Robinson is to attend church in Orlando on Sunday and then meet with parishioners who are worried about the state’s school accountability system and recently released FCAT scores, according to The Hope Church in Orlando. The church said Robinson will attend its 11 a.m. service and then talk with the pastor and others after that.

He is then scheduled to attend a 3 p.m. “pastors’ round table” at Empowerment Ministries Church. At the Pine Hills church, he is to meet with pastors also worried about FCAT and education.

Finally, at 4 p.m. Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, is having an “emergency town hall ” at Evans High to discuss “recent changes with FCAT and its recent unfortunate scores.”

The Florida Department of Education said it was not in on the planning of Siplin’s meeting but that Robinson plans to attend after he wraps up his meeting with the pastors.

On Monday,Robinson heads to Palatka and Jacksonville, but he’s to be back in Orlando on Tuesday to give the keynote speech at the the Florida Sterling Council’s education summit. The event is at the JW Marriott hotel. He’s to discuss ”The Vision for Education in Florida K-12.”

At his first “Conversation with the Commissioner” in Tampa on Wednesday, Robinson got an earful from parents about FCAT, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Parents complained the test dominates too much of public education and hurts students.

These meetings are part of the Florida Department of Education’s effort to communicate more directly with parents about academic standards and testing. That effort includes a new “FCAT call center” and parent-focused websites.

The call center had logged 1,902 calls as of 4:30 p.m. yesterday, while the “path to success” website had more than 4,400 hits, officials said.

Runner draws attention to schools

A Seminole County man is undertaking a marathon 110 mile run Friday and Saturday to draw attention to under funding of public schools and colleges in Florida.

Steve Wheeler, a local real estate broker, will be running from Altamonte Springs to Gainesville, passing by several schools that he credits with giving his children a quality education. But that high standard of education is threatened by continuing cuts to education spending, he indicates. 

Wheeler’s run will start at Spring Lake Elementary and then proceed past Teague Middle, Bear Lake Elementary and  Lake Brantley High. Then he will head north and after, we hope, an overnight stay somewhere along the way, he’ll wrap up the run at the University of Florida Fine Arts building around noon on Saturday. 

Wheeler’s daughter Leslie attended Spring Lake, Teague and Lake Brantley, and recently graduated from UF with a degree in architecture. His two sons attend Bear Lake Elementary.

Wheeler appreciates how a well rounded education including the arts expands creative thinking among even those who are not die hard artists, and he is concerned that the belt tightening in public schools and universities is threatening the arts.

 He and those helping him organize the run are encouraging donations to the Seminole school system’s charitable foundation and to UF’s fine arts and architectural programs.

In Central Florida, two charter schools posted some of the highest passing rates in the state — Lake Eola Charter in Orange and Galileo School for Gifted Learning in Seminole both had 94 percent pass rates. Lakeland Montessori Schoolhouse, a charter in Polk County, was one of only two schools in the state with a perfect pass rate.

At Lake Eola Charter School, principal Ronnie DeNoia said she and her staff were “ecstatic” about their 94 percent pass rate in third-grade reading, the highest in Orange County. She said that as a small school, the staff can quickly pivot when something is not working. She said the school’s practice of letting elementary students choose all of their own books gets them invested in reading.

But she said she’s also sad for the hardworking teachers in traditional Orange County schools. “We know the caliber of teachers in Orange County. I know they’re doing a good job.”

Some of the region’s lowest pass rates were also charter schools. Rio Grande Charter and Nap Ford Community Charter, both in Orange, had pass rates of 15 and 16 percent, respectively. The only lower-scoring school in the region was Cherokee in Orange, which is a school for students with emotional disturbances. Many of the students have missed months of school before enrolling there.

 As expected, the percentage of kids reading and doing math at grade level looks far worse than in prevoius years.

District counsel Woody Rodriguez said later Wednesday that the district will consider changing its forms, but that registrars are trained to let parents know the field is optional. This year, 62,000 parents left the spot blank and 120,000 filled it in. District spokeswoman Kathy Marsh noted, however, that social security numbers are needed to apply for federal college loans while in high school.

The ACLU is concerned that requiring social security numbers discourages Hispanic immigrants from registering their children for school.

