Teacher incentives for Hillsborough

The Hillsborough school district, which was the first Florida district to adopt the state's (now defunct) STAR performance pay plan, today became one of four in Florida to tap into a national program designed to reward effective teachers and principals. The USDOE announced that Hillsborough will get $3.1-million next year, and about $15.4-million over five years, through President Bush's Teacher Incentive Fund. The money will go to the district's Performance Optimized With Effective Rewards program, serving 116 high-needs schools. Lake, Orange and Miami-Dade counties also got awards, along with 14 others outside Florida. For more information, see the DOE press release.

FCAT panel - the details

OK. Here's the skinny on the FCAT External Advisory Committee. It meets from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Select Orlando-International Airport, 5750 T.G. Lee Blvd. The goal is to discuss rescoring the 2006 third-grade FCAT reading exam, and to look at the creation of an annual, independent review of FCAT results.

Yes, but who's going to be there, you ask. A whole bunch of folks from all over the state.

From the DOE, Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg, Deputy Commissioner of Accountability, Research and Measurement Jay Pfeiffer, Office of Assessment and School Performance Administrator Dr. Cornelia Orr, Program Director of K-12 Assessment Section Kris Ellington and Office of Evaluation and Reporting Director Juan Copa. School superintendents Mary Ellen Elia (Hillsborough County), Buddy Vickers (Gilchrist County), Dennis Bennett (Dixie County), Fredric Ward (Lafayette County), Bill Vogel (Seminole County), and Ron Blocker (Orange County) will be there.

School district administrators Brenda Blackburn (Brevard County) and Alberto Carvalho (Miami-Dade County), as well as district assessment coordinators Nicki Junkins (Volusia County), Natalie Roca (Sarasota County), John Hilderbrand (retired, Hillsborough County), Lee Baldwin (Orange County), Rhonda Borne (North East Florida Educational Consortium) and Owen Roberts (St. Lucie County) are invited. And Robert Lange will represent the Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform, and Marshall Ogletree will represent the Florida Education Association.

Reporters will be there, too. We'll let you know what these people do.

(Times photo, Ken Helle)

FCAT advisory panel to meet

The drive to find out what happened with the 2006 third-grade reading FCAT, and what to do next, is officially under way. The Department of Education has announced its new FCAT advisory panel, whose membership is still being finalized, will meet tomorrow morning in Orlando. Like the membership, the actual time and place are being worked out.

The Gradebook has learned who at least one of the members will be, though. Dr. Robert Lange, retired UCF professor of educational measurement, will represent the Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform, a group that has long criticized the state's high-stakes testing. (To see what FCAR has said about the current scoring snafu, click here.) Surprised that such an organization would be sitting at the table? So are its leaders, who got a call from Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg today asking for a representative. "To say I'm shocked is to put it lightly. This NEVER would've happened under Jeb Bush," FCAR newsletter editor John Perry said in an e-mail to the Gradebook.

Want more info on the confab? Stay tuned. We'll update here as we get more details.

Cheat, cheat and cheat some more

As if we didn't need more signs that The End is near. College students cheat like the dickens and pretty much don't think twice about it, according to the results of a poll from an outfit called CollegeHumor.com. We don't know anything about the group, or how credible they are, but they say they polled 30,000 college students around the country and found 61 percent acknowledged cheating and only 17 percent felt remorse. The poll also showed men cheat far more than women; religious students cheat more than non-religious students; and looking over someone's shoulder continues to be the most popular way to cheat. Now, don't you feel good about the future?

Today's news

POOR STILL PAY: Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed tuition increases for Florida's public universities. He did not kill a hike in the cost of community college workforce development programs, meaning some of the state's poorest students would pay more to gain work skills like welding. Crist's staff says it's an oversight that will be fixed.

HEART TROUBLES: Pat Fagan, chairman of the Hernando County School Board, is recovering after a quadruple bypass. He suffered a mild heart attack over the weekend. He will not serve his duties for at least four weeks.

CHANGES COMING: Pasco superintendent Heather Fiorentino says she has heard teacher complaints about the way she has implemented a new system of teaching strategies, and that they'll see "dramatic improvements" in the coming year.

SPENDING TIME: For the second straight year, the Pasco-Hernando Early Learning Coalition ends up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars at the last minute. For the second straight year, coalition leaders pledge that it won't happen again.

PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF: After suffering a tough sophomore year, Ray Principe could have given up. Almost did. Instead, he reapplied himself and graduates from Springstead High in Spring Hill on time, this week.

CAN FLORIDA SCHOOLS BE THAT BAD? Only 29 percent of them made adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind. The real problem is likely flaws in the federal law, USA Today says in an editorial.

BOUNDARY JUMPERS, BEWARE: The Palm Beach school district is about to make it a crime to enroll students outside their assigned attendance zone without proper permission, the Sun-Sentinel reports. 

