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Florida Outrage! Junk Science Ratings Will be Released to Media

By dianeravitch
February 24, 2014 //
60

The following notice was sent to all teachers in Florida from the State Commissioner of Education, letting teachers know that their names and evaluations will be released to the media. Most teachers do not teach tested subjects and grades, so their ratings are based on the test scores of children they never taught.

This is Junk Science at its worst, another front in the battle to destroy public education and dismantle the teaching profession. No matter how many esteemed researchers say this is wrong, judging teachers by test scores–anyone’s test scores–is the battering ram of choice for the corporate reformers.

The only way to stop this juggernaut of destruction aimed at our nation’s teachers is to refuse to give the tests–not one teacher but entire schools.

Here is the letter:

As many of you know, we at the Department of Education have been fighting for you and for all teachers in an effort to maintain the confidentiality of teachers’ names and their individual value-added data.

We took on this fight because I believe the teacher-principal relationship for professional development is supported when evaluation information has a period of protection. Your work and dedication have helped to create a bright future for our state and our children, and I want to support that work in any way that I can.

Recently, the department – and our co-defendant, the Florida Education Association – lost a lawsuit filed by a news outlet to gain access to teachers’ individual value-added data. This data is calculated on behalf of school districts to complete their teacher and principal evaluations.

Later today, the department is providing these data, as required by the First District Court of Appeals, to the media who have requested it. We expect this information will be posted online and individual teacher names and value-added data will be publicly available.

The department will not post this information on its website, but is presenting answers to frequently asked questions and other information to the public at http://www.fldoe.org/profdev/studentgrowth.asp.

As a former teacher, I know that teaching is hard work. And, I’m confident that teachers in Florida are among the nation’s best in helping students succeed.

Growth in student achievement is an important part of an educator’s evaluation in Florida, which is the way it should be. As important as growth in student achievement is, our evaluation systems also include evidence of other important and essential aspects of teaching.

Despite being compelled to release this information after mounting our best legal efforts to protect the confidentiality of teachers’ information, we remain encouraged and feel that we have an opportunity in front of us.

We are encouraged because through this information, we can celebrate the achievement of Florida educators – the teachers who have led students to success in their classrooms, as well as the programs that trained those teachers, the school and district leaders who supported them, and the families and communities who trusted them.

We also feel we have an opportunity because when we look at the data, we can see where we should allocate our resources and attention to continue improving.

While releasing these data as a public record is not our chosen path to increase its usefulness, we will make this an opportunity to improve communication and understanding about what these data can – and cannot – tell us, and how they support better decision-making when analyzed in combination with other information about teaching and learning.

And, that is what we as professional educators are all about: improving teaching and learning. Until every teacher in every child’s classroom in every school has all the support and expertise necessary to add maximum value over the course of a year, we cannot rest.

Our work together on this will not be slowed. We do this work with the support of Governor Scott, whose budget proposal includes a record amount for Florida’s schools including over $8 million for the express purpose of providing the professional development school leaders need to improve student achievement. And, we do so with the support of our State Board of Education that is constantly focused on the best policies to help teachers and students succeed.

I look forward each day to our continued work to ensure Florida’s students receive a high-quality education so they may succeed in college, career and life. Thanks again for all you do each and every day.

Sincerely,

Commissioner Pam Stewart

Florida Department of Education

Categories Florida, Teacher Evaluations

Will Florida Pass Law to Exempt Severely Disabled Children from High-Stakes Testing?

By dianeravitch
February 23, 2014 //
12

Andrea Rediske appealed to Florida officials to exempt children who suffer extreme pain from high-stakes testing.

This post contains her moving testimony about the ordeal her son Ethan experienced when he was compelled to take the state’s exam. Even when he was dying in hospice, the state harassed him to take the test.

The state imposed cruel and unusual punishment on this child, violating his Constitutional rights.

