Education

Gov. Rick Scott issued a challenge to colleges all over the state asking them to find a way to offer a bachelor's degree program that costs no more than $10,000 for all four years.

The average student loan debt for new graduates last year was more than $26 thousand.

A leading Florida educator compiled data showing most students end up owing less than $20 thousand for a degree that will give them greater earning power.

“People with college degrees make more money than people without college degrees in their lifetime,” Dr. Ed Moore says. “People with college degrees are more likely in this kind of economy to be employed.”

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush suffered long-distance electoral defeats in Indiana and Idaho on Tuesday.

In Indiana, the state's top education official -- a Bush ally and top lieutenant in his education foundation -- was defeated by a Democratic challenger. And, in Idaho, voters repealed three controversial education laws that bore the Bush seal of approval.

Saudi Arabia and South Korea are among the top 5 leading places of origin for international college and university students in Florida.

That's according to the Institute for International Education, which released its Open Doors fact sheet today.

It reports that during the 2011-12 school year, 32,567 students from other countries enrolled for the first time in a Florida college or university. 

Miami-Dade voters have approved a $1.2 billion bond referendum to improve public school infrastructure and access to technology.

Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho proposed the measure back in August.

Carvalho has said the bond would establish a "technology baseline" for Miami-Dade schools—so that all schools have at least a minimum number of computers, for example. 

Under a higher education plan now developing in Florida, you’d pay a lot more for a standard liberal arts degree than for one in science or the technologies.

It's Gov. Rick Scott's way of encouraging people to study for high-demand, economy-building careers.

Last week’s Twit­ter Edu­ca­tion Forum, hosted last week in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Tell Me More was a huge success. Not only did it pro­vide a plat­form for a dynamic and diverse con­ver­sa­tion about edu­ca­tion reform in the US (and one that we plan to con­tinue), but it also reached a whop­ping 17 mil­lion peo­ple–and count­ing. (That’s right. They’re stilll Tweet­ing. They just can’t stop!)

Seventeen-year-old Jimmy Braat has three passions in life: playing music, photography, and being a caregiver to his grandma.

"It's all I'm good at!" he laughs. He started taking care of his great grandmother at age 9.

"My mom was always at work so it was kind of my role I guess," Jimmy says," She passed away at 92 when I was 13. So now, I take care of my grandmother."

Jimmy is three years behind in school and now participates in an online school program called hospital homebound.

This week, NPR's Tell Me More and StateImpact Florida hosted an international Twitter conversation about education reform at the WLRN studios. South Florida social media maven Alex de Carvalho (@alexdc) was one of the thousands of people to participate to join that conversation. He organizes regular local web and technology gatherings and is a founding member of RefreshMiami.

This week, Tell Me More and StateImpact Florida hosted an international Twitter conversation about education reform at the WLRN studios. One of the thousands of people who participated in that conversation was Cindi Rigsbee. She's a teacher and author who blogs at cindirigsbee.com. She wrote this guest post after participating in the conversation on Wednesday.