Pasco employees, district agree to delay step increases

Citing too many unanswered questions about the district's finances, the United School Employees of Pasco has agreed to the school district administration's request to postpone payment of workers' step increases for years of service. But the association insisted on bringing the issue back to the table no later than Aug. 10.

"We'd like to at least have some conversations before everybody goes back to school," USEP negotiator Jim Ciadella told his district counterpart during negotiations this afternoon.

Without action, the steps would have taken effect with the start of the new fiscal year tomorrow (July 1). 

Hernando stays in-house for assistant superintendent

BROOKSVILLE - The Hernando school district didn't have to look far for its new second-in-command.

Sonya Jackson, who until today had been serving as the district's school services director, has been tapped to fill the newly created assistant superintendent post.

A seven-member committee of parents, teachers, district staffers and community members recommended that superintendent Wayne Alexander pick Jackson out of seven finalists.

"The committee decided unanimously that by far she was the strongest candidate to meet our needs," Alexander said this afternoon.

Want a better way to get rid of bad teachers?

Or make them better, quick? Get good teachers involved. This Washington Post story looks at peer review. Any districts in Florida doing this?

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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Don't rush to judgment on vouchers, researcher says

Education researcher Jay Greene was briefly quoted in today’s St. Petersburg Times voucher story, but he expounds at length on his blog.

“The problem is that the standard for success when it comes to school choice is that it has to produce a quick fix or critics deem it a failure and declare: 'We really ought to reconsider why we’re doing it.’ No one demands that every other education policy produce huge gains in a single year or they should be ‘reconsidered.’ Yes, promoters of policies may make unrealistic promises to get them adopted, but the standard for success should be long-term progress, not promises made by politicians."

On his blog, Sherman Dorn says expect vouchers to stay but not expand much.

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Feds set to make it easier to apply for college financial aid

It won't help all the freshmen starting classes this summer and fall, but the Obama administration's plans to streamline the application process for financial aid could be in place by the time they have to seek aid for next year.

In case you missed it, President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have announced several steps to make college more affordable, and to make it easier to apply for financial support. Among them:

• The new online FAFSA program is using more "skip logic," making it easier to navigate.
• Starting in January, applicants will be able to retrieve their relevant tax data from the IRS online.
• The administration is looking to remove several questions from the form that it says are not germane to getting aid. 

"Simplifying the FAFSA is another significant action in our quest to keep a college degree within the reach of every person who aspires to higher education," Duncan said in a news release.

House Education chairman George Miller applauded the effort and said he plans to have his committee follow through. "Confusing paperwork shouldn't stand between qualified students and a college degree," Miller said in a release.

- Jeff Solochek

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Pasco school zone committees finish their work

Committees of parents and educators have worked since May to redraw the attendance zones of all the middle and high schools in west Pasco County. Their work is now complete, and their recommendations next head to parent meetings in September and October.

The goal of the work is to balance enrollment at all the schools, some of which have been well over their built capacity while others have never come close. At the same time, the committees aimed to streamline feeder patterns, so children who start kindergarten together might be more likely to finish high school together.

To accomplish this task, thousands of students could see themselves in new schools when the 2010-11 academic year begins. Huge swaths of northwest Pasco would be reassigned to different high schools (including a new one), while the middle school changes would affect several different areas throughout the region.

If that's not enough movement for you, just wait. The district next plans to redraw elementary zones in the Trinity-Odessa area as it prepares to open a new school nearby.

It's not too early to voice your views to the district (though remember the offices are closed Fridays). The School Board is expected to consider the whole slate of map moves in the late fall.

- Jeff Solochek

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Florida education news: School bus safety, vouchers, physical education and more

KEEPING KIDS SAFE: Pasco rolls out a new bus ID program aimed at getting elementary kids to the right bus stops after school.

LET'S MAKE A DEAL: Pinellas teachers say they'll take a one-day furlough, but only if the district will pay salary steps for years of service.

NO DIFFERENCE: A long-awaited study shows that students using Florida's voucher programs perform no better or worse than their counterparts in public school, though their schooling costs much less.

LESS LIKELY TO GRADUATE: Black males in Florida are completing high school at a lower rate than the national average, which is a low 47 percent, WCTV-Tallahassee reports.

ONE OF THE BIG BOYS: Manatee Community College's transition to State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, is a positive step toward bringing improved higher education to the counties it serves, the Bradenton Herald editorializes.

LABOR NEWS: FAU professors file a formal complaint against the school, saying their layoffs violate their union contract, the Palm Beach Post reports. • Collier teachers and administration put more ideas on the table but remain far from a settled contract, the Naples Daily News reports. • Pensacola Junior College lays off its custodians, the Pensacola News-Journal reports.

MORE P.E., PLEASE: New state law requires middle school kids to take more physical education classes. Families can request a waiver, but some South Florida teachers don't figure to see many because kids like P.E., the Sun-Sentinel reports.

A NEW ROLE FOR BROGAN? Former education commissioner and lieutenant governor Frank Brogan, who's now president of FAU, might put his name in contention to become chancellor of the Florida university system, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

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FAU prez, former LG, interested in chancellor's post?

Add Frank Brogan, Florida Atlantic University President and former lieutenant governor, to the list of people reportedly interested in leading Florida’s public university system.

Brogan, who in 1981 earned his master’s degree from FAU, has not yet submitted an application for the chancellor’s job. Nor did he return phone calls requesting comment. But speculation about his interest has been growing in recent weeks, and several sources close to the search say he plans to apply for the job by next week’s deadline.

The Board of Governors committee leading the national search for a new chancellor plans to hold a conference call on Monday, July 13, to review all applications and decide which of them to interview in person on July 17. That means applications have to be submitted to the search firm by the end of next week, Friday, July 10.

Florida voucher students learning no more, no less than public school students, study shows

Florida students using corporate tax credit vouchers to attend private schools are making about the same academic progress as their peers in public schools, according to the results of a long-awaited studyobtained by the Gradebook this morning.

