The Lee County School board, community and business leaders gathered this afternoon to urge residents to contact their state lawmakers to implore them for more money for education. WGCU’s Amy Tardif reports.

The town of Immokalee has a long, rich tradition as an agricultural community. It’s also one of the last areas in Collier County that could be considered ‘affordable’. The population is still small and there aren’t many cultural opportunities. But the growing town is celebrating a notable award. A national group says the Immokalee Branch Library is one of the best small libraries in the country. W-G-C-U’s Russell Lewis went out to see for himself!

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Music is listed as a core academic subject under the federal No Child Left Behind Act – but until now there’s been no unified way to measure student performance statewide.

So the Florida Music Educators’ AND the Florida School Music Associations have designed a test of general music knowledge that will soon begin pilot testing.

University of Florida music professor Timothy Brophy chaired the task force that designed the test. He spoke on WGCU’s Gulf Coast Live.

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“We’re looking at doing a statewide field test to set levels of achievement in spring of 2007 – for the 4th grade phase one test. Approximately a year after we do our initial pilot testing and we develop our final version is when we implement these statewide.”

At first only 4th graders will take the test – but plans call for similar tests for 8th and 10th graders once the kinks are worked out.

Florida joins a small, but growing number of states developing this kind of music assessment test.

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A group of Collier County students got a chance to chat LIVE via Ham Radio with an astronaut flying more than 300 miles overhead Wednesday. WGCU's Mike Kiniry reports.

Goodwill Industries has two new charter schools in Lee and Palm Beach counties teaching academics plus life skills to developmentally delayed high school students. Charter schools are public schools, run by private entities under contracts with school districts. As WGCU’s Amy Tardif reports, these specialty schools are an option for special needs students who may not get enough from typical high schools.

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Peace activists in Manatee County believe high school students who hear from military recruiters should also hear from them. They’re holding a candlelight vigil and peaceful protest tonight outside the school board building, while the Manatee board meets inside. WGCU’s Amy Tardif reports.