LWVeducation
The Florida League of Women Voters press release today argues that the State Board of Education is asking the wrong questions. The SBE argued about how many students and schools to fail. Shouldn’t they be asking how to make them more successful?
The press release was sent out across the state. Pass it on to all concerned parents, educators and business leaders. Forward it to your legislative delegations.
In spite of arguments by some State Board of Education (SBE) members and the Jeb Bush Florida Foundation for Excellence in Education to raise the FSA passing standards, the Florida State Board of Education passed the lower cutoff scores proposed by Commission Pam Stewart.
Michigan has raised standards for new teachers. Their teacher certification examination is more difficult. English, math and writing skills are set at the level expected for college bound high school students. Yet, the results of the first administration of the test are troubling.
Assistant Secretary Whalen, U.S. Department of Education, sent a letter on December 2nd, 2015 to Chief State School Officers that outlines the consequences to states for failure to administer state assessments to at least 95% of eligible students. The letter lists possible federal actions to restrict funding for federal programs. If fewer than 95% of students sit the state assessments for two years in a row 2014-2016, then the state may incur penalties e.g.
The letter provides a list of actions that states may consider to pressure districts and schools to comply with federal testing mandates for 2016. These could include lowering school grades, counting non participants in testing as not proficient in accountability reports, withholding state aid and/or funding flexibility and labeling schools as ‘high risk’. High risk schools may be subject to state take over.
The letter does not specify what actions schools may take to pressure parents to comply with the testing requirement.
A reader sent this thoughtful article by Ben Levin. I was pleased because I too have been musing about Canada’s high ranking on the international PISA test. Canada significantly out performs the U.S. in math, science and reading.
I looked for reasons–Canada has a strict immigration policy based on skill levels of applicants. Canada has a lower poverty rate. These things are true, but according to Politico, if you use scores only from white U.S. citizens, Canada still outperforms the U.S. fifteen year old students. To make it to the top of the score scale, the U.S. can only use schools with less than ten percent enrolled from families living in poverty. Even in those schools, math scores would only be ranked 8th, but reading and science would be second to Shanghai.
Florida paid to get its own PISA scores. The results were surprisingly low. Our students were well below the U.S. average PISA scores in science and math and just average in reading. As a leading proponent for school reform, this is not good news for Florida.
The U.S. has the largest income gap in the world. Depending upon how it is measured, however, basic living conditions for the poor in the U.S. are not worse than in other developed countries. Yet, PISA scores have gone up in many countries, ours remain stagnant.
In the following article, Ben Levin compares U.S. and Canadian educational systems and finds some similarities and four very real differences. Perhaps we can learn from our northern neighbors. How uneven is the funding for U.S. schools? How uneven is the quality? This has to be a serious concern. There are lawsuits over equity and funding all over the U.S., and yes, in Florida.
Commissioner Stewart’s school grade proposal is calculated differently, but its results are similar to those earned last year. Now John Padget, the Vice Chairman of the State Board of Education, is proposing tougher standards.
We need to think about this. The SBE meets January 6th to consider the school grade alternatives. We want students to meet proficiency standards, but the legislature needs to make it possible. How does the public make that happen?
We need to understand what a school grade really means–and does not mean. We have to ask if school grades motivate school districts, teachers and staff to do more. Good intentions are necessary but often insufficient. What else is required to improve learning? How do we make the system work for all children?
In a Tampa Bay Times article, LWV Florida board member Paula Dockery lists her legislative priorities for 2016. Extracted from the list are the following education priorities:
• Properly fund our traditional public schools for instructional costs and facility building, maintenance and repair before funding nonpublic assets.
• Drastically reduce the standardized testing in our schools and stop the practice of using test results for high-stakes purposes.
• Return the education commissioner to an elected position and member of the Cabinet by passing the joint resolution sponsored by state Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, and state Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah.
• Fully fund our colleges and universities to accommodate growth and facility needs.
If the legislature met these goals, perhaps the push to privatize our schools would diminish.
Family income and student achievement rise together. You know that. The Economic Policy Institute published its top graphs of 2015 showing it once again, but one chart focuses just on preschool.
If you compare kindergarten readiness for the lowest income groups to the highest, there is a full standard deviation difference. I wondered how many children were in the lowest groups, and how much money it would take to improve preschool education.
The Florida Education Association (FEA) filed a complaint against the Best and Brightest bonus plan. The complaint was filed with the US Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and the Florida Commission on Human Relations. This is the $10,000 bonus for teachers with high SAT and/or ACT scores who received highly effective ratings. Well, not exactly. First year teachers were exempt from the teacher evaluation rating. Not enough money was allocated to cover the $10,000 cost per qualified teacher.
Poverty, race, and educational opportunity are intertwined. In a report by the National Educational Policy Center, housing is added to the mix. The authors explain the interaction between where we live and the opportunities available to us.
Divided communities have greater inequities in access to quality education and employment. Perceptions of the quality of schools based on the neighborhood income level become the reality. The more divided our communities, the greater the problems become. What can be done to reduce the inequities?