CAN YOU SPELL BEWUSSTSEINSLAGE? It's the favorite word of one of the contestants in this year's National Spelling Bee. Fifty-nine of the 286 participants make it past the first round to compete in the semifinals and finals, which will be televised, the Washington Post reports. (By the way, that word means a state of consciousness devoid of sensory components.)

Another interim for FAMU

This time the door is revolving for the chief information officer. Larry Henderson is out; Robert Seniors is in. Henderson was appointed by former interim President Castell Bryant in January 2006, but FAMU CEO Larry Robinson - essentially, Bryant's replacement - announced this afternoon that Henderson is "no longer employed at the university" and that Henderson's former No. 2, Sessions, is now the interim No. 1. Are you following all this?

In other FAMU news, the university put the men's basketball coach on paid administrative leave today, following his arrest Friday on a misdemeanor stalking charge. According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Coach Mike Gillespie - who led the Rattlers to the NCAA tourney this year - was released from jail "on the condition that he wear a GPS tracking system and stay away from the woman who filed the complaint against him."

A frank admission

Teachers grumbled - some very loudly - at Pasco superintendent Heather Fiorentino's decision to train everyone in a newly adopted teaching program called Learning Focused Strategies. Some complained that the method amounted to little more than warmed over best practices - things they had done for years. Others griped that the system put too much of a burden on their shoulders without taking anything away. One school filed a grievance against the way its principal put the program into practice.

In a podcast to all teachers, Fiorentino admits that she made some missteps. "I've made some mistakes in the implementation of LFS," she says. "Yes, we did expand it too fast, and in doing so we created a variety of expectations for our staff and throughout the district." She also speaks of problems with the quality of the training, and confusion about who should be trained and when. Fiorentino then pledges to fix the problems as implementation of the $5-million program moves forward.

Why step up? After hearing the complaining, Fiorentino couldn't help but admit the errors and make adjustments. Why the podcast? "I want my teachers to be more technologically advanced, and I've got to be role modeling," she explained. Is her method working? "That sounds like a positive direction on the superintendent's part," United School Employees of Pasco president Lynne Webb said (of the message, that is).

Did DOE break the law?

House Democrats Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall (pictured), Shelley Vana and Keith Fitzgerald asked Gov. Crist in a letter this morning to investigate a slew of issues surrounding the recently-admitted FCAT flub, including whether any laws were broken. The test in question was last year's third-grade reading test - and state law requires that students who score at the lowest level on that test be held back in third grade unless they can show through a portfolio or some other means that they're proficient in reading. Because of the DOE's blunder - which will result in the re-scoring of 200,000 tests - it's likely that at least some kids were promoted when they shouldn't have been.

In their letter, the Dems credited DOE for "disclosing the mistake and taking action to help avoid similar problems on future FCATs." But they also said remain concerned that "it took the DOE a year to discover the scoring discrepancies after questions were initially raised." To see what else the Dems want, click here.

Another view of FAMU

The Gradebook and the St. Petersburg Times have covered much of the recent travails at Florida A&M University. Guest blogger Larry O. Rivers asked for the chance to weigh in. Rivers served as FAMU student body president and a member of the Board of Trustees during the 2003-2004 school year. He is currently a Ph.D. in History candidate at Vanderbilt University. Rivers can be reached at LORivers1@aol.com. Other guest bloggers are welcome.

"Recent articles and commentary in the St. Petersburg Times have suggested that Castell V. Bryant, who recently resigned as Florida A&M University's interim president, inherited a poorly managed institution from predecessors such as Frederick S. Humphries. The facts from Humphries and Bryant's respective tenures, however, reveal a very different story.

Humphries received clean opinions from the Florida auditor general on every financial statement audit during his 16-year tenure. Bryant failed to produce even one clean state audit in 2.5 years.

Humphries left FAMU with a $22 million composite cash balance, $3 million cash positive operating budget, and $3 million surplus in athletics. Bryant racked up a $10.4 million deficit during her first year alone.

Humphries established a recruitment program that more than tripled enrollment and made FAMU the institution of choice for National Achievement Scholars. Bryant triggered the first enrollment decline in over a decade by shutting down the recruitment program and replacing it with nothing. FAMU lost over 2,000 students and suffered multi-million dollar losses in tuition, fees, and state funding.

Perhaps most importantly, Humphries always stood up for FAMU. When Florida State University tried to seize full control of the College of Engineering the two universities jointly manage, he fought back and won.  Bryant let FSU intimidate her into acquiescing to its efforts to take over the joint college.

Today's news

REMEDIAL MUSIC: The Hillsborough School Board explores ways to make catch-up courses in reading and math fun. That could mean weaving the subject matter into classes that kids enjoy, like art, music and P.E.

GETTING THERE: Private and government investment in research projects at Florida's public universities is up about 58 percent since 2000. Educators expect the numbers to continue to grow.

PAY THEM? No way, columnist Sue Carlton writes. Schools should not resort to performance pay - she calls them bribes - for students who meet achievement markers.

