FCAT Science

The Dis­trict of Colum­bia, Florida and eight other states were announced win­ners in the sec­ond round of Race to the Top Grants on August 24th, 2010. Race to the Top state  com­pe­ti­tion is designed to reward states that are lead­ing the way in com­pre­hen­sive, coher­ent, statewide edu­ca­tion reform. Winning states receive funds to be used in four key areas:

1. Adopt­ing stan­dards and assess­ments that pre­pare stu­dents to suc­ceed in col­lege and the workplace;
2. Build­ing data sys­tems that mea­sure stu­dent growth and suc­cess, and inform teach­ers and prin­ci­pals how to improve instruction;
3. Recruit­ing, devel­op­ing, reward­ing, and retain­ing effec­tive teach­ers and prin­ci­pals, espe­cially where they are needed most; and
4. Turn­ing around their low­est per­form­ing schools.

As a sci­ence edu­ca­tion con­sul­tant that pro­vides hands-on-minds-on inquiry-based sci­ence pro­fes­sional staff devel­op­ment teacher train­ing work­shops, I’m hop­ing that Florida school dis­tricts will seek out qual­ity and effec­tive pro­fes­sional staff devel­op­ment teacher train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for their teach­ers. Not “one shot in the arm” train­ing, but long-term train­ing where teach­ers receive con­tin­ual train­ing and advice when needed through­out the year from a des­ig­nated provider who has been proven to pro­vide qual­ity and effec­tive pro­fes­sional staff devel­op­ment teacher train­ing work­shops. The train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties should be directly con­nected with the Next Gen­er­a­tion Sun­shine State Stan­dards, hands-on-minds-on, and inquiry-based. Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski has been pro­vid­ing qual­ity and effec­tive pro­fes­sional staff devel­op­ment teacher train­ing work­shops since 1987 through­out the entire state of Florida and nation. Check out the teacher train­ing work­shops Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski offers here. Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski looks for­ward to work­ing with Florida school dis­trict in their efforts to imple­ment edu­ca­tion reform.

 For fur­ther details of Gov­er­nor Crist announce­ment see the fol­low­ing press release.