Gradebook Feed

Florida education news: Algebra exam, students on the FCAT, Holocaust mandate and more

Tony Marrero — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 10:57:30 +0000

ALGEBRA EOC: Seventh and eighth graders do well on the algebra end-of-course exam, while ninth graders underwhelm.

FROM THE MOUTHS OF STUDENTS: MacFarlane Park Elementary School students give give their assessment of the FCAT. And in case you missed it last month, Times staff writer Jeff Solochek visited Sand Pine Elementary in Wesley Chapel just before the state released district and school level writing results to get students thoughts on the test.

DIVINE CALLING: A Hernando High School football player heads to Trinity College to focus on counseling and pastoral studies.

TOUGH RECORD: For the first time, every Hillsborough high school makes a well-known list of America’s best high schools.

WHAT’S IT WORTH?: Problems with the FCAT fuel the debate over its validity, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.

MORE MONEY: The Lake School Board and the local teacher union are on the verge of approving raises, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

HOLOCAUST LESSONS: A new documentary shows how Florida’s mandate to educate students on the Holocaust suffers from a lack of funding, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

EDISON PREZ: A unanimous Edison State College board of trustees selects Jeff Allbritten to serve as the school’s next president, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

Pinellas teachers union responds to proposed health care changes

Cara Fitzpatrick — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 22:48:34 +0000

We reported in a brief story today that the Pinellas County School Board is looking at changes to its health insurance plan. A proposal brought forward by district staff would dramatically increase employees' out-of-pocket expenses.

Kim Black, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, sent this letter to employees today:

Many of you have read the article in the Tampa Bay Times today in
reference to an insurance plan presented to the School Board during a work
session yesterday, May 31st. At the School Board meeting, it was obvious
that board members were seeing this plan for the first time and many
questions were raised by Board members. That same plan was presented to
the Health Insurance Advisory Council (HIAC) several weeks ago. The four
unions representing school district employees, including PCTA and PESPA,
have rejected this specific plan. All four unions, represented on the HIAC
have taken a solidified position.

In a PCTA bargaining session following the insurance meeting, Kim Black
and Marshall Ogletree made clear to the district negotiations team that
the change was too draconian and in effect was asking employees to fund
their own raise.

While PCTA and PESPA were hopeful for a contract settlement by the end of
this school year, the insurance issue established a significant hurdle
impeding that goal. That means, bargaining will continue during the
summer.

The unions do realize there must be insurance plan changes but not the
specific plan presented to the School Board. All four unions are committed
to a measured approach while providing offsets for deductible charges and
really educating our employees. One example of a significant problem with
the current plan is that there is no incentive to have some procedures at
a free standing facility rather than at a hospital. While the employee
having the procedure pays the same at either location, the plan and all
other employees absorb thousands of dollars in added cost for the
procedure being done at a hospital. This is clearly an example where
knowledge of your insurance benefits is critical.

Another important goal of the HIAC is the establishment of district
wellness centers over the course of the next few years. These centers will
provide basic medical services at a fraction of the cost of other health
care providers and will offer greater convenience with flexible hours
convenient for your work schedules.

Stay tuned throughout the summer for bargaining information. Also,
encourage other union members to provide PCTA-PESPA with their home email
addresses.

BOG now has almost 50 applicants for Poly board

Kim Wilmath — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 21:40:18 +0000

With the deadline to apply for the new Florida Polytechnic board of trustees now extended through Monday, more applications are rolling in -- including the first application in the national search from outside Florida.

At last count Friday, the Florida Board of Governors had just shy of 50 applications. Here's who threw their names in since the deadline extension (the original cut-off was Thursday):

Eric Keith Allen, a Lakeland attorney
Jack David Armstrong, the president of Broward College in Ft. Lauderdale
Gregory Allen Bacon, an application specialist for Auralex Acoustics in Indianapolis
Ronald Lyle, a Lakeland Attorney with Clark, Campbell and Lancaster -- a firm that previously worked for the Polytechnic campus when it was still under the University of South Florida's umbrella
John Larry Dicks, a Plant City attorney
Ann Duncan, of Tarpon Springs, president of Vertical Integration, Inc, and a former member of the Board of Governors
Mygnon Champion Evans, a Lakeland attorney
John Edward Fleming, the president of Phoenix Industries, LLC, in Winter Haven
James Martin Grasse, of Lakeland, who works in concessions for the Delaware North hospitality firm
Winston Nichols Griffith, a program specialist with Leon County Schools
Neysa Hope Hatcher, of Winter Haven, an inspector with the U.S. Department of Agriculture
John Wayne Hendricks, a managing partner of Strategic Technologies in Sarasota
Ralph Dace Kimberlin, a retired professor in Winter Haven
Deborah Lynn Rhodes, of Lakeland, an adjunct instructor at Palomar Community College
Kenneth Leon Riddle, supervisor of chemical programs at Lakeland Electric
Gregory A. Sanoba, a Lakeland attorney
John Hugh Shannon, a Lakeland attorney
Douglas Dean Sommer, an independent contractor in Lakeland
Gene Strickland, Lakeland city manager
Donald Herbert Wilson, a Homeland, Fl, attorney

Those people join dozens of others who have already applied with the Board of Governors, which can appoint five people to the 11-member board of trustees, and Gov. Rick Scott, who can appoint six. Scott's office, at last count, had received 23 applications, including eight who also applied with the Board of Governors.

Algebra results are out today

Cara Fitzpatrick — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:13:17 +0000

Students in the Tampa Bay area performed worse than their peers statewide on Florida’s Algebra I end-of-course exam, according to results released today by the state Department of Education.

Statewide, 59 percent of students earned a 3 or above on a five-point scale. In Pinellas County, only 52 percent of students earned a 3 or above, while in Hillsborough County, 57 percent did. In Hernando County, 56 percent of students hit the mark. Pasco County students had the highest score in the area, with 58 percent considered proficient on the test.

This is the first year that the Algebra exam has been linked to a five-point grading scale, similar to the state’s FCAT exam.
Middle school students performed best on the exam statewide, with nearly nine out of ten passing. Students now need to pass the exam in order to graduate.

In the Tampa Bay area, many middle schools had reason to celebrate.

In Pinellas, 96 percent of students who took the test at Osceola Middle School earned passing marks. In Hillsborough, 98 percent of students at Randall Middle School passed.

State officials said students exceeded expectations on the exam.

“I am extremely proud of our students for their hard work and achievement on the Algebra 1 End-of-Course Assessment,” said EducationCommissioner Gerard Robinson in a prepared statement. “I want to thank Florida’s teachers for their diligence in preparing students for this challenging assessment. As our state has raised the bar, our students have shown steady improvement. Florida is a great example of what happens when we work together for our students. We can truly improve achievement across the board.”

Go here for updates.

Florida education news: Pasco alternative school, inspiring grads, FCAT opposition and more

Tony Marrero — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:18:37 +0000

BAD IDEA: State Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey says pulling funding for most Central Florida branches of the nonprofit alternative school AMIkids is unwise.

ADMINISTRATOR SHUFFLE: More than a dozen Hernando principals and assistant principals land in new posts.

AWWW: An Army specialist surprises her sister at her Sickles High graduation.

RUNNING TO A DREAM: A Land O’Lakes High School track star is headed to the Ivy League.

ON HIS FEET: A Nature Coast Technical High graduate bounces back from a disease that left him paralyzed and goes on to become varsity football captain.

FCAT OBJECTIONS: The Broward School Board becomes the next to pass a formal resolution opposing the use of the FCAT as the primary way to evaluate schools, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.

PATH FOR THE UNDOCUMENTED: The state’s College Board creates a resource guide for undocumented students, the Miami Herald reports.

WORTHY VAL? The decision to select as valedictorian a dual-enrolled Mount Dora High graduate who did not regularly attend classes at the school has sparked debate, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

CONTRACT TALKS: Palm Beach teachers want raises, but district says there’s no money, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

SETTLED: The Lee County School Board opts to pay $5,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

EDISON DECISION: Edison College trustees are expected today to select one of three finalists vying for the school’s president, the News-Press reports.

KEEP HIM IN JAX: The Florida State College at Jacksonville board agrees to extend president Steve Wallace's contract through 2016, the Florida Times-Union reports.

No changes to transportation in Pinellas County Schools this fall

Cara Fitzpatrick — Thu, 31 May 2012 18:00:41 +0000

Just a quick update on the transportation discussion at the Pinellas County School District:

Board members said today that there will be no changes to transportation in the coming school year. They reviewed potential cost savings that could come from cutting so-called transportation "extras." For instance, it costs about $4.3 million a year to bus students to magnet programs, out of zone schools and career academies.

Board members said they don't want to change transportation options after parents made decisions about where to send their children to school. But Chairwoman Robin Wikle said the board has this discussion every year and it's never a good time to make a decision.

"When is a good time," she asked.

The answer? Superintendent John Stewart said now is the time to start talking about transportation changes for the 2013/14 school year.

Health insurance changes could be on horizon for Pinellas County Schools

Cara Fitzpatrick — Thu, 31 May 2012 17:22:33 +0000

Board members are considering changes to the Pinellas County School District’s health insurance plan that would increase out-of-pocket costs for employees.

During its workshop today, board members looked at a proposed plan that would include a $2,500 individual deductible and a $5,000 family deductible. The district’s current plan has no deductible at all.

The proposed plan also would require employees to pay 20 percent of costs after the deductible is met. Employees now have set costs for hospital visits, emergency room trips and urgent care.

Superintendent John Stewart told board members that they need to consider a change in health insurance because of rising costs. The district’s plan costs $120 million this year; next year, it’s estimated to cost $127 million. (Employees pay 20 percent of that.)

“Going forward you have to do something or the bleeding will never stop,” Stewart said.

District officials estimate that the proposed plan would save the district about $20 million. Some of that money could be used for salary increases for employees.

Board member Linda Lerner said she was concerned about the effect on employees, particularly those making the lowest salaries. She also requested a comparison of neighboring counties’ costs.

“If you go to this so many of our employees will absolutely not be able to be part of this,” she said.

District officials said the proposed plan could save money for some employees. Payroll deductions would be lower, while out-of-pocket costs would be higher. Healthy employees – those who rarely see a doctor and don’t have pricey prescription drugs – could see a savings.

