On Tuesday August 20, all of the students of Mater Gardens Academy gathered together to celebrate the unveiling of a new street sign in honor of the school's mascot. Principal Lourdes Isla along with Carlos Fleites representing the Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners unveiled the change from N.W. 178 Lane to Stingray Way. The proposal for the street name change came last school year and was announced to students for their vote on a...

Florida is one of the 45 states adopting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and assessing these standards over the next two years. The standards were put together using public input from the parents, teachers, students and education professionals, business leaders and lawmakers. The new standards will require students to master fewer education standards at a higher cognitive level. They will emphasize critical thinking and problem...

A group of international students hailing from various parts of the world has just arrived in South Florida for a year they will never forget. As part of Miami-Dade College's (MDC) International Education Exchange Program, these pupils will learn all about U.S. democracy, customs, culture, and develop leadership skills they will take back to their home countries.  The program, part of the Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA)...

Recess, as we commonly know it, is getting a makeover this fall for the digital age. The innovative program with its varied exercise stations will motivate students and teachers to embrace physical activity as a lifelong habit. As part of a grant-funded project, the Miami-Dade County Public School District's Office of Physical Education and Health Literacy developed a technology-based, indoor fitness trail for elementary school recess. ...

  The new excitement for bi-lingual education. Increasingly, in recent years, school districts around the country are tapping into the benefits to the brain of bi-lingual education. In our greater Miami context, of course, bilingualism is everywhere. In the idiom of us locals, it is called Spanglish. In the years ahead, it will be interesting to see how South Florida plugs in to what may soon be a national trend in advocacy for...