Parents, teachers, administrators and students should be braced for bad news.

The state has already estimated the percentage of students scoring at grade-level or better (3 or above) on both tests will fall from last year’s marks, thanks to the tougher scoring system put in place this year.

The predictions are:

– 57 percent of third graders will be at least a grade level in reading, compared to 72 percent last year.

–18 percent will score at the lowest level, earning a 1 and facing possible retention in third grade, compared to 16 percent last year.

–56 percent will be at least on grade level in math, compared to 78 percent in 2011.

   In effect, the tougher scoring — and the revised FCAT 2.0 exams — could make it look as though the state’s students are taking a giant step backwards. The predicted scores look about like the marks posted in 2001, so they have the appearance of wiping out the progress (at least as measured by test scores) of the last decade.

The state insists that’s not the case but also that raising standards is “the right thing to do.”

One of its new parent websites say, “Please know that this is an effort to prepare your student for success after high school, in college, in the workplace, and in life. Raising standards and measuring students’ progress toward the standards is the right thing to do.”

Two others are planned — one in Boca Raton and one in Jacksonville. These seem part of the Florida Department of Education and the State Board of Education’s stated plan to communicate better — and more directly — with parents.

These events have a simple aim, the Florida Department of Education said:  To give Robinson a chance “to meet with parents, teachers and local communities to talk about education in Florida.”

But it’s fair to guess a certain four-letter word — FCAT, that is — might be the hot topic at every meeting.

The Tampa meeting is to begin at 7:30 p.m. at Hillsborough Community College.

Kathleen Shanahan, the chairman of the State Board of Education, who is from Tampa, is to attend as well.

The Boca Raton meeting is Friday at 6 p.m. at Boca Raton High. Board member Barbara Feingold, who is from nearby Delray Beach, is to attend that one.

There are two meetings in Jacksonville on Monday but no further deails yet.

John Edwards

John Edwards, a finalist for superintendent of Orange County Public Schools, is retiring from his job as North Area Superintendent at the end of the school year.

Edwards has spent his entire 34-year career in Orange schools, and said it was time to retire after he was passed over by Barbara Jenkins for the chance to lead the 182,000-student district.

He said he will be looking for a part-time opportunity. He was not pressured to leave, he said.

Edwards began his career in 1978 at Edgewater High School, where he was a teacher, coach and later dean of students. He was an assistant principal at Winter Park and Jones high schools before becoming principal at Apopka High, where he stayed for nearly a decade. After that he moved into the central office, serving as associate superintendent over curriculum, then East area superintendent before moving into the North job in 2010.

He will be succeeded by William Gordon, who is currently second in command in the East learning community. Gordon was previously principal of Winter Park High School.

But following the ACLU’s letter to the state Department of Education contending that “many” of the state’s 32 schools offering single-gender classes might be illegally discriminatory, OCPS’ attorney said he would investigate.

“In light of the recent letter by the ACLU and your inquiries, the legal office will be reviewing the compliance requirements for single sex classrooms along with the appropriate OCPS personnel to determine if there were any errors made in creating those classes,” said legal counsel Woody Rodriguez.

Gov. Rick Scott’s office also weighed in, suggesting the Florida Department of Education should make it clear FCAT scores are expected to drop because the state has raised academic standards.

This “FCAT messaging” help is described in emails between DOE and the Governor’s staff available on Scott’s new “sunburst” website.  The emails suggest Bush’s groups were in the thick of the discussions on how to publicly discuss lower FCAT scores — a fact that won’t surprise too many Florida education watchers.

In one email, the legislative director for a Bush foundation (there are two) sent a message about a conference call in which the pr firm, GMMB (one that does a lot of work for the Gates Foundation), “will explain the communication strategy to all of you and will provide (initial) key messages and tough Q & A for us to share.”

That message was sent to key DOE and Scott staff but also to influential business groups, like Florida Realtors and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, as well as state education associations (but no, not the Florida Education Association).

 The goal was to explain to the public why FCAT scores and school grades were likely to drop (tougher standards and revamped FCAT exams) and why the tougher expectations were important in the long run (students need to know more to be successful in the global economy).

