Florida education news: Graduation rates, school funding, Bright Futures and more

PROJECT GRADUATION: Pinellas school officials put together recommendations aimed at getting more high school students through to graduation. (Times photo, Cherie Diez)

AT ODDS: The Florida House and Senate don't agree on education funding, among other things, as they work on next year's budget. • The state's Voluntary Prekindergarten program is but one that would suffer cuts, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

TOUGHER STANDARDS: New rules moving through the Florida Legislature would make it harder to get a Bright Futures scholarship. More from the Associated Press. And even more from the Gainesville Sun.

TEN FINALISTS: Hillsborough Community College looks outside its own staff to pick 10 finalists for its presidency.

BUS DRIVER ATTACKED: A 17-year-old Pinellas school student is arrested after slamming a school bus driver's head into the steering wheel over a cell phone dispute.

BREAKING GROUND: St. Petersburg College is to begin construction next week on a new wildlife habitat and science pavilion. 

TOP OF THE CLASS: Safety Harbor students learn how green living saves money 

DO THE HOMEWORK: The Hernando school district should have done more to properly vet a Springstead High teacher and basketball coach who lied about his background, the Times editorializes.

A CIVICS LESSON: Florida lawmakers are right to require students to learn civics in school, the Times editorializes.

CLASS SIZES: In dealing with budgets, California has an option Florida doesn't to save money — it can increase class sizes without voter approval, NPR reports.

MERIT PAY: A proposal to overhaul teacher pay and evaluations moves to the Florida Senate floor, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

WHO DO YOU KNOW? The Broward school district revisits its nepotism rules after a review discloses a virtual family tree in its transportation division, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

'I WANT MY CAREER BACK': A former Broward teacher fights to return to school after drug charges against him are dismissed, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

SAVE OUR SCHOOLS: Okaloosa parents join a growing effort to pressure lawmakers for better education funding, the Northwest Florida Daily News reports.

SLOW GOING: Polk has just three applicants for superintendent, the Lakeland Ledger reports.

TWO VS. FIFTEEN: A charter school asks Bay officials for a 15-year contract, but is offered two years instead, the Panama City News Herald reports.

PAY UP: The Monroe School Board demands repayment from former district officials accused of improperly using district funds, the Keynoter reports.

Visit the Gradebook at noon for an interview with Hillsborough schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia.

Comments

[Dr. Mike Todd]

Pat-
There is no doubt that the plan is vague when you look at 50% of pay being tied to student gains. Add to that, the proposed 30% weighting the EOC may have on the students overall grade in the course (teachers will only be able award 70% of the grade in their own course). As far as percent of students having to make gains for the pay-for-performance proposal I have heard 65% being thrown around. If you have 100 students 65 will need to make some sort of gain (TBD). Anyone hear any different?

[redisni]

Teachers are not against merit based pay. They are against merit pay based on an unfair unscientific evaluation system that relies on imprecise data. Hillsborough's MAP is an example of such aberration. Look at its distribution by visiting

http://blogs.tampabay.com/schools/2010/03/is-your-teacher-on-the-list-hillsborough-releases-names-of-merit-pay-recipients-for-200809.html

and search for the grades of the schools that concentrate the bonuses.

Attend Crist & Jeb's protest rally.

[0143]

The most often time for a student to show he/she understands a Physics concept is right after turning in a test with the "wrong" answers. Does that make me a lousy Teacher or a good one since I brought the student to "understanding?" Too many times the "data" can be collected and "interpreted," but the data is skewed and the interpretation fits into a political scheme. Education is NOT an overnight sucess story. Sometimes adults have "AH-HA" moments years after the actual teaching occurs. MAP is crap!

[Pat Connolly]

"merit pay for learning gains"

Nice idea in theory, perhaps. But to rush into statewide implementation without any evidence that it will work, without a plan for how to measure learning gains or even what that means, and without providing the requisite funding is foolhardy.

The people who are making these rules have no concept of what education is like beyond their vague recollections of elementary school and belief that the same models that might work in business will also work in education. (BTW, that business model worked great in the banking and auto industries, didn't it?)
How does one measure "gains" in a HS/MS course which doesn't have a precursor course on which to measure learning gains? Can you give an End-of-Course exam in physics and see if my students have achieved the expected level of knowledge in the subject? Absolutely. But that's not "gains". If I restrict enrollment in the class to only high-achievers, I can have excellent results on an EoC exam even if I'm not that good a teacher. If I cast a wide net and encourage marginal students to enroll (or are forced to have ill-prepared students by "new, rigorous graduation requirements"), then the results might not be as excellent even if I am the best teacher in the world. The kids would have made gains from where they were, but that might not translate to results on the EoC exam.
How do you measure "gains" for students entering the classroom with different capacities to learn? What is a great gain in a year for a student with learning disabilities might be a poor gain for a student without those impediments. A student who makes rapid progress early in school because of early childhood parental nurturing may find this progress slowing down later as the effects of this early advantage wear off.
Even if you could somehow measure "gains" in every subject taught at every level, how would you tie this to pay? The legislature gives no clue, other than to mandate that at least 50% of pay be based on this. Consider the situation of beginning teacher who have yet to establish their ability to produce "gains". Would they only be paid half of their "potential" pay (the part not tied to "gains") during the year and then get the other half at the end of the year after "gains" have been shown? I suppose all teachers would have to be paid this way as well, since "gains" one year don't guarantee "gains" the next. Maybe that works in the world of commission-based sales, where you can compute commissions earned on a minute-to-minute basis and have a short lag-time so that employees get their proper pay quickly.

Can anyone see this plan working? "Dr." Mike Todd, you seem to see the possible sunshine in almost every new idea floating down on teachers. Come on, put that almost-but-not-quite-yet doctorate mind to work and tell us how this could work. Come up with a good-enough idea and your consulting company could make a bundle, since Jeb and his minions are going to need more snake oil soon.