Employees could use flexible health accounts, putting aside pre-tax dollars for expected health costs. The district also is considering whether to offer “gap insurance.” Employees could pay a monthly fee for insurance that would cover the cost of deductibles.

Still, the proposed plan would be a big change for employees who do require medical care.

An arthroscopic knee surgery, for instance, would cost $3,500 (with deductible and 20 percent cost) if the procedure was done in a hospital – that’s compared to $300 with the current plan. (If the deductible had been met, the cost under the proposed plan would be $1,500.)

Maximum yearly costs under the new plan would be $5,000 for an individual and $10,000 for a family, including the deductible. That’s double the annual maximum cost with the current plan.

Board members will discuss the plan further on Monday during another workshop meeting. Any change to health insurance also would have to be negotiated with the unions.

Poly support group: It's time to come together

Kim Wilmath — Thu, 31 May 2012 16:28:21 +0000

Florida Polytechnic, the state's 12th university, is here. So, no matter how you felt about the idea before it made its way through the Legislature, it's time to come together to support it. That was the message of the new Florida Poly Vision group that debuted Thursday in Lakeland.

"I think there's an awful lot of people here, regardless of where they stood before the decision was made, who are now saying, 'Look, this is an opportunity,'" said the group's leader, Cliff Otto, president of the Saddle Creek Corporation. "Whether we wanted it or not, it's here. Shame on us if we don't take advantage of it."

Without offering many details, the group said it would work to spread a positive message about Florida Polytechnic -- a school that was born into controversy. Students, faculty and the University of South Florida (from which the school is splitting off) opposed its creation. The issue divided Polk County and dominated the higher education landscape during the last Legislative session.

The new nonprofit group, said Otto, will serve as the voice of the new university until a Board of Trustees is set up (applications were due today). It will fill the void of a booster association, which established universities use primarily for fundraising, though later in the news conference, Otto said the group would not fundraise.

Membership is already 70 people strong and growing, he said, with business leaders from all across Polk County joining in.

"All of us are committed to creating a needed, positive voice," Otto said.

There was one voice that seemed to ring out loudest:

"Well," said Sen. JD Alexander, who pushed hardest to split the school off during his last term, "I hope you begin to see, this isn't about me. This is about the idea of how to move our economy and our region and our state forward."

For too long, Alexander said, Florida has lagged in the race to innovation. Harkening back to the start of his own college career at Georgia Tech, ("Where it was cool to be a nerd"), Alexander said the new Florida Polytechnic will help fill a gap in Florida's economic development.

Florida's current universities, he said, do not produce enough graduates in science, technology, engineering and math -- the main focus of the new university.

"We had 17 percent of graduates graduating in STEM eight years ago," Alexander said. "Seventeen percent are graduating in STEM now."

The data Alexander used to make that argument was not immediately released to the Times.

While the total number of STEM graduates has gone up during that time -- increasing 25 percent over just the past four years, according to data from the Florida Board of Governors -- the percentage of those STEM students as part of the total number graduates has hovered just under 18 percent, as regular enrollment has also grown. The BOG's recent accountability report touts that Florida is ranked No. 3 in the nation among university systems for undergraduate STEM degree production.

Pasco district plans to consolidate after-school programs to save money

Jeff Solochek — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:54:43 +0000

Enrollment in the after-school PLACE program at Pasco County's Sunray Elementary School has dropped below the break-even point, losing more than $210,000 since 2005.

With money tight and no prospect for a turnaround, the district staff has recommended closing the program at Sunray. The families still needing after-school care from the district could send their children to PLACE at Gulf Trace Elementary, about 2 miles west, with busing provided. The staff, meanwhile, would be transferred to other PLACE sites that have open jobs and adequate enrollment.

The district is not recommending any increases in the fees that parents pay for PLACE, though. The School Board is being asked to maintain the current fees of $40 per child during the school year, and $55 for the summer, when it meets Tuesday.

JD Alexander, other elected officials, to attend Florida Poly Vision unveling

Kim Wilmath — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:52:24 +0000

No surprise here.

Sen. JD Alexander, who was able to push his pitch to create the 12th university through the Legislature and past Gov. Rick Scott's signature, will attend a press conference today in Lakeland announcing a new Florida Polytechnic support group.

The PR firm handling the event, which has also represented Alexander, sent out a revised news release Thursday morning, alerting media that several elected officials will be in attendance.

Those include: Alexander; Rep. Ben Albritton (R-Bartow); Rep. Kelli Stargel (R-Lakeland); Winter Haven Mayor James H. Powell; Auburndale Mayor Jack Myers, who previously worked as a consultant at the University of South Florida Polytechnic (pre-independence push); and Polk County commissioners Melony Bell, R. Todd Dantzler, Bob English and Edwin Smith.

The group, according to PR director Sarah Bascom, will help drum up fundraising the way booster or alumni associations at established universities do, said Sarah Bascom. It will also be available "to serve as hosts to visitors, a positive voice of support in the media, host round table community discussions and help spread the word that Polk County is excited and ready to help Polytechnic reach its needed benchmarks," Bascom said in an e-mail.

A web site devoted to the effort is counting down the minutes until the 11 a.m. news conference.

Florida education news: Poly trustees, Pasco alternative school cut, high achieving grads and more

Tony Marrero — Thu, 31 May 2012 12:17:22 +0000

NOW HIRING: Nearly 40 Floridians apply for 11 spots on the Florida Polytechnic University’s board of trustees.

ALTERNATIVE CUT: Funding is cut for the Pasco branch of AMIkids.

MOVING ON: A popular Tarpon High assistant principal who is not reappointed to his post says he’s resigned to his fate, though parents and teachers want to fight to convince district officials to let him stay.

FAMILY AFFAIR: The third daughter from one family is about to graduate as valedictorian of the IB program at Hillsborough High School.

MODEL CITIZENS: Two civic-minded Pasco high school students are featured in a textbook.

LONG ROAD TO GED: From private school to drug addiction and beyond, a Hernando man earns his diploma and heads to Pasco-Hernando Community College.

CONTAGIOUS FUN: Hernando emergency workers give Challenger K-8 students a firsthand look at fighting contaminants and hazardous materials.

TELL IT TO THE JUDGE: A challenge of the rule implementing the merit pay law goes before a judge, the Palm Beach Post repors.

BUDGET COMBO: The governor’s panel on higher education reform floats the idea of multi-year budgets, the Associated Press reports.

TWOFER: The number of dual-enrollment students in Florida continues to grow, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

RETURN BID: A finalist with history at Edison College makes his case for landing the job as the school’s district president, the Naples Daily News reports.

CJR looks at media response to New York teacher rankings

Cara Fitzpatrick — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:33:06 +0000

If you have time for a long read, this is a good one.

LyNell Hancock, a professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, offers an analysis of how the media responded to the February release of teacher rankings in New York. The piece, called "When Big Data is Bad Data," was published in the Columbia Journalism Review this month. In it, Hancock considers the good, bad and ugly of the stories that followed New York City's controversial release of teacher rankings.

She writes:

"Just because you have data doesn’t mean it is always right to publish it—especially if you know the numbers are no good. And these numbers do have huge problems. Everyone from economists, to educators, to knowledgeable city education reporters know that the arcane algorithms that generated the teacher-rating numbers are as statistically flawed as they are politically fraught.

The complex formulas are meant to measure how much value a teacher contributes to a student’s learning growth (or lack of growth) over time. It would be useful if they actually did. But the data are riddled with mistakes, useless sample sizes, flawed measuring tools, and cavernous margins of error. The Department of Education says that a math teacher’s ranking could be off by 35 percent; an English teacher’s by 53 percent. That means a reading teacher with a ho-hum 35 could either be as horrid as a 1 or as awesome as an 86—take your pick. What election survey with these kinds of gaping margins would be published in the papers?

Most damning—and most often ignored in the coverage—is that the sole basis for these ratings are old student tests that have since been discredited by the New York State Board of Regents. The 2007-2010 scores used for these teacher rankings were inflated, the Regents determined. The Department of Education had lowered the pass score so far that the tests had become far too easy. So not only were the algorithms suspect, but the numbers fed into them were flawed. News organizations that publish them next to teachers’ names run the risk of not only knowingly misleading the public, but also of becoming entangled in the political web surrounding teacher evaluations, which extends from the mayor’s office, to the state house, to unions, philanthropy board rooms, and to the White House.

And yet, nearly every city news organization went ahead and printed them anyway."

Hancock writes about the varied approaches of the new agencies, from the New York Times to GothamSchools.org, and asks editors about the choices they made in handling the data. It's an interesting behind-the-scences account.

She also makes the point that release of the obviously flawed data had a strange, perhaps unintended effect:

"To my mind, all reasons not to publish still exist. They are still true. But in the last month, I’ve come around to an opposite, perhaps more cynical, conclusion about the virtues of making them public. Publishing them, it seems to me, has had an odd, clarifying effect. Releasing the data to public scrutiny, alongside context and caveats, has exposed just how flawed they really are."

Pasco School Board prepares to adopt 2012-13 calendar

Jeff Solochek — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:11:21 +0000

Furlough days still could force changes to it. But for now, at least, the Pasco school district has settled upon class and work dates for the 2012-13 school year (attached below).

As it stands, the first day for teachers would be Aug. 13, with students arriving a week later on Aug. 20. Other key dates would be:

Sept. 3: Labor Day

Oct. 22: Teacher planning day

Nov. 19-23: Thanksgiving break (Note: Nov. 19-20 are possible hurricane makeup dates)

Dec. 24 - Jan. 7: Winter break (Jan. 7 is a teacher work day)

Jan. 21: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Feb. 18: President's Day

March 25 - April 1: Spring break (April 1 is a teacher work day)

May 27: Memorial Day

June 4: Students' last day

June 6: Teachers' last day

Negotiations have yet to begin for the 2012-13 contract. During the current year, the United School Employees of Pasco insisted that at least one furlough day be held on a student class day, and that is expected to happen again. Board members balked at cutting more than one class day, though. The district already has suggested that employees could lose at least one paid holiday to furloughs, which are recommended to save about $5 million in the budget.

The calendar goes to the board on Tuesday.

