When the state Department of Education released FCAT grades in 1999, the good news was that only two elementary schools received failing scores. The bad news: Both of them — Spencer Bibbs and A.A. Dixon — were in Escambia County.
In 2012, State Sen. Don Gaetz passed legislation requiring Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity to report annually on the wages earned by recent graduates of the many programs offered by our public colleges, universities and technical schools.
Call it the tale of the tape. Or rather the tale of the test. In researching this series of education-themed stories, my colleagues and I have been looking at what 16 years of state standardized testing in Florida has brought schools in Escambia and Santa Rosa schools.
Nearly a third of children entering kindergarten in Escambia County aren’t ready for school. That’s sobering news because the future of Escambia’s economy and workforce very likely depends on those preschoolers and how well they are prepared for school.
Education means different things to different people. For my parents, it meant leaving a house and a familiar neighborhood on the west side of Pensacola to move to East Hill in search of better schools for me and my brother.
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