His mother, an experienced educator, explained:

“I have a passion for education and I know how to write an exam that accurately assesses the abilities of my students. Not only was the Florida Adapted Assessment inappropriate for the level of my son’s abilities, it endangered his health – the long, stressful testing sessions requiring him to sit in his wheelchair caused pressure sores, fluid to pool in his lungs, and increased seizures and spasticity that contributed to his deteriorating health. Only after climbing a mountain of paperwork and garnering media attention was Ethan granted a medical waiver for the FAA. Despite assurances at his IEP meeting that the waiver would be granted again for this school year, the school district demanded paperwork proving his continued medical fragility. The insult to this injury was that he was on his deathbed – the school district and the state of Florida required a letter from hospice care stating he was unable to take the FAA. This incident caused anguish to my family and his teacher, and shows a stunning lack of compassion and even common sense on the part of the Department of Education. His exceptionally talented teacher faced threats and sanctions because she continued to work with him even though he wasn’t preparing for the FAA. I wonder if these administrators are more concerned with policy, paperwork, and their bottom line than the children they have been elected to serve.”

She was right to wonder. Has the state of Florida no decency, no compassion, no capacity for thought? How can they teach critical thinking when they lack the capacity to do it themselves?

Categories Florida, Special Education, Testing

In Honor of Terry Stetson Wilson

By dianeravitch
February 22, 2014 //
4

Colleen Wood, parent leader in Florida, active in 50th No More, and board member of the Network for Public Education, here remembers a true champion of children and public education, Terry Stetson Wilson, who died suddenly a few days ago. Colleen asks that we all Tweet a comment to honor Terry’s good life and work for others. Write your words on Twitter, marked #ForTerry. For her dedication to our children and our society, I add her to our honor roll of heroes of American education.

Colleen writes:

“Relentless, persistent, and dedicated. That is what comes to mind when I think of Terry Stetson Wilson, a friend and fierce advocate for public school children in Florida. Terry unexpectedly passed away Monday evening leaving behind her husband, Tom, two adult children, Christopher and Linzy, dear friends, and countless beneficiaries of her advocacy.

Terry’s work began like many of us when she was first concerned with her own child’s school experience, and grew over time into what is now the Florida Gifted Network. If your child received gifted services in Florida, you can thank Terry Wilson.

When her own children graduated, Terry didn’t leave public education behind. The day she died a group of us were sitting together working on building a statewide coalition. We talked about needing to expand our group, and attract new supporters to public education when someone said we needed more people like Terry. People who stayed even after their own children were gone. She was a role model and inspiration to each of us.

Through her 30 years of advocacy, Terry fought for a high quality public education for every child, and became a staunch defender of teachers. She saw the onslaught against our public school teachers and knew it was not a battle they could win alone. When teacher merit pay was first proposed in Florida in a bill known as SB6, and many of us were upset, Terry wanted action. She always prodded us to do something.

And she did. Terry and a few others formed a Facebook group called Stop SB6. Within a month there were over 60,000 members. That group was a driving force behind the push for our Governor to veto the bill, but many people didn’t know Terry was behind it. She often flew under the radar, but her impact was far-reaching.

And if she met you, if she knew you cared about public education you were hooked. A day didn’t go by without an email, text or call about something you needed to do, and you needed to do it now. Funny thing is that after her death, we’re all learning that’s how Terry was in her whole life: from her family, to her friends, to her love of Florida and fishing. She wanted you to support you, help you, and get you to do something. Now.

In every fight in Florida, from parent trigger to school grades, her first question was, “What are we going to DO?”

We’ve been struggling with how to honor Terry, and then it occurred to us – what are we going to DO? What action are we going to take today to honor Terry and defend public education?

So that’s what we’re asking of you. #ForTerry what are you going to do today to support and defend public education? Share with all of us and #ForTerry who inspired you to this work.

In the words of our colleague, Ray Seaman, “That is perhaps one of the many things Terry taught all of us who had the pleasure of knowing and working with her. Tireless, impatient persistence is oftentimes the only way you get things done, and you never know who you’ll inspire by it.”

We will all have to be tireless, impatient, and persistent if we are to save our schools and our children. Terry inspired all of us to be just that, and we know she’ll inspire you to do something too. #ForTerry.

– Colleen Doherty Wood, parent advocate, 50thNoMore.org

Categories Florida, Honor Roll, Parent trigger, Parents, Students, Supporting public schools

Hillsborough County, Fla; Where Testing Trumps All

By dianeravitch
February 14, 2014 //
8

Michael Weston reports that Hillsborough County is field testing the PARCC tests, despite previous declarations by the Governor that PARCC was not wanted.

