{"id":1113,"date":"2009-09-03T12:19:47","date_gmt":"2009-09-03T16:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=1113"},"modified":"2009-09-03T13:39:51","modified_gmt":"2009-09-03T17:39:51","slug":"update-on-two-chances-to-speak-your-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1113","title":{"rendered":"Update on Two chances to speak your mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0John Legg, Chair of the Florida House of Representatives PreK-12 Policy Committee, answered questions on a “live chat” show on the St Pete Times\u00c2\u00a0GradeBook blog yesterday. One of the questions was presented on behalf of Paul Cottle\u00c2\u00a0a FSU professor and friend of FCS. Here is Leggs response.<\/a><\/p>\n

Question:
\nHere’s a question submitted by FSU professor Paul Cottle: Representative Fresen’s bill on high school graduation standards, HB 61, would leave Florida behind Alabama, Georgia, and even Mississippi in science. Each of those states requires four science courses for graduation, and HB 61 would only require three (as is presently the case here in Florida). Recently released ACT results already show we are not competing well with those states in high school science. Is science a low priority in Florida’s high schools? If not, what are your plans for catching up with our neighboring states in high school science?<\/p>\n

John Legg:\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0
\nCurrently, the 11th grade science FCAT does not factor into a student\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s graduation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so schools may have been penalized for students who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take the test seriously.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Last year, the House passed legislation that would replace the science FCAT with an end-of course exam, required for graduation.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Science is an important component of a student\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high school education.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hopefully, this year, the Senate will take up this bill as well.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Question:
\nIs science just the first step toward meaningful end of course exams? How can Florida afford to create those right now?<\/p>\n

John Legg:\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0
\nYes, I think end of course exams are valuable measurement of what students learn at the high school level.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Other states, such as New York, Virginia and Texas, have existing end of course exams already designed and tested, thus the cost should minimal for Florida.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nQuestion:
\nAnd what about adding a fourth year science requirement for graduation? Isn’t that important if we’re urging students to compete internationally on science and math?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Legg:\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0
\nThat issue is something of importance \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this year our committee is going to be examining all high school courses and graduation requirements to make sure our students can compete internationally.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We at the FCS are not impressed, as Brandon remarked “Just a lot of vague answers and vaguer promises.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0John Legg, Chair of the Florida House of Representatives PreK-12 Policy Committee, answered questions on a “live chat” show on the St Pete Times\u00c2\u00a0GradeBook blog yesterday. One of the questions was presented on behalf of Paul Cottle\u00c2\u00a0a FSU professor and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-hX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":971,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=971","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":0},"title":"Professors Fight to Keep Physics in the Curriculum","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"March 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Five professors who all sat on the state's science standards committee, worry that three bills supported by the Florida Department of Education make no mention of physics in proposed high school graduation requirements. The group has implored\u00c2\u00a0Commissioner Eric J. Smith (himself a science teacher) in a letter\u00c2\u00a0sent this morning to\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=971#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1117,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1117","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":1},"title":"New blog on the block","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Our good friend Paul Cottle, a physics professor at FSU and vocal supporter of science education, has launched his own blog: Bridge to Tomorrow. His inaugural post discusses science requirements for high school graduation and compares Florida students' ACT performance on science subjects to students' in other states in our\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1117#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1354,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1354","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":2},"title":"Florida ‘average’ in preparing students for science future","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Study shows that the United States overall just doesn't take science education seriously. College Park, MD, July 1, 2011 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d In a new ranking of how well the states' K-12 schools are preparing their students for science and engineering careers, Massachusetts leads the pack, while Mississippi trails behind as 'worst\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1250,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1250","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":3},"title":"The Nation’s Report Card on Science in Florida","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The National Center for Education Statistics today issued it \"Report Card\" on science education in the U.S., and broke their results down by participating states. The report indicates that Florida is not special at all when it comes to science. We're buried deep in the middle of the pack. Here's\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1478,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1478","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":4},"title":"Dept of Education responds to D grade","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The education reporters at the Orlando Sentinel are on the ball. They already have a reaction to Thomas B. Fordham Institute's review of our state science standards, which gave the standards a D grade. The Florida Department of Education called the grade \u00e2\u20ac\u009ddisappointing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but said it \u00e2\u20ac\u009dwill take a very\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1057,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1057","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":5},"title":"What the professors said","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Following up on yesterday's post about Florida science professors wanting end-of-course tests rather than the 11th grade FCAT, here is the white paper they wrote and here is the list of folks who signed it. Below is the text of their statement: --------------------------- Graduation Requirements and Assessment Policy for High\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}