Jeb: Leave school grades alone

The man who helped put Florida's school grading system into place is weighing in on a plan to scrap a key part of it. Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg said this week she wants to suspend an unpopular component of the grading formula that penalizes schools when struggling students, often poor and minority, don't make learning gains. Not a good idea, Bush told The Gradebook in an email last night: "I don't believe that there should be a change in the grading formula regarding the learning gains for the bottom 25%," Bush wrote. "As a state, we should be looking for ways to raise expectations rather than lower them."

Teachers, principals and superintendents have long complained about the provision, which has been particularly hard on high schools. Many of them welcomed Blomberg's recommendation, which goes to the state Board of Education on Tuesday. But Bush may find allies in unexpected places. This morning, state Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, told The Gradebook that the provision in question is one of the few parts of Bush's accountability system he likes. Richardson, who is a member of the Black Caucus and the House education council, said he wasn't exactly thrilled to be hearing about the proposed change from a reporter. "This issue should have been vetted before a wider audience," he said. "And obviously, it wasn't."

Comments

[DELdaBULL]

Great posts John Perry. If only more people in power thought like you the Florida public education system would be closer to that which I experience growing up in NYC.

[Diane Hanfmann]

Thanks for referencing this article. I remembered it as well when Pat Levesque
supported changes to the high school grades. Was it a case of, "If you can't beat them, join them?"
The whole system continues to be unfair and invalid due to skewing by SES.

[Chris]

Mr. Perry, I find your take on the situation to be right on target. Thank you for your comprehensive assessment.

As a teacher with thirty years of experience, I noted countless mandates emanating from Tallahassee, especially under Jeb's reign. As these policies came down, I would always examine them and attempt to determine why they were being advanced, and how they would affect my students and our schools. Invariably, after a period of time, I would conclude that the motive behind these mandates was the slandering, hobbling, and ultimate dismantling of public education. This conclusion never came easy for me, because I was raised and educated in a culture that valued public education as an institution vital to our democracy.

I'm entitled to retire in three years but have considered extending my career to do my part in the defense of my students and our public schools.

[John Perry]

John, we're nowhere near "unflawing" the FCAT, and even if we were, it is educational malpractice to use a single test to make multiple high stakes decisions. Even the test makers warn about the limitations of standardized tests.

I highly recommend a book by Sharon Nichols and David Berliner entitled "Collateral Damage: How High Stakes Testing Corrupts America's Schools." The book focuses on Campbell's law, "which posits that the greater the social consequences associated with a quantitative indicator (such as test scores), the more likely it is that the indicator itself will become corrupted- and that its use will corrupt the social processes it was intended to monitor."

Evidence of such corruption is everywhere. Just look at the lack of trust school administrators are now expressing in FCAT scores (see "More FCAT flubs out there?" http://blogs.tampabay.com/schools/2007/06/school-administ.html )

You ask for "workable alternatives." Well, to begin with, doing the wrong thing is worse than doing nothing at all (i.e., medical treatment based on a flawed blood test), so we should immediately put a stop to doing the wrong thing.

Then we have to get away from generalities and abstractions and identify exactly what the purpose of public education is, then define how we want to get there (for some thought-provoking ideas on that subject, go to Marion Brady's web site- http://home.cfl.rr.com/marion/mbrady.html ). Because, as Brady points out, so few people are willing to question personal or social preconceptions, to think outside the box, we're unlikely to have meaningful education reform.

What we get instead is pandering, demagogueing politicians imposing "solutions" that do much more harm than good. Sometimes this is intentional. I hope you realize that folks like the (recently departed) Milton Freidman and Grover Norquist, with many disciples on the political right, openly advocate for total privatization of public schools as a matter of their economic and political ideologies. These folks are eager to see public schools portrayed as failures. It gets them where they want to go: An America with no public schools as we know them.

FCAT cannot bear the weight of the high stakes already heaped on it, but it must now also bear the weight if NCLB. I urge you to go to the Educator Roundtable web site (http://www.educatorroundtable.org/petition.html ), and read the 16 reasons why NCLB should be dismantled. Most of it applies to FCAT and the so-called A+ Plan as well.

Yes, the medical profession would spring into action to fix a flawed blood test. First, they would stop using it. Even if they could fix it and put it in use, they would conduct other tests to verify the results, and the patient could always get a second opinion. If only we treated school children so fairly.

[Note: The medical metaphor works to discuss testing, but doesn't really apply to education overall. We should be focused on what kids can do, not trying to "diagnose" what's "wrong" with them, and then "treating" them.]