 The goal also was to help the state weather criticism — which came fast and furious after FCAT writing scores were released last week. The ”FCAT Communication plan” the groups crafted said it aimed to ”win support and understanding for higher standards in our state as we move through a volatile period” brought on by those higher standards and corresponding lower scores.

The work on the FCAT message included several focus groups and is now visible on the the education department’s new, parent-focused websites.  One website, for example,  includes a “Q and A” very similar to one the GMMB sent to the Foundation for Excellence in Education (one of Bush’s groups), the emails show.

The websites already have been criticized by the parent group, Fund Education Now, which called them “spin” in a statement issued this morning and said “truth is missing in DOE campaign.”

The group, founded by three Orlando mothers, said the state is using the websites to sell its policies, such as holding back third graders who don’t pass FCAT reading, rather than provide unbiased information.

The messaging work looks to continue, as an email meeting alert sent to DOE, Scot and Bush folks notes there’s to be another “FCAT Communications Meeting” on May 30.

Tonight, the board is slated to give that school, Mavericks High, a one-year extension. It couldn’t find an appropriate location. Mavericks has a location in Osceola that Orange staff concluded last year had results that “are below the standards of Orange County.” Staff also determined that the school’s target population and approach are similar to four other Orange County schools.

However, the board felt strongly that Mavericks would fill an unmet need and that they had a good application and passionate board. However, the charter school’s board was unable to find an appropriate school site. Charter schools can get a deferral for one year, but must then open or face termination of their contract.

A charter school that got a deferral last year, Einstein Montessori School Orlando East, has found a location at 10301 East Colonial Drive. They plan to open this fall for grades 3 to 8 and hope to enroll up to 256 students by the end of their fifth year.

And an existing charter that has earned praise from the board, Life Skills Center, is up for a five-year renewal of their contract. The, school, at 4504 S. Orange Blossom Trail, is changing its name to Prosperitas Leadership Academy in conjunction with a change in management company. The school, which focuses on career preparedness, is including specific academic targets in its contract.

The charter school’s board agreed to change its principal if it doesn’t get a state rating for alternative schools of at least “maintaining” for two of four years. If it gets a rating of “declining” for at least two of four years, it will voluntarily close.

Such specific performance requirements are a feature that board chair Bill Sublette has been pushing for in new charter contracts as the state makes it harder to close bad charter schools or deny charter applications.

The district’s traditional high schools provided the names of their top scholars, nearly all admitted to at least one school in the top 20 national, liberal arts or world colleges listed in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings. The Orange list also includes several students admitted to the prestigious Juilliard conservatory.

Nearly half of the county’s high schools were unable to come up with three students admitted to top colleges. They were permitted to name other top scholars who had earned some national recognition, such as a National Merit Scholarship. Those schools were Apopka, East River, Evans, Jones, Lake Nona, Oak Ridge, Ocoee, University and Wekiva high schools.

The students were individually recognized in a ceremony at Tuesday night’s school board meeting. The district plans to make the recognition every year in the future.

Some high schools, such as Winter Park, reported many more “Super Scholars” than others, like Edgewater.

Arranged by high school, with admitted schools after their names, the first class of Super Scholars are:

APOPKA  
Tyler Darlington  University of Oklahoma
Kibrett Facey  Cornell University
Autumn Porras Payea  Georgetown Univeristy
  
BOONE  
Charles Collins  University of Notre Dame
Danielle Kennedy  University of Pennsylvania
Allyse Suganuma  Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania 

COLONIAL  
Jeremy Gloston  Elon University
Derek Knott  Lehigh University
Olga Trejos Kweyete  University of Florida, University of Pennsylvania

CYPRESS CREEK  
Rachel Davies  Haverford College
Miguel Goncalves  Harvard Univeristy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Stanford University, Williams College, Yale University
Shirbi Ish-Shalom  Cornell University, Rice University, Stanford University
Rachel Nations  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Oluwatofunmi Oshido  Columbia University
Dustin Santos  United States Military Academy
  
