An education reform era policy ended recently as New York lawmakers repealed a law that attempted to remove ineffective instructors from public school classrooms. As Kathleen Moore of the Times Union explained:
Districts can still fire probationary employees, as always. The measures that help them remove ineffective teachers who have tenure, however, have been removed. Repealed were measures that called for an expedited hearing for “just cause” termination and stated that reviews showing a pattern of ineffective teaching would be “very significant evidence” in favor of termination.
In addition, teacher evaluations will no longer have to consider test scores, student growth scores and other measures that the state tried to use from 2010 until when the pandemic hit in 2020.
If you have been hanging around the ed reform water cooler long enough, you will recall when New York City “rubber rooms” were a cause celebre back in 2009. Job security for tenured teachers reached such absurdity that NYC schools would send instructors accused of criminal activity to “rubber rooms” in order to keep students safe. Mind you these people continued to draw their salary and benefits while doing absolutely nothing. Rubber rooms existed because it was almost impossible to fire a tenured teacher.
State lawmakers attempted to address this with a statewide evaluation policy that could-in theory- allow school administrators to remove tenured teachers for ineffective instruction. In theory this could have a large impact on average student achievement based upon research such as this chart from a 2006 Brookings Institution study:
The upshot: Research shows that some teachers are catastrophically poor at getting students to learn (left side of the bell curve) while others are amazing (right side of the bell curve). Obviously what state lawmakers should do is to create a statewide evaluation system to remove the teachers on the left side, and average teacher quality will improve- in theory. As the Times Union article noted, New York had a policy to do just this in theory between 2010 and 2020. Let us then see what happened in New York NAEP scores in practice between 2009 (pre-policy) and 2019 (last NAEP under the policy and before COVID).
Of course, this does not mean that the New York teacher evaluation policy caused New York NAEP scores to decline. It does however mean that the hoped for large improvement in instruction failed to materialize. I don’t know of any data source to confirm or deny this, but I’d be willing to bet a left toe that very few teachers were removed under the policy.
Despite all the Sturm und Drang surrounding this policy at the time, it limped along ineffectually for a decade or so before repeal effectively never being implemented. It’s almost as if school districts have been subject to a deep level of regulatory capture by reactionaries with abundant ability to engage in passive resistance. Reformers bringing technocracy to a politics fight brings to mind Macbeth:
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
It also stands as a great example of Dennis Nedry attempting to get the dinosaur to fetch the stick. Education reform policies require active constituencies in order to work and last. If the supporters of top-down policies recognize this need, they have yet to display much ability to acquire them.
School choice. The school system needs to be tailored to individual students' needs, Miami-Dade's superintendent writes in a back-to-school op-ed touting the expansion of the district's school choice programs. Miami Herald. Duval students return with more choices available. Florida Times-Union.
Failure factories. Part two of a Tampa Bay Times investigation of five struggling elementary schools is here. District officials address the public. A columnist offers up ideas.
Back to school. More districts around the state start classes today. Miami Herald. Tampa Tribune. Daytona Beach News-Journal. Stuart News. Leesburg Daily Commercial. Manatee's new chief says the district needs to do better in the coming year. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Officials need to ensure students are ready to learn, the Herald-Tribune editorializes. Groups help low-income and homeless students get ready for school. Tampa Tribune. Miami Herald. Bradenton Herald. Gainesville Sun. Orange and Brevard Counties expect enrollment jumps. Orlando Sentinel. Florida Today.
Tax credit scholarships. Crux looks at the impact scholarship programs in Florida and elsewhere are having on Catholic schools.
Charter schools. A high-poverty charter school for girls prepares for the new school year. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Teacher evaluations. Why do so few Broward teachers get top marks? Sun-Sentinel.
Discipline. Miami-Dade rolls out a new approach in time for the start of school. Miami Herald.
Growth. Manatee schools are brimming with students. Bradenton Herald. More here.