Downloadable files
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2012-13_calendar.doc	170 KB

More applicants for Pinellas County superintendent

Cara Fitzpatrick — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:32:05 +0000

Another batch of applications has come in for the top job in the Pinellas County School District. Here’s a quick rundown of the applicants:

Irving Hamer Jr.: Hamer has been a deputy superintendent for Memphis City Schools since 2008. He also was a senior consultant on a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which studied chronically low-performing schools. He also was a deputy superintendent in the Miami-Dade County School District.

Gary Lewis: Lewis has been superintendent of Catlin School District #5 since 2009. The Illinois school district has just two schools. He also has been a teacher, principal, director of operations.

C.M.C.: Possibly the most mysterious candidate thus far, C.M.C.’s resume and letter of interest list only initials, not a full name. C.M.C. has been campus college chair of criminal justice and security since 2011 and was an associate dean at ITT Technical Institute between 2007 and 2011.

Felice Lepore: Lepore has been chief accountability officer for Cluster One in Brooklyn since 2011. He was principal of the Urban Assembly School for Careers in Sports in the Bronx between 2003 and 2011. He also has been a teacher, a math specialist and an assistant principal.

Allen Howlett: Howlett has been superintendent of Resurrection Christian School in Loveland, Colo., since 2006. The school has about 1,100 students. He also has been a teacher and assistant principal.

Geoffrey Gordon: Gordon has been superintendent of Port Washington Public Schools in New York since 2002. The district has about 5,000 students. He was superintendent of a smaller school district in New Jersey between 1994 and 2002.

Christopher Ruszkowski: Ruszkowski has worked for the Delaware Department of Education since 2010. He’s been team leader of the teacher and leader effectiveness unit since October 2011 and was deputy officer of the Race to the Top team for a year before that. He’s also worked for The New Teacher Project and Teach for America.

Carol Bennett: Bennett started working for Golder Associates, Inc. in Atlanta this year. The firm’s web site says it provides civil/geotechnical and environmental consulting services to a wide range of industries. She also has been a teacher and assistant principal.

Christian Cutter: Cutter has been an assistant superintendent in the Douglas County School District in Colorado since 2010. He also spent about three years as the executive director of schools for the Colorado Springs School District. He has been a teacher, assistant principal and principal.

Christiaan Ramsey: Ramsey has been director of the exceptional children's program for Madison County Schools in North Carolina since 2011. He was an elementary school principal between 2004 and 2011. He also has been a band director and assistant principal.

Downloadable files
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hamers_cv.doc	63 KB
gary_lewis_resume.doc	56 KB
cmc.pdf	117 KB
f._lepores_resume.doc	49 KB
resume--ruszkowski--may_2012.doc	52 KB
bennett.pdf	383 KB
cutter.pdf	315 KB
howlett_resume_12.doc	55 KB
gordon.pdf	89 KB
ramsey_c__resume_6.doc	85 KB

Polk group to unveil "new support system" for Florida Poly

Kim Wilmath — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:12:35 +0000

Coming on the heels of a Board of Governors meeting, where state leaders heard about Florida Polytechnic's uphill battle as it embarks on independence, a group of Polk County community leaders are now announcing a "new support system," for the new university.

Florida Poly Vision, Inc., according to a news release, has 60 members so far, with the aim of giving Florida Polytechnic "a much needed voice." Participants include local business folks, such as Cliff Otto, president of the Saddle Creek Corporation, Victor Story, president of the Story Companies, Alice Hunt, VP of Hunt Construction of Central Florida, and Ingram Leedy, CEO of iThink Partners, LLC.

On Thursday they'll unveil details of their mission at the United Way of Central Florida building in Lakeland. A new web site for the group is counting down the minutes until that event.

Coincidentally, the public relations firm handling the group, Bascom Communications and Consulting, has also represented departing Senate budget chairman JD Alexander.

Alexander, who just ended his final session in the Senate due to term limits, used his last stint to push Florida Polytechnic to independence. It was a move mired in controversy, as it leap-frogged a plan laid out by the Florida Board of Governors to create FPU out of the USF Polytechnic campus in Lakeland after meeting certain benchmarks. It was opposed by students, faculty and USF officials.

Meanwhile, applications are still coming in to the Board of Governors and Gov. Rick Scott's office for appointment to the new 11-member Florida Polytechnic Board of Trustees. As of late Tuesday night, the Board of Governors had received 15 applicants for the five slots it controls:

Tim Bach, from Apopka, the president of Patterson/Bach Communications Agency
Joshua Keith Brown, from Auberndale, an attorney with the Peterson & Myers law firm in Polk
Gary Clark, an independent financial consultant from Lakeland
Tom Cloud, an Orlando lawyer with the Gray Robinson law firm, which represented an effort Alexander pushed a few years ago to build a road through central Florida, the Heartland Parkway, and also represented the Williams Company, which donated the land for the new Polytechnic campus to USF prior to the independence push
Robert Ernst, an Auburndale business analyst with the Pallet One, Inc., manufacturing firm
Robert F. English, a Polk County commissioner and the CEO of manufacturing company Valiant Products
Robert LeGrand Gardner, a current instructor at the campus formerly known as USF Polytechnic, who studied at Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Richard Paul Hallion, Jr., a research associate in aeronautics for the National Air & Space Museum and Smithsonian Institute
Robert Owen Kincart, a Lakeland scientist and president of the American Compliance Technology science and engineering firm
Thomas Roe Oldt, of Winter Haven, president of Thomas Oldt Investment Services
Maurice A. Raymond, a retired University of Florida chemistry professor from Lakeland, whose last position was director of research and development with Rhone-Poulenc chemistry company in 1995
Christopher David Russo, an Auburdale attorney with Moody Law
Robert Peter Scaringe, of Rockledge, president and CEO of Mainstream Engineering Corporation
Richard Labilb Shaheen, of Jupiter, a senior director of engineering and technical services for Florida Power & Light
Jonathan Wade Thompson, a Lakeland physical therapist with Bond Clinic in Winter Haven

The latest we heard from the Governor's office, there were five applicants for the six slots Scott can appoint, including two that had also applied with the BOG. We are waiting on an update.

Chronic student absenteeism plagues Pinellas; union leader calls for action

Rebecca Catalanello — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:04:21 +0000

Pinellas students are chronically absent from class at a higher rate than students in any other Florida district with more than 100,000 students.

According to the state Department of Education, 13 percent of Pinellas students last year were absent for 21 or more days over the course of the school year.

Kim Black, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, left, has had enough.

"This data calls for immediate action," she wrote to superintendent John Stewart and school board members last week. "Teachers have been stating that something is dramatically wrong regarding student attendance. This problem is not new."

In March, Black asked the district to create a task force to look at the problem, but said she's heard and seen nothing in response. The ramifications of student absenteeism could be as significant for teachers as for their students, she said.

"With strong emphasis placed on high-stakes testing in order to drive student achievement, assign school grades, evaluate teachers and distribute performance pay, the critical missing link in all of these discussions is student attendance," she wrote. "Not to mention the high cost of low graduation rates. We must look at the data and develop policies that support accountability and learning."

In response to Black's email, Stewart wrote back that he had asked staff attorney Laurie Dart to report to him how truancy and absenteeism is handled in the district and also planned to form a committee to "investigate the issue and make recommendations for potential implementation."

In the attachments below, you will find a copy of Black's letter, her comments to the school board in March and the DOE's district-by-district database of chronic absenteeism from the 2010-11 school year.

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letter_to_sb_-_student_absenteesim_5.23.12.pdf	254 KB
comments_to_sb_-_3-20-12_student_attendance.pdf	60 KB
copy_of_fl_doe_absent1011.xls	964 KB

Where do Pasco County high school graduates land after commencement?

Jeff Solochek — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:43:33 +0000

In conversations about curriculum, some Pasco County school district leaders routinely comment that the district needs more vocational and career options because only about a quarter of graduates are college bound.

That's not necessarily true, though.

With graduation around the corner, the district has released its annual "graduates and leavers" report, this time for the Class of 2011. (You can see it on the School Board's June 5 agenda, item 1.1.) It indicates that of 3,295 graduates who responded to a survey, 50.4 percent said they planned to attend college full time, with another 15.3 percent intending to attend part time. That's down slightly from the Class of 2008, which reported that 58 percent were headed to full-time school with another 20 percent part time.

Of those in the Class of 2011 continuing their education, 41.7 percent said they were going to community college, 26.1 percent to a Florida public university, and 12.2 percent to a private or out-of-state college or university.

In today's economy, it will be interesting to see how the results turn out for the group of seniors who will walk across the stage this weekend. In any case, though, these results seem to belie the belief that most Pasco graduates are not on their way to higher education. Perhaps it will inform budget conversations as the district continues to decide where to allocate its limited resources.

Florida education news: Student computers, high school graduations, budget cuts and more

Jeff Solochek — Wed, 30 May 2012 10:20:51 +0000

TOO MANY COMPUTERS? Pinellas schools prepare to shift computers around so that all have a ratio of about one machine for every three students.

ON THEIR SHOULDERS: Pasco School Board members face criticism that their proposed budget cuts create too heavy a burden on employees.

IN SUPPORT: Tarpon Springs High students and parents rally behind assistant principal Wayne McKnight after he learns he won't have his contract renewed.

OUSTED: A Pasco Gulf High teacher is dismissed over inappropriate text messages to a female student.

GRADUATIONS: Anclote High valedictorian and salutatorian • Anclote senior Daniel DeGraca overcomes personal hurdles to make it to graduation. • Mitchell High valedictorian and salutatorian • Mitchell senior Seattle Nelson turns his life around with the help of supportive teachers and finds himself headed to college.

MAKING IT: While many Florida high school seniors prepare for graduation, thousands who were freshmen four years ago won't be crossing the stage, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.

VIOLATION? Three Martin School Board members are accused of violating the state's open meetings law, the Stuart News reports.

LABOR NEWS: An administrative law judge is set to hear a Florida Education Association complaint against the state's new teacher evaluation law, the AP reports.

BACKLOG: Broward County schools can't afford to complete all the construction and maintenance projects they have as their capital budget shrinks, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

LAND GRAB: The Marion school district looks to buy four parcels of land for future school construction, the Ocala Star-Banner reports.

