LWVeducation
Can you imagine a school like this? It is real. Rawlings School has been transformed. It was one of our lowest achieving public schools last year. Three months later there is an excitement and energy. Rawlings is now a magnet school for the arts.
Inside the building, the space is beautiful and well lit. It is designed for music, art, dance, and theater. As you enter the school, music will greet you. I plan to follow the school to see their new staff in action. Follow it with me.
You may have noticed a shift in focus on the blog recently. Every once in awhile this happens. I will tell you why. Call it critical thinking and problem solving? Continue reading
Are teachers leaving in droves? Some press releases predict the Armageddon in 2020 when the teacher shortage really hits. The baby boomer teachers will have retired, and student enrollments will peak. Curiously, we also read that there are twice as many elementary teachers now than we need. Yet, there are never enough ESE and ELL teachers. Florida is short on reading and math teachers too.
I went to the Bureau of Labor and the National Center for Education Statistics to see what I could see. I saw something. The problem is real just not everywhere. I tell you where.
Why would the Florida legislature appropriate over $44 million to give $10,000 bonuses to teachers who had high ACT/SAT test scores when they were in high school? Some teachers took the tests years ago, and verifying their scores is next to impossible.
Encouraging young, bright people to seek careers in education is a good thing. Awarding a bonus might tempt some to teach for a year or two, but teacher turnover is high. A one time bonus would not help much. There may be another reason.
Submitted by Jane Koszoru
Broward County Public Schools improved from a ‘C’ to a ‘B’ grade for 2013-14.student achievement. Based on district wide gains in reading and math FCAT scores, students, teachers and schools should be proud. Oddly enough, there is widespread astonishment that student scores went up, and teacher evaluations went down–way down.
One half of a teacher’s evaluation was based on student achievement gains and the rest was based on instructional practice. Districts design the instructional practice component. In Broward, it appears that formal and informal classroom observations are used. There is a web site that has links to each district’s process. They are not the same. Yet, the legislature wants merit pay for the highest performing teachers.
Jane Koszoruc from the Broward County LWV relates the results. It has me scratching my head!
What could actually change in federal education policy this year? States will much more authority. The last legislation was passed in 2007. It is time for a change, but are these the right ones for children or for politicians? We can only hope that Congress will strengthen, not weaken our public schools.
Here’s a quick checklist of the Senate bill.
Are you aware of the Spencer Foundation’s Charter in Perspective Project? Issues are presented from different perspectives e.g. parental choice, preservation of public schools, and test beds for innovation.
Just for fun, here are some quick questions drawn from information on the site.
If you prefer a Common Core critical thinking question, you might ask:
The answers and much more follow.
It is always nice to put a positive spin on reports that there is more money for education. There is, in fact, more money for education this year than last year.
Education funding, however, has been on a roller coaster for the last several years. Where are we now? Take a ride and see.
I am looking forward to attending this conference on May 1-2, not just because I am a panelist. The conference is sponsored by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. Co-sponsors are the University of Miami and Miami-Dade Public Schools. My panel is:
School Choice And Public Resources: What Are The Limits For Charter Schools And Private School Subsidies?
The other panels are very interesting as well. They cover everything from teaching to the test, social issues e.g. immigration, bullying, policing as well as oversight and accountability.
Details on the program and location follow. If possible, join us.
Pat Drago (who is a former Volusia County school district administrator) and I had a conversation about how public schools improve. She had an example from Volusia County. This was an at risk school population where nothing the district had tried seemed to work. As we talked, she mentioned a friend who was a long time principal who told her that there was one thing that made the greatest difference for her. What was it?