Florida Catholic schools are embracing Common Core academic standards and seriously considering whether to take the coming state tests aligned to them. In the meantime, their leaders say, 30 to 40 Catholic schools want to administer the FCAT in 2014, in what would be a trial run for potential transition to Common Core testing.

“Our mission is the same, public or Catholic school, to create productive citizens in our world that actually have the skills in life they need,” Alberto Vazquez-Matos, schools superintendent for the Diocese of St. Petersburg, told redefinED. “We’ll all be raising the standards and talking the same academic language.”

The push by Catholic schools towards common standards - and perhaps common tests - is an interesting counterpoint to the debate that followed last week’s comments by Gov. Rick Scott. Scott re-opened the door to a long-running conversation about voucher and tax-credit scholarship programs by saying he wants to see students in those programs take the same tests as their public school peers.

Right now, the state does not require tax credit scholarship students to take the FCAT, but they are mandated to take another comparable, state-approved test such as the Stanford Achievement Test or Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. Disabled students who use McKay vouchers to attend private schools are not required by the state to take any such tests.

This year, Catholic schools in Florida enroll 7,673 tax credit scholarship students. (The scholarship program is administered by Step Up for Students, which co-hosts this blog.)

Scott’s comments sparked suggestions from some school choice critics that private schools were dodging comparisons to public schools. But Florida’s Catholic schools have been quietly moving towards Common Core for more than year. In fact, all 237 Catholic schools in Florida will be rolling out a “blended’’ version of the language arts standards, right along with public schools, in 2014. (more…)

Basking in the glow. Interim education commissioner Pam Stewart touts the PIRLS results on CNN. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan offers praise, notes Orlando Sentinel. More from Fort Myers News Press.

More Tony Bennett. Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano sees the same old agenda. The Tampa Bay Times editorial board says the BOE pick shows it “values conservative ideology over proven performance.” More from Tampa Bay Times, Florida Times-Union, Palm Beach Post, News Service of Florida, Sunshine State News,

More on testing and voucher kids. According to this Tampa Bay Times story, Gov. Rick Scott will propose that tax-credit scholarship students take the Common Core tests when they replace the FCAT.

DOE errors. Board of Education members criticize mistakes in teacher evaluation data. Gradebook. School Zone. Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo isn’t a fan.

On top of the world. Gov. Rick Scott calls the PIRLS results (an international assessment that shows Florida fourth-graders are second only to their peers in Hong Kong in reading) “great news for Florida as our state becomes a hub for global commerce.” Jeb Bush says Florida students are “again busting all the myths.” No more Flori-duh, writes EdFly Blog: “Florida has gone from one of the worst reading states in the nation to one of the top reading nations in the world. And just last month I read a story about Jeb Bush’s education reforms in Reuters, which concluded: 'But a close examination raises questions about the depth and durability of the (education) gains in Florida.' Think we’ll see a follow-up?” More from Florida Today, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Eduwonk, Jay P. Greene’s Blog. (Image from questprblog.com)

FCAT for voucher kids? Gov. Scott seems to suggest that in comments to reporters Tuesday. Here’s the clip (starts at about the 13-minute mark). Coverage from Gradebook, WTSP, Orlando Sentinel, Associated Press, News Service of Florida. The governor will be speaking in Tampa tonight, at the annual donor dinner for Florida’s tax credit scholarship program (which is sponsored by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog).

Race to the Top. Miami-Dade wins this round, reports the Miami Herald.

Conversion. The Broward County school board considers creating a countywide K-12 digital arts magnet in an effort to help a low-performing middle school meet accountability standards, reports the Sun-Sentinel.

Protection. From the Orlando Sentinel: "After listening to nearly six hours of testimony on both sides of the issue, the Orange County School Board added protections for gay, lesbian and transgender students and staff to the district's nondiscrimination policy early Wednesday."

Wait a minute. The Polk County school board and new superintendent John Stewart may delay the opening of six district-run charter schools for at-risk students, reports the Ledger.

School-to-prison pipeline. On the NAACP's agenda in Duval. Florida Times Union.

Florida education officials recently posted a frank internal report about what led to the standardized testing flop that has consumed the ed reform debate for the past two months and sparked the biggest backlash yet against the state’s accountability system. Unfortunately, it received virtually no media coverage (one exception here), which is a bit head-scratching considering both the context and contents.

It essentially says, “We messed up.”

“The decision to make a significant change in scoring FCAT Writing in one year was flawed,” the report says. “Throughout the lifetime of the FCAT, there has never been such a dramatic change in scoring criteria in such a short time.”

Led by former Education Commissioner John Winn (pictured here), the just-the-facts review contrasts sharply with the bomb throwing from critics who fought change every step of the way and now deny progress, particularly for low-income and minority students. It is also, in a way, a good sign for the future – a reflection of leadership that is willing to admit mistakes and find remedies.

The report is humbling. It says the state moved too far, too fast in ramping up scoring criteria. External communication with school districts wasn’t strong enough. Internal communication with new Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson was lacking. Also, department staff didn’t move soon enough to determine potential impact of raising the bar: “Had this been done, perhaps the committee members and the Department would have changed the decision to move forward in less than a year.”

Robinson and other education officials have acknowledged some of these mistakes in general terms. But the report goes into more detail. It references confusion in a key July 5, 2011 memo to superintendents, and a year-long span in which the state Board of Education did not receive briefings about the changes. It points out that budget cuts forced the state to whittle away at a more optimal test design, and says transition at the top may have contributed to the communication problems. (After Gov. Rick Scott forced out former Commissioner Eric J. Smith, Winn stepped in as interim until the board hired Robinson.)

There’s no doubt the mistakes have undermined confidence in the state’s education system. It will require time and care to repair that. But it’s also true that many critics have gone beyond the kind of legitimate beefs soberly recounted in the report to flirt with demagoguery. (more…)