NCLB. Florida gets its federal waiver renewed. Gradebook. School Zone.
Special needs. A former homecoming king with Down syndrome and legions of fans succumbs to pneumonia. Orlando Sentinel.
Learning disabilities. Duval opens a new school for children with dyslexia. Florida Times-Union. (more…)
STEM. Two charters and one magnet school do especially well getting disadvantaged students to pass state science tests. Bridge to Tomorrow.
Teacher evaluations. A teachers union lawsuit against Florida's evaluation system stumbles in federal court. Gradebook. Sentinel School Zone.
School choice. A Polk County school will now only be open to students assigned to its zone. Lakeland Ledger.
Testing. The state's testing validity study remains a work in progress. Gradebook.
TFA. Teach for America hires a new leader in Jacksonville. Florida Times-Union.
Budgets. Palm Beach's new superintendent talks about the need for "strategic shedding" of unnecessary budget items. Palm Beach Post. The Alachua school district and sheriff's office debate funding for school resource officers. Gainesville Sun.
Uniforms. A Lake County elementary school plans to make school uniforms mandatory next school year. Leesburg Daily Commercial.
Career education. Tampa Bay counties work with German companies to run apprenticeship programs. StateImpact. (more…)
Testing. The Orlando Sentinel has a primer on the state's new assessments. Some parents say they plan to pull their children out of state standardized testing even though the law doesn't provide an avenue to do so. Sun-Sentinel. Lake County-area lawmakers talk standards and testing with the Leesburg Daily Commercial. Lawmakers seem poised to respond to the recent testing outcry, an Orlando Sentinel columnist writes. Pasco schools add up the cost of standardized testing. Gradebook.
Lawsuits. A Super Bowl ad takes aim at the lawsuit challenging Florida's tax credit scholarship program. Saint Petersblog. The lawsuit is misguided because the program doesn't hurt public school funding, Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart writes in the Palm Beach Post. The namesake for Florida's McKay scholarships criticizes the suit in the Bradenton Herald. The program is administered by scholarship funding organizations like Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog and employs the author of the post.
Private schools. A new private high school is coming to Collier. Naples Daily News.
Charter schools. The Hillsborough County School district releases data on the zoned schools of students who attend charter schools. Tampa Bay Times. A Lake Wales charter school is set to get a new freezer. Winter Haven News Chief.
School choice. Southwest Florida school districts open choice applications. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Teacher pay. Broward's teachers union deadlocks with its school district while trying to negotiate raises under the state's new performance pay law. Sun-Sentinel. Brevard teachers protest a lack of pay raises after the passage of a tax referendum. Florida Today.
Teachers unions. The national American Federation of Teachers organization intervenes in the management of Orange County's local union. Orlando Sentinel.
District leadership. The Tampa Tribune dissects the Hillsborough School Board's recent vote to oust Superintendent MaryEllen Elia. Finding a replacement could be tough, with so many districts in the market for new leadership. Tampa Bay Times. St. Lucie County has picked five finalists for its top district leadership post. St. Lucie News-Tribune. The ouster of Volusia's superintendent took an ugly turn, a Daytona Beach News-Journal columnist writes.
Magnet schools. Broward officials consider making some programs all-choice. Sun-Sentinel.
School choice. Marion schools move to a new open-enrollment policy. Ocala Star-Banner.
PLSAs. A family explains how Florida's new Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts will help them educate their daughter. EdFly. The program is administered by scholarship funding organizations like Step up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.
Teacher evaluations. Florida lawmakers want to revisit the percentage of teacher evaluations derived from test scores. Gradebook.
NCLB. The main federal K-12 education statute, most recently dubbed No Child Left Behind, is due for a rewrite and could soon get one. Where does Florida's Congressional delegation stand? StateImpact.
Testing. Hillsborough officials say they don't want exaggerated testing fears to affect children. Tampa Bay Times. Lee school board members want lawmakers to cut back on testing. Fort Myers News-Press.
