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achievement gap

Florida roundup: Privatization showdown, vouchers and courts & more

Ron Matus October 22, 2012

Trying to compete with teachers unions for influence. The Miami Herald looks at growing political contributions from charter and virtual school interests, and frames the story this way: “Some observers say the big dollars foreshadow the next chapter of a fierce fight in Tallahassee: the privatization of public education.” Last Friday on redefinED, Doug Tuthill argued that the term “privatization,” as typically used in ed debates, is misleading.

Florida Supreme Court and vouchers. Two separate columns in recent days cited the Florida Supreme Court’s 2006 decision to overturn vouchers as a reason behind efforts to convince voters to deny the retention of three justices. South Florida Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo here. UF law professor Joe Little in the Tallahassee Democrat here.

State Board of Education is wrong. So says the Tampa Bay Times, in this editorial about the board’s decision to set race-based achievement goals that include steeper rates of progress for low-income and minority students. More coverage in the Orlando Sentinel here.

Complaints about private school in Pasco. WTSP-Ch. 10 talks to parents who say officials are doctoring tests and report cards at Zephyrhills Christian Academy, a private school that accepts McKay vouchers for disabled students.

Superintendents and tax-credit scholarships. St. Johns County Superintendent Joe Joyner relays his concerns to the Florida Times Union.

New teacher evals cause angst in Pinellas. Tampa Bay Times story here.

Voucher tsunami. (This story from the Topeka Capital-Journal is a couple weeks old, but I didn’t see it until this weekend.) A leading state lawmaker in Kansas, Rep. Marc Rhoades, says vouchers are on their way to the Sunflower State, and he references programs in Milwaukee and Florida: “In my opinion, it’s like a tidal wave that’s coming, and I don’t know that the education establishment can withstand it forever.”

October 22, 2012 0 comment

Achievement Gap Education and Public Policy Education Politics School Choice Testing and Accountability

HCREO: Florida Board of Education’s race-based achievement goals are “insulting”

redefinED staff October 19, 2012

redefinED staff

Editor’s note: Julio Fuentes, president of the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options, sent this email blast out earlier today.

Governor Rick Scott made the right call in declaring “unacceptable” the race-based achievement goals outlined in the Florida Board of Education’s recently released five-year strategic plan.

The Hispanic Council for Reform and Education Options (HCREO) believes that the Board’s plan is not merely unacceptable; it is insulting and counterproductive to the education needs of all Florida children. Just as politics should not drive our education system, race and ethnicity should not determine the expectations we set for our students. Education reform – including the choices we give to students and their parents – is about the capacity of our youth to achieve when given the proper classroom tools and instruction.

The state’s plan outlines that by 2018, 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanic students and 74 percent of black students should be reading at or above grade level. For math, the goals are set at having proficiency levels of 92 percent for Asian students, 86 percent for white students, 80 percent for Hispanic students, and 74 percent for black students.

To set these different bars for students is to say, effectively, that we believe one group is capable of achieving more simply because of their skin color and ethnic background. That approach might have reigned back in the days of segregated classrooms, but it has no place in today’s classrooms.

In case the Board of Education isn’t aware: We are living in 2012. The nation’s first black President is running for re-election. Louisiana’s governor is Indian. The mayor of San Antonio, Texas made history this summer when he became the first Hispanic to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. These successful leaders did not achieve because of, or in spite of, the skin color and families into which they were born. They succeeded because they had education and support from teachers and others who believed in their abilities.

Every student in every Florida classroom today deserves the same.

October 19, 2012 0 comment

Achievement Gap Blog Administration Charter Schools Education Politics Parental Choice Private Schools School Choice

Florida roundup: Voucher accountability, single-gender schools and more

Ron Matus October 18, 2012

Ron Matus

Students at Franklin Middle School in Tampa.

Vouchers need more accountability. So say David R. Colburn, director of the Askew Institute at the University of Florida, and Brian Dassler, chief academic officer for the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, in this exclusive op-ed for the Tampa Bay Times. Response here from the Heartland Institute, which says parental satisfaction is “a more effective form of accountability than extending mindless bureaucratic oversight to the private sector.”

New charter school to focus on “Latin and logic.” Tampa Bay Times story here. The applicant for the school is Anne Corcoran, the wife of state Rep. Richard Corcoran. He’s a future House speaker and a strong proponent of private school choice, too.

Threats to single-gender learning options. U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Barbara Mikulski are considered to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but in this op-ed for the Wall Street Journal they unite in defense of single-gender options in public schools. (They single out Florida as one of the states where such options have been under legal fire.) It’s worth noting that in our own backyard, old lines of division have also faded over this issue. Last year, John Kirtley, who chairs Step Up For Students, donated $100,000 to the Hillsborough County School District to support single-gender academies at two public middle schools. The Walton Family Foundation kicked in another $100,000.

