Pre-release Beta: Tell us how to improve the Dashboard and its website.

Florida Education Dashboard:
What's the score without school grades?

2.6 million students are in Florida schools (Fall 2005). 75% of Florida's schools received a "school grade" of A or B so most Florida parents think their kids go to an A or B school.

But what's the score when Florida's education results are presented without school grades? Those data are what Florida's schools are.

That counts for a lot. Without a good education in today's knowledge economy, Florida's children and Florida won't succeed. Straight facts are important to all of us. Especially to 1.1 million Florida kids who are likely to grow up poor economically if we don't pay attention.

Skeptical? Confirm it. Here's a walkthrough and the Dashboard's source data so you can confirm its accuracy.

What's on the line? Multiply it. With 2.6 million students in Florida (Fall 2005), if 43% of Florida's students fall below grade level in reading between 3rd grade and 10th grade that's a big number. It's 1.1 million of Florida's children. If true, a huge number of average and needy students' educational issues are hidden by Florida's current school grading system, damaging their entire lives while most of their parents believe their kids are educated in A and B schools.

What to do? See your schools' performance (scroll down the dashboard's left column and click on where you live). Then spread it. You can download the Florida Education Dashboard to email it, post it on blogs and websites, or email it to your legislators and media. Tell Florida's education story in your own words. It's the story of your kids' futures and their lives, the story of Florida's success as a place to live or migrate to, for the rest of your life.

What's next? Three recommendations. Here they are in detail. In brief:

Continue Florida's FCAT testing. Expand public access to finer grained FCAT data so everyone can "see inside" every school to learn quickly what works and what doesn't -- and help produce more of what's is needed.
Change Florida's school grading system to make it clear and simple to understand and support.
Make the #1 goal of Florida education and reporting to increase the percentage of students who read on grade level as students reach each higher grade (i.e., the more years of education you receive, the more educated you become).

Thus, a new view of Florida education can be driven by its data. For example, the lives and futures of 53% of Florida's students can be summarized on one major cities web page.

Top

A citizen journalism website that advocates a clearer school grading system. About Us - Contact Us | Privacy - Legal

Anything from this website may be downloaded or copied and reused without charge by following these instructions.

Florida Education Dashboard: What's the score without school grades?

Florida Education Dashboard:
What's the score without school grades?