STAYING PUT: The racial makeup of the jury will matter as a class-action lawsuit alleging that Pinellas schools have failed to educate black children moves ahead. So the judge agrees to pull a panel from across the county, rather than from the more heavily white area where the case was filed.

FROM THE OP-ED PAGES: The FCAT scoring problem is just the tip of a larger problem at the Department of Education - a combative defensiveness over the accountability program that must be defused, the Times editorial board says.

ANOTHER GRADUATION: Central High in Brooksville is next.

'STUDENTS X': The term doesn't aim to keep student identities private from prying eyes. It's the name of a disc found in a Pasco teacher's school desk, one that includes porn photos with his students' faces superimposed on them. The teacher recently committed suicide in the face of an investigation.

CONTRACT WITH A STIFF PENALTY: Some Broward County principals had at-risk students sign contracts saying they would improve academically. Then they threatened the students with expulsion if they didn't do well, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

SOME RAISE: Palm Beach schools plan to increase the hourly rate for substitute teachers - to the level they earned more than a decade ago, the Palm Beach Post reports. And then districts wonder why subs go work at McD's instead.

TURN IT OFF: Vermont's governor signs a bill banning school buses from idling on school grounds, the AP reports. The goal is to protect the environment and save gas, one bus at a time.

IT STARTED IN FLORIDA: A Key West vacation turns into a contracting scandal in Dallas, where three men are indicted for defrauding the school district of $39-million, the Dallas Morning News reports.

The venue stays the same

The trial for a class action lawsuit against the Pinellas school district will remain in Clearwater, but will draw jurors from all over the county, a judge decided Tuesday. Plaintiffs wanted the trial moved to St. Petersburg, which was a fairly unusual request, since few ever care where a trial is held within the county. But this is a case about race. The lawsuit alleges that the school district has failed to undertake programs that would reduce or eliminate the achievement gap between black and white students. Plaintiffs wanted the trial moved to St. Pete, where a more racially diverse jury would, in theory, be impaneled. The case is scheduled to go to trial in the fall.

- Tom Tobin, Pinellas County education reporter

FCAT ideas

The Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform isn't sitting around waiting for the Department of Education and the Governor's Office to announce publicly how they plan to salve the growing concerns over the FCAT in the wake of recent revelations about test scoring problems. No. The advocacy group has jumped right in with its own set of recommendations, sent to Gov. Crist and Commissioner Blomberg this morning. Then the group sent the letter to the media, essentially trying to hold the state's feet to the fire on its promise of openness and transparency.

FCAR proposes that the department conduct hearings around the state, investigate all FCAT scores and not just the 2006 third-grade reading results in question, and publish all "relevant documents" about how the test is designed, constructed and administered. They've even enlisted Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, an organization that opposes high-stakes testing, as a co-spokesman for the effort. We've put in calls to get a response from the state officials. We'll let you know when we hear anything.

And the winner is ...

  A majority of St. Pete Times readers are apparently on the chincy side. At least the ones who respond to our readers' poll. On Monday, in connection with a story on student performance pay, The Times asked: "If the state were to reward students for passing the FCAT, how much should the prize be?"

The result: 14 percent said $500, 32 percent said $1,000 and 53 percent said … (drumroll please) … a measly $100. (Puh-leeze! As one ninth grader told The Times for the story, she makes more than that babysitting). Of course, this was a far cry from a scientific poll. The Times only offered three different responses. Only 161 votes were cast. And it didn't ask a perhaps more important question - which is, is there public support for student performance pay, period? Anybody care to weigh in?

-Ron Matus, state education reporter

Today's news

YES, EVEN MORE GRADS: Hernando County begins its round, with Nature Coast High graduating its first group of four-year seniors.

FROM THE OP-ED PAGES: The Pasco County teacher accused of cheating on the FCAT made plenty of excuses, but offered no acceptable defense for helping students, the Times editorial board says. And, there's nothing wrong with teaching the Bible in public schools, so long as teachers don't try to indoctrinate students, the Washington Post editorializes in the wake of a Texas-based lawsuit on the issue.

FIELD TRIP FINANCE: Letting kids go on school trips can be good for their minds. But the costs aren't always pocketbook friendly. School districts do all they can to help students who can't afford them make up the difference, the Miami Herald reports.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The North Florida community of Yulee celebrates the return of its high school after more than 30 years sending its teens to Fernandina Beach for classes, the Florida Times-Union reports.

MORE FLORIDA SCHOOLS ON THE LIST: Only three other states had more schools listed on Newsweek's top high school list this year, demonstrating the increasing numbers of teens taking AP classes across Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

FORGET FINALS: An increasing number of high schools are letting students submit projects in place of taking year-end exams, the LA Times reports. Some of it is a pushback against high-stakes testing, some of it is the recognition that a "snapshot" assessment doesn't really help the student or teacher.

ONE CHILD AT A TIME: A Colorado school district struggling against its changing demographics turns to targeted teaching in hopes of making progress, the Rocky Mountain News reports.

