![]() Headquartered in Orlando, Florida Virtual School (FLVS) functions like a school district, with a state-appointed board. A national leader in virtual learning is right in the backyard.įlorida is home to the nation’s largest public virtual school. Since mid-March, school and district leaders have stepped on the gas. They were already rolling, thanks in part to a series of policies put in place over the past decade. But Florida schools didn’t start from a dead stop. Since schools first closed in mid-March, Richard Corcoran, the state’s education commissioner, consistently asserted that schooling in Florida would continue, albeit virtually, while his peers in other states waffled or stayed quiet.Įducation Reform Now’s analysis of state responses flagged Florida as one of the first states to accelerate remote learning from zero miles per hour to 65. Still, Florida’s fast, fairly consistent rollout of remote learning highlights some unsung policy and leadership achievements that deserve more attention-from its sophisticated approach to virtual education to the skill and longevity of superintendents in some of its largest urban districts. The sample is not random, so it’s hard to draw clear conclusions about response efforts in different states (though CRPE will bring new data to bear on those questions in the coming weeks). Half of the 16 districts tracking student attendance were in the Sunshine State. In early April, CRPE’s analysis of remote learning efforts in 82 school districts across the country showed that 6 of the 19 districts offering a combination of formal curriculum, instruction, and academic progress monitoring were in Florida. A week after distance learning began in Miami-Dade, Duval County Schools returned from spring break and quickly went live with a detailed virtual learning plan that, unlike most remote plans in other parts of the country, called for teachers to deliver instruction and offer feedback on student work. ![]() The district is becoming a national darling, thanks to rising student achievement, its proliferation of educational options, and its flamboyant superintendent.īut other Florida districts moved almost as quickly. Miami-Dade’s position near the head of the pack might not come as a surprise. Still, the district has consistently been ahead of its peers nationally in assuring that instruction would continue even though schools were closed. The district didn’t start taking attendance until April 6. Teachers and students reported difficulty logging onto online learning platforms. It took until the end of the first week to distribute thousands of technology devices and mobile hotspots to students. The initial effort in Miami-Dade Public Schools had its flaws. The following Monday, the state’s largest school district, and the fifth largest in the nation, went live with its distance learning plan. ![]() The initial closure order came on a Friday. On March 13, Florida schools announced an extended spring break, which would be followed by a statewide shutdown extending into April-and now, through the end of the school year. ![]()
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