New:
Federal Accountability Rules for School Grades
Criteria for new school grades are drafted by the U.S. Department of Education. Under this new plan, states can choose their own indicators of school quality or student success that move beyond the traditional accountability measures based on test scores or graduation rates. School Report Cards must also be made in consultation with parents. The draft document is now under review and open for comment It includes:
VAM Scores Eliminated in Some States
Performance evaluation are a tricky business. Arbitrary data systems based on student test scores turn excellent teachers into mediocre ones and vice versa. Individual judgments can also be wrong, but systems that have multiple components can be reasonably fair.
Some states are dropping student achievement gain scores and are returning to human judgment systems for teacher evaluations. Which are these forward thinking states?
Southern Legal Counsel Plans Appeal
It is a marathon in the Citizens for Strong Schools case.- Judge Reynolds ruled that the State has made education a top priority in terms of funding. Moreover, he states that neither the defendants or the plaintiffs established the connection between the amount of resources and educational outcomes.
- The Differentiated Accountability system needed legislative attention. The fact that schools could remain in ‘F’ status over a number of years was the judge’s primary objection to the state system. He argued, however, that the defendant’s own evidence showed that a school could be turned around without additional funding.
- Districts were part of the state system. Districts had control over local management and funding allocations and the State was not responsible for ineffective local management.
- The constitutionality of school choice was dismissed by the judge. He did not agree that charters and tax credit funded private schools had a negative effect on the system.
- Judge Reynolds wrote: “The evidence shows that many of Florida’s educational policies and programs are subject to ongoing debate without any definitive consensus in the education community. They are political questions best resolved in the political arena”, and
- “The Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgement without a judicially manageable or enforceable remedy.” In other words, the cost study sought by the Plaintiffs was not a remedy.
Are Florida’s teachers leaving in droves?
In an Orlando Sentinel article, Scott Maxwell cites alarming state records. Forty percent of Florida’s new teachers leave within five years. This rate is 15 to 20% higher than the national average, he reported. I found a U.F. report about charter school teacher attrition. Something is going wrong. We know that. Will the legislature listen?
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- League Members visit the office of Senator Marco Rubio
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- League Members wait to see Senator Bill Nelson
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- Education Team at the Department of Education
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