Archives for category: Florida
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Florida Teacher: A Fruitless Pursuit of My VAM Rating

By dianeravitch
March 15, 2013 //
5

Please read the link in this comment. Kafkateach has been trying, again and again, to find out what her VAM score for 2011-2012 was. No one will tell her. No one knows. It is being calculated. It is being recalculated.

If it takes two years to find out what your evaluation score is, what value does VAM add?

Will someone be sure to let Arne Duncan and Bill Gates know?

 

She writes:

 

The new and improved teacher evaluations in my district have proven to be nonexistent. It’s March 12th 2013 and we still have yet to receive evaluations and our VAMs for the 2011-12 school year. The state, the district, and the union have been tossing around the stinking pile of value added bogosity like a hot potato. Nobody wants to accept responsibility for the data. Millions of public school dollars have been wasted on designing an evaluation system that is so flawed, cumbersome, and complicated it can’t even be used. You can read more about my quest for VAM herehttp://kafkateach.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/the-quest-for-vam.

 

Categories Accountability, Florida, Teacher Evaluations

The Failed Charter Schools of Florida

By dianeravitch
March 13, 2013 //
0

This morning,I posted about a bogus claim (“study”) released by the Florida Department of Education, asserting that the state’s 518 charter schools “outperform” public schools. This was intended presumably to support former Governor Jeb Bush’s claims about a “Florida miracle.”

Except that no study conducted by independent researchers has reached the same conclusion.

Many of the state’s charters operate for profit. Their owners make generous contributions to political campaigns.

Here is a comment by a reader, offering the list of Florida’s failed charter schools. These are schools that were closed because of poor performance.

The reader writes:

“From a local fighting the good fight… The first is a list of the 226 charter schools that have failed in Florida. I believe in that regard they are beating public schools 226-0

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/03/want-to-see-list-floridas-226-failed.html

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/03/is-fldoe-charter-school-study-to-be.html”

Categories Charter Schools, Florida

Charter Hype and Spin from Florida DOE

By dianeravitch
March 13, 2013 //
12

One of the saddest consequences of the merger of education with partisan politics is that we now no longer can trust pronouncements from many of our state and local departments of education. Instead of accurate data, we are apt to get spin, hype, distortion, and outright lies, all in the service of someone’s political agenda.

One of the worst offenders is the Florida Department of Education. For years, under Jeb Bush and now Rick Scott, the department has been incapable of impartial analysis or self-criticism. Instead, its goal is to parrot the party line of testing, accountability, charters, vouchers, and online learning.

The latest embarrassing public relations stunt from the state DOE is a “study” claiming that charter schools in Florida outperform public schools. This is intended to help the privatization movement–for-profit and nonprofit–get a bigger market share.

The latest “study” was not conducted by independent reputable scholars but by the Department itself. That explains a lot.

Consider that only four months earlier, an independent study concluded the opposite: that public schools perform the same or better than charter schools.

The key finding in that study was:

“The average charter school is doing about the same as the non-charter school when no adjustments are made for poverty and minority statuses. When the adjusted scores are considered, the average charter school performs significantly worse than the average non-charter school.”

An investigation by the Miami Herald determined that most charters do not accept severely disabled students.

Half of the F-rated schools in the state are charters.

Charters were seven times more likely to be rated F than were public schools.

Reputable studies have reached the same conclusions: Charters in Florida perform about the same or worse than public schools.

One study concluded that their achievement growth is lower than that of regular public schools, but that after five years, charters produce similar gains.

The Credo analysis found that Florida charter schools performed significantly less well than their public school peers.

Categories Charter Schools, Florida

Why Not Vouchers for Special Education Students?

By dianeravitch
March 11, 2013 //
20

One of the model laws promoted by ALEC creates vouchers for students with disabilities.

ALEC is the far-right group that brings together big corporations and very conservative state legislators to figure out strategies to advance privatization and protect corporate interests. ALEC does not like public education, does not like regulation, does not like unions, and does not like teacher professionalism. It likes vouchers, charters, online learning, all as unregulated as possible, and teachers who can enter the classroom with little or no certification or training.

ALEC pushes vouchers for students with disabilities as a way of establishing the legitimacy of vouchers, using the most vulnerable children as the poster children for their favorite anti-regulation, anti-government ideas. Once vouchers get a start in one sector, they reason, it is easy to make a case for vouchers for all. As states are slowly discovering, the more charters and  vouchers schools there are, the more difficult it is to supervise what happens in them or where the money goes.