PERMANENT CUTS: University of Florida president Bernie Machen says the school must eliminate recurring expenses, and not just tap reserves, to balance its budget, the Gainesville Sun reports.

Pasco school district officials pore over which positions to cut

Jeff Solochek — Tue, 29 May 2012 17:31:33 +0000

Pasco school district administrators are spending much of Tuesday behind closed doors, trying to finalize which positions they will eliminate from the payroll for 2012-13.

Today's the deadline to make the list, in order to get the proposal before the School Board at its June 5 meeting -- the last one it will have before employees' current contract ends two days later.

Teachers in core curriculum courses have the best chance of avoiding the axe, as the district is committed to meeting state class size rules next year in order to limit its fines for missing the mark this past October. But that doesn't mean all teaching spots will be safe.

Assistant superintendent-secondary Tina Tiede said last week that she expects some high school elective positions might get dropped, with teachers in them moved to core courses if their certification matches. The electives, which don't fall under class size rules, would likely grow. "I am going to look at our clerical areas and I am going to look at our support areas," Tiede also told the School Board during a workshop. "Without identifying particular positions, those are two areas we will look at, as we have done every year."

At the elementary level, positions at risk could involve special education support for students in the mainstream classrooms, assistant superintendent-elementary David Scanga said. "Wevhave to work with principals to see what they might be able to live without," Scanga said.

The officials said they did not expect to see any more cuts to media or instructional technology specialists, who were reduced a year ago. They also signaled they would continue to look for ways to transfer educators who aren't working directly with students back into classrooms as possible, along the lines of a United School Employees of Pasco suggestion.

In all, about 82 school-based positions are projected to be eliminated. A list should be available later in the day, although there's been talk that it might be incomplete. Stay tuned.

Pinellas County School Board to discuss transportation costs

Cara Fitzpatrick — Tue, 29 May 2012 17:26:47 +0000

The Pinellas County School Board will discuss the hot-button topic of transportation at its workshop meeting Thursday.

If you remember, former superintendent Julie Janssen proposed last year cutting transportation to two fundamental schools to save money. (See that story here.) The proposal didn't go over well with a lot of people. Neither did a compromise that would have changed some school schedules.

Superintendent John Stewart isn't making any recommendations Thursday, but board members will get another look at data about how much it costs to provide all those so-called transportation "extras." For instance, it costs about $4.3 million a year to bus students to magnet programs, out of zone schools and career academies.

Michael Bessette, associate superintendent of facilities and operations, said the numbers available online have been amended slightly. You can see the updated numbers below. The discussion should happen at about 1 p.m. Thursday. (See the agenda here.)

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Student collapses because inhaler form not signed

Times Editor — Tue, 29 May 2012 15:32:50 +0000

Our friends on the Whoa, Momma parenting blog are disturbed by the news last week that a Volusia County school nurse refused to let a student use his asthma inhaler during an attack because his permission form wasn't signed. They ask: Rules are in place for a reason, but how do we re-authorize people to use common sense?

Is desegregation dead in public education?

Jeff Solochek — Tue, 29 May 2012 13:19:35 +0000

Fifty-eight years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, many education scholars and advocates are taking a renewed look at whether the nation's public schools have returned to segregation because of where people choose to (or sometimes, have no choice to) live. We see the results all over the Tampa area — schools where more than 90 percent of the students are poor, or black, or Hispanic, as well as schools where students are predominantly white, with little poverty.

As the schools grow more divided, the question arises about how to tackle any inequalities that emerge. Should communities return to busing? Is separate but equal education acceptable, provided the education truly is equal? Does school choice provide an answer?

The NY Times gathered some commenters, from adults who were bused when children to academics, to give their views and suggestions. Among them:

Richard Kahlenberg, the Century Foundation: "While the news media routinely shower attention on high-poverty schools that work, research shows that middle-class schools are 22 times more likely to be high performing than high-poverty schools. Poor children can learn to high levels, but they are much more likely to do so if they are surrounded by peers with big dreams, a community of parents who are in a position to volunteer in class and know how to hold school officials accountable and talented teachers with high expectations."

Terry L. Stoops, John Locke Foundation: "Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the state’s second-largest school district, discontinued its race-based busing program and implemented a policy that combined parental choice with neighborhood school assignment. It was a sea change for the district that had been at the center of a 1971 U.S. Supreme Court decision that led to the widespread adoption of forced busing in the South. So, how do low-income students in the districts compare? The performance of disadvantaged students in Wake County has stalled. In contrast, Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s reading and math test scores, as well as graduation rates, have surged."

Donna Bivens, Union of Minority Neighborhoods in Boston: "In our busing and desegregation project at the Union of Minority Neighborhoods, we are listening and learning from Boston’s crisis. We are trying to openly discuss how racism and class inequity thwart school integration and undermine the creation of high quality, equitable school systems."

What do you see in your public school system? Are leaders there trying to mitigate for segregation that exists? If so, what's working and what's not?

Florida education news: Prekindergarten, middle school, UM president's home and more

Jeff Solochek — Tue, 29 May 2012 10:08:02 +0000

RETREADS: Many former Florida lawmakers seek to return to Tallahassee, with several saying they want to see a less leadership-driven agenda.

INVEST: Spending state money on prekindergarten offers the greatest payback in public education, the Florida Times-Union editorializes.

WHO'S THERE: Florida State College-Jacksonville faces a long-range state enrollment review after two past audits suggest the college received money for students it shouldn't have claimed, the Florida Times-Union reports.

NEXT STEPS: At 88, Howard Hurwitz completes technical school in Broward County so he can get a new job, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

THEY SURVIVED: A group of Okaloosa fifth graders say they overcame nervousness to thrive while attending classes at a middle school all year, the Northwest Florida Daily News reports.

NEW DIGS: The University of Miami sells its president's home for $9 million while building a new modern mansion for its leader, the Miami Herald reports.

Imagine's 3rd-grade FCAT scores scrape the bottom

Rebecca Catalanello — Mon, 28 May 2012 19:34:22 +0000

Fifty-four percent of third-graders at Imagine Charter School in St. Petersburg scored a Level 1 in reading, the lowest possible score, on the FCAT reading test this year. Seventy-two percent scored Level 1 in math.

That means the D-school had a greater portion of its students in that bottom tier than any other school in Pinellas except the already doomed Life Force Academy, which is slated to close at the end of this school year.

Life Force had 57 percent in Level 1 in reading and 79 percent in Level 1 in math.

Pinellas County school board members on Tuesday voted 5-1 to keep Imagine open one more year despite ongoing academic issues and financial turmoil. The only dissenting board member, chairperson Robin Wikle, expressed dismay on Thursday after the release of the scores and said she'd be asking administrators whether the news would impact their recommendation as to the future of the school.

Superintendent John Stewart's recommendation to continue Imagine's charter came with a caveat that continued academic problems could result in its closure.

It is worth noting that the percentage of Imagine third-graders considered proficient in math and reading this year also slipped, even after the state Department of Education accounted for tougher standards on the most recent FCAT. The percentage of students at Level 3 or above dropped from 30 to 23 in reading and from 9 to 5 in math, according to the state's formula.

In this charter school report created by the Pinellas district's Research & Accountability department last fall, Imagine was found to have only met six of 23 goals for improvement over the course of the 2010-11 school year.

Time for public input on FCAT science achievement levels

Jeff Solochek — Mon, 28 May 2012 18:30:25 +0000

Given all the interest in the FCAT these days, we thought we'd quickly point out that the Florida Department of Education is seeking input on how to set the achievement levels for the FCAT 2.0 science exams. You know, the scores that students must make on the test to get Level 1 through Level 5.

This is part of the process that brought Florida the current testing mess that has Florida Department of Education leaders scrambling to convince many parents that the system isn't broken.

You might recall the lengthy, contentious arguments over new "ALD's" for math and reading, with superintendents roundly criticizing the department as it moved to increase passing scores beyond what the local educators thought justified. Then came the results, which the department again tried to defend in part by changing the way it reported the scores. (That's not to mention what happened with the writing FCAT.)

If you're so inclined to enter the conversation, the state is taking comments on the science achievement levels through June 21. Then we'll just have to wait and see what the department decides to do about them.

Pasco's "schools of innovation" magnet ideas on hold for 2012-13

Jeff Solochek — Mon, 28 May 2012 16:09:40 +0000

In announcing her reelection bid, Pasco schools superintendent Heather Fiorentino said she wanted to offer parents more school options such as magnets.

Within months, 10 elementary schools had made proposals, with some educators saying they hoped to be started as early as the fall. Facing another round of multimillion-dollar budget cuts, though, district leaders last week acknowledged that the "schools of innovation" concept won't launch any time soon.

While reviewing staffing allocations Friday, School Board chairwoman Joanne Hurley pointedly asked staff how many teachers were included in the formula to support these attractor programs, and what the associated cost would be.

"Right now it is zero," responded David Scanga, assistant superintendent-elementary. "We did not add a single allocation to any of those schools based on that."

The school teams that are working on proposals understand that the board and administration support the concepts they're promoting, Scanga said. But they also see that the timing isn't right financially to jump-start a new program. So instead they'll seek grant funding to plan for future years, and possibly build a foundation for their vision within existing resources.

"So basically you have told them it's not going to be an August implementation?" Hurley said.

"Yes," Scanga said. "Except for on their own."

Florida must do better for children, activist David Lawrence says

Jeff Solochek — Mon, 28 May 2012 13:40:35 +0000

David Lawrence, one of Florida's leading advocates for improved early education and related services, continues to press for state government leaders to do more for children. The 2012 session "needed to be a lot better" on children's issues, Lawrence told the News Service of Florida in a recent interview.

"The Legislature will have to make choices on how it spends money, and I would think and hope that the Legislature would see the enormous disconnect between paying $2,383 for a VPK slot, which is stunningly low, and $51,000 to incarcerate a juvenile or $21,000-plus to incarcerate an adult," Lawrence said. "We have all the evidence in the world that if you invested early, when 90 percent of brain growth occurs, that you would have a lot more children with momentum, not only before school but during school and all throughout life."

He's been saying such things for years. Little happens to make change.

"I do think that I see, regularly, clear evidence that people want things to be better and want to be inspired," Lawrence said. "One of the things that I worry most about is that in this country, people will check out of the system."