DR. PHILLIPS  
Lorrin Brubaker  The Juilliard School
Jake Chabot  The Juilliard School
Iulia Gheorghita  California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University
Saskia Groenewald  Duke University
Tina Huang  Emory University
Logan Kruse  Rice University
Surya Martin  Carnegie Mellon University, Emory University, University of South Carolina
John Orchard  United States Naval Academy
Jalen Phillips  Duke University
Riddhi Ramanlal  Emory University
Marina Walters  Duke University, Washington University in St. Louis
Jacqueline Wheelock  University of Edinburgh
  
EAST RIVER  
Mackenzie Chase  Duke University, Emory University, University of Central Florida

Jose Santana  United States Military Academy
Alexander Vazquez  University of Central Florida
  
EDGEWATER  
Erin Degler  Emory University
Brenden Guthrie  University of Pennsylvania
Mary Michael Taylor  Vanderbilt University, University of Central Florida
  
EVANS  
Dale Davis  Pennsylvania State University, University of Florida
Iris Lawson  Boston University
Kelby White  Washington University in St. Louis
  
FREEDOM  
Wade Chen  Emory University
Tomas Guarnizo  Vassar College
Leana Jonassaint  University of Notre Dame
Amarise Little  California Institute of Technology
Henry Sanchez  Johns Hopkins University
Brian Ventura  Columbia University, Harvard University, Vanderbilt University, Yale University
  
JONES  
Lovely Beaubrun  University of Florida
Gaaliyah King  University of South Florida
Duaron Williams  Iowa State University
  
LAKE NONA  
Kalene Badree  University of Miami, University of Florida
Michael Santiago  University of Florida
Sydney Williams  University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University
  
OAK RIDGE  
Purveena Doobay  University of Central Florida
Jerry Elie  University of Florida
Gefthe Jean Phillippe  University of South Florida
  
OCOEE  
Parbattie Balkaran  University of Central Florida
Neshka Dantinor  Haverford College
Shalenie Sanker  University of Chicago
  
OLYMPIA  
Sergiy Bokhnyak  Wesleyan College, Williams College
Radhika Gupta  Columbia University, Duke University, Rice University
Elizabeth Kelley  University of Notre Dame
Kenneth McClain  United States Military Academy
Lauren McNaughton  Emory University
Monica Rex  Johns Hopkins University
Sasha Tettenhorst  Washington University in St. Louis
Belle Yau  Emory University
  
TIMBER CREEK  
Spencer Flanikan  Vanderbilt University
Brianna Garcia  Brown University, University of Notre Dame, Vanderbilt University
Wesley Rivera  Harvard University, Yale University
Sean Toner  Vanderbilt University
Alex Torres  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  
UNIVERSITY  
Christinah Cross  Brigham Young University
Mariah Pelton  University of South Florida
Jay Shing Wang  University of Florida
  
WEKIVA  
Olivia Hayles  University of South Florida
Da Huo  United States Military Academy
Thor Johnsen  University of Miami
  
WEST ORANGE  
Esteban Peralta Chacon  Duke University
Sara Herrick  Northwestern University
Wheeler Reiss  Duke University, Washington and Lee University
  
WINTER PARK  
John Bogdon  Vanderbilt University
Carter Burns  Johns Hopkins University
Laurel Cohen  Washington University in St. Louis, Yale University
Leah Hollingshead  Vanderbilt University
Michael Hu  Duke University, Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University

Catherine Johnson  Wellesley College
Peter Lee  Emory University
Jackson Michalak  Cornell University, Vanderbilt University
Tracy Nelson  Vanderbilt University, Southern Methodist University
Samaria O’Brien  University of Notre Dame
Taylor Orner  Vanderbilt University
Rebecca Ratusnik  Smith College, Wellesley College
Ramsey D. Reyes  University of Pennsylvania, Rice University
Matthew Robinson  Columbia University
Kyle Shepherd  Duke University, Rice University, Vanderbilt University
Thomas Stephenson  Northwestern University
Miriam Stern  Cornell University, Wesleyan College, Oberlin College
Ory Tasman  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Xintong Tian  Swarthmore College
Erika Wert  Vanderbilt University
Conner Wilson  Northwestern University, University of California – Berkeley

The U.S. Department of Education today announced the criteria for the new competitive grant program, which has nearly $400 million to dole out.

