Race to the Top. Florida Report. Year 2: School Year 2011-2012. [State-Specific Summary Report]
Author: Department of Education (ED)
Date: 2013-02-01
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Academic Standards,Accountability,Achievement Gap,Administrator Effectiveness,Alignment (Education),Budgets,Career Readiness,Charter Schools,College Readiness,Core Curriculum,Data,Educational Assessment,Educational Change,Educational Improvement,Elementary Secondary Education,Federal Legislation,Formative Evaluation,Grants,Higher Education,Language Arts,Leadership Effectiveness,Literacy,Low Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Measurement Objectives,Models,Outcomes of Education,Partnerships in Education,Poverty,Principals,Professional Development,Program Effectiveness,Program Implementation,School Districts,School Effectiveness,School Turnaround,State Government,State Standards,STEM Education,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Evaluation

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Florida's Year 2 Race to the Top implementation, highlighting successes and accomplishments, identifying challenges, and providing lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2011 through September 2012. In Year 2, the State made progress in executing contracts and implementing activities, and almost all projects were on track with the State's amended timelines. In Year 2, Florida implemented the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in kindergarten. Training also began for teachers across all grade levels with approximately 7,500 educators receiving training on implementation of the CCSS. The Florida Department of Education (FDOE) began work on updating the Teacher Standards Instructional Tool and the Student Tutorial to include CCSS materials. The State is also working to develop formative assessments in mathematics and English language arts (ELA) that align to the CCSS. Since Year 1, FDOE has experienced challenges in its efforts to execute a contract for the development of an interim assessment item bank and test platform. In spring 2012, the State was able to partner with a vendor to begin this work, but the timeline for this project has been significantly delayed. This delay creates other challenges because projects throughout the Race to the Top plan are dependent, at least in part, on the rollout of the interim assessment item bank and test platform. In Year 2, Florida successfully executed many contracts and work is now underway on the majority of its projects. The State will build on this foundation in Year 3. In the area of Standards and Assessments, the State will roll out the CCSS in first grade and pilots will continue for the CCSS-aligned formative assessments, as will work on assessments for hard-to-measure subject areas and the Teacher Standards Instructional Tool. Florida's Data Systems work will focus in large part on the single sign-on portal with plans for users to gain access toward the end of Year 3. Implementation of the teacher and principal evaluation systems will continue in Year 3. A glossary is included. (Contains 8 footnotes.) [For &quot;Race to the Top. Florida Report. Year 1: School Year 2010-2011. [State-Specific Summary Report],&quot; see ED529312.]