Florida schools: Not so bad after all?

As the St. Petersburg Times reported this morning, Education Week's annual ranking of state education quality concluded Florida was No. 10. We know that doesn't ring true to many Floridians, given what they tell us in surveys, and we know every study should be taken with a grain of salt. But given the shock value, and given the integrity of the outfit doing the ranking, it was worth some ink, wasn't it?

Apparently, no.

Most Florida newspapers ignored the report completely, and the few that didn't accentuated the negative.

An 11-paragraph story in the Tampa Tribune focused on the C grade that Florida got in school spending. An 8-paragraph blog post in the Orlando Sentinel stressed the findings for Florida's English language learners. A 4-paragraph Associated Press story said "a new study shows Florida schools are continuing to improve" but then noted the achievement gap with ELL students.

None of them mentioned Florida's overall ranking.

The coverage makes us wonder:

• Do Floridians think their schools are pathetic because they really are pathetic – or because critics keep saying they are, and newspapers seem to keep ignoring credible evidence to the contrary?
• Is it not insulting to teachers when critics keep lambasting schools as lame, when in fact there may be decent progress?
• And, would parents not be more apt to fight for their schools – at a time when school budgets are being butchered – if they felt their schools were getting better at a steady clip, rather than still being mired in the muck near Mississippi?

Gov. Crist weighed in this morning: "The Quality Counts report released today clearly indicates that Florida schools are on the right track and that our students are being prepared to compete with students across the nation."

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Comments

[Rosa Castro Feinberg]

"Most Florida newspapers ignored the report completely, and the few that didn't accentuated the negative. An 11-paragraph story in the Tampa Tribune focused on the C grade that Florida got in school spending. An 8-paragraph blog post in the Orlando Sentinel stressed the findings for Florida's English language learners. A 4-paragraph Associated Press story said "a new study shows Florida schools are continuing to improve" but then noted the achievement gap with ELL students."

I agree that, for the most part, Florida schools are much better than they are given credit for, thanks to our hardworking teachers and administrators. But I distinguish accentuating the negative from sounding the alarm about the current status of a large and growing segment of our student body. According to the FDOE (http://www.fldoe.org/eias/eiaspubs/word/ell0708.rtf), over the past ten years the numerical increase in Florida's ELL population period amounts to 81,484 students (150,098 in 1998-98 vs. 231,582 in 2007-08), a cumulative increase of 54.3 percent in ten years. Ten districts reported ten percent or more of their enrollment as ELL in 2007-08, as compared to only five districts ten years prior. Orange County had the largest percentage gain in eligible students, from 7.6 percent in 1998-99 to 20.0 percent in 2007-08. There are over 40,000 ESOL students enrolled in school districts in the Tampa Bay area (http://www.fldoe.org/aala/pdf/0607ellstatus.pdf).Only two districts in the state had no reported ELL students.

The academic status of these students is important state-wide because of equity considerations and because of the political, legal, economic, and academic implications of their current and future status. Florida has long been a leader in the education of English language learners. But that position of leadership, and the academic success of over a quarter of a million Florida ESOL students, is threatened by the proposed elimination of requirements for credentials and the concomitant lowering of professional development standards for reading teachers with ELL students. The Quality Counts report on ELL students provides additional reasons for close examination of these proposed rules. They can be viewed at http://www.fldoe.org/schools/esolreadingadvisorygroup.asp .

to Gina
your son is in a Fundamental School--it's a whole different ball game in the regular schools. Fundamental schools are excellent, but it's only a very small number of students who get the benefits of that system

[mad beach mom]

I would also hope the moderators of this forum would note that your comment serves no purpose to this thread in any way but to offend another poster.

[mad beach mom]

your joking, right? this is an obvious typo...and btw, if you actually read my post it would be obvious to you I am in support of public schools...

Peopel???? Maybe you should have tried to finish school, before you bash it.

[mad beach mom]

florida is notorious for sub standard schools..peopel get into that mindset and it is hard to break out of it..so that is probably why..but,i think test scores and standards are so over rated...in my experience, usually the MAIN thing that separates a "good" school from a "bad" school is the level of parental involvement with the students..find a high PTA involvement, you almost always find a "good"school..that is why (I think) the fundamental schools do so well..not that the kids are better or the teachers ..but that there is MANDATORY parental involvment...
I think the transitory nature of Florida..the high divorce rate..the fact that cost of living is high and you have a LOT of families where both parents work..all just lends itself to less parental involvement with schools and students...I went to south tampa (plant high district) schools myself..known as excellent schools...it is not "plant"..but the families who live there that make those kids high acheivers...

I also think that "diversity" in schools should not be distinguished by race..but by socio-economic status..which I think plays a MUCH bigger factor on how kids perform in school than race...the kids that go to fundamental schools for example all have families that can at least afford (both their time and fuel costs,etc) to provide daily transportation to and from school..and that also plays into the "great" test scores..much more so then some "great" program or fabulous teachers they have (in my opinion and experience with 3 kids)...the same goes for private school..instead of looking at how many racial minorities go to a certain school as an indicator of diversity, I think they should look at who is on free/reduced lunch if they want to get a REAL mix of kids....it is true that many minority areas are also low income areas..but I would say the income plays more of a part then race and having parents that are home and involved.....

in our society so often "good" schools with "nice" families translates into "rich" (or at least median income) families..I also know that some parents WANT to be involved but just can't..they are having to work so much to support the family...

it is a tough situation..but my kids were just in school in the Midwest..in an area "known' for good schools..and I see no real difference in the curriculum or in the "quality" of the children in Florida..but there was significantly more parental involvement in the Midwest...

[Why? you ask]

Why do the media and voucher moguls focus on the negatives and ignore the positives?
Because there's "gold in them thar hills." Money talks. When those whose financial interests lie in the destruction of public education dictate the flow of the conversation, do you really think the truth will ever come out?

[gina]

Excellent commentary, Ron. I attended a private Christian school from 5th grade on and my son attends a public fundamental elementary school and let me tell you he's getting a MUCH better education than my parents paid dearly for.

I don't mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it's in a lot of people's best interest to trash the public schools. Why shell out for a private school when the public schools are the same or better? The Catholic church, private prep schools, tutors, they all make money off the perceived awfulness of public schools.

Does your private school have a TV studio for elementary kids like mine does? Does it have a librian with a masters degree and a huge array of books like mine does? Does it offer music and art at least once a week from specialized instruction like mine does? Does it offer gifted education and special ed for struggling students? Few do because the numbers are too small to justify it.

[Buddha]

Haviing taught in several states and several counties in Florida, I can attest to the reports findings. We do pretty good with the cards we are dealt. However, race is not the determining factor that you say it is. That would be money.

In areas where the parents make more money, and stay together, the quality of the education goes up. In poorer areas, the schools are worse.

Take the teachers from the rich schools and switch them with the poor schools and you will get the same test scores. Guarenteed.

[terminator]

Florida schools are a mixed bag, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Seriously. most are ok.
Some counties are better than others.
The obvious conclusions one can make are the suburban schools which are predominantly white are still functional while the inner city schools with large numbers of minorities continue to drag everything down.
Sorry folks but that's the plain truth and even the PC crowd will admit it.
Until Florida gets serious about eliminating excessive school district bureaucracy, directs more money into the classroom, starts paying teachers competitive salaries (on par with other surrounding states like Georgia) and drastically improves school discipline, only then will real reform take place.