Florida has a voucher program for students with disabilities. It is a sham. Florida journalist called it “a cottage industry of fraud and chaos.” Gus Garcia-Roberts won the Sigma Delta Chi award for public service journalism–one of the highest honors of the profession– for this series about the abuse and neglect of students with disabilities who receive vouchers in Florida.

Categories ALEC, Florida, Special Education, Vouchers

Whose Side Are Duncan and Obama On?

By dianeravitch
March 4, 2013 //
83

Earlier today, I posted about the battle in New Mexico over the confirmation of Hanna Skandera. Skandera wants to import Jeb Bush’s “Florida Model” of testing, school grading, charters, vouchers, and online corporations to New Mexico. She worked for Bush, Spellings, and Schwarzenegger. Her views are identical to those of Romney. Yet as the linked article points out, Skandera was invited to the White House and warmly praised by Duncan. What gives?

I am reminded that Duncan hailed Bobby Jindal’s choice of John White as state superintendent and lavishly praised him as a “visionary leader.” I am reminded that he was a featured speaker at Jeb Bush’s “summit” last year for entrepreneurs. I am reminded of March 2011, when demonstrators encircled the state Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, and President Obama was in Miami, describing Jeb Bush as a “champion of education reform.” (The school they both saluted as a successful “turnaround,” Miami Central High, narrowly escaped closure by the state for poor performance only three months later.)

I don’t understand why Obama and Duncan have not taken a strong stand against the opening of for-profit charter schools–or for that matter, any stand at all. I don’t understand why they have not campaigned against the spread of vouchers. They may be against them, but only in a soft voice.

I truly don’t understand the loyalty that Duncan (and Obama) have to the policies of rightwing Republicans, those most eager to close public schools and privatize them.

I don’t understand why Obama and Duncan embrace the destructive anti-teacher, anti-community, anti-student policies of the corporate reformers. Why aren’t they fighting those who blame teachers for the ills of society, who make testing the goal of education, who shatter communities by closing their public schools, who see public schools as profit centers and children as commodities?

A reader from New Mexico sent the following, with a link to Duncan’s warm words about Skandera.

“Ms. Skandera, NM’s Secretary of Education, Designate brought several reforms from Flordia. Governor Martinez’ education platform was the Florida Model. During her campaign AFT-NM fought long and hard to inform their members on what this model looked like. However, a large number of teachers voted for her regardless her promise to make New Mexico’s education system the same as Florida’s.

It is difficult to comprehend why teachers voted against their profession.

However, even more difficult is to accept is the “love fest” between Skandera, Arne Duncan and President Obama. Duncan and Obama cannot praise Skandera enough. I am including one of many links to show this admiration: http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2011/09/24/news/nm-school-reform-efforts-get-boost.html.

Many New Mexico educators, myself included, find this admiration “club” extremely insulting.”

Categories Bush, Jeb, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit, Jindal, Bobby, Obama

Turning Water into Wine: The Florida Faux Miracle

By dianeravitch
March 1, 2013 //
3

Julian Vasquez Heilig of the University of Texas is one of our greatest debunkers of educational miracles. And what good timing, because Jeb Bush was in town to tout the Florida miracle, where (he says) test scores went up as costs went down. It’s all a matter of more testing, more accountability, vouchers, charters, and lots of new technology (to replace teachers).

Seems kind of strange to come to Texas to sell the virtues of testing, at a time when Texans have grown sick of testing.

Yes, Florida’s fourth grade students got higher test scores, but the longer they stay in school in Florida, the worse their performance. Sounds amazingly like No Child Left Behind, and we know how that worked.

So please, if Jeb is coming to your state to sell the miracle. Or if someone else is urging your state to copy the Florida model, read Vasquez Heilig first.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Florida, For-Profit, Testing, Texas

Who Owns This School?

By dianeravitch
February 28, 2013 //
13

A charter school in Sarasota, Florida, is in court over a simple question: who owns the school?

The for-profit corporation Imagine Schools says it owns the school. The board of the charter fired Imagine and says the board owns the school.

The board didn’t like paying Imagine nearly $1 million a year for its services.

Charter operators around the nation will watch to find out: Who owns this school?

Categories Charter Schools, Florida

This Florida Teacher Is Running for School Board

By dianeravitch
February 27, 2013 //
2

Michael Weston got fed up with being bullied.

So he did what he had to do: he is running for the school board.

Good luck, Michael!

We will be rooting for you.