Depending on the spin-o-rama we all know is coming, the results either show that 1) vouchers have failed to deliver improved academic success, or 2) voucher kids are doing just as well as public school kids at far less cost to taxpayers.

The report, authored by former University of Florida economist David Figlio, compared the test score gains of voucher students vs. similar students in public schools. Voucher students do not have to take the FCAT, but legislation passed in 2006 and signed into law by Gov. Jeb Bush required that they take a comparable standardized test so comparisons could be made. Figlio used test results from 2006-07 as a baseline to compare against results from 2007-08.

At a first glance, Figlio’s findings do not appear to be a direct hit for either side. And Figlio, now at Northwestern, urges caution because of technical considerations: “Because the retroactive 2006-07 test score collection was imperfect, it will be necessary to wait until the collection of 2008-09 scores before one can determine whether program participants’ gains are larger, smaller, or about the same as public school students’ gains.”

But Figlio’s secondary findings do put a dent in one of the arguments advanced by voucher critics – that vouchers will hurt public schools by cream-skimming the best students out. In fact, the opposite appears to be true. Writes Figlio:

“Program participants are more likely to come from lower-performing public schools prior to entering the program. In addition, they tend to be among the lowest-performing students in their prior school, regardless of the performance level of their public schools.”

We’ll post more results and reaction soon.

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Are education colleges getting teachers ready for school? Accrediting agency says ...

Not exactly.

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education has released new standards saying that colleges must do more to give teachers classroom skills that focus on student learning.

"The new focus will help close the gap between theory and practice, and assure that teacher education program candidates are able to help diverse students be successful learners," NCATE president James G. Cibulka said in a news release. "In the past, accreditation wrapped clinical experience around coursework. This approach reverses the priority, encouraging institutions to place teacher candidates in year-long training programs and wrap coursework around clinical practice."

The impetus? The Obama money. Through the federal stimulus package, millions have come available to improve teacher quality. So why not take some of that cash and put it toward teacher education?

Is this an implicit acknowledgment that our colleges of education have done a poor job preparing teachers for today's classroom, though? 

Florida education news: Failing grades, school taxes, board pay and more

PREPARING FOR THE SEEING WORLD: A group of legally blind Pasco and Hernando teensreceive special training to operate in mainstream society. (Times photo, Kainaz Amaria)

NO MORE ZEROS: Hernando considers giving students 40 points as their bottom failing grade, so it's easier to catch up later.

NEW STUFF: A Manatee teacher wins a $10,000 classroom makeover, the Bradenton Herald reports.

PAY UP: The city of Cape Coral orders a church to pay off the Lee school district's overdue taxes for a parcel the district bought from the church, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

PAY CUT:Duval board members lower their salary to that of a first-year teacher, to follow new state law, the Florida Times-Union reports. The savings? A whopping $23,000.

LOOPHOLE: A Palm Beach school avoided possible closure not through improvement, but rather by changing its status to fall outside Florida's accountability system, the Palm Beach Post reports.

GETTING READY FOR SCHOOL: A private Fort Walton Beach school prepares children with autism to function in the public school system, the Northwest Florida Daily News reports.

HEAD START: About a third of UF's freshman class begins classes during the summer session to get more acclimated to campus when there are fewer people around, the Gainesville Sun reports.

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Coming up: Board meetings, hearing on force in classrooms, back to school and more

Monday: Commission for Independent Education, 12:30 p.m., Lake Mary

July 7: Pasco School Board, 9:30  a.m.

July 9: Florida Education Foundation, 8:30 a.m., Orlando

July 14: Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m. • State Board of Education, 10 a.m., webinar

July 20: DOE hearing on use of force in classrooms, 3:30 p.m., conference call (888-304-6786, Code: 14577631.)

July 21: Pasco School Board, 6 p.m.

July 28: Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m. • Pinellas School Board, 5 p.m. • Pasco School Board, 6 p.m. • Hernando School Board, 2 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting

Aug. 11: Hernando School Board, 2 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting • Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.

Aug. 18: Pasco School Board, 6 p.m. • Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.

Aug. 24: Back to school for Pasco, Hernando

Aug. 25: Back to school for Hillsborough, Pinellas

Sept. 1: Hernando School Board, 2 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting

Sept. 3: Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.

Sept. 7: Labor Day -- no school

Monday: Commission for Independent Education, 12:30 p.m., Lake Mary

July 7: Pasco School Board, 9:30  a.m.

July 9: Florida Education Foundation, 8:30 a.m., Orlando

July 14: Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m. • State Board of Education, 10 a.m., webinar

July 20: DOE hearing on use of force in classrooms, 3:30 p.m., conference call (888-304-6786, Code: 14577631.)

July 21: Pasco School Board, 6 p.m.

July 28: Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m. • Pinellas School Board, 5 p.m. • Pasco School Board, 6 p.m. • Hernando School Board, 2 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting

Aug. 11: Hernando School Board, 2 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting • Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.

Aug. 18: Pasco School Board, 6 p.m. • Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.

Aug. 24: Back to school for Pasco, Hernando

Aug. 25: Back to school for Hillsborough, Pinellas

Sept. 1: Hernando School Board, 2 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting

Sept. 3: Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.

Sept. 7: Labor Day -- no school

Florida education news: School sports, driver education, writing lessons and more

GENDER EQUITY: A plan to scale back Florida's high school sports because of budget concerns leads to concerns over whether schools treat boys and girls differently when it comes to athletics, the Lakeland Ledger reports. (Times file photo)

SO LONG: Brevard superintendent Richard DiPatri retires after nine years, the longest serving appointed superintendent in Florida history, Florida Today reports.

LEARN TO DRIVE (PLEASE): Lake schools offer scholarships to teens so they'll take the district's safe driving course, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

STAYING OUT OF IT: Manatee crafts new policy relating to how it deals with family custody disputes, the goal being to not get in the middle of things, the Bradenton Herald reports.