More on race-based achievement goals. The New York Times writes today about the state Board of Education’s decision last week to set different academic achievement targets for black, white, Hispanic and other subgroups. The targets incorporate steeper rates of improvement for groups with lower proficiency rates, but they have nonetheless caused a ruckus. The parents group Fund Education Now weighs in. So does Naples Daily News columnist Brent Batten, who hears from Collier County education officials that this is “much ado about nothing.”

October 18, 2012 0 comment

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Florida roundup: charter school heartburn in Pinellas, school choice showcase in Palm Beach & more

Ron Matus October 17, 2012

Ron Matus

Editor’s note: We’re going to try another something new on redefinED today – a brief, occasional and maybe even daily roundup of some of the latest education stories in Florida. We’re based in Florida; many of our readers are in Florida; and so much is going on down here education-wise – so, we think it makes sense to compile and circulate the latest goings-on to our readers. We’ll focus a lot on school choice coverage, but not exclusively. We might make a quick comment or add a complementary link, but often we’ll just be logging in what the papers and blogs are reporting. So, here goes …

More trouble for an Imagine charter school. School board members in Pinellas County are running out of patience with the Imagine charter school in St. Petersburg, which has earned a string of D and F grades from the state, the Tampa Bay Times reports. We wrote about this Imagine school a couple months ago, after parents successfully pleaded with the school board to give the school one more chance.

Columnist skewers charter schools. Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell takes charter schools to task because they “fail and close at an alarming rate.”

Palm Beach County parents line up for choice. Thousands of parents and students in Palm Beach County flocked last night to a showcase for public school choice options, including magnet and charter schools, the Palm Beach Post reports. Said one parent: “I just hope I can get my kid in.”

Brevard schools see enrollment dip. The state’s 10th biggest school district unexpectedly saw enrollment decline by 760 students this year, according to Florida Today. For what it’s worth, according to our data, the number of students on tax-credit scholarships in Brevard climbed from 1,056 last year to 1,452 this year.

Sarasota County gets its 10th charter school. Story from the Sarasata Herald-Tribune here.

Flap festers over achievement gaps goals. Both Gov. Rick Scott and Gary Chartrand, chair of the Florida Board of Education, issued statements yesterday in response to the board’s decision last week to set different academic achievement targets for black, white, Hispanic and other subgroups. The targets incorporated steeper rates of improvement for groups with lower proficiency rates. Scott statement here. Chartrand statement here. Orlando Sentinel coverage here. Tallahassee Democrat story here.

October 17, 2012 0 comment

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Florida’s next education commissioner needs to be explainer-in-chief

Ron Matus October 16, 2012

Ron Matus

Florida’s next education commissioner will inherit a job that makes juggling chainsaws look easy. He or she must get under the hood of a complicated accountability system, ride herd on a historic shake-up of public education, dodge slings and arrows while walking a political tight rope and leap tall buildings in a single bound.

And yet, the job remains so compelling. Florida is the nation’s most promising bridge to an education system that can more fully give teachers and parents real power to help kids live out their dreams. In the last 10 to 15 years, no state has focused more on the low-income and minority students who are now a majority in Florida public schools. Simultaneously, no state has opened the door more to alternative learning options – options that have both empowered parents and multiplied the potential for educators to innovate. The result has been both dramatic and nowhere near enough. The next commissioner must find ways to continue the momentum.

To that end, we hope he or she can nimbly rotate hats long enough to also assume the role of explainer-in-chief. We know this won’t be easy; education reformers in Florida operate in an environment that is particularly tense and, in the past couple of years, has become downright ugly. But we can’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, the temperature will drop a few degrees if fair-minded people can be persuaded that not every education idea and not every education reform is a zero-sum proposition. Sometimes, they really can work in harmony with the other parts.

This is especially true with school choice. The sincere goal here isn’t “privatization,” it’s personalization. It’s about expanding options so more kids can be matched with settings that maximize their potential, and yes that includes private and faith-based options.

There’s no reason, and so far in Florida no demonstration, that these options have to come at the expense of traditional schools. It’s entirely possible – and many of us think it’s absolutely necessary – to support traditional public schools at the same time we push for additional options that, for individual students, may work better.

October 16, 2012 0 comment

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Struggling kids, rookie teachers and more reasons for school choice

Ron Matus September 26, 2012

Ron Matus

A recent report from Harvard researchers offers more compelling reasons why expanded learning options are so needed for struggling students. Based on data from four urban school districts, the Strategic Data Project at Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research found lower-performing students are placed with brand-new teachers far more often than their higher-performing peers.

