Thousands of job-seekers are expected to descend on Indiantown this week to vie for a chance to help build Florida Power & Light Co.’s new solar energy plant in Martin County.

Workforce Solutions is hosting job fairs on Friday and Saturday to attract some of the 1,100 workers needed to construct the solar-thermal facility about 8 miles west of Indiantown.

Roughly half of the workers will be basic assemblers, said John Dinger, business services consultant at Workforce Solutions, the Treasure Coast’s workforce development organization.

“From what I’ve been told, if you can work a wrench and do some mechanical assembly, you can swing it,” Dinger said.

Other workers needed during the two-year project will include plumbers, carpenters, electricians and concrete finishers. (more…)

When students take the FCAT this month, the goal is to determine how much they’ve learned this year. But often the real predictor of students’ success occurs when the teacher first walks into the classroom.

National studies show high staff turnover — often filling schools with inexperienced teachers — can impact a school’s overall performance and can impair students’ learning. Researchers say across the country Title I schools, which get federal money because of a high number of low-income students, often have difficulty attracting highly qualified teachers.

This, they say, results in struggling students not getting the help they need and low grades for the schools. In Florida, the state grades schools based on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores each year, which can translate into more money for the schools.
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