricted staff training and travel expenditures and eliminated all but required meetings, professional development requirements remain at a high level and the push for secondary school reform and improved achievement has not lessened.  Read more »

Statewide School Choice Parent Advisory Council Update

Bill Storms

The newly formed “Statewide School Choice Parent Advisory Council” has now completed three official meetings with the fourth scheduled for February 19th, 2009 at Nova University in Miami and fifth on April 7th, 2009 at The Academies on the Hill Conference in Tallahassee. This new resource for parents will provide oversight on information, options for feedback and assistance provided for all Choice options. The statewide committee is currently involved in establishing local advisory committees which will meet with the state advisory committee on a regional basis. This statewide group, composed of School Choice stakeholders including parents, school district Choice leaders, and others with a special interest in School Choice, is a resource to interact with parents throughout the state for issues and concerns related to School Choice. Read more »

USDOE Webcast

Judy Stein

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, Nova Southeastern University’s Fischler School of Education and Human Services, the Florida Public School Choice Consortium and WestEd hosted a national webcast entitled Public School Choice: From Research to Practice..

This web broadcast was held at the 4th Annual Florida Public School Choice Consortium Conference in Orlando, Florida November 18-19, 2008. The conversation focused on the conditions that research has shown are needed to make school choice successful and the ways in which state and district practitioners are implementing replicable practices to improve their school choice programs based on this research and the four tenets of the Voluntary Public School Choice Program.  Read more »