WRITING ABOUT LIFE: A Collier fifth-grade class creates its own cook book as its teacher looks for fun ways to teach writing, the Naples Daily News reports.

THE MONEY GUY GETS MORE MONEY: FAU's chief finance officer takes the same post at FIU for a raise of nearly $60,000, the Palm Beach Post reports.

A weekend interview about Florida's school accountability with deputy chancellor Nikolai Vitti

For years, Florida has tried to explain to the general public how its schools could earn an A grade from the state and then not meet federal No Child Left Behind progress standards. This week, the Florida Department of Education rolled out a new accountability model aimed at merging the two systems into one. Nikolai Vitti, deputy chancellor of school improvement and student achievement, spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek about the new endeavor.

What exactly are you telling us about?

As you know, last year we unveiled differentiated accountability but only as a pilot. And we only included Title I schools that were included in schools in need of improvement status under NCLB and non-Title I D and F schools. So the list of schools will be expanded because we will be including non-Title I A, B and C schools. ...

So you're talking about every school in Florida?

Every school in Florida could be included in differentiated accountability, but that doesn't mean all schools will be in one of the categories, the categories being Prevent I, Prevent II, Correct I, Correct II and Intervene. Because in order to actually go in one of the cells ... you have to have missed AYP for two consecutive years, and many schools don't fit that criteria.

Let's start off with the schools that are going to be appearing on the list for the first time this year. What will be the things that they have to do?

Most of the new schools will be non-Title I A, B and C schools that have missed AYP for two consecutive years. And this is going by to 02-03 when No Child Left Behind began. What will be new for these schools is a required list of support systems and interventions that will have to be applied at the school site among students and subgroups that have not made AYP. So there will be a requirement for additional professional development. There will be requirements around how schools and districts put together their improvement plans to specifically address the subgroups that have not been making AYP. ...

So this is for schools that have not made AYP for two years in a row.

Florida education news: Charter schools, home schooling, school discipline and more

THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN: A Tampa charter school faces closure for poor performance and mismanagement. Its operator had a history of mismanagement in other jobs, but Hillsborough officials seem to have been unaware. (Times photo, Willie Allen Jr.)

THE BIBLE AS A TEXTBOOK: Religion's place in education is one of the best things about home schooling for a group of Pasco families.

DISSATISFIED: Santa Rosa officials replace the principal of Milton High after the school fails to improve on its FCAT results, the Pensacola News-Journal reports.

BAD IMAGE: St. Lucie's only charter school gets an F from the state, and lots of accusations of poor overall performance from the district, the Port St. Lucie Tribune reports.

OUT THERE ON ITS OWN: USF Sarasota-Manatee seeks separate accreditation from the main Tampa campus, the Bradenton Herald reports.

LAW? WHAT LAW? Lee officials say the state's easing of its zero-tolerance discipline policy won't change the district's stance toward what it considers bad behavior, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

JUST WATCHING: Brevard's new superintendent takes a seat in the crowd as retiring Richard DiPatri runs his last board meeting, Florida Today reports.

NO LAYOFFS: Seminole uses its stimulus funds to avoid letting people go, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

ANOTHER TUITION INCREASE: Northwest Florida State College will hike its cost on July 1, the Northwest Florida Daily News reports.

Visit the Gradebook at noon for an interview about school accountability with Florida deputy education chancellor Nikolai Vitti.

New rating system in place for Florida tutors

Florida tutoring companies providing services under No Child Left Behind will be rated after all, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist this week. But instead of A-to-F grades, they’ll be labeled “excellent,” “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.” And instead of being judged solely on FCAT scores, a suite of factors are in the mix, including provider assessments, student attendance and completion data and surveys that gauge parental and school district satisfaction.

Rating tutoring companies is a big deal. Statewide, tens of millions of federal dollars are being spent on them every year, and tens of thousands of students are using their services.

Evidently, everybody’s on board with the new approach. The bill passed unanimously in the House and Senate. And the tutoring industry is gushing: “This is an example of policymaking at its finest, one we hope other states will follow,” said Steve Pines, executive director of the Education Industry Association.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Gov. Crist sets new rules for Florida charter schools into law

The second time proved a charm for Sen. Don Gaetz's effort to put more controls onto Florida's charter schools (many of which have closed for mismanagement, poor performance, money woes or worse).

This week, Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law SB 278, placing stiffer rules on the management of the schools that run with public funds but outside the full control of the public school system. A year ago, a similar Senate bill ran into static in the House during a tiff over various pieces of education legislation.

The new rules require charter operators to reveal which of their relatives work for the school. It makes charter schools subject to the class-size reduction amendment. It has charters make monthly financial reports to their sponsors, and sets forth clear methods for closing schools that face deteriorating finances.

Sponsors also may close the charters down if they fail to improve academic performance after giving the school warning and a year to take corrective action.

Crist also signed into law a bill that makes students responsible for the full cost of lost school books.

Both rules take effect next week.

- Jeff Solochek

Speak your mind on Florida's language arts standards

They might not be as controversial as the science standards, but Florida's language arts curriculum standards are now available for public review and comment.

Now's your chance to tell the State Board of Education what you think about eighth-graders' ability to analyze text, second-graders' need to write persuasively, and all those other related matters.

Remember, if you respond, all your comments are public record for everyone to see. So act accordingly.

Interested? Visit the Florida language arts standards web site and have some fun. (Save some time. It's a lot of reading.)

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson pushes teacher performance pay

Political lines are blurring so much on education reform, it’s hard not to get dizzy. The latest example: A group of 10 moderate Democrats in the Senate, including U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, telling President Barack Obama that they’d like to craft legislation supporting his push for performance pay for teachers, expansion of good charter schools and longer school days and school years. (Hat tip to Eduwonk.)