DRUG TESTING: Texas joins Florida in adopting a law that requires random steroid testing of high school student-athletes, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Where's the orchestra?

Who says Florida schools increasingly teach to the test? Students at Varela Senior High in Miami, that's who. In the school's recent issue of its student newspaper, columnist Nastassia Alayeto bemoans the loss of her school orchestra as a victim of FCAT. "According to a district mandated rule, orchestra and other fine and performing arts classes do not contribute to the FCAT, and supposedly provide no support for the exam," she writes. But Alayeto begs to differ: "Studies have shown that music, and particularly orchestra, when taught by certified instructors can significantly improve the overall abilities of a student, and especially their reading and language skills." To read more, click here.

Today's news

FORGET PERFORMANCE PAY FOR TEACHERS: How about paying students who make the grade? It works in an Ohio school district. A national organization wants to start giving money awards to teens who score well on AP tests. And at least one key Florida lawmaker likes the idea. The jury is still out, though, on whether the idea is a good one.

WHAT NEXT? The accountability war is over, and accountability won. But the latest uproar over FCAT - there's a backlash in the face of errant third-grade scores from 2006, in case you missed it - has raised some key questions about how the system works, former Florida K-12 chancellor Jim Warford writes in an op-ed piece. The key one: "Where do we go from here?"

TEACHING WASN'T FOR HER: Until she tried it. Thirty-four years later, Gail Diederich is retiring and writes that she wouldn't have wanted to do anything else.

A SCHOLARSHIP IN HIS NAME: The Spring Hill Elementary PTSO honors retiring principal John DiRienzo by creating a fund to help students who pass through the school. DiRienzo, meanwhile, has decided that retirement really means heading a nearby private school.

MORE GRADS: Pasco County celebrated another round of high school graduations over the weekend. To see the stories, click here.

PITCH THE PIERCING: A Martin County teacher fights her school district's mandate that she not wear a diamond stud in her nose. The district is now headed to a full-fledged debate over what "professional appearance" means, the Palm Beach Post reports. Sound familiar, Pasco teachers? 

MORE THAN THE CORE: High school students need to go beyond the basic courses to succeed in college and beyond, a new report from ACT says. Yet receiving a diploma doesn't take much work, Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews writes, and many adults don't recognize that truth.

TEACHING TEACHERS: Many schools and districts use mentors to coach less experienced teachers. But, as in the case of the Dallas, Texas, school district, the systems can be haphazard. Dallas has revamped its system to put help where it's needed most, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Coming up

Tuesday: Hillsborough School Board, 5 p.m.

Thursday: Education Practices Commission, 9 a.m., Tampa

June 4: Florida Schools of Excellence Commission, 10 a.m., Orlando

June 5: Pasco School Board, 9:30 a.m.; Hillsborough School Board, workshop, 10 a.m.; Hernando School Board, 7 p.m.; DOE rulemaking on authority to sponsor charter schools, 10 a.m., Orlando; Florida Schools of Excellence Commission, 2 p.m., Orlando

June 8: Florida Center for Advising and Academic Support, 9:30 a.m., Tallahassee

June 12: Pinellas School Board, 10 a.m.; Hillsborough School Board, 5 p.m.

June 19: State Board of Education, Miami

Today's news

TWO TEACHERS, ONE CLASSROOM: Meeting the state's class-size amendment goals looked insurmountable when school districts couldn't build classrooms fast enough and state officials said co-teaching couldn't count. Then Florida lawmakers stepped in, saying the point was to lower the student-teacher ratio, regardless of the space restrictions. Hernando County has embraced that philosophy. (Times photo, Lance Aram Rothstein)

IT'S A WRAP: Pasco County conducted its graduation marathon on Saturday, with seniors from six of its public high schools getting their diplomas. Another three ceremonies take place today. Click here for links to all the stories plus a slideshow.

NO INSURANCE? NO ADMISSION: Beginning this fall, Florida State University won't accept new students who do not carry their own health insurance, the AP reports. The state will provide minimal cost coverage, or other assistance, for financially needy students. FSU is the first public university in the state to take the position.

ABSTINENCE PROGRAMS UNDER FIRE: The ACLU has challenged two sex-ed courses taught in several north Florida high schools, the Northwest Florida Daily News reports. It's a national push to eliminate medical inaccuracies in the curriculum.

START A FIGHT, GO TO COURT: School brawls that once ended with kids and parents talking out problems increasingly are finding their way into the legal system, the Palm Beach Post reports.

A weekend interview with ...

... King High School IB valedictorian Rumela Das. With all the graduations going on, the Gradebook decided that, rather than talk to someone who runs the education system in some way, we'd hear from someone who took advantage of the system. That someone is Rumela Das, who heads to MIT in the fall after graduating with the third-highest recorded grade-point average in the history of Hillsborough County public schools. Even as she earned that 8.08 GPA, Rumela found time to be a cheerleader and volunteer. Here, she offers advice to other teens and their parents about how they might achieve what she has achieved.

