The Endeavour Academy Seeks to Improve Students’ FCAT Scores by Providing Florida Teachers with Educational Workshops

       
         Endeavour teacher Joan Taddie and five students from the Endeavour Elementary Magnet School shared the stage with Governor Jeb Bush at a recent speaking event at the Cape Canaveral pier. Taddie, Brevard County 2000 Teacher of the Year and a recent graduate of The Endeavour Academy, spoke on the value of professional development for teachers.

         Taddie shared with the audience her experience from The Endeavour Academy’s “Space Technology in the Classroom” workshop, which she took along with 17 other Endeavour Elementary teachers. The school will base this year’s teaching approach on themes from the workshop. For example, “Space Technology in the Classroom” incorporates the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) objectives and Florida Sunshine State Standards in science and geography as the subject of aerospace is introduced into the curriculum.

Following Taddie’s introduction, Governor Bush spoke about his A+ Plan for Education and the importance of improving student performance on the FCAT. The Governor’s A+ Plan for Education, a comprehensive system of school reform, is built upon two major principles. First, each student should gain a year’s worth of knowledge in a year’s time in any Florida public school. And secondly, no student is to be left behind. The Governor advocates more choices for parents, more resources, greater accountability, rewards for improvement and success, and change when students are not progressing. TRDA educational programs reflect the shared goals of Governor Bush and The Endeavour Academy.

The Academy aims to improve students’ FCAT scores by providing Florida’s teachers with hands-on professional development workshops. All of Florida’s K-12 teachers are encouraged to participate in workshops, including “Florida Science Olympiad,” “Problem Solving in Mathematics Modeling,” and “Strand D: Algebraic Thinking,” which correlate to Sunshine State Standards and the FCAT. In all, The Endeavour Academy offers over 50 workshops designed to help improve the state of Florida’s students’ test scores on the FCATs. In addition, educational programs such as TRDA’s SEE NASA seek to excite students, while rewarding them for FCAT improvements.

Through focused efforts of organizations across the state, Florida educators are empowered to teach the Sunshine State Standards every day, in all grades.