Read the full interview here. Do you see any changes on the way? What should be the state, community and personal role in helping children?

Florida education news: FCAT, college readiness test, NCLB transfers and more

Jeff Solochek — Mon, 28 May 2012 10:38:52 +0000

ON DEFENSE: Florida education commissioner Gerard Robinson finds himself defending the state's testing system during a visit to Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel reports. (Orlando Sentinel photo)

ANOTHER TEST: Florida high school students now must take a college readiness test in addition to their FCAT and end-of-course exams, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

LESS CHOICE: The Palm Beach school district considers whether to continue offering student transfers out of low performing schools through No Child Left Behind, the Palm Beach Post reports.

PRIVATIZATION: The Bay School Board looks into whether it can gain efficiencies with privately run student busing, the Panama City News-Herald reports.

IN THE MIX: Monroe's interim superintendent makes the district's short list of candidates for the permanent post, but he keeps looking elsewhere as the dispute continues over his qualifications, the Keynoter reports.

GOING UP: University of Florida faculty criticize pay raises for administrators while other employees' salaries remain flat, the Gainesville Sun reports.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT CAMEL? Alachua superintendent Dan Boyd calls for an outside audit of the FCAT writing test amid questions about the prompt, the professional training and the results of the annual exam in a piece for the Gainesville Sun.

Coming up: Memorial Day, last day of classes, Education Practices Commission and more

Jeff Solochek — Sun, 27 May 2012 19:30:04 +0000

May 28: Memorial Day, schools closed

May 30: Pasco School Board/County Commission joint workshop, 10 a.m.

June 5: Last day of classes, Pasco schools • Pasco School Board, 9:30 a.m.

June 6: Last day of classes, Hernando schools

June 7: Last day of classes, Pinellas schools • State Advisory Council on Early Education and Care, conference call, 10 a.m.

June 8: Last day of classes, Hillsborough schools

June 12: Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m. • Pinellas School Board, 10 a.m.

June 13: Education Practices Commission, 8:30 a.m., Orlando

June 15: Office of Early Learning, quarterly meeting, Orlando

June 19: Pasco School Board, 6 p.m.

June 20-21: Board of Governors, University of Central Florida

June 26: Pinellas School Board, workshop, 9 a.m.

July 17: Florida Board of Education, TBA

Florida education news: Achievement gap, Penny for Pasco, college debt and more

Jeff Solochek — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:41:37 +0000

SEEKING SOLUTIONS: Middleton High School aims to eliminate an achievement gap in a strugglng, low-income east Tampa neighborhood. (Times photo, Carolina Hidalgo)

WORDS MATTER: Pasco school and county lawyers look to craft the most compelling 75-word ballot language for the Penny for Pasco sales tax.

DISCRIMINATION? The federal Office of Civil Rights investigates a complaint than an Winter Springs charter school denied access to a child with autism, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

INDEBTED: The next national financial crisis will come from college debt, Miami Herald columnist Fred Grimm writes.

STAY AWAY: A Manatee middle school teacher seeks a restraining order against one of her seventh-grade students, the Herald-Tribune reports.

AT ODDS: A local watchdog continues to criticize financial decisions at the Monroe school district, the Keynoter reports.

HOTEL FAMILIES: Homeless children living in Disney area hotels begin to pop up in suburban Osceola County schools, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

A weekend interview with Colleen Wood, executive director of Save Duval Schools

Jeff Solochek — Sat, 26 May 2012 16:00:58 +0000

As Florida legislative and administrative leaders have pushed the envelope on the state's education accountability programs, a growing group of parents opposed to the methods being employs has been pushing back. They're taking advantage of what they see as miscues on topics such as parent trigger and, most recently, FCAT testing, to generate more support. Three organizations have taken the lead in forming and broadcasting the message. Save Duval Schools is among them. Executive director Colleen Wood spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek about her group's effort to challenge Florida's "reform status quo."

You've been out there really pushing for the state to take a new look at testing. Tell me a little bit about your concerns.

Our concern with the focus on the high-stakes nature of the testing in Florida is that at some point the tests are used less to tell us what we are doing right and more to say what we are doing wrong, what kids aren't getting. And it's just a snapshot. We know that what kids are learning can't be measured - nor can a teacher's teaching - by one test on one day. It could be a part of it. But it really shouldn't be the only thing. And we've all been supportive. Parents have been supportive of standardized testing. And then we started to question things, when there were a little few hiccups along the way in the past year or two. But this FCAT writing debacle is what really shone a light on how easily a test that should be reliable can be used in a different way. And what happened with FCAT Writes is just unacceptable.

What in your view was the bad part about it? The fact that they were asking them to be scored in a different way? Or what?

The real failure in that was a failure in leadership at the DOE to communicate with the districts. As a parent, I expect that if you're going to change the standard by which my child is to be measured, then my child's teachers need to be prepared for that. And the Department of Education, the commissioner's idea of communicating with the districts, was one letter on July 15 and one meeting in October. And that was with instructional coaches. It wasn't with the actual writing teachers. And the teachers are preparing throughout the summer … their curriculum, their lesson plans. They've mapped out the year. They don't go in kind of willy nilly in October and decide they're going to change the way they teach writing. So that I believe was a huge failure that was unfair to children and to teachers.

The other piece of that is, if we honestly want to encourage great writing and creative writing, we have to recognize that no child learns to write in the fourth grade. That is not when it starts. It starts in kindergarten, and for many it starts in prekindergarten and in home. … So if you truly want to raise the standard and ramp up the expectation, then you have to phase it in in a way that makes sense, that gives teachers in fourth grade … students who are coming to them a couple of years in the new way. … And a very simple thing you do is change the structure of the test. If the test itself is not designed to trick children and you want to see their best writing, then you give more than 45 minutes, you don't have to give them just one prompt. If the idea is to see how good a writer the child is, then give them two prompts to pick from where they might have a little more creativity, or connect more. Because everyone connects with different things. And especially this year. The prompt itself was absurd, about a camel.

Well, I know kids who thought it was great, and kids who thought it was confusing. I guess it depends on where you go to school and what you know.

And that's it. What you just said. The camel prompt for kids who have an incredible imagination, or who have read books about camels, or seen one at a zoo … it might be a great prompt. But the idea is not to come up with one prompt that every child can identify with. You should be trying to offer several prompts for children to pick from, because you're not trying to trick them to see if they know the subject. You're trying to find out if they can write well.

What do you think about these new results on FCAT reading and math? We got the results for third grade, and the percentages are different and so are the standards for scoring. Then they're telling us, 'If we had used this year's standards on last year's results, it would have been generally the same.' I keep saying, 'But you didn't use this year's standards last year.' …

They're calling into question the very validity of this information. Because what does that matter what I would have gotten last year if the standards were different last year? This year alone there have been I believe 18 changes to our accountability system. … My question is, what are you trying to prove? Because if I change the standards fast enough and often enough, I can make anyone look like a failure. We hear often that they are going to raise the standards so our children can compete in a global marketplace. I raise the standards for my children of what I expect of them, but I back it up. And the state seems content to raise the standards and then not back it up with the resources, with the professional development or with the communication with the districts so that they can help children to reach those standards.

So how do you think the state should proceed? Or do you think it's too late for them to do anything?

It's funny. I think you have to be careful what you ask for. What I would have said to that question at the beginning of the week is that the commissioner and his executive staff and the Department of Education should talk to parents in the state of Florida and find out our experiences. Not just try to convince us of something, but really listen. And then, lo and behold, the DOE this week launches this campaign to talk to parents. And it's having meetings around the state on Memorial Day weekend. So you're coming Memorial Day weekend, when our kids have a day off of school, to talk to parents about FCAT. It's a little late, and it's a time when it doesn't seem like you're going to get a lot of parent participation, on a national holiday.

How are you galvanizing people?… Is this the beginning of a large scale movement?

I think what you're seeing is more and more parents standing up and saying, 'This is not acceptable, and I want to have a voice in the process.' Our grassroots groups are trying to provide that opportunity for parents. … It's beyond being an advocate for them in schools. Now we have to talk to policy makers and legislators, and that can be kind of challenging when you haven't done it before. But I think you are going to see more and more people saying the status quo in Florida is reforms that aren't working, and we just keep sticking with them. But they now have become the status quo. I think you're going to see more and more parents say, 'Enough.'

Aren't some of them working? We have seen the NAEP scores and national test results that show Florida is improving.

Yes. I think there are some reforms that are working. The problem is we seem to be more attached to the concept of reform than actual results that come from them. Increasing rigor in a classroom is great. … But when the assessment tool is questionable that we are using, the FCAT, and the score from that determines whether our children can go into that advanced course, when we repeatedly have phone calls and e-mails from parents who are distraught because their child, who is in advanced courses and an AP program has missed the FCAT reading cutoff again - they are highly successful children who may not test well - that's not an accurate assessment. That is not a reform that is working well. I will hear some of the stakeholders say, 'That doesn't happen to a lot of kids.' I beg to differ. It happens to a lot more than we know of. And for those children that it happens to, it doesn't matter if they're the only one.

Do you think the opt-out movement is going to take hold?

I don't know. It might if parents don't feel their voice is being considered. And if we continue to see things like the FCAT writing. And if parents continue to hear that 'We're going to raise standards and children will rise to it' as they see their media centers being closed, and they see no money for science labs yet their child is expected to be proficient in science experiments. These are things that parents will only take for so long.

Florida education news: FCAT scoring revisions, arts education, school closure and more

Jeff Solochek — Sat, 26 May 2012 11:42:34 +0000

REVISED REPORT: The Florida Department of Education will change FCAT reports sent home to show how students would have performed in 2011 if the 2012 standards had been in effect — and not how they actually did.• Critics say the state altered the scoring for political reasons, the Stuart News reports. • Some Orange County parents say they're done with public schooling because of the FCAT, WFTV reports. • Education commissioner Gerard Robinson heard some parent criticisms in Boca Raton, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

STILL STRUGGLING: Life Force charter school, under fire for poor performance, doesn't help itself with the some of the worst FCAT results in the Tampa area.

MORE BAD NEWS: The Pasco School Board looks to furloughs, job cuts and possible pay reductions to balance its budget.