Q: Tell me a little bit about what you will tell your graduating class. (Das gave the commencement speech on Thursday.)

A: Basically, I didn't want to make it boring or long. The whole year all my friends have been telling me, 'Keep your speech short and make it interesting.' It was really hard to some up with what I should tell them. ... We learned a lot in high school. So, basically, (I'm) telling them to make use of their knowledge and give credit where it is due.

Q: How are you going to make use of your knowledge and give credit where it is due?

A: Basically at MIT I'll have to, because everyone there is just as smart as me if not smarter than me. So it's going to be hard to keep up with all the classes and everything. So I'll be pushing myself at MIT as I have been here, but probably even more. And making use of my knowledge. That's an interesting question. How do you do that? Basically I would say I guess like always keep your mind in what you're doing. Don't do anything mindlessly and always remember what you've learned. ...

Q: Did you get a sense from being in school how hard it was? You earned an amazingly high GPA. Did you ever get anything lower than an A?

A: Not on the semester grades. In quarter grades I got a few B's.

Q: So you must have been able to focus yourself in ways ...

A: ... It's basically a balancing act, in how you balance which classes are important and which classes you know are harder so you spend a proportionate amount of time working and studying for that class. ... Some people always have this image of me (as) someone who studies all the time. Any valedictorian I know has different hobbies, does different sports and is in different clubs. Being valedictorian, it shouldn't be just about the GPA. I know it is, but it's just like an all-around thing. Even if you were valedictorian of your class but you didn't do other things, you wouldn't be able to get into a good college.

Doing as much as you can is what makes life fun. How I was able to take all those classes and balance it out with, like, I did cheerleading all through high school and I did other stuff. I was in a lot of clubs. ... The way that you balance it is you organize yourself and have a way to keep track of everything that you need to do and get everything done as fast as possible. That's how I did it. I didn't spend more time on something when I knew I needed to get something done. I set a time limit for myself and said I'm going to make myself finish it by this time so I didn't get distracted by the usual distractors like TV, the internet, etc. You just have to motivate yourself to get what you can done. If you do that then you'll still have time to enjoy yourself. ... It's not all about studying all the time. It's always possible to get your studying done and have fun and do other stuff.  Like volunteering. That's an important thing that kids our age do.

Today's news

'WHERE IS LITHIA?' Nearly 500 Hillsborough County teachers who got bumped from their jobs head to the district vacancy pool to find another. If they're lucky, they find something that they're qualified to teach. An extra bonus is a job close to home.

OK. WE'LL PAY: A week after Lennar Corp.'s refusal to complete a road to Pasco County's new high school became public, the home builder agrees to help build a temporary road to the campus.

SENIOR PRANK TIME: The idea of creating a giant '07 with plastic forks might have seemed like a good idea at the time. But some Zephyrhills High seniors who left their mark on the campus got caught and charged with trespassing. Don't even ask about the student charged with a felony for gluing teachers' nameplates all over a patio area.

MORE ON FCAT: The Orlando Sentinel weighs in with a story about the scoring snafu. Meanwhile, the Palm Beach Post opines that the overemphasis on the FCAT was a mistake from the beginning and the state now has the perfect opportunity to change.

REALITY CHECK: Forget positive. Palm Beach superintendent Art Johnson likes to tell it like it is during his annual graduation speeches, the Palm Beach Post reports. The Sun-Sentinel also covered the speech that some called gloomy, and posted audio if you want to hear.

IT'S WHAT SNAKES DO: But the video of a Jacksonville-area Christian school teacher feeding a live rabbit to a python as a science experiment didn't get rave reviews from some parents, or the teacher's bosses, the Florida Times-Union reports. (Check it out. They have the video online.)

SPEAKING OF VIDEO: Kids in a Clermont high school got to watch part of the gory ancient battle film 300 in class. Now the school district is investigating not only whether showing a blood-spattered R-rated film to teens is appropriate, but also how the video - which isn't due out on DVD until July 31 - got into the classroom to begin, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Rethink the way we use FCAT

Today's St. Pete Times story noted that Pinellas Superintendent Clayton Wilcox said he'd put the FCAT test blunder to good use by studying whether the state's third-grade retention policy is working. What does that mean? Here's more: Chances are, some of last year's third-graders got a free pass to fourth grade because their FCAT reading scores were artificially inflated. Under the state's policy, kids who don't score above the bottom level on the FCAT are, more often that not, held back. Then they're given additional help.

Wilcox said the district will conduct an "individual child study" to determine whether the students who should have been retained last year did well as fourth graders this year. If large numbers of them did, Wilcox said he'll approach state officials about reconsidering the way the FCAT is used in retention decisions. "Let's use it as it was intended to be used," he said, "as one tool amongst many."