According to Weston, the local superintendent has never seen a test she didn’t love. She insists that teachers want and need more tests. Weston says, “Huh?”

“PARCC will replace the Stanford Achievement Test the district normally uses. The district can double-check FCAT results against the nationally-normed Stanford exam to see if scores match up. PARCC can serve the same purpose. In Hillsborough County, our children are special enough to be given extra exams. Our superintendent administers the Stanford test in addition to the standardized exams (FCAT) required by the state. Should the FCAT show a failing on the superintendent’s part, she has the Stanford results to slice, dice, parse and farce until she can show a favorable result. It’s for the kids.

“But wait! FCAT is going away. Common-core is coming. Common-core test XYZ will replace FCAT. PARCC will replace Stanford. Do I have that right? Yes.”

In Hillsborough County, you can never test kids too much or too often!

Categories Common Core, Florida, Testing

League of Women Voters in Florida Studying Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
February 12, 2014 //
10

When I lectured at the University of Florida, I met Sue Legg of the League of Women Voters. She informed me that the League has undertaken a county-by-county study of charter schools across the state.

Florida has nearly 600 charters, including for-profit charter chains and non-profit charter chains. (Vice-President Biden’s brother Frank runs one of the for-profit chains.)

These schools draw money away from public schools, and their record is spotty, at best.

When preparing for my lecture at the University, I idly googled the terms “Florida charter schools failing,” and up popped more than 200,000 stories about schools that had been closed for financial mismanagement, fraud, low performance, or other reasons.

Someone should conduct an impartial investigation, and the League of Women Voters is ideally suited to do it.

Since so many charter advocates and board members hold key positions in the State Legislature, funneling public money to charters instead of public schools, it is for sure that the Legislature won’t conduct any investigation of the use and misuse of public funds by charters. (Those connections and conflicts of interest should be examined and disclosed.)

Here is the League’s first report, covering the charter schools of Alachua County.

Here are some of the background reports: Alachua County League of Women Voters Study on School Choice 2011-12 research articles:

1. Understanding School Choice: Funding School Choice in Florida http://www.lwv-alachua.org/pdfs/LWV_EdFunding.pdf

2. Understanding School Choice: Standards and Accountability http://www.lwv-alachua.org/pdfs/LWV_EdStandards.pdf

3. Understanding School Choice: Social Impact http://www.lwv-alachua.org/pdfs/LWV_EdImpact.pdf

Can’t wait until they get to Dade County, Broward County, and other charter hotspots.

Hopefully the League will take a close look at the charter empires in south Florida, like Academica, the one owned by the Zulueta family. Jersey Jazzman reported on this chain (and see here), but it should be of special interest to Floridians, who pay for its operations.

Categories Charter Schools, Florida

Attention, Arne and Jeb: Why Does a Dying Child Have to Take the Test?

By dianeravitch
February 9, 2014 //
36

This is a horrifying story about educational policy gone mad, gone cruel, gone inhumane.

Ethan Rediske, an 11-year-old boy, died in hospice in Florida last Friday.

Before he died, his plight gained national attention.

Valerie Strauss wrote about him, and so did Laura Clawson in the Daily Kos.

Ethan was blind and had brain damage and cerebral palsy.

As he lay dying in hospice, the state demanded written documentation to prove that he should not be required to take the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test).

Surely, the state knew his condition. But the state could not rest content. They needed proof before allowing this child to skip the state test.

He had a teacher who came to his room each day, but he obviously could not take the FCAT.

His mother publicized this absurd, heartless, and cruel situation.

Without documentation, Ethan’s teacher will be penalized because he didn’t take the test.

A few days ago, Ethan’s mother wrote:

Ethan is dying. He has been in hospice care for the past month. We are in the last days of his life. His loving and dedicated teacher, Jennifer Rose has been visiting him every day, bringing some love, peace, and light into these last days. How do we know that he knows that she is there? Because he opens his eyes and gives her a little smile. He is content and comforted after she leaves.