ARTS EDUCATION: Ruth Eckerd Hall creates a new program to train area high school and college students in concert performance and production.

BUSY GUY: FAMU hires a new audit chief in the wake financial woes.

VALS AND SALS: Zephyrhills High School

NO THANKS: The leading candidate to become Edison State College president drops out, the Naples Daily News reports.

LAST DAY: Students and faculty at a Titusville elementary school spend their final hours there before the Brevard district shuts it down, Florida Today reports.

SHARING: Teachers at a Flagler elementary school spend time visiting each other's classrooms to learn new ways to teach, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.

NOT LISTENING: Two teens who are suing a Marion high school because it denied their effort to start a Gay-Straight Alliance say district officials never talked to them about their effort, the Ocala Star-Banner reports.

Kindergarten teacher wins Hillsborough's We Deliver award

Marlene Sokol — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:54:52 +0000

This year's "We Deliver" award in Hillsborough County went to Shelby Baldree, a kindergarten teacher at Hammond Elementary School in Odessa.

Fifteen parents, grandparents and community members nominated Baldree, 40, who joined the school district in 2005. Many described her work with children who are ill or learning-disabled.

"She is the absolute best advocate for her students that I have seen in any teacher, at any level," wrote Ken Ruthard, who added that when he was deployed to military duty in Afghanistan, "Mrs. Baldree sent me care packages with letters from the students. She also allowed me to Skype her students to thank them and discuss what it is like in Afghanistan."

The "We Deliver" award, which originated in 2006, recognizes school employees for their extra efforts to help students or the community. There were 418 nominees this year. The prize is $10,000.

BOG gets five more applicants for Florida Poly board

Kim Wilmath — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:22:03 +0000

With a week left until the application deadline, five more people have thrown their hats in the ring for the new Florida Polytechnic University Board of Trustees:

- Joshua Keith Brown, from Auburndale

- Robert F. English, from Lakeland

- Robert Owen Kincart, from Lakeland

- Richard Labib Shaheen, from Jupiter

- Jonathan Wade Thompson, from Lakeland

Those, submitted to the Board of Governors, are in addition to four who applied with the BOG's office last week. The university system governing board can appoint five people to the 11-member FPU Board of Trustees.

The Governor's office, which at last count received five applications, can appoint six.

Both entities have called for a "nationwide" response to the search. So far, all the applicants are from Florida, with most of them being from Polk County or areas nearby.

Pasco School Board debates budget cuts

Jeff Solochek — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:20:22 +0000

The Pasco School Board spent 3 hours Friday reviewing how it wants to balance its budget for 2012-13. The district finance team projected a budget shortfall of $24.7 million, but even after all that talk the board did not arrive at a consensus for covering the gap.

It came up with $8.8 million in spending reductions, with the big items of a three-day furlough for all employees and the elimination of 87 positions (mostly noninstructional). It also agreed to move $12.8 million in nonrecurring funds into the operating side, with the caveat that after next year, that won't be possible again.

That still left the board with another $3.1 million to cut. Members asked the staff to investigate several ideas, including a 1 percent salary cut for all employees and monthly employee contributions to health benefits. It rejected some other possibilities outright, such as the elimination of art and music courses, the removal of all school resource officers and the closing of the Schwettman and Irvin alternative education centers.

They set a few other ideas aside for future years, knowing that they will have to replace the $12.8 million in nonrecurring funds and that the ideas couldn't be implemented quickly enough for 2012-13, anyway. Those included having secondary teachers instruct six periods of six daily, consolidating some elementary schools, and eliminating health insurance benefits for retirees hired after a set date.

"I hate to do this," superintendent Heather Fiorentino said after the workshop. "This is five years in a row. It is affecting our morale. They work hard every day and have a passion for what they are doing. ... These are very difficult cuts."

The board is scheduled to act on employee allocations — the biggest line item in the operating budget — at its June 5 meeting.

The district sent the following e-mail to employees Friday afternoon:

The Board held a budget workshop today to discuss how it will balance the $25.6 million shortfall facing the District for the 2012-2013 school year. The Board reviewed the feedback that was provided through the town hall meetings this week, and expressed great appreciation for the public's input on this important topic. The Board discussed concern regarding their limited options, all of which are less than desirable. Further, they reiterated their goal of protecting students and employees as much as possible throughout this process. It is important to note that no decisions on the budget are final, and that several items being considered by the Board will require negotiations with the Union.

The Board tentatively agreed to move forward with the following options. Please note that the bolded items are from non-recurring sources of revenue, which will create a deficit for the 2013-2014 school year:

• Shift positions to utilize fewer allocations for meeting class size – $1,081,060 (will only need 107.32 units instead of the projected 126

• Cut District and School allocations – a minimum of 87.64 total allocations- $3,641,685 (Some of these positions have already been identified and staff has been notified. Additional employees being impacted will receive notification from their direct Supervisor within the next two weeks)

• Reduction of additional days for High School Band Director and High School Football Coach (maintaining band camp) - $35,903

• Continued Reduction of District Department Budgets - a minimum of another $125,000

• Use of Capital Funds to Pay for Property Insurance - $8,940,000

• Removal of excess reserve funds beyond the required 5% - $3,864,900

• Implementation of three (3) furlough days for all employees- $5,010,480

These suggestions have the potential to generate $22,699,000 in savings. This will still require the Board to make further reductions in order to balance the budget. Therefore, the Board also directed the continued exploration of the following items as possible considerations for balancing the remaining portion of the deficit for the 2012- 2013 school year:

• Implement a tiered system to require employees' contribution toward their benefits package. The amount of the contribution would be based upon the employee's salary (this generates between $899,000 and $8,990,400 depending on the required contribution amount )

• Reduce salaries of all employees (this generates between $3.5 million and $10.6 million depending on the percentage reduction)

• Reduce a percentage of all supplements (this amount is still being calculated)

• Review additional district positions for elimination (this amount is still being calculated and would be beyond those already identified above)

• Start a fund through which businesses and individuals can contribute to the District for earmarked purposes

• Review potential transportation efficiencies for additional savings

• Explore the possibility of using volunteers as substitutes

The Board also requested that staff begin considering items for the 2013-2014 school year, including the possibility of implementing a 6/6 teaching schedule, school closures, energy performance contracts and further transportation efficiencies.

Again, none of these budget decisions discussed above have been finalized. The staff allocations will be presented to the Board on June 5, 2012. While the staff allocations represent 86% of the entire operating budget, the Board and Superintendent will continue to work on balancing the budget throughout the month of June. Regular updates will be shared with all staff and the public. We recognize that this is a very sensitive subject and will continue to work as quickly as possible to communicate these important decisions in a timely manner.

Debate continues on Florida's testing policies for English-language learners

Jeff Solochek — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:52:41 +0000

Leaders of Florida's advocates for English-language learners remain dissatisfied with the state Department of Education's words and actions on how the children are treated in testing and accountability, despite commissioner Gerard Robinson's efforts to answer their criticisms.

The commissioner's appreciation of their efforts to improve policies is duly noted and accepted, Rosa Castro Feinberg of the LULAC State Education Commission told the Gradebook. But his information seems to have "extensive" discrepancies with the "simple facts," she continued.

She and others issued an open letter to Robinson (attached below) urging him to fix what they consider major problems with the official state position on ELL students. Here's an excerpt:

Do the Commissioner’s actions match his generous and welcome words of praise?

No. Here are three examples to support this conclusion.

a. There was to be a meeting on May 22nd at 1:30 to include discussion of accountability for ELL and ESE student performance with representatives from the Governor's office, the House Education Committee Staff, the FDOE, and one Task Force member: Patricia Levesque. Why was only one Task Force member invited to the meeting? Why was there no invitation for each of the three subcommittees? Why was there no one from the ELL Subcommittee of the Task Force invited? When your office received the invitation, why weren’t steps taken to correct the omission?

b. The position of Bureau Chief for the Division of Student Achievement through Language Acquisition (SALA) has been vacant since March 30th. During a period of time when expertise in the education of ELLs is critically needed, why has there not been greater priority accorded to filling this position? Why has a schedule for filling it not been communicated to the applicants and the public?

c. The very same message that proclaims your admiration for the Task Force and for the ELL community confirms that only part of one sole recommendation directly related to ELLs was brought to the Board for adoption. This failure to act is not fair to ELL students or their parents, teachers, communities, and elected officials; the advocacy and professional education organizations that struggle to get respectful audience and an occasional response from the FDOE; or the members of the State Board of Education.

To be very clear: We do not assume that the Board is obliged to rubber stamp the Task Force recommendations. We do expect, however, more than superficial efforts by the FDOE to understand them, bring them and interpret them to the Board, and broker them to the USDOE.

Is it impossible to repair the damage caused by delay in acting on the recommendations of the Task Force?

No. There is still time to take the actions that would add credibility to your statements and better serve Florida’s children. When the FCAT writing test problem emerged, you took immediate steps to alleviate the problem. Please act with similar speed to pave the way for adoption of the ELL recommendations in time to meet the July 15th deadline for final approval of the state's ESEA Flexibility Waiver application.

Several ELL advocates plan to address Robinson personally this evening in Boca Raton at one of his town hall meetings. LULAC also will be discussing this and other issues at their convention in Tampa this weekend. Stay tuned to see how these issues play out, particularly as everyone sees how the new rules affect FCAT scores and school grades in the coming weeks.

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Mitt Romney's education plan has distinct Florida flavor

Jeff Solochek — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:12:57 +0000

All-but-nominated Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney issued his education policy paper this week along with a long awaited speech on the topic.

His plan and his team carry a strong Florida tilt.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who's been pushing his accountability model across the country, sets the tone in the foreward to Romney's paper:

"There is no one “silver bullet” solution to our nation’s educational problems, but recent experience clearly indicates what needs to be done. We must provide families with abundant school choice, among both traditional public schools and charter and online alternatives. We must set high standards for student achievement, regularly assess students’ progress toward meeting those standards, and be honest in reporting the results. Schools must be accountable for their contribution to student learning through policies that distinguish between abject failure, mediocrity, and success. ...