- Tom Tobin, Pinellas County education reporter

Accuracy first

Perhaps lost in the flurry of concern about whether last year's FCAT was scored correctly is commissioner Jeanine Blomberg's comment that folks push to know the results too fast. "One of the things we are talking about is slowing down the reporting process," she told reporters the other day.

What does that mean in terms of getting this year's school grades and adequate yearly progress reports? Perhaps a delay. Yes, schools that perpetually have been in need of improvement might have to wait a bit longer to know whether they face another year of sanctions under No Child Left Behind. And yes, parents and students might not have as much time to sign up for choice, tutoring or other options. But accuracy matters most, DOE spokesman Tom Butler told the Gradebook.

"We are trying to target the release as closely to last year's time frame (June 22) as possible," Butler said. "The most important factor in this is that we get the right data. However long it needs to take, the commissioner is going to get that. We know there are a lot of concerned parties out there. But the most important part is the accuracy."

Winn: No conspiracy here

Just in case you can't get enough of the botched-FCAT story, The Gradebook has rounded up some leftovers. We'll start with former Education Commissioner John Winn, whose take on last year's test was reported in this morning's St. Petersburg Times.

Winn made several points that didn't make the cut for the story. For one, he responded to charges that he and former Gov. Jeb Bush - who hand-picked Winn for the job in 2004 - artificially boosted test scores to make Jeb and his FCAT-heavy education agenda look good. "We didn't put ourselves through all this for politics. The politically expedient way to go about this was to keep everybody happy. We started this for one purpose and one purpose only: To get good, accurate data out there and to drive improvement," said Winn, who now works for the National Mathematics and Science Initiative Inc., an outfit that's trying to get more kids to take AP exams. "For anybody to suggest we would manipulate or give false information about students for political purposes - that's just contrary to the difficulties we've been through … That's a reckless and political charge."

He also noted that he's not a testing expert - in fact, he has degrees in psychology and philosophy. So he relied on testing experts to figure out if a defect caused the scores to spike. Here's the quote that made the paper: "Now did they do as diligent job as maybe they've done this year, looking back? I guess, obviously not." Here's how Winn continued the thought: "But I don't know what they have to do to do it. I don't know what counts as a diligent job because I'm not an expert psychometrician. But we were all basically told, there were no test anomalies, that everything was okay."

- Ron Matus, state education reporter
(Times photo, 2005)

Today's news

WINN HAD A FEELING: Last year's third-grade FCAT scores didn't sit well with then-commissioner John Winn, either. He ordered three separate evaluations of the test but turned up nothing. That errors would come to light, as happened this week, was "always my greatest fear."

EDUCATION BUDGET VETOES: Gov. Crist nixes $140-million in college construction projects, including a new USF campus in Lakeland, and rejects a university tuition increase. The governor sent a clear message with his budget vetoes, the editorial board says: Tighten your belts.

FINANCIAL AID OFFICIALS GATHER: No surprise, they talk about the student loan scandal that, like snowbirds, has migrated from the northeast to Florida. Some fret, while others say it's not that big of a deal. Either way, they look for ways to improve their battered profession.

A MESSAGE FOR GRADUATING SENIORS: Life is filled with unsolicited advice, and the Times editorial board offers graduates some of its own as they grab their diplomas and move on in life.

SPEAKING OF TIGHT TIMES: The Volusia school district plans to eliminate 200 aides, as its finance team projects having $13-million less next year than the one that's just ending, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Any guesses as to which district cries poor next?

MORE FCAT: The Miami Herald reports that the age of high-stakes testing is here to stay, despite the latest FCAT scoring concerns. The Palm Beach Post tells more about the state Senate probe that the Gradebook reported yesterday.

A FINAL THOUGHT: School's out for summer. And what a long summer it will be. Thanks to the state mandate that the school year not start earlier than two weeks before Labor Day, kids will get to do what they do for 2-1/2 weeks longer than a year ago. Times reporter Letitia Stein tallied it up. In a nutshell, last summer, vacation lasted 5,961,600 seconds. This summer, it will be 7,516,800 seconds. If you're counting. And you will be. (Times photo, Keri Wiginton)

FCAT probe likely

A key state lawmaker will likely be leading an inquiry into how state education officials bungled last year's FCAT. Sen. Don Gaetz, who chairs the senate education committee, said important questions remain unanswered as to how the Department of Education incorrectly scored last year's third-grade reading test.

Gaetz, R-Niceville, called the office of Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, on Wednesday - after being told of the blunder by The St. Petersburg Times - to request permission to pursue the issue. On Thursday, Pruitt's staff told The Gradebook that a green light for Gaetz is all but certain. The time lines for a probe are still unclear, but any review by Gaetz's committee assures the issue won’t fade away and probably means a harsh spotlight for the DOE. "To borrow a phrase, we need to find out what the DOE knew and when they knew it," Gaetz said.