Jennifer is the greatest example of what a dedicated teacher should be. About a week ago, Jennifer hesitantly told me that the district required a medical update for continuation of the med waiver for the adapted FCAT. Apparently, my communication through her that he was in hospice wasn’t enough: they required a letter from the hospice company to say that he was dying. Every day that she comes to visit, she is required to do paperwork to document his “progress.” Seriously? Why is Ethan Rediske not meeting his 6th-grade hospital homebound curriculum requirements? BECAUSE HE IS IN A MORPHINE COMA. We expect him to go any day. He is tenaciously clinging to life.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, how will you evaluate the performance of Ethan’s teacher Jennifer Rose? Will she be considered “ineffective” because Ethan didn’t make any progress this year?

Jeb Bush, is this the accountability system of which you are so proud? Is this the Florida model?

Arne and Jeb, this is not a multiple-choice question: Do you care more about children or about data? Please write a five-paragraph essay with specific reference to the case of Ethan.

Categories Accountability, Bush, Jeb, Data and Data Mining, Duncan, Arne, Florida, Special Education, Testing

If Your School Fails, Open Another One, Preferably in Florida

By dianeravitch
February 5, 2014 //
31

Florida loves charter schools. It is not surprising since the charter industry has friends at the top of every key committee in the legislature. In Florida, charters open and close like the flow of waves on the lovely beaches that surround the state. Some make a huge profit, others disappear. There are now almost 600 charters in the state, so what’s another one, two, ten, or fifty? Many of the charters operate for profit, and make millions. Florida would love vouchers, if the legislature had its way, but the courts struck down a general voucher law as unconstitutional, so the only voucher schools are for students with disabilities (the McKay Scholarship program). There is little supervision of these schools, little regulation, and they have become big business in choice-loving Florida. Actually, Florida voters turned down an effort by the Jeb Bush team to change the Constitution in 2012 to permit vouchers. So, paradoxes abound. The voters don’t like vouchers, but the legislature does.

The voucher industry continues to grow and thrive because the legislature doesn’t like regulation. That has allowed fly-by-night “schools” to prosper, so long as their services are targeted to students with disabilities.

The schools spawned by the McKay Scholarships were the subject of a journalistic expose in 2011, which said the program had created a cottage industry of fraud and chaos (the author Gus Garcia-Roberts won a prestigious journalistic award for this series), but the legislative supporters of the program were undaunted.

And so, here comes another! The sponsors of a voucher school in Milwaukee that closed down decided to move to Florida. And why not?

According to the story in the “Daytona Beach News-Journal”:

DAYTONA BEACH — A couple who suddenly shut down their Milwaukee private school last month after collecting $2.3 million in state vouchers over six years is trying to get a similar program off the ground here.

Taron and Rodney Monroe opened Lifeskills Academy II in August in a former Indigo Drive conference center that now houses three churches.

Seven children in prekindergarten through fourth grade are enrolled. They include the Monroes’ son and three students who qualify for taxpayer-funded vouchers under Florida’s McKay and corporate tax credit scholarship programs that pay for disabled and low-income children, respectively, to attend private schools. Lifeskills Academy II collected $5,147 in the first half of this school year from those programs.

“It’s a basic Christian school,” Rodney Monroe said. “We’re just a real small school. … We’re just trying to help children.”

This is the Florida model: A path to a world-class education? Not likely.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Florida, Privatization

Florida: Joe Biden’s Brother on How Charters Succeed

By dianeravitch
February 3, 2014 //
32

Frank Biden, brother of Vice President Joe Biden, is president of the Mavericks charter chain in Florida, explained the secret of charter success.

He said,

“Biden, the brother of Vice President Joe Biden, offered some red meat, saying the school choice movement needs to continue organizing parents – and accumulating political power.

“It’s all about the 501(c)(4) and how much money we get in it,” he said. “And we go see our friends and we tell them we’ll support them. And we go see our enemies and look ‘em in the eye and say we’re going to take you down.”

In that state, charters give handsomely to politicians and have a lock on the legislature.

Biden spoke truth.

At a conference in Florida celebrating Nationsl School Choice Week,

Categories Florida

On the Road Again….

By dianeravitch
January 21, 2014 //
49

After a long hiatus, recovering from travel-related deep vein thrombosis (blood clots in the legs), I started my traveling again this week. (My trip to Chicago last week to speak to MLA didn’t count, but I can’t recall why. Arbitrary.)

I am speaking at the University of Florida in Gainesville on Wednesday at 7 pm.

