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Website of the Week
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This week's website is on history.com. I am sure that many of you have already been to this site at one time or another, but the feature is "This day in History" which shows a one minute video featuring everything that has happened on today's date.
This Day in History
If you know of any great websites that you just can't live without, please share! Reply to this email with the link.
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PEN of Florida
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PEN Website
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Will transferring quality teachers to struggling schools really work?
Obama wants to spend $3.5 billion on the idea, which has had mixed results in Orange County
Leslie Postal
Sentinel Staff Writer
September 28, 2009
Teacher Brittany Zekofsky's first question when she learned about her transfer to a new school was: "Did I do something wrong?"
Actually, she had done something very right. Orange County administrators decided to move the seventh-grade science teacher from her old school and put her in a needier one because her students made strong gains on district tests.
"I was flattered, and I was actually excited," she said.
When classes started last month, Zekofsky was at Westridge Middle School in south Orange County. She is one of 22 teachers -- a third of the faculty -- new to the campus this year. Many of them replaced instructors who had been encouraged or forced to move to other schools. It's the latest use of an education-reform strategy that has a spotty track record in Central Florida and across the country.
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High schools will find it harder to get 'A'
It will be more difficult than ever this year for Florida public high schools to receive "A" grades from the state.
The Department of Education has warned high school principals and districts that Florida will likely see more "D" and "F" grades as schools adjust to the new grading formula, which takes into account more than just Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores.
Now schools also will be judged on graduation rates, participation in Advanced Placement and other rigorous courses, scores on college entrance exams and how the school's lowest performing students are faring.
"We're still looking at the ingredients of the new formula, but basically we are going to look at what's best for students and hopefully that will help us make the grade," said John Thomas, principal of Palm Bay High, which received a "B" for the 2008-09 school year.
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Plan to Pour Billions into Colleges Draws Support
By Robin Williams Adams
The Ledger
Published: Monday, September 28, 2009 at 11:02 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, September 28, 2009 at 11:02 p.m.
LAKELAND | President Barack Obama's American Graduation Initiative, aimed at putting $12 billion into community colleges during the next 10 years, got almost unanimous support at Monday afternoon's Polk State College board meeting.
The trustees voted 5-1, with one member absent, for a resolution supporting the initiative.
Trustee Cindy Ross cast the opposing vote, but she said during and after the meeting that her vote wasn't made on political grounds.
She is married to Dennis Ross, a Republican and former state legislator, who is seeking the Congressional seat now held by U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam.
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