{"id":1148,"date":"2009-12-20T11:39:12","date_gmt":"2009-12-20T15:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=1148"},"modified":"2009-12-20T13:16:25","modified_gmt":"2009-12-20T17:16:25","slug":"commissioner-responds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1148","title":{"rendered":"Commissioner responds"},"content":{"rendered":"

FSU physics professor Paul Cottle had sounded the alarm<\/a> in the Tallahassee Democrat concerning Florida’s leadership’s unimpressive “plans” — or lack thereof — for improving our “pretty much last in the nation” standing in science education.<\/p>\n

Eric Smith, Florida commissioner of education, responded<\/a>. I do commend Smith for taking the time and effort to speak up, but he really didn’t say all that much that’s encouraging. He praised our new set of state science standards. That’s fine, but those comments didn’t address any of Cottle’s concerns. Smith wrote about applying for funding from Race to the Top funds for teacher professional development. Cottle has already pointed out before<\/a> that funding for such efforts is dismal; is this just more wishful thinking? Hopefully, not. And then the crux of the problem is finally brought up by Smith: end of course testing. First, here is what Cottle said:<\/p>\n

On Nov. 11, Education Commissioner Eric Smith announced that Florida would ask the federal government to fund the development and implementation of statewide tests to be given at the end of high-school science courses in chemistry, physics and earth\/space sciences. These tests, along with the biology end-of-course test already planned by the FDOE, would focus school districts’ attention on delivering quality instruction in science at the high-school level. But it didn’t take long for the FDOE to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. On Nov. 20, Assistant Deputy Commissioner Kris Ellington reversed the commissioner’s announcement by saying that the department had dropped its plans to ask for funding for tests in chemistry, physics and earth\/space science, and instead would ask the Florida Legislature to replace the 11th-grade science FCAT \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which tests all areas of science \u00e2\u20ac\u201d with an end-of-course test in biology. This step will lead school districts to further de-emphasize instruction in chemistry, physics and earth\/space science. Already, only 16 percent of Florida’s high-school graduates take physics, about half the national rate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then here is Smith’s response:<\/p>\n

While it’s true that we are beginning with an EOC exam in biology, we are also planning to develop EOC tests for other high-school science classes that would include physics, chemistry, and Earth\/space science.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the details are? And the money is coming from where? When is this going to happen?<\/p>\n

I do appreciate that Smith responded. But we are hungry for much more detail. We’re not just crying wolf, Mr. Smith. Your own department stated: “Florida students are pretty much last in the nation for science.” And the stats were there to back that statement up. We need to hear something much more concrete, sir.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FSU physics professor Paul Cottle had sounded the alarm in the Tallahassee Democrat concerning Florida’s leadership’s unimpressive “plans” — or lack thereof — for improving our “pretty much last in the nation” standing in science education. Eric Smith, Florida commissioner … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"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-iw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":971,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=971","url_meta":{"origin":1148,"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":911,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=911","url_meta":{"origin":1148,"position":1},"title":"Revising Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s K-12 Science Standards","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"February 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Paul Cottle who\u00c2\u00a0has been a champion in the fight for science education in the state of Florida has a excellent editorial in the \"American Physical Society Forum\"\u00c2\u00a0 Paul points out \"The shortcomings of the states\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 science standards were highlighted by comparisons like TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study),\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1090,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1090","url_meta":{"origin":1148,"position":2},"title":"High-school science achievement","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"July 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Paul Cottle, a professor and undergraduate director in the Department of Physics at Florida State University,has a nice Op Ed in the Tallahassee Democrate today. Dr Cottle concludes \"The concerns that the college science faculty have about science education in Florida extend far beyond the limits of graduation requirements and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":999,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=999","url_meta":{"origin":1148,"position":3},"title":"Funding Cuts are Hurting Science Education","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"April 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It seems at the moment,\u00c2\u00a0no matter where\u00c2\u00a0you look, funds for science education are being drastically reduce or cut all together.\u00c2\u00a0Universities in particular seem to be ravaged\u00c2\u00a0with arbitrary slashing of funding for science departments. I spent yesterday at the University of Arizona's\u00c2\u00a0Physics lab where they are making great progress into the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=999#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":687,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=687","url_meta":{"origin":1148,"position":4},"title":"Discovery Institute Opens A Second Front With “Supernatural Cosmology”","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"August 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I recived this e-mail today from Dr Paul D Cottle, a noted\u00c2\u00a0Professor of nuclear physics at FSU and a member of the Florida Citizens for Science. http:\/\/www.physics.fsu.edu\/Faculty\/CottlePaul.htm.\u00c2\u00a0He raises many interesting and valid points,so I have posted the letter in its entirety. \u00c2\u00a0It appears the Discovery Institute folks are opening a\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 5 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 5 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=687#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1728,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1728","url_meta":{"origin":1148,"position":5},"title":"Scott’s Open Door To Creationism?","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"November 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Governor Rick Scott's newest ideas on how to streamline Florida's education system may well have inadvertently open the door for creationist material. Scott's proposal\u00c2\u00a0would eliminate the textbook adoption requirement and \u00c2\u00a0allow local school district superintendents to choose their own material. This position would surely open the door to those who\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 12 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 12 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1728#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}