"What we do not need are prescriptive top-down mandates emanating from Washington D.C., which are so fashionable among many in the nation’s capital. The federal government cannot continue to spend borrowed money to prop up a failed status quo, as it has over the past four years under President Obama’s leadership. America’s federal system of government allows for a more dynamic approach to reform, with states serving as laboratories of democracy in competition with one another to provide the best education possible to their citizens. The federal government must ensure that states embrace the basic principles of expanded school choice, high standards, and effective teaching while at the same time empowering them to carve their own paths toward excellence for all students."

Backing up the message is an advisory team that includes former Florida Board of Education chairman Phil Handy, a close Jeb Bush ally, and Julio Fuentes, CEO of the Florida-based Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options, a big supporter of expanding Florida school choice.

The biggest new idea in Romney's plans is a proposal to make Title I and IDEA funding portable for students, as Fordham Institute observer Michael Petrilli writes on the Huffington Post. Is also sounds like the seeds are sown to move away from a national common curriculum even as states including Florida are steaming headlong toward implementing them. Keep watching as the debate unfolds.

Florida education news: FCAT third grade retention, ACLU lawsuit, tuition hike and more

Jeff Solochek — Fri, 25 May 2012 10:07:40 +0000

STEEP DECLINE: More Florida third graders face retention as their FCAT reading scores drop amid changing standards. More from Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas. (Photo from successagainsttheodds.com)

HELPING HAND: Wesley Chapel High senior Shelby Thompson leads by example as a much-honored volunteer.

DOUBLE DOWN: Three of four graduates at Wider Horizons Academy complete high school with a diploma and a college degree.

FCAT VICTIM: A Manatee middle school might end its orchestra elective to put more emphasis on reading instruction as FCAT scores decline, the Bradenton Herald reports.

ALL DONE: Citrus County schools end the school year earlier than many with wistfulness and anticipation, the Citrus County Chronicle reports.

ON THE SIDE: A Brevard high school athletic director is out as an investigation shows he ran a school concession stand for personal profit, Florida Today reports.

SUED: The ACLU sues the Marion School Board and superintendent after students are not allowed to establish a Gay-Straight Alliance at a county high school, the Ocala Star-Banner reports.

GOING UP: The University of Central Florida increases tuition by 15 percent, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Pasco school district faces another budget hit

Jeff Solochek — Thu, 24 May 2012 21:57:43 +0000

Pasco property appraiser Mike Wells delivered bad news to the Pasco school district today: The district's taxable value for 2012-13 is headed downward yet again.

The new estimated value is $21.15 billion, down 5.86 percent from a year earlier. It's also lower than initial estimates that district officials had received.

School district spokeswoman Summer Romagnoli said the decrease could translate into another $500,000 drop in general operating revenue, beyond the $25.3 million shortfall the district already faces. It also could generate a decrease in capital projects tax revenue of about $1.7 million.

This is the fifth consecutive year that Pasco property values are down. They dropped 2.5 percent in 2011 and 11 percent in 2010.

School Board members are slated to discuss this latest news, along with other financial concerns and input from town hall meetings, as they meet Friday morning to set budget priorities for the 2012-13 school year.

3rd grade reading FCAT brings good news, bad news for Pinellas

Rebecca Catalanello — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:31:48 +0000

Fifty-six percent of Pinellas County's third graders are reading at or above grade-level, according to FCAT scores released this morning. That's on par with the statewide results for the state's third-graders, however it indicates a drop in performance over 2011, according to a state analysis.

Some schools are happier than others. But most were trying to make sense of the scores, given the state's changes to the test. Developing story here.

Florida Department of Education's searchable scores here.

Another take on Florida's FCAT writing controversy

Jeff Solochek — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:28:27 +0000

Florida's flareup on FCAT writing focused on whether students and teachers had enough time to prepare for added emphasis on spelling, punctuation and grammar in the scoring.

The state is lucky to have the option to push for high standards -- something it forfeits when it moves to nationalized Common Core expectations, Heritage Foundation fellow Lindsey Burke writes on Jay P. Greene's education reform blog:

"The backlash against Florida’s efforts to improve the rigor of the FCAT begs the question: what is the correct level of rigor for the 46 states that have adopted Common Core national standards that will not elicit similar reactions? We have yet to learn where the Common Core central planners will set their cut scores, or how they plan to go about setting passing marks on which both Alabama and Massachusetts will agree.

"It is a cautionary tale for national standards proponents. Much of Florida’s success over the past decade can be attributed to the state continuously improving its standards and tests. With rigid national standards in place, that flexibility would be lost. And if mistakes are made in the standards, they’re here to stay."

Florida is poised to jump headlong into Common Core, going so far as to serve as the fiscal agent for the group writing the national standardized tests. Good idea? Or is Burke's cautionary note about the need for flexibility one that bears deeper consideration?

USF on budget, PECO: "Trying to avoid catastrophe"

Kim Wilmath — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:20:26 +0000

They didn't exactly sugar-coat it:

Continual state budget cuts and a draining of funding for new campus construction has left the University of South Florida trying to "minimize" disaster. That was the message from USF Chief Operating Officer John Long, at a USF Board of Trustees workgroup on finance Thursday morning.

"That's really where we are at now," Long said. "Trying to avoid catastrophe."

In the past few years, USF and other state universities have seen their state funding shrink by close to 50 percent -- $300 million cut from the universities this year alone. Meanwhile, a tax on utilities that pays for the Public Educational Capital Outlay fund, used to build new educational buildings on campus, has shriveled -- partly because people have stopped using land-line phones and have become more energy efficient. In the past, USF has set aside reserve funds to help pay for at least basic maintenance on its existing buildings, but this year legislators said they expected universities to use those reserves to cover state cuts.

USF President Judy Genshaft reminded trustees that the Florida Board of Governors has just set up a task force to look at potential new solutions for paying for campus facilities.

"That issue continues to grow," said board chairman John Ramil, of the reserves. "Now we're not getting it on both sides."

With little choice, the trustee group approved a continuing operating budget that's more than $40 million less than they had last year. They are also losing almost $30 million that's going away with the Lakeland campus formerly known as USF Polytechnic, which is embarking on the complicated task of breaking off into the state's 12th university. The budget still needs approval from the full USF Board of Trustees before it's submitted to the Board of Governors in August.

The full board must also still decide how much of a tuition hike to ask for from the state higher ed leaders. Once they know how much extra tuition they'll have to work with, they'll develop a more complete picture of how to deal with that budget cut.

(Under a program known as tuition differential, universities are allowed to seek hikes beyond whatever tuition increase the Legislature approves, so long as the total does not exceed 15 percent per year. This year, the Legislature did not raise tuition at all, leaving it up to the universities to seek that full amount, which is somewhat more restricted than state base hikes.)

It sounds like USF is ready to seek that full amount.

As USF Provost Ralph Wilcox pointed out, that hike would amount to $17 million spread across the USF system. And because 30 percent of tuition differential must be used for need-based aid, that will help the students in ways beyond just enhancing classes, he said.

"We're going to be making that argument to the Board of Governors, I'm sure," said Ramil.

"We are," said Wilcox.

Former Times staffers dominate school district communications office

Rebecca Catalanello — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:37:52 +0000

Four out of six positions in the newly restructured Pinellas County school district strategic communications office now belong to former Tampa Bay Times staffers.

The Times announced this morning that reporter Lorri Helfand, left, will be leaving the paper in June to take a job with the district. She joins a team led by Donna Winchester, a former Times education reporter who was hired by former superintendent Julie Janssen in 2009 and promoted in December to head the district's re-imagined communications efforts.

Superintendent John Stewart reorganized the communications staff soon after his arrival in Pinellas, whittling the office staff from nine positions to seven and essentially cleaning house as former spokeswoman Andrea Zahn announced plans to leave.

Other former Times staffers serving the district's office include:

* Debbie Wolfe, assistant director of strategic communications. Wolfe was the technology training editor at the Tampa Bay Times (then called the St. Petersburg Times, of course) when she was laid off in 2008 after about 20 years. She began working for Pinellas schools in December.

* Rita Farlow, communications specialist. Farlow joined the Times in 1997 and left her post covering crime from the paper's Clearwater bureau in late January to join Winchester's team.

Helfand, who has been with the Times for 12 years, currently covers city goverment and St. Petersburg College, also from the Clearwater bureau. She fills the remaining position of "communications specialist" for Pinellas schools on June 11. Her salary will be $47,520, according to the district.

FCAT, end-of-course exam results begin to roll in

Jeff Solochek — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:21:54 +0000

UPDATE: Official results have been posted on the state website.

FCAT third-grade results are beginning to trickle in ahead of the state's official release later today. These scores are important, because third graders who score Level 1 in reading may be held back if they cannot demonstrate their grade-level proficiency by an alternate test or a portfolio, unless they qualify for a state-approved exemption.

Early numbers show that 56 percent of third graders statewide demonstrated grade level proficiency of Level 3 or better on the reading exam this year. That's down from 72 percent a year ago, and about on target with state projections of 57 percent passing after the Board of Education increased the passing score this spring.

Under the new, tougher test and scoring standard, 58 percent of third graders scores Level 3 or better on the math FCAT, down from 78 percent a year ago. The passing rate is in line with state projections, which forecast 56 percent of third graders at Level 3 or better in math.

Pasco County officials sounded pleased with their preliminary look at their school results. Pasco third graders slightly outperformed the state average in reading, with 57 percent at Level 3 or better, and 19 percent at Level 1. Pasco's math results were not as strong, with 50 percent at Level 3 or better, compared to the state's 58 percent.

The state also is releasing end-of-course exam results for biology and geometry. These exams are slowly replacing the high school FCAT test, and this year they count for 30 percent of a student's grade. In future years, students will have to pass their EOC's to pass their classes.

This is the first year for the state's geometry and biology end of course exams. Statewide, 49 percent passed each. Pasco students did slightly better, with 50 percent passing each test.

See our developing story here.

Too much testing? Some New York parents take action

Jeff Solochek — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:25:19 +0000

Another round of FCAT results come out today. The Florida Department of Education's own projections are less than optimistic for a strong showing, after the department made the test harder and increased the passing score.

Many Florida parents are agitating harder than ever against what they're coming to perceive as an overemphasis on testing. They're not alone.

The NY Times reports that New York parents are fighting back, too. One key way is through opting out.