Hi Diane. I am the Hillsborough County, Florida, teacher you featured in your post “Vote for this man for School Board”. Many thanks for that! I want to let you, and any others interested in our fight against Bill Gates, know that my Campaign website, http://michaelweston.org/ is now up and running. There is a volunteer page for an locals wishing to help out, and of course a donate page for anyone, anywhere, who wishes to help us kick Gates our of our school system.

This will be my second run, we had a fantastic showing, but missed the runoff by only 1700 votes out of 100,000 cast. We were outspent by over 7 to 1. We will be outspent this round as well, but will make up for it with feet on the ground!

We also have a Facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/MichaelWestonforschoolboard7

Many thanks for what you do!

Categories Florida, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Support for public schools, Teacher Evaluations

Florida: Not Enough Money to Pay for Common Core

By dianeravitch
February 27, 2013 //
15

Not many people in the U.S. are as enthusiastic about the Common Core as Jeb Bush and his far-right Chiefs for Change.

One of his chiefs is Tony Bennett, who lost his superintendency in Indiana because of a popular revolt against the Common Core.

No problem, Bennett landed on his feet in Florida (thanks, Jeb!) where he could continue the battle for Common Core. Why is Jeb Bush so excited about Comon Core? He told business leaders last year hat he expects the new standards and tests will show just how dreadful public schools are. This opens new opportunities for new products, charters, and vouchers.

But Florida has a problem. It doesn’t have the money to pay what the Comon Core will cost. What to do?

Education leaders worry schools won’t be ready for new standards

By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel
6:00 PM EST, February 18, 2013

Florida schools are scrambling to be ready for new Common Core academic
standards – and the new computer-based tests that go with them – by 2015.

At their meeting Monday in Orlando, some members of the State Board of
Education questioned if schools had made enough progress training teachers
on the language arts and math standards and on preparing for a new batch of
online tests.

“It’s now February. We have be ready to roll the next calendar year,” said
board member Kathleen Shanahan.

The state’s new “readiness gauge” shows more progress on the standards than
the technology, as many schools still don’t have the computers, bandwidth or
high-speed Internet access needed for the tests and the state’s overall
“digital learning” push.

The State Board requested more than $400 million for new school technology
in the next year, but Gov. Rick Scott has proposed a smaller hike of $100
million.

“One hundred million won’t get done everything we need to get done,” Barbara
Jenkins, superintendent of Orange County schools, told the board.

Education Commissioner Tony Bennett praised the new standards, which 45
states have adopted, as academic guidelines that “will transform the way our
students learn.” The new tests, he said, were key to making sure they are
well taught.

But he said there are “complexities” to implementing both, among them the
“technology readiness” of the 22 states, Florida included, that plan to use
the new tests from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College
and Career. They are to replace FCAT math, reading and writing exams.

He said within the next few months his staff will devise a “Plan B” in case
implementation cannot proceed as planned by 2015.

orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-schools-common-core-technology-201
30218,0,5142892.story=

Categories Bush, Jeb, Chiefs for Change, Common Core, Florida

What If the Diagnosis Is Based on Junk Science?

By dianeravitch
February 24, 2013 //
28

The letter-grading system that is spreading across many states originated in Florida during Jeb Bush’s tenure as governor. His goal was to show how poorly public schools were doing and to blame schools if students had low test scores, thus diverting attention from the social and economic causes of poor performance in school. Red states love letter grades, as does Mayor Bloomberg in New York City, who has advanced privatization as much as he could during this three terms in office.

This reader writes about the sham of the Indiana letter grade system:

 

Can you imagine taking your child to a doctor who knowingly and willfully misdiagnoses your child with cancer and recommends immediate, intense chemotherapy?

Further, even though you questioned the doctor and he could not explain how he came up with the diagnosis; he could not point to any direct source of cancer; he demanded you subject your child to intense chemotherapy anyway? Can you imagine being forced to purposely intervene with toxins to slowly poison your child even though you know the diagnosis is invalid?

So it goes in many Indiana schools today.

From the IDOE to the Statehouse, everyone admits the current A-F grading system is invalid and unreliable. No one at the state can explain exactly how the grades were calculated. Yet those schools doing great work and still receiving D’s and F’s, must give evidence to the state that they are attempting major interventions to improve student test scores.

How are they doing this? More testing. More data-analysis. They are purposefully increasing toxic interventions that are poisoning the natural desire to learn in our most vulnerable students.

Do you know how demoralizing it is for teachers in these buildings to witness such malpractice?

When will this madness stop?

Categories Accountability, Florida, Indiana
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »