Learning about Kama Sutra in Florida schools

No, the kids aren't learning about lovemaking positions. But some students in Lee County's Gateway Charter are being taught the term Kama Sutra as vocabulary, as part of their AP studies about world culture.

The book is, after all, a piece of Indian literary history.

But the notion that their kids are being exposed to the book known for its erotic art has some parents upset, ABC-7 News reports.

"We want you to understand that while this is a college class, you are teaching it to 15-year-old-students," parent Kelly Driscoll told the news station.

The school's principal responds that so long as the topic might appear on an AP test, it stays in the curriculum.

It's a similar debate to the one we recently had about whether The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, with its explicit sex scenes, belongs in an IB high school classroom.

So have at it again. Does the fact that a teen signed up for a college-level course, with its more mature learning expectations, mean that student needs to be willing to be exposed to sex in whatever form it might appear, however graphic?

Pinellas vs. Hillsborough on Advanced Placement approach

It's not exactly trash talk before the big game, but Pinellas is taking a bit of a dig at Hillsborough for its aggressive approach to increasing the number of Advanced Placement students. In this recent note to Pinellas County School Board members, deputy superintendent Catherine Fleeger notes that Pinellas boosted both its AP participation and passage rates last year, with the latter climbing from 45 to 47 percent.

"In Hillsborough," she continues, "the average passing rate is now only 38%."

Ouch! Okay, maybe we're making a mountain out of a molehill here, but there is debate to be had over whose approach to AP is best.

FDOE: Florida education system getting a bad rap

The Florida Department of Education needs to do a better job highlighting Florida’s “staggering” education successes and combating misinformation, says the department’s communications plan, which was on the Board of Education agenda this week.

“Even with Florida’s climbing student achievement and nationally recognized reform efforts, constant misrepresentations of Florida’s educational successes remain,” the plan says.

As proof of those successes, it lists statistics from Advanced Placement exams, the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the FCAT. (No mention of graduation rates.)

The plan’s goal: “Position Florida’s education system and the Florida Department of Education as the premiere administrative education entity in the country.”

Among the strategies to get there: “Develop and strengthen relationships with top education bloggers and online communities.”

In Florida, more students taking -- and passing -- AP tests

That's according to preliminary AP results released by the Florida Department of Education just a little bit ago. In 2009, for the fourth year in a row, Florida had the biggest one-year increase among all states in the number of students taking rigorous Advanced Placement exams, the DOE says. The Sunshine State also had the second biggest increase in the number of tests scored at 3 or higher on the AP's 1-5 scale.

Rep. Fresen proposes new HS degree, FCAT standards

Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, is proposing new credit and course requirements for Florida high schoolers seeking a diploma. The first-term lawmaker, already vying for a House speakership down the road, has filed proposed legislation (HB61) that lays out more stringently how students must fulfill their credit requirements in math and science.

The four math credits, for example, would have to include Algebra I starting with freshmen in the 2011-12 year. By 2013-14, the math courses would have to include Algebra I and II and geometry "or a series of course equivalent." And for science, two of the three required classes would have to include a lab component. And starting in 2011-12, one of the science classes would have to be Biology I. Two years later, high schoolers would be required to take Biology I, chemistry and a "higher-level science course."

The law also would require that schools advise students about Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and career academy coursework that leads to national industry certification -- plus the availability of dual enrollment classes and the Florida Virtual School. And starting in 2013-14, the Board of Education would have to develop grade 10 passing FCAT scores that must "at a minimum meet grade-level proficiency."

Pinellas school board supports agreement on black students

The Pinellas County School Board left no doubt today that it supports a new legal agreement aimed at boosting black student achievement. The board won’t vote on the agreement until July 28, but at a workshop today members expressed no major reservations.

 

“It’s a good document,” said board member Carol Cook. “It’s a great piece to help us focus” on the achievement gap.

Grade inflation is alive and kicking

As people are quick to point out, standardized testing has its flaws. But two Sunday stories serve as a reminder that grades do, too.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution found that at dozens of Georgia high schools, a majority of students who received college scholarships based on high GPAs lost them once they got there. The implication: Their grades were not a good measure of college readiness.

Meanwhile, the Florida Times Union found a big disconnect between the number of students passing AP courses in Duval County – which is pushing AP as hard as Hillsborough – and the number passing AP tests. At one Jacksonville school, 86 percent of students passed their AP classes last year, but only 1 percent passed their AP exams.

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Elia: AP shift is "the best for kids"

As a tidal wave of Hillsborough students takes AP tests over the next two weeks, there are plenty of fair questions to ask about one of the most radical changes that high schools in Tampa Bay, or Florida, have ever seen. But Hillsborough Superintendent MaryEllen Elia says the pros far outweigh the cons. And she's getting two thumbs up from Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith.

"I've taken my licks," Elia told the Gradebook. "In the end, it's the best for kids."

What Hillsborough is doing is "absolutely the right strategy," Smith said, a former vice president at the College Board.

Sunday's St. Petersburg Times story noted many concerns, from AP rigor potentially being watered down to teachers being frustrated by the range of ability levels that new AP kids bring to their classrooms. Ever since the district signed a three-year partnership with the College Board last spring, critics have asked: Why so far, so fast?

AP, IB funding safe; construction money, not so

Courtesy of Patricia Mazzei, Miami Herald:

In a win for school districts, leaders of the House and Senate committees hashing out a compromise pre-K-12 education budget agreed late Wednesday not to cut funding to Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and other rigorous high school courses.

The Senate had originally proposed slashing money for the popular, college-level classes in half, as well as reducing the bonuses teachers receive when their students pass the course exams. School districts cried foul, saying that was unfair to do in a year when a new high school grading system will give more weight to those advanced course offerings.

Senators reversed their position earlier Wednesday, and House members accepted the change Wednesday night.

Don't slash AP funding, group pleads

Count ENLACE among the growing chorus of voices (including Hillsborough superintendent MaryEllen Elia and Florida education commissioner Eric J. Smith) decrying the Legislature's plans to cut funding for Advanced Placement programs.

"Another deep cut would inflict serious harm," says the group, which promotes college readiness for Latinos and African Americans, in a policy alert this afternoon.

"We expect our elected officials to make touch decisions in tough economic times, but drastic reductions to a proven success story is not tough; it's just wrong."

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Education commissioner doesn’t like AP cuts either

Seventeen months into the job, Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith hasn’t butted heads with the Legislature often, if at all.

So in light of Sunday’s St. Petersburg Times artile on lawmaker plans to cut state AP funding, it’s worth noting that he indirectly did so after OPPAGA (the Leg’s research arm) issued this report on the eve of the legislative session that said AP incentive funding “greatly exceeds” required costs.

The report, and Smith’s rebuttal to it, were briefly mentioned in the Times story, but both are worth reading in detail. (Smith’s response can be found at the end of the OPPAGA report.)

“Reductions to AP incentive funds as proposed in this OPPAGA report will negatively impact school districts’ ability to serve our most academically-talented students,” wrote Smith, a former College Board official, “with a disproportionate impact on minority and traditionally underserved students.”

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Cutting AP funding "doesn't make sense" to Hillsborough school superintendent

A push by some lawmakers to cut millions of dollars out of AP funding for a second year in a row is "a knee-jerk reaction" that is out of sync with the state's push to better prepare students for college, Hillsborough superintendent MaryEllen Elia tells the Gradebook.

And it's especially puzzling given the state's decision to include AP participation and passage rates in the high school grading formula, beginning next year, she said.

"If the policy and philosophy is college ready, then you identify the source and you keep that source in place, even in tough times," said Elia, who's pushed the AP curriculum as much as any superintendent in Florida. Elia added, "To put in place a system that is going to be very heavily weighted in (school grades), and then to turn around and say, ‘we're going to cut funding for that,' that doesn't make sense."

In an effort to save money, the Senate is proposing to cut funding for AP and IB programs in half next year, from $66 million to $33 million. Hillsborough's share would drop from about $5.7 million to $2.8 million; Pinellas', from $2.8 million to $1.4 million. The money is used to train AP teachers, buy course materials and pay student exam costs. It also covers teacher bonuses.

The Senate also wants to reduce those bonuses (awarded for each student who scores a 3 or higher on a 1-to-5 scale) from $50 to $40 and to lower the overall bonus cap from $2,000 to $1,600.

The House has not proposed cutting AP or IB funding.

Ron Matus, state education reporter

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Florida drops, sort of, in AP passage rates

Florida ranks No. 11 this year in the percentage of graduating seniors passing AP exams, down from either No. 4 or No. 10 last year, according to results released by the College Board this morning.

Confused? You should be.   

A change in statistical methodology appears to be the culprit.

About that idea to pay kids for good scores ...

... Forget it.

The idea of giving students $50 awards for strong marks on a variety of high-level exams - touted by folks like Jeb Bush and put into a bill by Education Committee chair Anitere Flores - is not going to move through the Legislature, House Schools and Learning Council chairman Joe Pickens tells the Gradebook.

"We're not doing that," Pickens said. "I don't think we should be paying students to do that, especially in this type of budget year."

Key parts of the legislation dealing with remediation and dual enrollment will find their way into more acceptable bills, the powerful chairman said. But schools and parents need to find other ways to motivate their kids to learn and do well in school.

"I just think we ought to do better than that" bill, Pickens said.

Florida shines in AP results

If success on Advanced Placement exams offers true insight into college readiness, then Florida's high school students are among the most prepared in the country.

A new College Board report shows that more than 20 percent of Florida public high school seniors earned a score of 3 or higher on AP tests during 2007, fourth best in the country (behind only New York, Maryland and Virginia) and up 5.1 percentage points from just five years ago. The group also praises Florida for its efforts to get more African-American and Hispanic students to take the tests and do well on them.

Still, the College Board states, "While several states — including Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and Oklahoma — have been able to close the equity and excellence gap for Latino students, no state with large numbers of African American or American Indian students has yet to close the gap."

Other interesting tidbits from the Florida section of the report:

• 38 percent of the Class of 2007 took at least one AP exam.
• The top three categories for AP test takers were English language, English literature and U.S. history.
• Even with all the attention paid to minority students taking the test, white student participation also grew from 23,853 taking an AP test in 2006 to 25,967 in 2007.

AP disparities

Florida has led the charge nationally in increasing the number of students taking Advanced Placement exams. But access to the AP courses and exams has not been even across all demographic groups or in all schools, according to a new policy brief by Enlace Florida at the University of South Florida.

In Hillsborough schools, for instance, white students represented 48% of the student population in 2006 and constituted 62% of all AP test takers. At the same time, black students made up 21% of the student population yet were only 9% of all AP test takers.

At the school level, things looked even more uneven. Leto High enrolled nearly 1,200 Hispanic students, of whom just 85 took AP tests. Meanwhile, Plant High enrolled just 331 Hispanic students, of whom 97 took AP exams.

"The question our report simply presents is why it is that Plant H.S. with only a third of the Hispanic students in Leto H.S., can produce more Hispanic AP examinees?" researcher Paul Dosal wonders in a news release.

To read the full report, click here.

Whittling away the achievement gap

The rate at which minority students in Florida have taken Advanced Placement tests has risen rapidly over the past several years. The numbers, however, remain low in comparison to the overall total of students taking the college-level courses and exams. (Hey, it's pretty easy to get high percentage increases when the base is small - just 8,700 Florida minority students took AP tests in 1999, compared to about 26,000 white kids.) To boost participation even higher, lawmakers want the Florida Partnership for Minority and Underrepresented Student Achievement do more to identify and help teens get into the AP program and succeed. The Senate unanimously approved the bill (SB 108) this morning, and the House is to take up the identical lanugage (HB 403) this afternoon. Once participation rises enough, maybe someone will do something about the the success rates the students find on the AP exams. (Want to see how Florida students did on AP exams most recently? Click here for a report from the College Board.)

UPDATE: The House approved the identical bill unanimously Monday afternoon.

Today's news

LET'S MAKE A DEAL: Wayne Alexander gets a two-year contract worth about $153,000 annually to take over as Hernando County's new schools superintendent.

AP AUDIT: The explosion of Advanced Placement courses in Florida and across the country has college admission officers questioning whether the classes are all as rigorous as they are supposed to be. The College Board responds by conducting its first ever audit of AP classes.

SUING OVER MOONING: The family of the Pinellas County boy who got suspended and transferred for mooning a teacher has sued the school district. To read the full story, click here. To participate in the lively reader conversation about this, click here.

FAMU UPDATE: Summer school enrollment is on track despite all the hubbub, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

FOCUS ON VOCATIONS: Call it career and technical education, call it multiple pathways, call it what you will, vocational classes are all the rage these days. And they're academically challenging, not like in the past. The debate is on over whether it's the right way to go, the LA Times reports.

MEET THE SUBSTITUTE: Arnold Blume is 81, and, after 29 years as a teacher, he has retired to a life of substitute teaching in New York. Check out this nice NY Times profile.

PITCHING FOR PROSPECTS: A growing D.C. suburb school district hones its marketing effort to attract teachers as it competes with surrounding districts in the shrinking pool of candidates, the Washington Post reports.

Today's news

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM: A casual encounter between two Largo teachers escalates into a heated spat that ends up going to the state and back before landing on the superintendent's desk. Superintendent Clayton Wilcox is not amused.

EVALUATING MAP: Citrus County schools came up with a workable teacher performance pay plan under STAR months ago. As leaders consider the plan that will replace STAR, they're not sure whether they will participate. Brevard schools wonder whether the new plan will really make a difference for the best teachers, Florida Today reports.

BIGGER DIGS: The popular Curtis Fundamental School in Dunedin is moving, a change that will allow the school to open 80 new seats.

WHAT LUNSFORD ACT? The Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind allowed convicted felons to do construction work on the residential campus, the Associated Press reports. The school's president said the kids were OK.

TRACKING ALTERNATIVES: If there's a loophole in Florida's A-Plus plan, it's alternative schools, where kids go but accountability doesn't follow. The Palm Beach Post reports that some lawmakers are looking at ways to better track the progress that students make at these campuses.

IS IT REALLY AP? The College Board is requiring teachers to prove by June 1 that the courses they offer meet Advanced Placement standards, the Washington Post reports.

Winn watch

John Winn, Florida's recently retired education commissioner, has a new gig: Consulting for a national program that aims to prod more high school kids into taking AP tests in math and science, and, at the same time, encourage more college students to become math and science teachers. Winn told The Gradebook Wednesday that about the time he was retiring last month, he got a call from Tom Luce, a former high-ranking U.S. Department of Education official. Luce told Winn he had gotten a call from Exxon Mobil, which wanted to invest money in the production of more scientists and mathematicians, and that he had given the company a plan similar to the AP initiative in Florida, which is credited with making the Sunshine State tops in the country in the number of AP test takers. The company promptly offered up $150 million and the National Math and Science Initiative was born. Winn signed on as a consultant. "It was too perfect a match up," he said.

Winn resigned Feb. 28 after 31 months as commissioner and more than 20 years at the Department of Education. As Gov. Jeb Bush's choice for education czar, he became a lightning rod for Bush's tough accountability system. His new gig won't be controversy-free either. Among other things, Winn'll be pushing a program that offers both students and teachers financial incentives for participating in the AP program. Florida AP teachers have gotten the incentives for years, with little criticism. But in some Texas districts, which the new initiative is using as a model, students get incentives, too - $100 for scoring a 3 or higher. Supporters say the number of students taking and passing the tests has dramatically increased, but critics say dangling money in front of students is akin to offering students a bribe. Winn, a former middle school science teacher, said the bottom line is economic competitiveness - and the key role that better grounding in math and science plays in that. "Now that we've opened up more countries to capitalism, we have more competitors," he said. "The U.S. has got to get on the ball."

- Ron Matus