Here’s what their letter says about merit pay:

“We commend you for the emphasis you have placed on teacher quality. Every teacher touches the lives of countless children, and every adult remembers their favorite teachers and the impact they had. The research confirms what our intuition tells us: nothing has a greater impact on outcomes in the classroom than the quality of our teachers. We must do more to recruit, prepare and reward outstanding teachers, and part of that means overhauling the way we compensate them. Most professionals recognize and reward better performance with better pay, but teacher compensation is based almost exclusively on degree attainment and years of service.”

Pasco school district reps ask to delay step raises

Surprise. Well, not really, if you've been watching contract negotiations in the Pasco County school district the past couple of years

Going into talks this week, representatives from both the Pasco district and the United School Employees of Pasco told the Gradebook to expect little of substance to come out of the first sit-down. All ground rules and such.

Then they actually sat down. And the district told the union that it wanted to withhold all step increases based on years of service until the contract is complete. Without agreement, the raises take effect July 1.

USEP leaders called the offer too open-ended, and asked for a set date to be discussed when they meet again next week.

Florida education news: School accountability, Twitter, cheerleading and more

NEW ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES: Florida's effort to merge its school grading system with the federal No Child Left Behind standards now applies to all schools with varying results in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando.

FREE AT LAST: USF-St. Petersburg shakes its probationary accreditation status. 

NOT A BUS BARN: Pinellas plans to use its closed Coachman Fundamental school as an office building, not a place to park buses.

TWITTER JITTERS: Lee school officials plan to stop their social networking over concerns that the content might be open to the Sunshine Law, yet the district has no way to archive the information, the Naples Daily News reports.

TOUGH TIMES: South Florida teachers prepare to negotiate pay and benefits at a time where money is scarce, the Miami Herald reports.

MORE TRANSPARENCY: The Manatee Community College administration looks to make its actions more clear to the public after a round of complaints over the way it changed the school name, the Bradenton Herald reports. • Speaking of name changes, some FIU students are rallying against plans to name their campus after retiring president Mitch Maidique, the Miami Herald reports.

WE HAD SPIRIT, YES WE DID: FIU kills its cheerleading team not long after axing the marching band, all as part of its budget trimming, the Miami Herald reports.

PLANNING TIME: Indian River rejects a return to early release Wednesdays for teacher preparations, but insists some time for planning needs to be found, the Vero Beach Press-Journal reports.

SUPREME COURT RULINGS: The US Supremes say that schools have no right to strip search students without a clear sense of danger, the NY Times reports. The court also says the federal government should not be interfering with state rules on the teaching of English-language learners, the NY Times reports.

USF St. Petersburg off probation

USF St. Petersburg is back in good standing with its accreditors.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges lifted the institution from probation today after a year in limbo.

Last June’s decision by SACS took the university by surprise, coming two years after it awarded the campus separate accreditation from USF Tampa. USF St. Petersburg met 87 of 89 standards, but fell short on one standard dealing with assessing the academic skill of general education students and another that involves tracking student success after graduation.

The probation was not based on quality of faculty or academic programs. USF remained an accredited institution throughout.

“This is a very fine institution and the committees have completed the necessary work to demonstrate compliance,” interim regional chancellor Margaret Sullivan said in a press release. "The faculty is to be commended for this oustanding response."

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Gibbs High School avoids accountability hammer

Gibbs High in St. Petersburg won’t have to make plans for an overhaul after all.

Despite its F grade, it falls into the “Correct II” category under the state’s complicated new accountability system and not in “Intervene,” according to information released by the state Department of Education this morning. Thirty-six other Pinellas schools are in Correct II. (You can find them here.)

Those schools will still get increased intervention and oversight from state and district officials, and will still have to make changes. But only schools in Intervene face the prospect of restructuring (at least that’s the threat the state has put on paper) if they don’t make substantial progress in two years.

How Gibbs managed to avoid the most severe category remains unclear. But it may have squeaked past because even though it hasn’t improved in reading and math in the past five years, it hasn’t gotten worse, either.

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Florida State University provost Larry Abele gets national award

FSU's longtime provost, Larry Abele, a vocal advocate for the need to improve retention and graduation rates in Florida's state university system, has received a national award recognizing the gains he has helped bring to the school.

Abele will receive the Pacesetter Award from the National Academic Advising Association in September during its annual conference (in San Antonio, Texas). Only one administrator is selected each year for the award, which honors a committment to academic advising and student advocacy.

Abele has helped expand and nurture FSU's tutoring programs for struggling students and a mentoring program for first-generation college students - two efforts that have received national attention and boosted FSU's graduation and retention rates to some of the highest in the country.

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Two Hillsborough schools among worst in Florida accountability ratings

Just days after Gov. Charlie Crist extended Florida's academic accountability rules to all schools, and not just those that get federal Title I funds, the Department of Education has released a list of 2,445 schools that fall under some level of sanctions.

Two Hillsborough schools - Middleton High and Franklin Middle - join 15 others in the most critical status, that of Intervene. Congrats to Sulphur Springs Elementary, which jumped off that list to Correct I status. Because Middleton didn't improve from last year's Intervene status, it now faces reconstitution under the state "differentiated accountability" law.

Hillsborough district officials acknowledged Middleton's poor result, but focused on the positive. "While most high schools around the state lost ground this year, Middleton showed improvement. It wasn’t enough improvement, but it’s a sign that the school is headed in the right direction," spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said. "There was significant improvement among students in the lower quartile."

Crist applauded the broadened accountability effort, saying it would bring improved academic offerings to all Florida schools. “After a successful first year we are already seeing tremendous results and I’m excited that every school can now benefit from this increased level of assistance,” he said in a news release.

To see a breakdown of the rankings by Tampa Bay area school district, read on.

Pinellas County teachers may face pay cut due to decreasing tax roll

The economic downturn may begin competing with Pinellas County taxpayers’ best intentions to give teachers a raise – but not if union officials have anything to say about it.

At issue is the salary supplement instructional personnel have received since voters approved a special half-mill property tax in 2004. In 2005-06, each employee received $2,625 of his or her salary from the referendum.

