The headline is: Florida High School Graduation Rate is Highest Ever.
The Orlando Sentinel has reported that the Florida State Department of Education has announced that the state’s graduation rate is now 80.1 percent. The graduation rate for Hispanics is 77.3 percent and that for Black students is 68.4 percent.
These are extraordinary numbers.
Just how extraordinary are they? The newspaper notes that:
Despite the contrived false narrative of failing students and schools, the nation’s public school students are once again leading the nation to a more just society and a stronger democracy. During the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s it was public school students walking out of schools, sitting at lunch counters, and marching on Washington that shaped the civil rights movement.
Schott grantees Alliance for Educational Justice, Dignity in Schools Campaign and Journey for Justice Alliance have released a statement responding to the tragic school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
 |
This June marked the anniversary of a day that holds many titles:
Hair is an integral part of black cultural expression, but it has little to do with educational development, says John H. Jackson, president and CEO of the Schott Foundation. His response, highlighted in recent media reports, was a sharp dressing-down of a charter school in Malden, Mass., that disciplined African American girls who wore braided hair extensions to school.
Foundations have had an “on again, off again” love affair with the South. Funding there tends to be short-term and typically in response to a natural disaster, a national crisis or an election, but some significant infrastructure has been laid to coordinate and expand opportunities for sustained foundation giving.
Stop what you're doing and watch this video right now.
Phillip Agnew, Executive Director of the Dream Defenders, delivers the first State of the Youth Address, outlining the social justice priorities of a generation of young voters and organizers.
Phil Agnew, Executive Director of the Dream Defenders, delivers the first State of the Youth Address, outlining the social justice priorities of millions of young voters and organizers.
Phil Agnew, Executive Director of the Dream Defenders, delivers the first State of the Youth Address, outlining the social justice priorities of millions of young voters and organizers.
The standards and accountability movement, to which many politicians subscribe, has had a rough couple weeks, particularly in Florida. Former Florida schools chief Tony Bennett resigned last week after a scandal about his tinkering with school performance statistics. And now, advocates in the state have filed a federal civil rights complaint against the state Department of Education for setting different (and lower) achievement standards for students of color.