[Diane Hanfmann]

If the FCAT is a good test, use it appropriately as one indicator of how an individual student is performing, not as a basis for money, reputations,
or retention. I propose a value added/growth model for tracking the growth of children over time. This would allow for the reality of individual starting points. Wouldn't that be both necessary and based in reality? Remove sanctions based on a single indicator. You cannot exclude the role of socioeconomic stsus on proficiency levels. Currently, students in schools with high poverty rates may actually show moe growth than those in affluent neighborhoods, yet the school in the lower income area
may get sanctioned while the other school type, which can be called a slide snd glide school, get bonus money and great reputations while their students show less change in skills. I think the parents of the gifted and the school staff of low proficiency schools with high growth
should be screaming loudly as they get the worst deals!! As much as I am into this, I have just recently become aware of the correlation of retention and dropping out. ( You may have seen the numbers of those kids who were considered mistakenly promoted and how they performed on the fourth grade FCAT. This is cause for concern as well.) The school grades system is unfair and a very scary part of this is my strong guess that policymakers were knowledgeable enough to be aware of these issues and went along with this awful system anyway, leaving me to wonder what was the true motive as fair and accurate assessment and accountability does not seem to have been the goal. I am a special ed teacher of 20 years and parent advocate for gifted.I have various degrees in education related fields.
I look forward to a day when every child's growth is important and a fair accountability system is put in place.

[John]

STILL no workable alternatives have been proposed or even outlined.

Does anybody even want to "unflaw" the FCAT?

Jeez, even flawed blood tests are corrected by the medical profession.

[Diane Hanfmann]

Mr. Perry makes several good points. The one I would most like to emphasize is the foolhardiness of an education which provides assembly line techniques to everyone that passes by on the conveyor belt. Get benchmark 1
whether you have the pre-requisite skills or not. Get benchmark 1 even if you mastered it two years ago. Next everyone moves on to Benchmark 2. Schools have become blind to individual differences, only seeing the need to pass the FCAT and earn bonus money and shiny reputations.
As a special education teacher of more than 20 years, I remain confused as to a national policy, NCLB, being based on a false premise that all children can and should be able to learn the same things by the same time.
Although it can be said that all children can learn, it has always been at different rates and under varied conditions. I invite anyone to correct my thinking.
I believe as well that it is not the bad teacher that criticizes FCAT
misuse or NCLB. Actually it seems to me that it would be a concerned, informed, and courageous teacher/person. Count me among that group!

[John Perry]

With all due respect, John, when it comes to advocating for Florida's children, I'll never ease up.

Think about what you are saying. "The measurement may be flawed but the kids are being taught what they need to be successful on the test." Successful on a flawed test? Nice! Why do you find such a thing acceptable? You'd never accept that in medicine. "Well, this blood test is faulty, but we're going to operate on you based on the results." "You're having heart palpatations? Well, our flawed heart monitor shows nothing, so we're not going to treat you." See the absurdity?

Sometimes it helps to see it from another angle. Go to http://www.fcarweb.org/docs/best_dentist.htm and read "The Best Dentist." Then go to http://www.fcarweb.org/analogies.htm for more enlightening stories.

Now, back to "being taught what they need to be successful on the test." Here's a challenge for you. If you can find evidence that success on any test has ever been correlated to success in life, let me know, but I think you're going to be looking for a very long time.

I don't know what people elsewhere think of our education system, but I know where we still rank in every meaningful statistic- last or nearly last. If "the system IS better for all kids," why do we have nothing to show for it?

One last thing. Your attempt at a dig was way off track. "It sounds like the teachers that are most against the FCAT are those least equipped to help their students deal with it." I'm more against the FCAT than any teacher you will ever meet. Yet according to the FCAT scores, 92% of my students made MORE than a year's growth in one school year with me. Only one had a drop- a kid with family problems I saw Christmas-treeing the test. If you had any idea of the challenges we faced (or cared), you'd know that how hard-won those scores were. Oh, and they haven't adjusted last year's third grade scores. When they do that, my fourth grade scores might look even better.

Well, it seems that as if a teacher can be a strong opponent of FCAT and be equipped to deal with it at the same time. Bring on the accountability, John. But hold the kids harmless. It is inexcusable to abuse them with a one-size-fits all system that doesn't recognize the glorious diversity of humanity (or even recognize their humanity- they're just numbers on an FCAT report!!). This one-size-fits-all system will also destroy what makes America unique in the world- our wonderful spirit of creativity and risk-taking.

Speaking of voting, a generation of dumbed-down, back-to-basics, no-social-studies-knowing, half-educated, test-prepped, standardized, homogenized, disillusioned, unquestioning FCAT robots doesn't sound very good for democracy if you ask me.