Given high turnover in high poverty schools, and the reluctance of school boards to address it, you’d expect more of these match-ups there. But the researchers found them across all schools. And given what we know about the effectiveness of rookie teachers, the tragic impact is obvious: “The systematic placement of novice teachers with lower-performing students can be expected to compound these students’ academic difficulties and exacerbate achievements,” the researchers wrote. They termed it a “double whammy.”

That’s putting it mildly. There is no justification for saddling students with the greatest need with teachers who are often the least effective. It’s a clear case of public schools perpetuating a vicious cycle that they can, within their power, do much to help mitigate.

The practice isn’t good for teachers either. The researchers ask, “Is it the best strategy to develop and retain highly effective teachers by placing them in challenging situations when they are at a critical stage in their development as teachers?”

The report suggests potential remedies, including paying teachers more to work in tough schools. Maybe, someday, school districts will get around to doing that in a meaningful way. In the meantime, how can anyone deny parents the chance to find better odds in an alternative setting?

September 26, 2012 0 comment

Achievement Gap Testing and Accountability Unionism

A curious knock on Florida’s ed reforms

Ron Matus September 24, 2012

Ron Matus

It does sound nefarious: The people who back accountability for Florida public schools, the argument goes, are really out to mine huge sums of money from their degradation and demise. In a weekend op-ed for the Orlando Sentinel, Florida teachers union president Andy Ford (pictured here) mashed the privatization button hard in panning the state’s “flawed and punitive” ed reforms. The accountability system, he wrote, has been “endlessly promoted by legislators who favor for-profit schools, and the Florida Chamber of Commerce.” The state’s standardized test has been “abused by politicians and those wanting to make a profit off public schools and students.” The job of state education commissioner has “devolved into one solely focused on implementing the marching orders of Jeb Bush and the corporate community.”

Yikes! But if all of those folks really were out to make public schools look awful (so profiteers could swoop to the rescue with charter schools and vouchers) they’ve done a miserable job. As we’ve noted before, one key indicator after another and one credible, independent report after another has found Florida’s public school students – especially its poor and minority students – have, over the past 10 to 15 years, improved as fast as students in just about any other state. Matthew Ladner, a researcher at the Foundation for Excellence in Education, has more on this point today at Jay P. Greene’s Blog:

Notice that the “good ole days” in Florida (pre-reform) were a disaster for low-income children. A whopping 37% of Florida’s low-income 4th graders had learned to read according to NAEP’s standards in 1998. A lack of transparency and accountability may have suited the FEA fine, but it was nothing less than catastrophic for Florida’s low-income children. Thirteen years into the “flawed” system, that figure was up to 62 percent. The goal of Florida policymakers should clearly be to accelerate this impressive progress rather than to go back to the failed practices of the past.

Put another way, if Mr. Ford considers this system “flawed” then Florida lawmakers should quickly implement something that he would judge to be “catastrophically flawed.”

September 24, 2012 0 comment

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Here’s the 2012 Democratic Party platform on education

Ron Matus September 4, 2012

Ron Matus

This will surprise no one, but the 2012 Democratic Party platform, released yesterday, includes charter schools in the one sentence that offers a nod to school choice but does not include private learning options: “We will continue to strengthen all our schools and work to expand public school options for low-income youth, including magnet schools, charter schools, teacher-led schools, and career academies.” Here’s the education portion of the platform (by contrast, see the 2012 Republican platform on education here):

An Economy that Out-Educates the World and Offers Greater Access to Higher Education and Technical Training.

Democrats believe that getting an education is the surest path to the middle class, giving all students the opportunity to fulfill their dreams and contribute to our economy and democracy. Public education is one of our critical democratic institutions. We are committed to ensuring that every child in America has access to a world-class public education so we can out-educate the world and make sure America has the world’s highest proportion of college graduates by 2020. This requires excellence at every level of our education system, from early learning through post-secondary education. It means we must close the achievement gap in America’s schools and ensure that in every neighborhood in the country, children can benefit from high-quality educational opportunities.

This is why we have helped states and territories develop comprehensive plans to raise standards and improve instruction in their early learning programs and invested in expanding and reforming Head Start.

President Obama and the Democrats are committed to working with states and communities so they have the flexibility and resources they need to improve elementary and secondary education in a way that works best for students. To that end, the President challenged and encouraged states to raise their standards so students graduate ready for college or career and can succeed in a dynamic global economy. Forty-six states responded, leading groundbreaking reforms that will deliver better education to millions of American students. Too many students, particularly students of color and disadvantaged students, drop out of our schools, and Democrats know we must address the dropout crisis with the urgency it deserves. The Democratic Party understands the importance of turning around struggling public schools. We will continue to strengthen all our schools and work to expand public school options for low-income youth, including magnet schools, charter schools, teacher-led schools, and career academies.

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September 4, 2012 1 comment