A reader in Florida saw the description of the Rocketship charters, where students get no art or music. She was not surprised because her child’s school has neither art nor music, just testing:
“My children attend a Title I school in Florida called Triangle Elementary in Mount Dora. They have no art class, no music class, and no recess (my children are 6 and 8). Florida puts all its emphasis on high-stakes testing, and this is the norm unfortunately, unless you can afford private school.”
Florida was one of the two highest rated states on Michelle Rhee’s report card. Providing the arts and a full curriculum does not qualify as education reform in her ranking system. Only testing and pro privatization policies.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Sure, they have no art, but they have PE, computers, and media center. In fact, here you can see a classroom full of children working on iPads…
http://lake.k12.fl.us/domain/1766
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Seems like music and the arts to me…
“The production of “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” by Triangle Elementary School first-graders is “a musical story of fun and adventure,” according to teacher Anne Burns.”
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-05-22/news/os-lk-triangle-elementary-play-20120522_1_performance-bunnies-classes
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According to the school’s website, Ms. Burns is a first grade teacher and NOT a music teacher. It was good that she provided an arts experience for her grades’ students, but that is not a substitute for having a “highly qualified” arts instructor there to teach the arts full time.
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No recess for children should be considered child abuse.
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I can’t even imagine my students not having recess for a multitude of reasons. Not only do they get the fresh air, sunshine, and exercise, but they also learn social skills while interacting with their peers in a nonstructured environment. They learn to compromise, problem solve, take turns, and be good friends. They are more focused and ready to learn when they have had recess. I can imagine how fidgety small children would become if they were cooped up in a classroom all day. As philalisa said, this is child abuse.
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Cynthia… putting on a play is not teaching music or arts. It is putting on a play. Developing skills and knowledge in an artform has clear, demonstrable and research supported benefits unlike some of the other nonsense that is being promoted under the guise of education reform.
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Two semesters of physical education are required for graduation from a high school in Florida. That said, enrollment in my classes has diminished by half over the past half dozen years. Students who don’t score at an arbitrary level on reading and math standardized tests must enroll in remedial classes. With the relatively recent administration of End of Course exams and mandated remediation should they fail said exams, I expect even fewer students. Only the requirement of two semesters keeps my program afloat. There are minimum reqirements for art as well, but I imagine teachers in the arts, and in electives courses, are experiencing similar declines.
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The majority of HS student complete this requirement via an online course, and the schools encourage them to do so.
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PE everyday according to this…
http://www.greatschools.org/florida/mount-dora/1586-Triangle-Elementary-School/
“We transferred fromTavares Elementary. I realized a new school takes time to get used to. After a year I am quite disappointed. No Art, No Music classes @ Triangle, period. But PE every day– You have no idea how many nights I have sat and wished I could out of zone my daughter back to Tavares Elementary.. I will be very happy when the state gets rid of the FCAT so the teachers can actually TEACH cirriculum again. I will say I loved our 3rd grade teacher @ Triangle. It was everything else that was just not up to standard.
–Submitted by a parent
”
Of course Ms. Ravtich says that policies like open enrollment and charter schools destroy communities so this poor parent would be stuck if Ms Ravitch et al had their way.
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That comment was from 2010. Things could be different now.
Things ARE different now.
http://lake.k12.fl.us/domain/1834
Specials teachers are listed as computers, PE (which is state law), and media specialist.
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It’s much the same in Florida middle schools. We have iPads, laptops, computers, and great techie stuff, but music, drama, and the fine arts are being pushed into the category of “enrichment.” It seems ironic that we want to trot out the choir, band, and drama kids to perform every time there’s a chance to show off our great educational system, but the first programs to be cut back are (insert shocked look here) the arts.
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Each county has it own criteria. In Orange County (including Orlando) Music and Art are definitely taught and part of the curriculum. Fortunately for Orange County the School Board has not acquiesced to the pressures to privatize to any great degree, but that could change with future elections. Recently a longtime member was ousted by someone who favors the voucher system.
