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Choosing better schools in Florida
At the Palm Beach chamber of commerce I picked up a glossy 72-page magazine that lists all the schools in South Florida. Fronted by an endorsement by the state’s governor Rick Scott, the magazine gives 8-10 indicators for every public school, including scores on various state tests and the school’s overall grade in 2009 and 2010. Some schools were graded F. The charter schools tend to do better than the conventional public schools, although a few of them get a D or even an F.
All of the private schools are listed along with helpful information about such things as enrolment, tuition, and programs, although the results of testing are not given. There is also a page about alternative education in Florida, including homeschooling - and Florida is said to have one of the country’s largest home education movements with more than 55,000 registered students and an unknown, but significant, homeschooled students enrolled in non-traditional private schools that serve as an umbrella for the home-education prorgram. To help homeschoolers, the state has established the Florida Virtual School, a nationally recognized, accredited e-learning model for K-12, offering more than 100 courses.
Clearly, many Florida parents use this magazine (and other similar resources) to choose their children’s schooling (there’s a full-page ad for a Miami realty company). Here’s Jay Greene on the effect of Florida’s policies on its student achievement scores. H/T BD