The amount increased to $3,284 in 2006-07, and $3,529 the year after that. Despite a tax roll decrease of 2.11 percent in 2008-09, the district held the supplement steady at $3,529 thanks to money left over from the previous year.

But now the Pinellas property appraiser is projecting a 10.68 percent reduction in the 2009-10 tax roll. The school district has eliminated some positions because of enrollment, thus reducing the number of people paid from referendum dollars.

Still, district officials say the tax won't generate enough money to pay teachers the same amount next year.

National reports on teacher tenure aim at evaluations

Lots of things to consider in two new reports out this morning from the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank that’s raising tough questions about teacher quality. Teacher tenure laws need a “serious overhaul,” but don’t need to be killed, the center says in the first report.

This is a more nuanced position than we’ve heard in Florida, but the debate here isn’t over.

Like the New Teacher Project report from a few weeks ago, the center concludes the bigger problem is a worthless teacher evaluation system. “What is clear from this review is that fixing tenure first and foremost involves defining what effective practice is,” the report says. “We cannot ‘fix’ the tenure process without clear, shared standards of excellent practice and tools and procedures to measure that practice. Our current teacher evaluation practices are weak and designed at best to weed out the most egregious teachers, rather than to cultivate rigorous performance of all teachers.”

The center’s second report, “So Long, Lake Wobegon?”, says the teacher evaluation issue is being pushed onto the front burner by school choice and accountability. “Traditional public schools now face pressure from without by charter schools, voucher programs, and the growing home-school movement and from within by accountability measures. They can no longer do business as usual, or merely assert that their teachers are ‘highly qualified.’ "

(Cartoon from Raleigh News & Observer.)

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Middleton, Edison Senior high schools miss accountability mark, face reconstitution

Last year, 13 Florida schools performed badly enough to fall under the state's most severe sanctions in its new accountability plan if they didn't improve.

One closed. Ten improved this year. And two didn't make it.

Now Hillsborough's Middleton High School and Miami-Dade's Edison Senior High must face the music.

State law requires those two schools to choose from four options - closure, conversion to a charter school, contracting with a private operator or conversion to a district-run turnaround school. Each has chosen to become a turnaround school, deputy chancellor for school improvement and accountability Nikolai Vitti tells the Gradebook.

Florida education news: Teaching subs, renting schools, riding bikes and more

SEEKING RESPECT: Hillsborough's Leto High aims to shed its image as one of the district's worst high schools. (Times photo of principal Victor Fernandez)

NEGOTIATION NEWS: Hillsborough avoids furloughs, for now. •  Pasco kicks off contract talks for teachers and school-related personnel.

ANOTHER TUITION HIKE: Manatee Community College increases its cost by 12 percent as enrollment keeps growing, the Bradenton Herald reports.

NO OPPORTUNITIES: Manatee's technical high school drops its travel agent courses and replaces them with a more relevant marketing program, the Bradenton Herald reports.

HELPING SUBS: A group of substitute teachers from across the country gathers in Lee to talk best practices, the Naples Daily News reports. (Organizers had hoped for a bigger turnout, but heck, subs don't make that much now, do they?)

OUTSOURCING: Edison College will provide space for Boston Reed College to offer medical assistant classes, the Fort Myers News-Press reports. It's cheaper than starting their own program, after all.

PAY UP: Clay raises the rent on churches and other organizations that use schools when classes aren't in session, the Florida Times-Union reports.

HERE'S WHAT YOU OWE: Some Florida universities send letters home to students telling them the new Bright Futures scholarship rules, the Stuart News reports.

SHOW THEM THE MONEY: Citrus sues Regions Bank over nearly $700,000 in missing funds, the Citrus County Chronicle reports.

CONSIDERING THAT TAX: Bay officials look to increasing the local property tax, but worry it would take too long to collect the revenue, the Panama City News Herald reports. • Broward backs away from the tax, saying it wouldn't generate enough money, the Miami Herald reports. • St. Johns leaders investigate the possibilities of tacking on the tax, the St. Augustine Record reports.

WALK INSTEAD: Florida Atlantic University had a program to let students share bicycles to get around campus — until all the bikes disappeared, the Palm Beach Post reports.

LAYOFFS IMMINENT: FAMU makes major budget cuts and prepares to let some employees go, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

'NO PARENT LEFT BEHIND': A Manatee elementary school offers parents classes in English and computers so they can help their kids in school, the Herald-Tribune reports.

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Students 'don't want to study anymore'

Plenty of people have offered their 2 cents about why Florida high schools aren’t doing so hot. But here’s what two recent Pinellas graduates had to say after last week’s story about tanking high school grades.

Too many students don’t want to do the work, and too many teachers let them skate, says Ashley Mowrer, who just graduated from the IB program at St. Petersburg High. In this letter to the Gradebook, she recalls a friend who attended only about 30 days during her final semester and missed many of her tests – yet still graduated.

“The real reason for school grades plummeting is because students don’t want to study anymore or work for what they earn, it is just handed to them,” Mowrer writes. “It’s not because the state doesn’t ‘spend enough money’ on education.”

But wait. Don’t overlook all the good things high schools do, says 2007 Gibbs High graduate Nathaniel French. Gibbs got an F this year, but French remembers a teacher who urged him to enter a national essay scholarship contest on religious freedom and another who gave him a biography of Sir Thomas Malory.

“I can’t imagine too many students – even the very brightest – would have stumbled across The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism without the guidance they got from school,” he writes in this op-ed that ran in Monday’s St. Petersburg Times. “I could continue naming any of the dozens of teachers and administrators whose dedication to their students made me who I am today. Their example proves that the tools of success are there.”

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St. Pete College goes green

The new student services center at St. Petersburg College's Gibbs Campus has been labeled one of Pinellas County's most environmentally friendly buildings.

The U.S. Green Building Council awarded the center its Gold status, the group's second-highest designation.

