In October 2021, Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) announced at the start of a new initiative called "1,000 by 2025" with the purpose of recruiting and retaining 1,000 Black and Latino male educators by the year 2025. Given that disproportionalities in student and teacher racial representation continue to persist despite the…

The Jacksonville Public Education Fund drew on previous research from various organizations including UNF and STEM2Hub in order to identify community stakeholders who could help us answer the question: What skills do students need to succeed in the 21st century workforce? JPEF conducted interviews and focus groups with educators and a variety of…

This summary is the first in a series of research briefs on student skills for the future. It provides highlights from the full research report, "Initial Findings Report: Student Skills for the Future, Spring 2022. A Landscape Analysis from the Jacksonville Public Education Fund" (ED620417). Given the rate of technological advancement,…

In 2021, the Jacksonville Public Education Fund convened with Kids Hope Alliance, Duval County Public Schools, READ USA, WJCT, Jacksonville Public Library, and others along with Lectio Consulting to plan out the initial stages of the "READJAX" Campaign, with the goal of improving 3rd grade literacy in Duval County. This brief summarizes…

Social emotional learning has become a top priority for public education. In response to growing understanding of the importance of mental health, educators have implemented significant measures to help children in crisis and explicitly teach skills to manage emotions in the classroom. Duval County (FL) Public Schools (DCPS) began its first mental…

Trends across the United States, Florida and Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) indicate that over the last decade, not only are teachers leaving the profession much sooner than in previous years, but there were also fewer teachers entering the profession. The Duval Schools teacher retention rate for the district is approximately 84%. However,…

Across the country, millions of students that were expected to enroll in school last Fall did not show up. Public schools are searching for these "missing students" and working to get them back to school, either virtually or brick and mortar. The enrollment drop stands to impact more than just the missing students. Education funding…

Public school buildings represent the second largest sector of public infrastructure spending in the United States after roads, and approximately 1 in 6 American children or adults spend every weekday in poorly maintained buildings. Many of the problems of school buildings face are not readily apparent on the surface. While issues such as chipped…

In November 2020, Duval County voters will decide on a half-penny sales tax to fund upgrades to public school buildings across the district. Revenue will be spent to improve public school buildings for traditional and charter schools. Following the 2020 passage of House Bill 7097, revenue from the sales tax will be allocated to charter school…

In a series of new questions in this year's poll, conducted November 26 to November 30, 2018, Jacksonville community members shared their views on what makes a high quality school. Participants said teachers and parents have a greater impact on school quality than system leaders or community groups; in essence, the closer you are to the student,…

Duval County Public Schools finds itself at a crossroads with the impending departure of Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. Following significant improvements to public education since 2012, where does Duval go from here? How will the Duval County School Board go about appointing a successor? What are some of the key factors that make for a successful…

There is considerable evidence that greater socioeconomic and racial diversity in schools results in better academic and social outcomes for students. But Duval County is often geographically separated by race and income level. While exploring Duval County school enrollment patterns, it was found that African-American students are much more likely…

School grades were introduced in Florida in 1999, the first such A-F model for reporting on school accountability in the nation. The purpose of school grades was to make it easy for parents and citizens to understand and compare how schools were performing academically, and to compel low-performing schools to improve. Since then, the A-F grades…

The landscape of school choice options in public education has been expanding faster than ever over the past decade, nationwide and especially in Florida. With this expansion has come an unprecedented array of new decisions that parents and guardians must learn to navigate as they seek the best school for their children. Options available to…

This brief takes takes a look at the state of the new teacher pipeline in Duval County by examiningplacement, movement and retention patterns of over 2,000 new teachers over the pastten years. Findings show that Duval County is losing on average about one of every two newteachers hired within the first five years of their employment. Only about…