The plan was to fly to Gainesville on Wednesday morning, via Atlanta.

But life does not always work according to schedule.

On Monday morning, I got a robo-call from Delta informing me that my Wednesday flight had been canceled. A major snowstorm was on its way to New York City, would arrive Tuesday morning, and would dump 8-12″ of snow.

My travel agent booked a flight out on Tuesday at 10, changing in Charlotte, NC. A quick transfer, with only 45 minutes between flights.

By the time I boarded my NYC flight, the snow was coming down fast. We were an hour late taking off, as the plane had to be de-iced. Missed the connection. Next flight out of Charlotte to Gainesville at 6 pm. Had good NC BBQ for lunch.

So here I am in the Charlotte airport. Wishing I had landed in Raleigh so I could go join Moral Monday, maybe have the honor of being arrested with good people living Martin Luther King’s dream. But then I would miss the other flight and be even later to Gainesville.

Forgive the rambling, but I felt like talking to friends and I just remembered why I avoid connecting flights and hope never to take one again.

Categories Florida, North Carolina

Tony Bennett and the Privatization Money Trail

By dianeravitch
December 23, 2013 //
19

You remember Tony Bennett? Not the famous singer but the guy who was State Commissioner of education in Florida. The guy who led the effort to privatize public education in Indiana and led the charge for charter schools, vouchers, for-profit charters, virtual charters, high-stakes testing, the A-F grading system, and the elimination of collective bargaining rights for teachers. Remember that he was honored by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute as the leading “reformer” (translated, privatizers) of all state chiefs. He was also chair of Jeb Bush’s “Chiefs for Change,” composed of state superintendents who share Jeb’s antipathy to public education.

Now, you may recall, that Bennett ran for re-election and was trounced by Democrat Glenda Ritz. Despite Bennett’s more than 5-1 funding advantage over Ritz, she won more votes than the new Republican governor, Mike Pence.

Here is a recap: After his stunning defeat, Bennett was promptly hired as state superintendent in Florida, where Jeb Bush created the template for the privatization movement. Meanwhile, back in Indiana, newly elected Governor Pence has done whatever he could to strip power and authority away from Glenda Ritz’s office and turn it over to a parallel agency that he created or to the Legislature, controlled by his allies.

As for Bennett, he didn’t last long in Florida. In August 2013, he resigned after a journalist for AP revealed that Bennett and his team had changed the A-F grading system to avoid giving a C grade to a charter school founded by a major contributor. Bennett contested the journalist’s interpretation, but his resignation suggested tat he wasn’t prepared to fight to refute the allegations.

The Bennett story was one of the biggest of the year.

There is only one other important detail that has not been explored, at least not on this blog: Who put up nearly $2 million to re-elect Tony Bennett in Indiana? Was it supplied by grateful parents in Indiana? No.

Mostly, it was big out-of-state donors who fund the privatization movement across the nation, in state and even local races.

His single biggest contributor was Alice Walton of the Walmart family of Arkansas. She gave $200,000, nearly 11% of Bennett’s total. Alice Walton has generously funded privatization campaigns in Georgia, Washington state, and elsewhere.

His second largest contribution of $175,000 came from Dean V. White, an Indiana corporate leader who is a major on or to Indiana Republicans.

Christel Dehaan gave Bennett $90,000. It was her charter school that was at the center of the grade–fixing scandal. Dehaan gave a total of $283,000 to the Indiana Republican Party this year.

Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst contributed $64,000.

There were also contributions to Tony Bennett by Eli Broad of Los Angeles, who pretends to be a liberal Democrat; the voucher-loving, far-right American Federation of Children, led by the DeVos family; Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, who prefers to project an image as a liberal independent; Roger Hertog, equity investor in New York and former chair of NYC’s conservative Manhattan Institute; Dan Loeb, hedge fund manager in New York City.

Florida blogger Bob Sikes reported: “Rhee’s contribution to Bennett’s Indiana campaign places her among his top contributors. Among his contributors from Florida were three members of Florida’s board of education, Jeb Bush, Patricia Levesque and charter school giants Charter Schools USA and Academica.” Patricia Levesque is Jeb Bush’s top policy advisor.

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Florida, Indiana, Vouchers
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