The building has an industrial ceiling fan that makes the surrounding area feel 8 to 16 degrees cooler, reflective roofing and paving materials, and special parking for fuel-efficient cars and carpoolers.

“The completion of the new student services building demonstrates environmental sensitivity and works hand in hand with the new environmental degree programs recently developed at the college,” Jon White, SPC’s college engineer, said in a news release.

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Florida universities will get to pick their presidents

Florida's State University System lost a little power this week with Gov. Charlie Crist's signing of SB 234.

It now has no say over who runs each of the 11 universities in the system. That power migrates to each school's board of trustees.

There's been a power struggle of sorts between the system Board of Governors and the individual university's leaders over this issue. Last summer, the Board of Governors sought to extend its control over the selection of university presidents — a move that trustees decried.

Looks like the school-level folks won this round, just in time for the searches to move ahead at Florida State and the University of West Florida. Crist did not issue a statement on his decision to approve the law.

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Florida education news: Teacher layoffs, stimulus money, special ed and more

DANCING AND DUCT TAPE: Two St. Petersburg Collegiate High seniors are finalists for cash and prizes for the duct tape outfits that they wore to the prom. (Photo special to the Times)

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT: Pinellas officials discuss ways to bring up the academic performance of several schools that missed the FCAT mark.

TOO LATE: Pasco changes the start time of one elementary school by an hour to save money, upsetting parents.

SEVEN CANDIDATES: Hernando narrows the field in its search for a new assistant superintendent.

CANCER RESEARCH: USF will use a $6 million grant to study why cancer affects people of different races differently.

SPECIAL NEEDS: Some Palm Beach parents hope the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in support of free appropriate education for students in special education will end the bickering over what's best for the kids, the Palm Beach Post reports.

NO, THANKS: Broward refuses to apply for a pile of stimulus cash because of all the strings attached, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

WHISTLEBLOWER: A Florida Department of Education employee is suing the department, saying she was laid off because she reported exposure to tuberculosis in her office, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

LABOR NEWS: Broward votes to lay off nearly 400 teachers, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

BUDGET NEWS: Student protests help reverse cuts at FSU's library, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. • Volusia decides to increase its local property tax to cover expenses, the Orlando Sentinel reports. • Budget cuts take a toll on Sarasota's programs for students with autism, the Herald-Tribune reports. • Indian River considers an 11.5 percent tax hike to keep its revenue stable, the Vero Beach Press-Journal reports.

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Seven candidates to interview for Hernando assistant superintendent post

BROOKSVILLE — Seven candidates will get a chance to interview next week for the school district’s No. 2 position.

A seven-member committee of teachers, administrators and community members sifted through 16 applications last week and narrowed the field based on a job description that requires a master’s degree and a minimum of five years of leadership experience in education.

Six of the seven candidates are from Florida. Three already work for the district, and a fourth retired from Hernando as a principal in 2003.

All three in-house applicants are already starting new jobs.

Florida leads the nation in associate degrees awarded

For the seventh straight year, Florida's community college system has issued more associate degrees -- 49,354 -- than any other place in the United States, with Broward College leading the way among two-year institutions and Miami-Dade College at the top of the four-year schools.

The system also led the way in the number of degrees issued to minorities and the number of degrees issued in health professions, nursing, liberal arts and humanities, according to the latest issue of Community College Week.

Said education commissioner Eric J. Smith: “Florida’s colleges are helping to prepare our workforce for the demands of today’s economy, and it’s no surprise they continue to top national charts. I could not be more proud of a state college system that works so cohesively to better the lives of the students that pass through its doors, and I look forward to maintaining the commitment to access again next year.”

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Florida teachers want to save their Sea World pass

For years, Florida and Georgia full-time teachers have received free annual passes to Sea World. Many have used their unlimited admission to create fun aquatic-themed lessons for their students.

The end of 2009, though, means the end of the free ride into the theme park. So a group of teachers have started an online petition in hopes of changing the new park owner's mind.

"As an educator in the state of Florida or Georgia," they write in the introduction, "it is up to you to let Sea World Orlando know just how important the Study Pass is to our daily lesson plans and how denying educators of the Study Pass is essentially denying students knowledge."

Of course, Sea World does provide free study guides for teachers. And it offers an entire Web site aimed at teachers and education, also free. It's just the entry fee — $74.95 for unlimited admission for Florida and Georgia residents — that won't be gratis anymore.

Still, more than 150 teachers had signed the petition when we last checked, writing things like, "Teachers and SRPs get paid so little that this is a really nice way of letting us know we are appreciated. Please keep this promotion going."

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Better late than never, Pasco set to begin contract talks

In past years, Pasco's teachers and other noninstructional workers sat with district representatives in the spring to negotiate the terms of their employment.

With budgets tight and revenue estimates coming in late (not to mention constantly changing), the conversations are getting a late start this year. But they are about to begin.

The noninstructional team, led by United School Employees of Pasco president Lynne Webb, will meet with the district team headed by employee relations supervisor Bryan Jack starting Wednesday. They'll then get together twice a week afterward.

The teacher team, led by USEP negotiator Jim Ciadella, will sit Thursday with the district team led this year by employee relations supervisor Kevin Shibley (as director Terry Rhum eases his way toward retirement). They'll also gather twice a week after that until a deal is done.

Webb told the School Board recently that she understood the late start, and the attention that invariably will be paid to pay and benefits. Raises have been in short supply for a couple of years after all. But she reminded them that negotiations are as much about working conditions, procedures and policies. Webb didn't give hints as to which ones she plans to bring up, so we'll all watch together.

Meanwhile, any guesses on when the contract will be complete? Remember, last year talks didn't end until right before winter break.

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Florida education news: Science camp, school grades, gambling revenue and more

EXPERIENCING SCIENCE: Pasco offers a free week of science camp to some of its poorest elementary students, hoping the hands-on lessons will give them a leg up on the FCAT. (Times photo, Keri Wiginton)

RAIN DATES: Hernando sets backup dates for 2010 graduation, just in case.

