Florida: News

The state, ranked No. 2 on the center’s “Parent Power Index,” earns good marks consistently due to its charter laws and educational options with board school choice programs, according to the center’s website. Florida also is a high scorer on Digital Learning Now’s index for online learning. (Read More)

TheBestSchools.org has named six Florida high schools to its list of the 50 best public high schools in the U.S. High schools from Jacksonville (#5, #31), Fort Pierce (#25), Osprey (#27), West Palm Beach (#35) and Miami(#46) were ranked among the nation’s best. (Read More)

Florida is one of only two states to have multiple finalists, with Broward College and Santa Fe College among the top 10 finalists. The Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence recognizes community colleges that demonstrate students in their colleges gained essential knowledge and skills, completed degree or certificate programs, and obtained jobs with competitive wages. (Read More)

Anyone in the world can now get a taste of a UF education, for free. The University of Florida is the state’s first university to offer massive open online courses, or MOOCs. Early indications are that there’s quite an appetite. (Read More)

The University of Miami and Florida International University are among 31 finalists seeking to split a $10 million grant from the American Medical Association. The AMA issued a challenge grant seeking medical school to put forth plans to transform the way physicians are trained. It will select eight to 10 winners that split the money over five years. (Read More)

The Florida College System announced new findings that show that Florida colleges bring in more than $26 billion every year into the state's economy. And for every dollar invested in Florida Colleges, a student receives an average of 6 dollars in higher future income. 93 percent of those students remain in Florida and contribute to the economy. (Read More)

Florida ranked first in the country for the fourth straight year for the percentage of students taking AP exams, and fourth in the country in AP exam success. Florida students took, and passed, AP classes at higher rates than their peers in almost every state in the country last year. (Read More)

Governor Rick Scott today announced that 11 additional state colleges have accepted his challenge to work to develop quality bachelor’s degree programs costing students no more than $10,000. To date, all of the 23 institutions in the Florida College System that offer baccalaureate degrees have announced their support to Governor Scott’s higher education affordability challenge. (Read More)

Saint Leo University and the University of South Florida have been ranked among the best universities in the nation for their online programs by Guide to Online Schools. The guide, which is an index that lists schools with the overall best and most affordable online programs, uses data from the federal government's National Center for Education Statistics to determine rankings. (Read More)

The University of Florida (#3), New College of Florida (#7), Florida State (#26), the University of Central Florida (#42), the University of South Florida (#57) and the University of North Florida (#64), have been rated among the best values in the nation by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, which recently released its 2013 ranking of its Top 100 public colleges and universities. (Read More)

Florida reestablished its top-10 ranking this year in a national education report that judges states by their education policies and performance. The Sunshine State was ranked sixth in the annual "Quality Counts" report released today. Florida had been in the top 10 since 2009 and rose as high as fifth place in 2011. (Read More)

Florida is a national leader in education reform policy. The sunshine state was ranked second in the nation according StudentsFirst, an education reform organization, when it comes to state education laws that promote quality education. (Read More)

‎The Princeton Review has honored five Florida schools by adding them to an elite group of America's Best Value Colleges, including two of the top 10: New College of Florida (3rd) and University of Florida (7th). (Read more)

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education selected UCF's College of Education's TLE TechLivE Lab for its 2012 Best Practices Award, which recognizes the innovative use of technology. (Read more)

Florida teachers earned the highest grade in the nation on the National Council on Teacher Quality's 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook. (Read more)

Florida schools dominated the top spots on U.S. News' first ever rankings of America's Top Online Bachelor's Degree programs. (Read more)

Six Florida schools have been named top 100 public college values by Kiplinger's Personal Finance, led by the University of Florida at No. 2 and New College at No. 5. (Read more)

Florida's Gulf Coast State College ranks as the nation's #1 fastest-growing public two-year college. (Read more)

Orlando's Valencia College is the nation's best community college, according to a think tank that spent a year studying the schools. (Read more)

Business Facilities has ranked Florida's education climate #3 in the United States. (Read more)

University of Central Florida (#4) and the University of South Florida (#8) for being ranked among America's Up-and-Coming Schools by U.S. News. (Read more)

Rollins College ranks number one among 127 regional universities in the South in the annual rankings of "America's Best Colleges," released today by U.S. News & World Report. This is the seventh consecutive year that Rollins has been named to the top spot in this category. (Read more)

Four Florida schools placed in the top 20 of the Forbes' Top 100 Best Buy Colleges. The University of Florida placed 11th, Florida State University 13th, New College of Florida, 16th and the University of North Florida 19th. (Read more)

