Award For Biggest Step Backwards in Florida Public Schools

Florida public schools have been going through a systematic effort to defund them and to make charter schools, voucher programs and virtual schools more attractive

In trying to identify the worst move for public schools, there were three in the running:
1- Cutting funding by 8% in addition to the decrease in funding from the stimulus money going away

2- Expanding the McKay Voucher Scholarship Program to include students with 504 Plans -- often a child with ADHD. This made little sense because private schools do not have to provide the protection that public schools do, but with Response to Intervention decreasing the number of Special Education Students, the private schools were going to see a decrease in students, unless the change was made

3- Making it much easier for Charter Schools to expand, even though there is little proof the students get a better education, and there is mounting proof of heavy duty lobbying for people close to the legislators

What the public schools needed least of all was a Christmas Present from the new Commissioner of Education who overrode a group of 300 who had recommended a more balanced approach to FCAT passing scores -- their suggestions included smoothing out the scores so that students did not do well in 7th, 8th and 9th grades only to fail the 10th grade Reading or 10th Grade Math FCATs that are required to earn a high school degree.

The commissioner made three significant changes:
- He made it more difficult to pass to pass the all important 10th grade FCAT in reading and math-- the projections are that 48% of the students will now fail the 10th grade reading FCAT

- The changes at 3rd grade were more subtle. Passing the 3rd Grade FCAT is required for promotion and the new scores are only projected to increase the failing rate from 16 to 18%. The subtle change was that there would be a sharp increase in the students needing remediation -- from 12% to 25%. They doubled the number of students who would now be classified as reading below grade level. Similar changes were made in other grades.

- Then, they made these changes effective immediately. When governments usually make changes, they give industry 1, 2 or 3 years to prepare. In this case the changes will take effective with the 2012 FCATs to be given in April 2012

This is in the face of sharp cutbacks in resources for at-risk students.

We really do need to raise the standards, and it will take an innovate approach, real teamwork and more resources to make it happen

The people of Florida will need to apply pressure on the legislature to invest in public education, or the changes will result in the students, teachers and schools being rated as "failing", when it is the Governor and the Legislature who will have failed our students, teachers and schools.

Let's hope the Governor and the Legislature are open to the challenge

School Choice, Vouchers, Charter Schools and Follow The Money

Governor Rick Scott appears to like all private options -- vouchers, charter schools, virtual schools and the results can be good or very bad.

Read about this one -- there are more examples that will make you cry.

One wonders if we put the same amount of time, money and effort into imprhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifoving public schools, wouldn't we help the whole country.

I believe charters and/or vouchers are necessary to wake up the public school world -- Houston, we have a problem.

Public schools are failing our students, and not until parents, committed citizens and our leaders reject the status quo will we be able to refocus on one of the top priorities of State Government -- transforming public schools into the schools we need them to be

There are some who argue we need to abandon public schools and others who argue all is fine -- I would reject both as fundamentally flawed strategies. The Gates Foundations investment in places like Sarasota, Zuckerberg's investments in Newark Schools, are the beginning of what could be a real change in public schools.

When considering the two choices of privatization and the status quo, I hope prevailing wisdom shifts towards reinventing public schools

Public School Are Addressing The Issues

Cara Fitzpatrick from the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale recently wrote an article on Parents Finding Schools Unfriendly.

The great thing was that the Broward Public Schools were hosting a forum to listen to what parents have to say.

The first two steps in addressing the problem with public schools are to acknowledge the problem and then listen.

Parents then responded by saying positive things about their schools, which is awesome.

Kudos to Cara Fitzpatrick, the Broward County School Board and the parents who speak up -- about their schools strengths and challenges

Re-inventing public schools will require a massive effort, and this is a great start. I will be at the forum and hope to see many others there too.

Jay Greene on Global Report Card -- Test Mania Fails Our Best Students

Re-inventing public schools is necessary for our at-risk population. It is just as necessary for our Gifted and Talented Students.

Jay Greene, an outspoken critic of public education, discussed in The Global Report, that our suburban students are just average when compared to students in the countries at the top of the International Rankings.

This follows three calls from parents of Gifted and Talented students here in Florida complaining that their children were challenged and motivated by school until ...

the orders came down to focus on the test. Now there is precious little time for critical thinking and experiments, as they devote their time to worksheets and test prep.

I understand it is necessary to get our most at-risk students focused on reading and writing, but we need to engage and motivate our Gifted and Talented students with work that allows them to be as strong if not stronger than their international peers.

or, we will pay the consequences

The time to Re-invent public schools is now -- and we must balance our focus on the most at-risk students, the average students, and the Gifted and Talented Students