Posted on 07/29/2012 2:05:32 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Looking to boost the quality of science education, Florida has just made it tougher for aspiring teachers to pass required certification exams.
But the move to ensure that would-be science teachers know their subjects well could worsen Florida's shortage of science teachers. That could leave middle and high schools scrambling even more to find instructors for biology, chemistry, Earth-space science, general science and physics classes.
.... The State Board of Education this month bumped up the scores needed to pass the teacher-certification exams in those five science fields. As a result, the passing rates for first-time exam takers are expected to drop sharply.
The passing rate for the biology-teacher certification exam, for example, is predicted to fall from 87 percent to 68 percent, the Florida Department of Education said. The rate for the middle-school general-science exam is projected to fall from 78 percent to 58 percent.
"Of course, we applaud anything that increases rigor," said Sherry Southerland, a science-education professor at Florida State University and co-director of FSU-Teach, a program that aims to train more math and science teachers.
But middle- and high-school science teachers are always on Florida's list of "critical teacher-shortage areas," meaning there aren't enough of them to fill all the open jobs.
Tougher certification exams "will only exacerbate the problem," Southerland said.....
....State test data make it clear Florida teacher-preparation programs train relatively few new science teachers. Last year, 611 people took the biology-certification exam, for example, compared with more than 1,600 who took the exam to teach middle- or high-school social-studies classes.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.orlandosentinel.com ...
[Aug 2003 article] “.......Since 1998, scores on the math portion of the state’s Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests have remained flat, while reading and writing scores have climbed, according to a Mass Insight Education report, Raising Math Achievement in Massachusetts. Most of the 21,000 elementary school teachers in the state are ``seriously deficient’’ in math, the report states, based on interviews with local school administrators and state and national math specialists.
The report also recommends that colleges and universities boost their math requirements for education majors. Many schools require no more than a single math course for future teachers.........”
I will respond to this when you get it through your thick skull that I am a male.
Don’t even bother whining about other’s attitudes as long as you have that tagline up. Talk about thinly veiled comments. There is no doubt that your tagline more than implies that all homeschoolers are cultists and fringe kooks.
You are not the epitome of kindness and courtesy yourself.
Losse the tagline and you might have some reason to expect reasonable discourse. Keep it and you are just instigating, doing the very thing you’re complaining about.
Losse = lose
Sorry about that. Typing on an iPad does not contribute well to error free posting.
>> verga (Every single cult leader has believed in Home schooling, think about it.) <<
That tagline is just like the “Kiss-in” at Chick-fil-A. It’s bait, nothing more.
First of all, it’s wrong. There is not a single leader in the Communist cult that likes homeschooling. If fact, I would venture to say that every Communist and every Marxist is Anti-Homeschool. Largest cults in the world.
But more importantly, homeschoolers have one simple reply to the whining. Where US schools rank in 2012 compared to other countries.
Are you trying to infringe on my 1st amendment rights?
Yeah it is much easier to take a cheap shot and throw up a straw man than address the issues.
Thank you for proving just how right I am.
CULT I never said communist.
David Koresh (Branch Davidians), L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology), Stewart Traill (Church of Bible Understanding), Claude Vorilhon (Raëlism)... And the list goes on.
My tagline right back at them, :-).
Nice tagline. An impressive authority too. :)
>>CULT I never said communist.<<
What exactly do you think communism IS?
It’s a cult. A national cult.
So while you smugly stick homeschoolers in with the likes of Koresh and Hubbard, you can stand on the same side as the Kim Jongs, Mao and Marx.
Good job, Commrade!
Great tagline!
Well, the ultimate irony is that in post 139, you come out yourself and by your own (presumably uncoerced opinion) state and claim to be our biggest supporter.
Kind of makes in an indictment of you, does it not?
As my kids like to say....... PWND
2. ( often initial capital letter ) a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.
3. ( initial capital letter ) the principles and practices of the Communist party.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cult?s=t cult /kÊŒlt/ Show Spelled[kuhlt] Show IPA noun
1. a particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, especially as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.
3. the object of such devotion.
4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
5. Sociology . a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.
Lets see communism is a social organization based on holding property in common, and a cult is a relgious group.
WOW are you every a genius, the definitions are virtually identical. /SARC.
Another point in favor of public education.
>>Another point in favor of public education. <<
Dude, I went to Public School.
Those in a “religious cult” and those in a “political cult” act exactly the same. No matter what the basis is of their obsession, both groups use the same bullying and control.
Take it out of Language Arts and look at it in Sociology.
You need to learn to think in “Whole concepts” instead of “specialized thought”. (yeah my sister is a teacher, I know all the jargon)
Likewise here.
I was also a public school graduate, for all the good it did me.
I learned more on my own than all the years I put in in the system.
And not only was my public school experience the greatest impetus in my decision to homeschool my own children, I learned more homeschooling them than all those teachers were able to interest me in leqrning from them.
I can count on one hand the number of good teachers I had, that is, techers who actually taught me something and motivated me to learn.
“I can count on one hand the number of good teachers I had, that is, techers who actually taught me something and motivated me to learn.”
Actually, in my case, it is one finger - Mrs. McKenzie. She taught math with NO CALCULATORS (sorry Varga) and clearly explained why she had that ‘retrograde’ attitude.
>>I learned more on my own than all the years I put in in the system.
And not only was my public school experience the greatest impetus in my decision to homeschool my own children, I learned more homeschooling them than all those teachers were able to interest me in leqrning from them.<<
My exact experience. I tell them, I would cut off my right arm before I would send them into Junior High.
(on the 16th, one 12-year-old and one 14-year-old will take the ACT because they were both accepted into “Early College”. Better than I did at their ages!)
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