The Princeton Review has ranked two Florida colleges - New College of Florida (2nd) and University of Florida (3rd) - among America's Top 5 Best Value Colleges. (Read more)

Both the University of Miami and the University of Florida took Top 10 spots (ranked 8th and 9th, respectively) on a recent list of America's Top 100 Social Media Colleges. (Read more)

The Carnegie Foundation for Teaching and Learning designated UCF as a university with "very high research activity." (Read more)

Florida's public school system ranks 5th on Education Week's Quality Counts 2011, continuing its ascent from ranking 8th in 2010 and 10th in 2009. (Read more)

Kiplinger's "100 Best Values in Public Colleges for 2011" ranking includes six Florida schools -- led by the University of Florida, which was hailed as the second-best college value in the nation. (Read more)

The University of Central Florida has become the second-largest university in the nation in student enrollment, surpassing Ohio State. The university's growth is fueled by the longstanding commitment to providing high-quality students access to higher education. (Read more)

Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation praised the University of Central Florida for being a leader in online learning. (Read more)

The University of South Florida ranks among the nation's Top 25 Graduate Schools for Entrepreneurs, according to The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. The schools were selected because they have high numbers of experienced faculty, students launching businesses after graduation, and experiences outside of the class room. (Read more)

Gainesville (5th), Miami (13th), Naples (16th), and Orlando (18th) are among America's top college destinations in new report rating the best places to attend college released by the American Institute for Economic Research. The organization's 2010-2011 College Destinations Index ranks cities based on 12 criteria in the categories of academic environment, quality of life and professional opportunity such as earning potential. (Read more)

UCF's College of Engineering and Computer Science is one of the best 100 in the world, according to The Academic Ranking of World Universities. Considered the most influential international ranking system in the world, the ARWU rates a variety of broad fields at research universities. (Read more)

Florida's students, teachers and schools won a great victory today with the announcement of up to $700 million coming to the Sunshine State as a part of the federal Race to the Top competition. Along with New York, Florida received the largest award. (Read more)

Rollins College (#1), Stetson University (#3), and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (#10) all earned top spots on U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges 2011, Regional Universities in the South. (Read more)

Eight of Florida's colleges and universities were ranked among the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report. University of Miami (#47), Univeristy of Florida (#53), Florida State University (#104), Florida Insitite of Technology (#159), University of Central Florida (#179), and University of South Florida (#183) were all named to the National Universities list, while New College (#99) and Eckerd College (#137) made the National Liberal Arts list. (Read more)

According to Newsweek, Florida schools account for 1 out of every 12 of the best high schools in the nation. Ranked by advanced-placement college-level courses and test scores, 135 Florida schools made the list, including 3 of the Top 10. (Read more)

Florida's Valencia Community College awards more associate degrees than any other two-year school in the nation, according to a report just published by Community College Week. Florida is home to nearly 1 out of every 5 of Community College Week's top schools, including 6 of the Top 10 four-year institutions. (Read more)

Officials from the University of Florida Health Science Center and Shands Healthcare unveiled an ambitious five-year plan Thursday that would add 300 faculty positions and cost $580 million, with the goal of placing the Health Science Center among the top 10 percent of national academic health care facilities. (Read more)

The nation's top four undergraduate business programs on Bloomberg BusinessWeek's ROI ranking of public schools are all in the Sunshine State: University of Central Florida in Orlando; University of Florida in Gainesville; Florida International in Miami; and Florida State in Tallahassee. (Read more)

The Polk Public Schools are one of 33 school districts nationally to win a 2010 Magna Award from the American School Board Journal magazine. Polk won the award for its implementation of 31 career academies at 15 high schools. (Read more)

Florida public schools ranked 8th overall in Education Week magazine's annual Quality Counts, a report card that grades states on education performance and policy. Florida earned top marks for its Teaching Profession (ranked 4th in the nation); Standards, Assessments, & Accountability (5th); and K-12 Achievement (7th).  (Read more)

New College of Florida (3rd) and Florida State University (4th) took top spots on the Princeton Review's Best Value Colleges 2010. Rollins College, University of Central Florida and University of Florida also made the top 100. Selection criteria included more than 30 factors in academics, costs and financial aid. (Read more)

Kiplinger's ranks five Florida schools among the nation's best values in public colleges and universities. Based on academics and cost, the University of Florida ranked #2 for in-state value and #4 for out-of-state value. (Read more)