“Today, we’re taking the next step forward. We’re announcing a new Race-to the Top competition for school districts that is aimed squarely at the classroom level and the all-important relationship among teachers and students,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in a statement.

 “With this competition, we are inviting districts to show us how they can personalize education for a set of students in their schools.  We need to take classroom learning beyond a one-size-fits-all model and bring it into the 21^st century,” Duncan said.

Districts can apply even if they are already taking part in Race to the Top through a grant their state won. Florida won $700 million in the initial phase of the competition, and all Central Florida districts are taking part in that.

Would any want another helping  of the federal government’s version of  reform?

The U.S. education department says of the latest grants aim to promote “transformative change.”

To that end, it says, ”applicants will be selected based on their vision and capacity for reform …. Districts must effectively engage and collaborate with teachers, parents and outside organizations….  Plans will focus on transforming instruction so that it meets all students’ learning abilities. Teachers will track and receive real-time data and information that helps them adapt their lessons and individualize instruction to accommodate the differences among their students.”

The task force made a number of recommendations — but most of those related to English-language learners were not endorsed by Robinson and presented to the State Board for approval this month.

That was in part because some did not pass muster with the U.S. DOE, which must approve of the state’s accountability plan, if Florida wants a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law. And it does. Others were rejected because they would require “significant” changes to the rule that governs A-to-F school grades.

(You can find information about the waiver and the task force here)

But advocates for kids learning English are worried the result is that schools with lots of those students enrolled will be hurt when the next batch of school grades is issued. They were hoping any changes to the school grading rule would provide more attention, and better education, to children whose first language isn’t English.

Sen. Rene Garcia, R- Hialeah, recently sent a letter to Robinson sharing the views of the Florida Hispanic Legislative Caucus.

“By not including any of the recommendations of the Task Force, your actions will severely impact the positive trend in student achievement made by Miami-Dade County Public Schools and various other school districts,” Garcia wrote. “These actions will likely lead to more schools in the state dropping a letter grade, increase the number of schools statewide receiving an “F”, put schools/communities with a high percentage of students for whom English is a second language at an unfair disadvantage, and result in fewer students considered to be on grade level.”

The task force had recommended that FCAT performance for English-language learners be weighted and that other measures of their progress be used, at least until they’d mastered English, among other suggestions.

“ This week’s fiasco over the FCAT Writing scores has left many shaking their heads in disbelief,” the parent group’s statement said.

The PTA asked if teachers and schools were well-prepared for the changes. And said, “Did our Governor, Legislators and Board of Education, think, or care, about the roller coaster of emotions our children are now experiencing? Who is to blame?”

The group also reiterated its opposition to using test scores “punitively.” It said standardized tests should be used to improve instruction and learning.  “Yet, it is important to note that students are not data points and personalization is needed for success,” it said.

Finally, the PTA wondered whether tougher standards and lousy test scores are part of some bigger, perhaps devious, plan.  

“Are our public schools being set up to fail, therefore creating the choice for parents to remove their children from our public school system and place them in private, for-profit institutions…using taxpayer dollars? ”

UCF President John Hitt

University of Central Florida President John Hitt is the nation’s 9th highest paid public college president for the second straight year, according to a report released today.

Hitt earned $741,500 in total compensation for the 2011 fiscal year while the country’s highest paid president, E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State University, made nearly $2 million, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual survey of presidential compensation.

Gee took first the No. 1 spot last year as well.

Hitt, the top administrator at Florida’s largest public university by enrollment, was the only Florida president to make the Chronicle’s Top 10 list.

University of South Florida President Judy Genshaft ranked second highest in Florida, earning $592,400 for the 2011 fiscal year, the Chronicle reported.

The state’s third-highest public college president salary was earned by Mark Rosenberg, the top administrator at Florida International University in Miami. He made $561,875 in total compensation.

UCF spokesman Grant Heston pointed out that only $200,000 of Hitt’s salary comes from public funds and that Hitt has not had a base salary increase since 2006.

“About 40 percent of his total compensation is at risk each year as it is tied to the university achieving strategic goals,” Heston told the Orlando Sentinel. “Payments are not guaranteed – compensation is based on the percentage of goals achieved and no additional compensation is awarded if goals are not met.”