To read today's story, click here.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Dazed and confused

They don't call it the muddle in the middle for nothing. The vast majority of middle school students think they're destined to graduate from high school, but the vast majority also have no idea what classes they're supposed to take to get it done, according to a survey released this week by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and Phi Delta Kappa International. The poll found 93 percent believe there’s "no chance" they'll drop out, which is encouraging but also out of synch with stats that show only about 70 percent of students graduate nationally - and even fewer in Florida.

Other survey responses may shed light on some of the reasons why: 83 percent said they know little or nothing about the classes they need to graduate, and less than a third said they knew much about what classes they need for college. And here's where it gets disturbing: More than 70 percent said they only had 1 to 5 teachers - during their entire time in school - who were helpful. To see more results, click here.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

You can't always get what you want

Gov. Crist signed the new state budget this morning, finalizing a 6.65 percent increase in per-pupil funding and $147.5 million for teacher bonuses. The total budget is $71.5 billion, and public schools get $24.4 billion of that. But in the end, Crist had to settle for less. He got half of what he wanted for teacher bonuses, $500 million less for class-size reduction (the final budget includes $3.3 billion for it) and $20 million less for more reading coaches (the state will get 80 more instead of 400 more.) "This is a tight budget year," Crist said in a press release, "and we must live within our means, just as the people of Florida must live within theirs."

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

(Photo of Gov. Crist signing a different bill, from the State of Florida)

Today's news

SELF-INFLICTED WOUND: FCAT critics pounce on the Florida Department of Education's admission that the 2006 reading test for third-graders was too easy and the results skewed. Department leaders pledged to repair the problem, but as Senate Education chairman Don Gaetz put it, "This is a shot below the water line,  and it's self-inflicted."

FCAT RESULTS: Want more on yesterday's release of FCAT scores? Here are the reports from Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties. To read how the story unfolded yesterday, complete with links to web sites, tables and other documents, click here.

LOAN COMPANY RAIDED: Agents from the US Office of Inspector General, Department of Education and FBI launch an investigation into Student Funding Services in Largo. They offer no explanation as they remove boxes of documents from the business.

FOCUS ON MENTAL HEALTH: A university security task force recommends a set of actions that go well beyond cops and communication systems in order to protect campuses from future violence, the AP reports.

FROM THE OP-ED PAGES: Replace Akshay Desai on the state Board of Education, the Times editorial board says. His appointment fails even a "weak smell test."

THE WORLD, ONE PIECE AT A TIME: Sixth-graders at West Hernando Middle School combine geography, art and gardening into a yearlong lesson that culminated in a mosaic world map in the school's courtyard garden. They even got to smash things. (Times photo, Keri Wiginton)

HURRICANE MEMO SPARKS STORM: Pasco superintendent Heather Fiorentino wanted to make sure all school employees knew, before they left for summer break, that they could be called back if the district needs to work emergency evacuation shelters. The United School Employees of Pasco didn't take the news well.

STILL NO. 1: Principals don't like the student battle to get the top GPA. But the Palm Beach School Board lets the valedictorian title live to see another year, so members can get some student input on whether to kill the honor, the Palm Beach Post reports.

Here it is

The Florida Department of Education released FCAT results for fourth- through 10th-graders in reading, math and science. The general trends remained upward. Science continued to be of particular concern, as no grade level had a 50 percent passing rate. The department's admission that it had to recalculate last year's third-grade reading FCAT scores obscured much of the rest of the news about the data put out Wednesday. Check back in the morning for the full report from the state and local perspective. To see the news and to get links to tables, web sites and statements as they came out today, read on.

Give them the money

Hillsborough teachers have voted resoundingly to accept the state's new performance pay plan. The Merit Award Program won the approval of 75 percent of the nearly 2,500 teachers who voted. Hillsborough estimates that one-third to half of its almost 15,000 teachers could qualify for the additional pay this year.

But don't confuse the strong show of support with an approval rating, warns Hillsborough teachers union president Jean Clements. "Most teachers are not completely satisfied - neither am I - but thought it was the only way to get that money into the district and into the pockets of teachers," she said. "It was worth a shot."

She said Hillsborough is receiving $10.8 million in state funding for the program, although it remains to be seen how far the money in rewards for the county's teachers. The MAP program replaced the much maligned STAR program, short for Special Teachers Are Rewarded. Standardized test scores play a large role in determining performance pay in both plans. Hillsborough was one of the first districts to send a STAR plan to the state. The district also has an internal performance pay plan.

- Letitia Stein, Hillsborough County education reporter

More FAMU turnover

Add another name to the list of top administrators who have left FAMU recently: Robert L. Thomas, interim dean of the pharmacy school. Thomas actually turned in his letter of resignation back in December - not long before the Accreditation Council of Pharmacy Education put the school on probationary status - but it didn't surface until yesterday afternoon, when The Gradebook obtained a copy. Thomas was appointed interim dean in September 2004 and applied for the permanent post in November 2005. "While I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to serve in this capacity and be given the opportunity to be considered for the position, I have decided that it would not be in the best interest of the College, University or I to continue in this capacity," he wrote in his Dec. 21 letter to Provost Debra Austin. Thomas also said he was withdrawing his application for the permanent job, but would continue serving as interim until his contract is up or a replacement is named.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Today's news

SAY GOODBYE TO THE SRO: Lawmakers worked to spare school districts when pushing property tax cuts among local governments. But the cities and counties that fund school resource officers still face cuts, and leaders there are saying the campus cops might not make the budget next year.

