You may be lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to hear Jeb Bush boasting about the “Florida miracle.”
A useful contrast to his spiel is the story of this teacher in Florida, who is leaving a job she loved.
She didn’t want to leave, but it became clear to her and some of her colleagues that the politicians had taken control and squeezed the joy out of teaching and learning.
The politicians “came up with grandiose-sounding programs, such as “No Child Left Behind,” which instead dragged entire schools down. As the schools sank there were calls for more standardized testing and accountability.
“Instead they ended up forcing schools to “teach to the tests,” all but eliminating any subjects not directly on those tests.
“In Hillsborough, money from the outside was used to set up a system of teacher evaluations. That system became a punitive method of penalizing teachers with evaluations that are inconsistent, unfair and, at best, subjective.”
Hillsborough County was one of the recipients of funding from the Gates Foundation to measure its teachers and come up with a new evaluation system. Did it work? Ask this teacher. Excuse me, ask this ex-teacher.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I do not personally know these excellent teachers who decided to retire, but I feel like I know them vicariously through my own outstanding colleagues who are facing a similar decision. It seems the evil reforms are pushing out the good. My heart breaks for the students who will never have them as teachers.
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Family is family and we know our own even if we have never met them.
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I wonder if any of these retiring teachers are starting charter schools so they can teach. It seems almost heretical, but for the next few years that may be the only way they can follow their calling.
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The irony here is stunning. And by that, I mean, sickening.
Some time ago there was exposed a series of lies and cover-ups about phony test results that had produced reports of supposed “amazing” (but equally as phony) high achievement in Texas schools. That becoming sarcastically known as “The Houston Miracle.” It also became part of the basis of NCLB. That was under George W. Bush.
Fast forward to today. More slight-of-hand “miracles.” This time in Florida. Another Bush involved. More phony political poison substituting for sound educational policy.
Teachers in Houston blew the cover off of the “Houston Miracle.” Teachers in Florida are starting to blow the cover off the “Florida Miracle.”
Sometimes the real miracle is that the pawns in all of this, our children, get any education at all.
When will they ever learn?
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Sounds a lot like the job creation Texas pushed with stimulus money. Turns out what the took credit for were not good jobs with benefits but minimum wage things.
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Is anyone keeping track of the veteran teachers’ (10 years or more or a Masters or National Certification) who are resigning due to the corporatization and privatization of the public schools, punitive evaluations and overemphasis on standardized testing and, well, not being allowed to teach? Maybe Dianne could get the word out and they could all tell the stories and then send them to the governors and state superintendents and even President Obama. If something massive got started maybe it could help make a change. I could compile them.
There are also disturbing things going on even with less experienced teachers. An elementary school in Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana (rural) has lost at least 6 teachers this school year because of the new “standards” and the young Teach for Americas that work there are saying the school is basically a huge mess. These are the only Teach for America’s I have ever seen that I felt like were any good. One is now almost finished with a Masters degree in Special Education. This girl is clearly family and brilliant and teaches the hardest of all special education kids, Emotional/Behavior Disordered.
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There is no such thing as an ex-teacher. You are either a teacher or you are a teacher who is not working as one. The only ex-teachers are the ones who try it for a year or two and then decide it is not what they wanted in the first place. It’s a calling, not a job. That is what makes us dangerous to the corporatizers.
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I am the Union Rep at my high school (in Hillsborough County). Just two hours ago I was explaining to some members that there was absolutely nothing (except running for School Board) I could do about:
1. High school science teachers being evaluated by a former sixth grade teacher.
2. That no consideration is given to how long you have been teaching a particular class, nor how many different class preps you have.
3. That a sleeping child will count against you, but God forbid you touch the child’s desk or anything else that may call attention to a particular kid.
4. All of the teachers being fired this year for poor evaluations are over 40.
5. Since it is a totally subjective rating, they can kill you based on your style vs their style.
etc, etc. etc.
And why is there nothing I can do as their Union rep? The Hillsborough Teacher’s Union is a full participant and support of this nonsense.
So, I filed to run for School Board. Someone has to stop this.
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Good for you! Good luck. I hope you win and bring a voice of reason to your school board.
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At times I feel like I can make it as a teacher for several more years and at other times I’m ready to pack it in as soon as possible. If only we were trusted more and left to do what we need to do. Why must almost every minute of my planning time be filled with meetings? Are they really afraid that I’ll sit in the teacher’s lounge, eat Cheetoh’s, and read the newspaper? Why can’t I have a few minutes to myself to look over my students’ work and to plan for them? How can I meet their needs when I spend so much time doing everything else?
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Let’s throw these rich hucksters out the door and close it.
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One harsh fact needs to be remembered about school closings, teacher evaluations and school ranking by student test scores. The total amount that “needed” to be cut from the budget by closing three Brevard schools was identical to the amount “needed” to build the new charter school demanded by the appointed Florida State Board of Education.
Brevard County IS the Space Coast, home of brilliant Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral engineers and large military installations and military/industrial corporations.. (I live there.) It is also overwhelmingly republican at-all-costs, and that includes Tea Party candidates. Tea Party Republican Billionaire Gov. Rick Scott was the CEO of the corporation convicted of the biggest fraud against Medicare in history. When questioned personally he replied that he repeatedly refused to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate him, yet his money paid for TV messages that got him elected. Past Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of W. and son of H.W., has organizations and investments in huge corporate education reform interests – including testing and test prep materials.
The school closings are a scam. “Public-private partnerships” is the euphemism meaning “public tax money for private profit.” The school closings and the charter school building (scheduled to be built blocks from where I live) are part of the financial scam of the selling of America – one school at a time.
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