The goals include improving student retention rates and university fundraising.

For the 10th-grade reading FCAT exam (the one students must pass to earn high school diplomas), the state has set a new benchmark — a score that indicates “readiness for college-level coursework.”

Twenty percent of Florida’s current crop of 10th graders scored at that mark, earning a 262 or better (a mid-level 4 score on the 5-level test) on FCAT reading, the DOE says.

If they enroll in a state college within two years, those students are exempt from taking the PERT, the state’s college placement test.

The Florida Department of Education says it has answers, at its new “FCAT call center” and at two parent-friendly websites.

If you think Florida puts too much emphasis on standardized testing, or has ratcheted up graduation standards too high, you might not like the answers you get. But the departments say it is trying to make sure parents have information.

“Florida’s parents and guardians provide invaluable support to our students and the department is committed to ensuring they have the most accurate user-friendly information and resources available,” said Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson, in a statement. “We are asking more from our students and teachers than we ever have, and parents play a critical role in Florida’s path forward.”

The call center number is 866-507-1109, and it’s toll-free.

The “path to success” website is here, and the “parent portal” site is here.

Parents can also email the department with questions or suggestions or complaints at justforparents@fldoe.org

But there was also a complaint — which had surfaced earlier, right after the test was given — that the essay topic fourth graders had to write about was a poor choice.

Here’s how it was described by the Florida Department of Education:

Writing to Tell a Story (Narrative): The Grade 4 narrative prompt directed the student to suppose someone had a chance to ride a camel and to write a story about what happens on this camel ride.

Some have complained that the topic was difficult for some students, particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds or those still learning English, who might have had little knowledge of camels and been confused what to write.

A parent wrote a letter to The Miami Herald in March criticizing the topic. ” Has anyone seen any camel farms around Florida recently? Wild camels in the Everglades? Pet camels? Does the state have any camels in the K-4 curriculum to at least expose students to the idea of a camel?  …Any kid writing in a confused style and not receiving a passing grade on the Florida Writes! exam will have unindicted co-conspirators: the idiot that came up with this topic and all the other idiots that approved it. ”

But the state says the the topic was field tested with some 1,500 fourth graders who “wrote enthusiastically” about a camel ride and seemed to enjoy it. The topic tested “very strong,” said Sharon Koon, assistant deputy commissioner.

The mean score on the fourth-grade exam, Koon said,  was the same as on the eighth grade exam, where there were no complaints about the topic. If the fourth-grade topic was really a struggle for lots of students, the scores likely would have been worse than those in the other grade, she said.

Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson said there are students who have more limited experiences and, sometimes, more limited knowledge as a result. But when asked about the FCAT, he spoke in broader teams, talking about the need for programs at libraries and online that can help them. “We can expand the boundaries of our students,” he said.

The group is led by Rick Roach, an Orange County School Board member who has made it clear before he’s no fan of the FCAT and the state’s testing policies (see here and here).

Roach and other members presented the highlights this week to the Central Florida Public School Boards Coalition and hope to do the same to the Florida School Boards Association next month.

Some key points from their presentation:

–Florida has stricter rules tied to testing than many other states, with mandatory retention and/or remediation for those who score poorly on FCAT.

–Testing takes up to 77 days of the school year in some schools.

–Testing costs Orange County schools alone more than $1.5 million

–Testing takes up huge amounts of staff time, with training required for administrators and proctors, and it takes over computer labs and other classrooms, displacing regular classes.

– FCAT reading exams contain passages on topics students “would probably never chose to read on their own,” perhaps explaining the low scores.

–The design of the FCAT reading exam aims to “trick” students “into selecting the incorrect answer.”

I’m having trouble uploading the PowerPoint, so we’ll try again next week (perhaps with the aid of some tech support types), plus include the white paper.

Monday, the department is launching an “FCAT call center,” two parent-focused websites and an “just for parents” email account.

We’ll be updating throughout the day, I’m sure.

It plans to release FCAT reading scores for 9th and 10th graders and from the ”retake” exams taken by students who didn’t pass the 10th-grade reading exam on a previous try.

We’ll post as soon as the results are out in the morning.