GUILTY: A St. Petersburg educator admits she stole $150,000 in state scholarship funds.

NO CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION: Florida's school grading system remains a "misleading, misguided diversion," the Palm Beach Post editorializes.

POVERTY ON THE RISE: Manatee sees the number of its Title I schools double, the Bradenton Herald reports.

NOT ENOUGH: Even if Florida seals a deal to share gambling revenue with the Seminole Tribe, the income wouldn't cover even half the annual budget of a medium-sized district, the Herald-Tribune editorializes.

HE CAN'T HAVE IT: A judge blocks Polk activist Joel Chandler's request for the dependent information of Manatee school employees, the Bradenton Herald reports.

LABOR NEWS: Collier teachers again fail to reach a contract agreement with the district, the Naples Daily News reports. • Hundreds rally to save Broward teachers' jobs from the budget ax, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

ANOTHER TUITION HIKE: Tallahassee Community College increases its cost for the second time in three months, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

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Florida's school enrollment expected to keep dropping

The Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research is predicting a third straight year of declining enrollment in Florida's public schools.

In its latest projections of public school enrollment for 2009-10, the office expects the state's school population to come in at 2,608,006, down 10,000 kids from the year that just ended. Enrollment was down more than 13,000 students last year from 2007-08.

In 2006-07, the state's public schools held 2,638,331 students.

Locally, the state projects that Hernando schools will see a decline of about 110 students, Hillsborough will drop off about 1,800 students, Pasco will grow by 350 students (a number the district disputes), and Pinellas will decline by about 2,300 students.

Where are the kids going? Experts have said they're moving with their parents to where the jobs are. And lately, that hasn't been here.

U.S. Supreme Court hands big win to parents of students with disabilities

In a ruling that will have reverberations for school districts in Florida and across the country, the U.S. Supreme Court has sided with an Oregon family that sought reimbursement for its private school tuition after the public schools did not provide adequate education for its disabled child.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the 6-member majority upheld a lower court ruling that children with disabilities are owed a free, appropriate education. If the public school system doesn't provide it, the court decided, a family can pursue that education elsewhere and charge the system for the cost.

The case could impact school districts at a time when money is tight and leaders are looking for places to cut. Apparently, special education won't be one of those places.

Is the hammer coming for Gibbs High School?

Gibbs’ F grade is harsh enough, but another negative label may be coming, with even more impact: “Intervene.”

Under the state’s new differentiated accountability system (“DA” for short), schools that don’t meet federal standards under No Child Left Behind fall into one of five categories - Prevent I, Prevent II, Correct I, Correct II and Intervene. Each category is tied to different levels of shake-up and oversight from the state and district. But Intervene is the big hammer, because it requires schools to either shut down or “reconstitute” (either as a charter, or under private management, or under district management) if they don’t show substantial improvements within one year.

Last year, Gibbs fell into Prevent II, a milder category. But this year, based on its FCAT scores, it looks likes it’s skirting the line between Correct II and Intervene, the two most intensive.

Schools are put into Intervene if they are D or F schools that meet three of the four following conditions: 1) 65 percent or more of their students are not reading at grade level, 2) 65 percent or more are not doing math at grade level, 3) the percentage reading at grade level has not improved over the past five years, and 4) the percentage doing math at grade level has not improved over the past five years.

According to Gibbs’ “adequately yearly progress” reports (which you can find here on the Department of Education Web site), 31 percent of its students were reading at grade level in 2009, the same as in 2004, and 47 percent were doing math at grade level, the same as in 2004.

The DOE says the DA labels should be out this week.

Charter school supporters scrutinize Stanford report

Last week’s Stanford University report dinging charter school performance has a major-league technical flaw, says the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The “data actually include strongly positive results for charter schools that contradict the report’s summary and the negative slant of its press coverage,” alliance president and CEO Nelson Smith writes in this memo sent out Friday.

State Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, also offers an explanation for the report’s conclusions in this letter to the St. Petersburg Times.

Should FSU's next president be an academic? Or a politician?

Over the past few years, several Florida universities have looked for new presidents. The state university system needs a chancellor, too. And each time the question arises — do they want a leader who knows the way around budgets and bills? Or one who knows academia and education?

In more concrete terms, should they hire a Frank Brogan (Florida Atlantic) or a Bernie Machen (UF)?

Florida State University now faces this dilemma with the looming departure of T.K. Wetherell, who fit the politician mode.

The Tallahassee Democrat suggests that some recent cases in FSU's own Atlantic Coast Conference might prove instructive. N.C. State, the University of North Carolina and other institutions have faced some problems in their searches. The University of Virginia is running a search right along with FSU.

The deal is, politicians know politics, academicians know academics, but often the two sides don't meet. Academics can have a tin ear for the public mood, while politicians can misunderstand the campus culture.

Any advice for FSU as to how it can strike a balance as it moves ahead?

Florida education news: Ivy League education, animal dissection, green schools and more

HEADED TO THE IVIES: Hillsborough's King High sets the pace locally this year for sending graduates to Ivy League institutions — thanks to its IB program. (Photo special to the Times)

CUTTING OUT DISSECTIONS? South Florida schools increasingly seek other ways to teach kids about anatomy than cutting up animals, the Miami Herald reports.

LABOR NEWS: Broward prepares to let go 400 teachers, the Miami Herald reports. Some parents are fighting the move, the Herald reports. • Collier's outsourcing of custodial work is going smoothly, the Naples Daily News reports.

TO TAX OR NOT TO TAX? Volusia and Flagler plan to vote Tuesday on whether to increase their local property tax rates, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.

TAKE A CUT: A Seminole board member calls for a pay cut for the district's superintendent and top staff, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

CAN IT BE GREEN? Escambia officials worry that a site selected to build an environmentally-friendly school has ground contamination, the Pensacola News-Journal reports.

Coming up: Pinellas board meeting, State Board of Education, budget hearings and more

Tuesday: Pinellas School Board, workshop, 8:30 a.m.