Common Core. Protests against the standards come to the Collier County school board. Naples Daily News.
Careers. The Flagler school district creates a job pipeline for students by working with local businesses. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Lawsuits. Tax credit scholarship parents want a lawsuit challenging their program dismissed. redefinED. The program is administered by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog. Watchdog.org looks at the dismissal of Florida's other school choice lawsuit, which could still be appealed.
Private schools. A former teacher of the year visits a Manatee Episcopal school. Bradenton Herald.
School choice. School choice is really about "parent equality," Patricia Levesque writes on the EdFly.
Teacher evaluation. Hillsborough union leaders call for a review of the district's Gates Foundation-backed teacher evaluation system. Gradebook. The school board may make changes. Tampa Tribune. Tampa Bay Times.
Testing. Standardized testing is on lawmakers' agenda. Sun-Sentinel. Sarasota schools purchase a new assessment tool. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Superintendents. Hillsborough's MaryEllen Elia may face a no-confidence vote. Tampa Tribune. Manatee's superintendent expects continued improvement at the district. Bradenton Herald.
Teacher conduct. A Leon County school employee is indicted on child pornography charges. Tallahassee Democrat.
School finance. Florida's strong credit rating brings good news for a big bond issue. Gradebook.
Administration. Manatee's human resources director resigns. Bradenton Herald. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Advocacy. A Washington Post article looks at Jeb Bush and the education foundations he recently left.
Facilities. The Flagler school district looks for fixes to a troubled athletic club it controls. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Tax credit scholarships. The Tampa Tribune comes down in favor of the expansion bill. The testing issue for tax credit scholarships is complicated. Gradebook. As she has many times before, Jacksonville's Julie Delegal says valid comparisons to public school students can't be made when tax credit scholarship students take similar but not the same standardized tests. Florida Today. GTN TV does a story on the bill. So does Watchdog.org. News Service of Florida asks Gov. Rick Scott about what he said last year regarding scholarship students and testing. (The scholarship program is administered by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.)
Charter schools. A Q&A with the new principal of the University Prep charter school in St. Petersburg. Tampa Bay Times. WMNF's "Urban Cafe" show interview the principal of Seminole Heights High School, a charter school for 16- to 21-year-old males who want a "fresh chance" at earning a high school diploma. (Starts about the 8 minute mark.) A Palm Beach County School Board member suggests a multi-million dollar marketing campaign to stem the tide of students leaving for charter schools. Palm Beach Post.
Common Core. Despite claims, many textbooks are NOT aligned to Common Core. Tampa Bay Times. Common Core standards are in use in art classes, too. Tampa Tribune. How the Common Core rollout is going in Florida middle schools. StateImpact Florida.
Pre-K. Kids who participate are more ready for kindergarten than those who don't. School Zone.
School choice. Parents, choose carefully. Tampa Bay Times. Probably better, for now, that the Palm Beach County school district expand its existing choice programs rather than go to "full" district choice. Palm Beach Post.
Parents. They must be challenged to help, early and often. Pensacola News Journal.
Accountability. EdWeek logs in Sen. Bill Montford's "pause" bill.
Teacher evals. VAM scores could lead to unfair ratings. Florida Times Union. The state should chuck its eval system and let districts come up with something better. Tampa Bay Times.
Testing. Some teachers didn't appreciate the ed commish's letter on testing for special needs students. Gradebook. Conflict between FCAT and Passover. Gainesville Sun. (more…)
State tests: The end of the much-maligned FCAT is no cause for celebration by critics, writes the Palm Beach Post. Sen. John Legg correctly recognizes there are too many standardized tests in Florida's public schools, but his proposed solution of a test-free period around state-required tests is impractical, writes the Tampa Bay Times.