NOW FIX THE SYSTEM: The legal battle over Brooke Ingoldsby's death by school bus two years ago has ended, with Gov. Charlie Crist's decision to approve a $1.3-million settlement with the Pinellas school district. Now, Brooke's still grieving mom, Michelle Allen, will press the district to improve the transportation department that generates "horror stories" like hers.

MORE ON THAT HEBREW SCHOOL: Last week, the Gradebook told readers about the nation's first Hebrew-English charter school, which will open this fall in Broward County. We linked you to a Florida Jewish News story that told all about it. Well, the Broward School Board read the story, too, and got concerned that it was approving a religious school. The Sun-Sentinel reports on what happened next.

LEAVE THE IPOD AT HOME: Make that any MP3 player, the St. Johns County School Board says to students, according to this Florida Times-Union report. Odd how districts can't decide on this issue. You might recall a recent story from Chicago where a school board figured that kids are just listening to music, so why bother with a ban. The music junkie in the Gradebook can't help but wonder who's right.

JUST WHAT THEY WANTED: The generous State of Ohio will send a voter registration packet to 15,000 lucky high school graduates as part of its new Grads Vote 2007 initiative, the Dayton Daily News reports.

(Times photo, Chris Zuppa - click to enlarge)

You guessed it, more FCAT

Nope. We haven't had enough numbers yet. So bring 'em on. The DOE releases yet another round of FCAT scores in the morning, this time the fourth- through 10th-grade results in reading, math and science. We call this the data dump, for obvious reasons. Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg and her staff plan a 10 a.m. conference call to give their spin to reporters. Visit the Gradebook throughout the day for periodic updates on the FCAT deluge as we sort through it all. And, if you have any questions you think demand an answer, by all means, bring 'em on. Post them below, or send an e-mail.

Scam alert

Have kids getting ready for the June 2 SAT? Look out for folks offering Kaplan study materials. The company has sent letters to some area high school counselors advising them that telemarketers are impersonating the firm's representatives, attempting to sell its retail CD-ROMs at a significant markup from the real cost. "Kaplan does not sell its retail products through individual sales calls but through authorized distributors, vendors and our online bookstore," the warning states. To read the full e-mail, click here. And stay alert. If you think you've been scammed, you can contact the state Attorney General Office.

World-class education

When Florida lawmakers talked about creating world-class education standards for the state's school children, they offered words and broad goals. House Speaker Marco Rubio included the idea in his session opening remarks, and said to get there required three things - replacing the Sunshine State Standards with a more competitive curriculum, refocusing the mission of high schools on preparing students for college or work, and helping all students achieve the set goals.

How does that compare with the world in which we seek to compete?

When the ruler of Dubai talks about creating world-class education for his region of the world, he speaks with money. $10-billion. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has announced a new foundation designed to encourage a "knowledge-based society" throughout the Middle East. "The Foundation's mission is to invest in knowledge and human development, focusing specifically on research and education and promoting equal opportunities for the personal growth and success of our youth. The Foundation's programs are also aimed at enhancing the standing of scholars and intellectuals in the Arab world," the sheikh said in a press release.

How about that. To read more, see this Associated Press report.

What happened, the DOE version

The Florida legislative session is a couple of weeks cold now, so the folks in DOE land have had some time to assess what all the decisions at the Capitol might mean in the world of schools. They're taking the show on the road these days - today's episode begins at noon in Jacksonville - to let community and school leaders see the latest and ask questions. The closest these shows come to Tampa, though, is Orlando and Fort Myers. And the Gradebook figured many of our local readers - not to mention our reporters - couldn't make it to either. So we requested the slide show to share. It's 175 pages of information about budgets, exams and new or revised laws. And it's all yours by clicking here. Enjoy.

Today's news

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR: Students from a dozen Pinellas County high schools donned the cap and gown on Monday for graduation-a-rama, a day of celebrations for the teens and their parents. Click here for the Times photo slide show of the events. (Times photo: Jim Damaske)

DON'T HELP: Barbara Heggaton is fighting for her career, all because of the FCAT exam. A teacher's aide says she overheard the Moon Lake Elementary teacher tell a student he got an answer wrong on the test, and within days Pasco superintendent Heather Fiorentino recommended firing Heggaton. The teacher got her day of defense before the School Board on Monday.

FROM THE OP-ED PAGES: Increasing the tuition at Florida's three top research universities offers five attractive benefits, not the least of which would be more professors and more course offerings, the Times editorial board says. And, the idea to reward students who score well on AP exams is simply bad,