Thursday-Friday: State Advisory Committee of Education of Exceptional Students, Clearwater

June 29: Commission for Independent Education, 12:30 p.m., Lake Mary

July 7: Pasco School Board, 9:30  a.m.

July 14: Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m. • State Board of Education, TBD

July 21: Pasco School Board, 6 p.m.

July 28: Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m. • Pinellas School Board, 5 p.m. • Pasco School Board, 6 p.m. • Hernando School Board, 2 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting

Aug. 11: Hernando School Board, 2 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting • Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.

Aug. 18: Pasco School Board, 6 p.m. • Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.

Aug. 24: Back to school for Pasco, Hernando

Aug. 25: Back to school for Hillsborough, Pinellas

Sept. 1: Hernando School Board, 2 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. meeting

Sept. 3: Hillsborough School Board, 3 p.m.

Sept. 7: Labor Day -- no school

Florida education news: AP, pre-K, F schools and more

TEACHING THE TEACHERS: Some Tampa area Advanced Placement teachers get some tips on how to reach the new wave of high school students streaming into their classes. (Times photo, Lara Cerri)

IT'S THE STUDENTS: Florida high schools won't see their state grades improve unless they work with families and communities to find ways to better prepare students, the Times editorializes.

HEADED TO COLLEGE AT 4: Edison State College is working to set up a pre-K through B.A. system for children, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

GIRLS CAN DO IT: A summit at USF aims to encourage more girls into math and science, the Bradenton Herald reports.

DADS MATTER: A growing number of South Florida dads get involved in their kids' schools and PTA's, the Miami Herald reports.

PRINCIPALS NEED TIME: Duval tries to keep some of its F-rated school leaders in place despite state pressure, in order to give them time to succeed, the Florida Times-Union reports.

PLANNING BATTLE: Indian River teachers fight to win back early-release Wednesdays, the Vero Beach Press-Journal reports.

CONFUSION: Seminole schools struggle with their inquiry-based math curriculum, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

PRICEY PRAYER: Santa Rosa's legal fees over prayer in school approach $450,000, the Pensacola News-Journal reports.

A weekend interview about summer school meal programs with Gray Miller, Pinellas food services director

Most parents know that the National School Lunch Program provides free and reduced-price meals for children during the school year. What many don’t know is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture also provides a meal program during the summer. The same children who are entitled to breakfast and lunch when school is in session are entitled to meals throughout the summer months as well. Times education reporter Donna Winchester spoke with Gray Miller, director of food services for Pinellas County Schools, to learn more about the program.

 How does the Summer Food Service Program work?

The program provides meals for children who need them during the time when school is out of session. Summer is a pretty long time if you’re having financial issues. In that regard, the program offers a stop gap between the end of one school year and the beginning of another, offering breakfast and lunch, and perhaps an afternoon snack.

This takes place in all 50 states. The program has different sponsors, who report to the state, which in turn works under the auspices of the USDA. Locally, the Pinellas County Department of Health and Human Services is one sponsor. The county offers meals at more than 50 sites, including rec centers, churches, and various places that have summer programs for children. The Pinellas school district is another sponsor. The district provides meals at 11 schools that are offering summer programs for the children who attend them, but the program is also open for children in the neighborhood.

So any child can come to one of the school sites and get breakfast or lunch, depending on what’s offered there?

Yes, any child up to age 18.

What do children need to do to get the meals? Do they need to show identification? Do they need to be accompanied by an adult?

Florida education news: Sex education, free lunch, summer school and more

A NEW BEGINNING: Gibbs High looks at its F grade from the state as a place to start rebuilding with a new principal and perhaps a new attitude.

SHRINKING SUMMER: Treasure Coast schools limit their summer classes to save some money, the Stuart News reports.

ONE SMALL PERK: St. Johns schools do so well on the FCAT that they no longer have to follow the state's rules for when to begin classes, Firstcoastnews.com reports.

HE'S TALKING ABOUT SEX: A Collier board member thinks students should get more information about the consequences of having sex, the Naples Daily News reports.

SHREDDING BUDGETS: A Lee board member blasts the superintendent's spending plan and presents several ideas of his own, only to get the cold shoulder from his colleagues, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

PAY UP: For the first time, Florida Bright Futures scholars will have to open their wallets to cover some of their college tuition, the Florida Times-Union reports.

WHO SAID THERE'S NO SUCH THING? A record 50 percent of the nation's public school students now qualify for free lunch, the Palm Beach Post reports.

Visit the Gradebook at noon for an interview about free summer lunch programs with Pinellas food services director Gray Miller.

Six Tampa area schools in elite group earning A's for 11 straight years

For 11 years now, the state of Florida has graded its schools according to their students' achievement and gains on the FCAT. More than 1,100 have made A's for three consecutive years.

Look back all the way to the beginning, though, and that list of all-A schools drops to just 33. That's no small feat when you know that some schools have dropped a grade because of the results of a single student.

Six Tampa area schools sit on that list of the most consistently high-rated schools. They are:

Hillsborough: Alafia Elementary and Claywell Elementary
Pasco: Lake Myrtle Elementary
Pinellas: Garrison-Jones Elementary, Highland Lakes Elementary and McMullen-Booth Elementary

Sarasota's Pine View School for the Gifted logged in the top score in points (740) among the 33 all-A schools. It had (not surprisingly) 100 percent of its students meeting high standards in math, 99 percent of its students meeting high standards in reading and writing, and 96 percent of students meeting high standards in science.

Locally, the top performer among the all-A crowd was Highland Lakes, tallying up 647 points (good for 13th on the list).

Love or hate the FCAT and school grades, at least take the time to give these top schools their due.

Poll: Zero tolerance in schools

A new Florida law gives schools more flexibility in imposing its zero tolerance rules. Was this the right move?
Yes. A toy plastic gun should not get a kid suspended.
No. Zero tolerance doesn't mean some tolerance.