[Diane Hanfmann]

I would draw attention to the opinion in the prior post that the measurement may be flawed. The significance of flawed measurement is
enormous when it results in retention,
inappropriately earned bonus money, and inappropriately earned reputations. I can agree with the writer that accountability can be a good thing. Fair and accurate measurement is mandatory for such.
The role of socioeconomic status cannot be overlooked when reviewing
FCAT proficiency levels. This factor
plays a significant role that cannot be controlled by schools/teachers. A value added model of assessment would eliminate such factors and produce an amazingly different picture of what happens within a school. It is a wonderment to me why the policymakers would bypass this better mode unless they had ulterior motives.
If the FCAT is a good test, use it appropriately as an indicator among others of how a student is faring. Retention is not a simple topic as it
may increase likelihood of dropping out.
Florida actually has a long way to go to improve its education and one is best
able to judge by learning how measurements are composed and presented.
unfortunately, it sometimes comes down to the saying, "It's what you don't know that hurts you." Our kids are worth fighting for.

[John]

Gosh Perry ease up. The emotional incendiary language does nothing for your cause.

As a taxpayer with kids I have seen the results of our Florida academic system before and after FCAT. It was pretty tough to get my kid's teachers to stick to curriculum. It was disheartening to find so little support for standards and performance. It was frustrating to see them fall behind their cousins in other states.

My wife and I filled the gaps as best we could. So you'll have to excuse me my insistence that I believe the system IS better for all kids.

The measurement may be flawed but the kids are being taught what they need to be successful on the test. Those kids who will be unable to compete are identified earlier and the school must document the steps they take to help them. Those that pass at least have a score that they have demonstrated some competence on a given day.

If some of those headstrong kids are determined NOT to get educated then so be it. Eventually society will fix it one way or the other.

Keep in mind that the people of Florida wanted a way to hold the edu-crates accountable. FCAT does. It also prevents "Free Fridays" and stupid "extra credit for paper towels" campaigns.

I want somebody peeking into your classroom making sure you're doing your job - everyday.

Please don't trot out that "you kill the love of learning" line. Without having the basics - you can never learn. Besides, how many times have you seen anyone pick up Plato's Republic at the beach. I bet you've seen many a craftsman pick up a manual to look up a solution though.

It sounds like the teachers that are most against the FCAT are those least equipped to help their students deal with it.

Think about it Perry at least the rest of the US isn't thinking we're a loser state in education any more.

Now voting? That's another blog.

[Diane Hanfmann]

Imagine, if you could, that behind the
controversy around the lowest performing quartile of students is the
mistaken notion of NCLB that holds all
children to meeting the same standard at the same time. Interestingly, the state of Florida has actually built an
accountability system on this unrealistic premise, which seems to defy
the basic educational reality of individual differences. Add to this flawed base the inclusion of money and reputations for the adults and you have
a recipe for corruption of assessment and carryover in the classroom. As the smoke lifts from Jeb's legacy, the mirrors remain, reflecting poorly on his tenure.
I would be interested in hearing Mr.
Bush address his neglect of the state's
gifted and his comfort with leaving them behind. He had a duty to each Florida student, and, in my opinion,
turned his back on the best and brightest while leaving no child behind.

[John Perry]

John, I don't know who you are, but perhaps if you actually sat down and talked with some teachers, you might have a clue about where they're coming from and wouldn't be issueing arrogant remarks about blowing smoke.

After all, the guy you're defending is the biggest smoke blower of all time (which is precisely why he SHOULD shut up). If we really want to help students in the "bottom quartile," we'll immediately rescind all of Jeb's cockamamie education "reforms," all of which harm the children most in need.

Filling the days of academically needy children with FCAT prep instead of a well-rounded curriculum, retaining them multiple years (virtually guaranteeing they will drop out), preventing them from taking electives that interest them and keep them in school, and denying them diplomas DOES NOT help them! These are not "reforms!" These are examples of child abuse.

I don't know who the anonymous poster was who told Jeb to shut up, but I AM a teacher. Come to my classroom for a day. Watch what I do. Talk to me about the realities students and teachers deal with. If you still think what a teacher does can be measured, you're as big a fool as Jeb.

[John]

"Shut up Jeb."? Guess your kid isn't in the bottom quartile.

Why is it teachers make such a hue and cry about being sympathetic and helping the less fortunate students but then don't want to be measured for their efforts. Talk about blowin' smoke!

Let's hear some workable measurable solutions. "Shut up Jeb" just indicates how many people suffer from Bush Blind Hate Syndrome. We need meaningful ideas.

[aurora]

Shut up, Jeb.