Common Core: A state senator has submitted legislation to stop the Common Core State Standards from taking effect in Florida. The Buzz. The new state standards place more emphasis on cursive writing, but not everyone is on board as technology takes over the classroom. Fort Myers News-Press. Studies find textbooks are a poor match for Common Core standards. StateImpact Florida.
Teacher evals: The publication of teacher performance scores this week resonate in Leon County Schools, drawing criticism from school board members and fueling recruitment efforts by the local teachers union. Tallahassee Democrat.
Special needs: The state teachers union releases a video showing Polk County school administrators giving a standardized test to a blind child in a persistent vegetative state. Herald/Times.
State grades: The state Board of Education should listen to parents and educators who want to put the brakes on the grading plan, writes The Ledger.
Pay raises: Pasco County's superintendent recommends new salary schedules for administrators and non-bargaining personnel that would increase their pay by 4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively. Tampa Bay Times. The roughly 6,000 Palm Beach school district service employees like bus drivers, custodians and electricians will get a 4 percent raise under a new tentative labor agreement. Palm Beach Post.
School boards: Pinellas County School Board members vote unanimously to change the time allotted for public comments from the beginning of their meetings to the end, despite initial concerns the switch would discourage public participation. The Tampa Tribune. More from the Tampa Bay Times. The Palm Beach County school board hears some tough talk on a still-sparse budget for next school year. Palm Beach Post.
Vouchers: Jewish leaders speak in support of school choice and the expansion of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. Jewish Journal. Senate President Don Gaetz's call for more accountability through expanded testing is the right call and a good place to start, writes the Sun Sentinel. Taxpayers fund both public and private schools in Florida, and they deserve accountability from each, writes Russ Kesler for the Orlando Sentinel. A lot of parents complain their children aren't getting that high-quality education right now, and lawmakers could be about to give them the opportunity to make a choice. Bay News 9.
Common Core: How can two Sarasota County schools - one for the gifted and the other for disabled students - fit in with the standards that 45 states have approved? Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Ed reform: The 10th annual College Board Report to the Nation ranks Florida once again among the top five states in the percent of high school graduates who have passed an Advanced Placement test with a score of 3 or higher, writes Patricia Levesque. Gainesville Sun.
Teacher evals: Palm Beach teachers score well on the controversial evaluations. Sun Sentinel. The data shows that Broward is among more than three dozen school districts that had lower-than-expected student gains over a one-year period last year, but Miami-Dade and Palm Beach have higher-than-expected student gains. Sun Sentinel. Teachers unions and school districts criticize the release of teacher performance evaluations. Times/Herald. Reactions to the release of Florida's Value-Added Model (VAM) scores for teachers compiled by the Florida Times-Union. School districts reassure teachers. Tampa Bay Times. More from Palm Beach Post, Fort Myers News-Press, Miami Herald, TC Palm and The Tampa Tribune.
Grades: Pinellas school board members consider making honors classes worth less than those in IB and AP. Tampa Bay Times. The student progression plan also could include longer grading periods, and fewer report cards. The Tampa Tribune.
School choice: Pinellas County schools Superintendent Mike Grego pushes to expand educational opportunities to woo back parents and students. Tampa Bay Times.
Magnet schools: A Polk County middle school for the arts class tries seating kids on bouncy exercise balls instead of a traditional desk and chair to help them focus better. The Ledger.
Private schools: Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa invests in technology to foster better collaboration and critical thinking among students. Tampa Bay Times.
Certificates of Completion: The not-quite-a-diploma certificate cripples career opportunities, writes the Fort Myers News-Press. Hillsborough County students look to the ACT to get their diplomas. Tampa Bay Times.
Common Core: The new education standards, state grades and teacher evaluations and pay are among the education issues to watch for in 2014. StateImpact Florida.
School funding: The Palm Beach County School District should lobby legislators to restore the 50-cent millage rate, writes Rick Christie for the Palm Beach Post.
Teacher evals: The TC Palm looks at the state's new system of rating teachers. (more…)