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Florida is actually highly respected for the quality of its music education programs. (Texas is even more highly regarded.) On the secondary level, the state has several large and successful programs that showcase themselves and/or compete very well on the national level. We have a county-based school system (67 districts), and being selected to be part of some of the larger districts’ All-County ensembles can provide a similar or even a superior experience to being in an All-STATE concert ensemble in some other states. (However, the state DOE deserves NO credit for the success of these programs.)
One disappointing trend is that quite a few of the lower income schools are seeing the arts and elective courses in general being sacrificed in the name of getting higher test scores. While it’s true that there are administrators out there who just don’t care about the arts, I think a lot of it is collateral damage in those schools’ battles to get the “A” from the state.
If you fail a portion of the Florida exam, you have to take a remedial course in the subject IN ADDITION to the regular grade level course in that subject. So, if you fail the sixth grade reading test, you will take 7th grade reading AND Intensive Reading the following school year. If you fail reading and math, you’ll take both remedial courses. Either scenario keeps those students out of an elective course. In lower income schools, where more students tend to struggle academically, many elective teachers find it difficult to build the size of their programs. It’s so disappointing when a student comes to you in the hallway and asks if he can join the band, chorus, etc. and the first response from us has to be “what were your test scores last year?”
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Jeb Bush fingerprints all over this.
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Diane, couldn’t figure out any other way to get this to you. I found this interesting…and thought you might also.
http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2012/dec/16/some-teachers-at-odds-with-cscope/
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As a new parent in Florida, I have two thoughts:
1) Why is the commenter Cynthia Weiss so set on proving the experiences of another commenter to be false? I have no reason to discount the original commenter and find Cynthia’s continual attempts to disprove her silly. Frankly, the comment found on GreatSchools.org is hardly supportive of Triangle Elementary in any context.
2) My husband and I are transplants from other areas who have spent a combined 10 years working in Florida’s higher education system. After watching Governor Scott decimate funding for the universities, block the universities from raising tuition to compensate for the loss of state funds, work towards tying funding strictly to jobs that he believes pays well and try to decimate support for non-STEM majors, there is no way that we would send our child to a Floridian university. The professors are caught in the middle of a large political game at the state level.
Our local public schools are adequate – our county has among the highest property taxes in the state to cover them – but not on the level of schools we’ve seen in other parts of the country. We plan on moving well before our son is school-aged, but if we were to stay here, he would be going to a private school. How ironic is that that this is the decision for a child who has two public-school teachers as grandparents and whose own parents are strong proponents of public education. We want him to value education, love learning, not be driven to perform solely for a test and be in a nurturing/well-rounded environment. We sadly see few of these attributes in the Florida educational system.
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Cynthia’s comments are totally wrong. She saw 2 year old comments on GreatSchools and an Orlando Sentinel about an arts experience that did not specify the coordinating teacher’s job within the school.
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As a new parent in Florida, I have two thoughts:
1) First of all, why is the commenter Cynthia Weiss so set on proving the experiences of another commenter to be false? I have no reason to discount the original commenter and find Cynthia’s continual attempts to disprove her silly. Frankly, the comment found on GreatSchools.org is hardly supportive of Triangle Elementary in any context.
2) My husband and I are transplants from other areas who have spent a combined 10 years working in Florida’s higher education system. After watching Governor Scott decimate funding for the universities, block the universities from raising tuition to compensate for the loss of state funds, work towards tying funding strictly to jobs that he believes pays well and try to decimate support for non-STEM majors, there is no way that we would send our child to a Floridian university. The professors are caught in the middle of a large political game at the state level.
Our local public schools are adequate – our county has among the highest property taxes in the state to cover them – but not on the level of schools we’ve seen in other parts of the country. We plan on moving well before our son is school-aged, but if we were to stay here, he would be going to a private school. How ironic is that that this is the decision for a child who has two public-school teachers as grandparents and whose own parents are strong proponents of public education. We want him to value education, love learning, not be driven to perform solely for a test and be in a nurturing/well-rounded environment. We sadly see few of these attributes in the Florida educational system.
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