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New bill to end 3rd grade test based retention

Posted on December 28, 2016December 28, 2016 by Sue Legg

Representative John Cortes D. Osceola has filed bill 131 to end mandatory third grade retention based on the English Language Arts score on the Florida Assessment. Districts may retain students if needed, but they must continue to provide intensive remedial instruction. The provisions remain for promoting retained students mid year if the have improved their reading skills.

Rep. Cortes was elected to the Florida House in 2014. He does not serve on any legislative education committees, and the bill has yet to gain a Senate sponsor. Whether or not his bill progresses is worth watching. Unfortunately, third grade retention helps inflate fourth grade NAEP scores, and illusion is one of the signatures of school choice.

Making Good Choices: Equitable Public Schools Do Better

Posted on December 19, 2016December 19, 2016 by Sue Legg

Researchers at Stanford University have published a new study comparing public school vs. school choice privatization systems. Public schools that focus on equity win hands down.

The data suggest that the education sector is better served by a public investment approach that serves each and every child than by a market-based competition approach that creates winners…..and losers.

It is worth taking a minute to see how and why.

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A Serious Look at Testing or at School Culture?

Posted on December 15, 2016December 15, 2016 by Sue Legg

Rep. David Simmons, the chair of the Florida Senate Appropriations sub committee on Education wants a serious look at way to reduce over testing. What is over testing? Is it all the prep testing that goes on prior to the state tests? On the other hand, is it too many redundant state or national tests e.g. requiring students to sit the FSA and the SAT if they are going to college? Or, is it requiring students to take a state test like the FSA every year? There is another way to look at over testing. Perhaps it is a way to avoid looking for solutions.

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Plan to Revise the Constitution: Take the Public Out of Public Education

Posted on December 13, 2016December 13, 2016 by Sue Legg

Can you imagine that the Florida House and Senate would support the repeal of the Fair Districting amendments, making the redistricting process secret, as well as rescinding constitutional bans on state support for private, religious schools? The Miami Herald reports that these are the major goals of the legislative leaders. Florida’s constitution would have to be changed, and the process is now in place. We need to know about this; it is real.