"As city students have begun a new round of standardized tests — this time so-called “field tests,” which are experimental tests that the state-contracted test-maker, Pearson, is using to try out questions on city students for future use — more parents are talking about opting out. And test resistance appears to becoming more widespread, with substantial numbers of parents at several city schools deciding their children would not participate.

"Resistance also appears to be growing more organized. Groups like Change the Stakes are helping to spread information about opt-out procedures and have created a spreadsheet to help parents navigate the field testing landscape."

Florida parents might take a similar path. As the Miami Herald recently reported, Florida's testing is considered mandatory, but the law is silent on what happens to kids who opt out.

There are alternatives available for students who miss the test. Third graders can take an alternate assessment or use an assessment portfolio to demonstrate their reading ability for purposes of promotion. High school graduates can use SAT or ACT scores rather than FCAT to secure a diploma. School leaders might not like an opt-out movement. After all, they lose some funding if less than 95 percent of eligible students take the test. And teachers stand to lose pay and bonuses if their students don't perform well (or at all).

But what's testing really for, anyway? Supposedly, to inform instruction, right? As a parting thought, consider whether testing helps or hurts students.

Alexandra Usher of the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University says it depends on the test, and the student.

Your thoughts?

Florida education news: FCAT, Florida Polytechnic, high school graduations and more

Jeff Solochek — Thu, 24 May 2012 10:19:50 +0000

SPEAKING OUT ON FCAT: Dozens of Tampa area parents give Florida education commissioner Gerard Robinson an earful on student testing. • The FCAT has always been suspect, Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo writes. • Manatee educators try to focus on improving instruction rather than on demoralizing messages from the state, the Bradenton Herald reports. • Palm Beach teachers expect the brunt of fixing student writing problems, and not all are comfortable with that, the Palm Beach Post reports. (Highlands Today photo)

IT'S IN THE DETAILS: Florida higher education leaders discover many challenges in preparing Florida Polytechnic University to open. • The specifics of how to get the new university started make the project worse than it seemed as a legislative proposal, the Times editorializes.

GRADUATION TIME: Long days and hard work pay off for Academy Preparatory Center grads • Sunlake High senior Nate McCoole plans to pursue his dream as a powerlifter after graduation • Sunlake High valedictorian and salutatorian

OVERCROWDED: Parents seek solutions to crowding at Bloomingdale High School.

SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT: The Tampa Bay Rays and the Helios Foundation pledge $1 million to provide college scholarships to needy Tampa area high school graduates.

TOP OF THE CLASS: Chocachatti Elementary students please crowds with puppetry • Springstead High students score big at the Florida history fair

SINGLE GENDER CLASSES: Palm Beach school officials say they're nearly certain the district no longer offers same-sex education, which has come under fire by the ACLU, the Palm Beach Post reports.

ITCHY: A second Broward school is locked down with reports of a mysterious rash affecting students and staff, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

LABOR NEWS: Miami-Dade teachers reapprove their contract after a dispute voids their first vote, the Miami Herald reports. • Monroe teachers and district leaders continue to argue over salary and budgets, the Keynoter reports.

Third-grade FCAT results due out Thursday

Jeff Solochek — Wed, 23 May 2012 22:12:31 +0000

The Florida Department of Education has announced that it will release third-grade FCAT reading and math scores on Thursday, and not on Friday as expected.

We don't want to say this is a rush job. But the department's press release, issued after 5 p.m. today, sports the headline "DEPARTMENT OF EDUATION TO RELEASE THIRD GRADE READING AND MATHMETICS RESULTS."

Bet that the critics who already are questioning the validity of the tests and the results will have a field day with that one.

Department of Education does "full-court press" to explain FCAT changes to parents

Cara Fitzpatrick — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:59:16 +0000

With the recent backlash against the FCAT, the state Department of Education has gone into overdrive trying to explain changes to Florida's accountability system.

On Monday, it launched a call center, a designated email address and web sites, all for parents. As of about 1 p.m. today, 1,587 people have dialed into the call center. (Remember this isn't to find out your child's test results. You get those in the mail.) Parents have sent about 100 emails. And there have been about 2,800 "unique hits" on the web site, www.floridapathtosuccess.org.

The department also starts tonight a series of public forums billed as "Conversations with the Commissioner." Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson is in Tampa tonight for the first forum. His next stop will be Friday in Boca Raton. Next week, he has several events planned in Jacksonville, according to the department.

"The push is really this week. It's follow up from the parent campaign that we're doing," said Jamie Mongiovi, a department spokeswoman.

The campaign follows the state's playbook, called "Higher Standards: The Right Thing to Do." It basically outlines the department's talking points - education works, we need to expect more from our students, etc - and how it plans to get its message to parents, teachers and the community.

The plan includes sending letters to the editor, the commissioner's tour, the parent call center and even a new email signature with, you guessed it, "Higher Standards: The Right Thing to Do."

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Florida education commissioner Robinson responds to concerns over testing of English-language learners

Jeff Solochek — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:33:24 +0000

The Florida Board of Education's recent decisions to change the state's school grading system continue to draw criticism from Hispanic leaders who remain dissatisfied with the way students still learning English are to be treated in the model.

One particular complaint is that several recommendations a task force offered to soften the negative impact on communities and schools with large populations of English learners went by seemingly ignored. Commissioner Gerard Robinson, who's been on the defensive over many testing-related matters lately, is seeking to quell the growing discontent.

In a letter to the Gradebook, Robinson heaped praise on the community and leaders who are taking the charge on behalf of ELL students. He also aimed to make clear that while he didn't propose all the task force ideas to the State Board, he investigated all the proposals and reviewed each with federal officials to see exactly what could and couldn't be done.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for the stakeholders who continue to be champions for the students in Florida and specifically our English language learners," he wrote. "The four recommendations above that were approved by the State Board of Education will have a positive impact on our ELL students. These recommendations were a direct result of the task force meetings and would not be part of our current accountability system without their efforts."

Read on for Robinson's full response.

"First, as Education Commissioner, I would like to thank the task force members for their continued support and efforts on behalf of Florida’s English language learners. During the stakeholder meetings, I invited taskforce members to bring all recommendations forward. All task force recommendations were shared with the USDOE. After discussion with USDOE and review of current Florida law, I presented five recommendations to the State Board of Education, which were all approved. Four of the five provide some level of support for English language learners (ELLs) and ensure that they are included in all our measures.

"The first recommendation, that directly supports our ELLs, was approved by the USDOE and was a direct result of the work of the task force. This recommendation is to redefine the federal policy for the date of entry into the accountability system. The USDOE’s previous date was the date the student entered the country. For many of our English language learners, this makes no sense; the majority of ELLs in our state as well as across the country are born here in the United States. After discussing this with the USDOE, they agreed to accept our recommendation that the date of entry is the date the student enters a school in the United States. This supports our students by increasing the availability of time-bound funded services based on this new entry date. The second recommendation provides support to all schools by limiting a school grade to no more than one letter grade drop. This will allow time for all schools, teachers, and students to transition to new standards; therefore, a school with a high population of any student group that might need more time to transition will not be more heavily impacted. The third recommendation is that the learning gains calculation be weighted positively for every student with a below grade level test score but higher than average learning gains; therefore, schools will be given additional credit for English language learners who are struggling with English proficiency but learn at higher rates than their peers. This policy benefits the student as well as the teachers who are providing quality instruction. The final recommendation resulted in protecting districts and schools from inappropriately separating any subgroup of student in separate alternative schools by requiring the learning gains and performance of these students to count in their home school grade. This policy incentivizes districts and schools to make decisions regarding where students are enrolled based on the students’ best educational interests as opposed to an individual school’s best interest.

"There were several task force recommendations that would not be allowable because of the requirements of federal law, federal regulations, and the terms of the USDOE waiver or that would not be allowable because of current state law. The issue that was clearly communicated by the USDOE was that English language learners who have been enrolled in schools in the United States greater than one academic year must be included in all Florida accountability indicator areas including both student gains and student proficiency categories and that gains and proficiency must be measured on the same tools for all students. This requires Florida to assess ELLs on FCAT and include them in gains and proficiency measures. An additional recommendation from the subcommittee was the inclusion of English proficiency measures from Florida’s English language acquisition assessment, the Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment (CELLA). This assessment is currently not allowable as an assessment in the state accountability system as defined in state statute. Additionally, CELLA will be replaced in two years by a new English language acquisition assessment. This is one area we will continue to discuss and possibly submit legislative change requests in the future to allow evidence of English language acquisition to be included as a component of our accountability system.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for the stakeholders who continue to be champions for the students in Florida and specifically our English language learners. The four recommendations above that were approved by the State Board of Education will have a positive impact on our ELL students. These recommendations were a direct result of the task force meetings and would not be part of our current accountability system without their efforts. Although the recommendations are not the exact recommendations of the taskforce, it is my opinion that they honor the intent of the task force, and that is to provide incentives for districts and schools to provide a quality education to these students.

"Sincerely, Gerard Robinson, Florida Commissioner of Education"

BOG has 4 applicants for new Florida Poly board, Gov's office has 6

Kim Wilmath — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:28:56 +0000

As the Board of Governors begins working through the many issues involved in creating the new Florida Polytechnic, with the hope of admitting students beginning next fall, one thing they certainly need to get set up ASAP is a Florida Polytechnic governing board.

The Board and Gov. Rick Scott both put out calls earlier this month for applications to that 11-member board, with the deadline set for the end of May. Both parties called for applicants from across the country to help start the university from scratch.

So far, 10 people have applied: four people for the five BOG-appointed slots, and six people for the six slots Scott will appoint.

That revelation came at a meeting in Daytona Beach today, where members of the BOG and University of South Florida administration are talking about how to transfer governance and assets of the former USF Polytechnic to the new university.

The applicants to the BOG spots are:

- Tim J. Bach, from Apopka

- Thomas Alexander Cloud, from Orlando

- Richard Paul Hallion, Jr, from Shalimar

- Robert Peter Scaringe, from Rockledge

And for the Governor's spots:

- Don Overstreet, from Mulberry

- Thomas Cloud, from Orlando (repeat)

- Bob Henne, from Lake Wales

- Dennis Nitschke, from Lakeland

- Robert Scaringe, from Rockledge (repeat)