School grades and socioeconomic status

We've heard Floridians complain for years that the state's school grading system does little more than commemorate which schools have wealthy, involved families and which do not.

The same concern has emerged in New York City, where the school system employs a grading program similar to Florida's.

The N.Y. Times reports today that its review of New York high school grades essentially points out which schools are the poorest and most heavily minority, "despite an evaluation system that was meant to equalize differences among student bodies."

Of note, the NYT states that black and Hispanic students are more likely to attend a school that scored low in the city's grading system.

New York has been closing down poor-performing large high schools and replacing them with small ones, which generally do better. It's an idea that Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews is coming to support.

What about that? Is the answer for Florida to give up on its four-strikes-and-maybe-you're-out method in favor of starting bad schools from scratch? Let's hear it.

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Florida superintendents discuss tests other than the FCAT

This morning’s conference call between Florida Department of Education officials and superintendents was a reminder that the state really is moving away from the FCAT as the end-all, be-all.

The big topic: The roll-out schedule for end-of-course exams, which you can see in this document that DOE sent to superintendents yesterday. Algebra I and geometry end-of-course exams are being field tested this year, and the plan is for the biology end-of-course exam to be field tested next year, followed by the end-of-course exam for U.S. History the year after that. “Now obviously associated with all of these is a budget that will have to get funded annually in order to be able to do this,” Assistant Deputy Commissioner Kris Ellington told the superintendents.

It’s also DOE’s plan to use the math end-of-course exams instead of the math FCAT in the appropriate grades. But that will require legislative changes. Ellington said the department is talking with lawmakers to craft language to do just that.

Tennessee graduation rates climbing the fastest

Okay you snobby Gators who want to make fun of "Rocky Top." Get this: A new report out this morning puts the spotlight on Tennessee for its fast-climbing graduation rate. Between 2002 and 2006, Tennessee’s graduation rate jumped from 60 percent to 71 percent, the biggest jump in the nation, while Florida’s rose to 64 percent, according to one analysis.

Miss by a minute, miss a day at Palm Beach school

If you think Pasco County's high school tardy tables are onerous, what do you have to say about the new rule at Pahokee Middle/Senior in Palm Beach County?

Beginning last week, Pahokee's principal began suspending students for a day if they arrived late to class, the Palm Beach Post reports.

As in Pasco, Pahokee's goal is to "ensure that all students are arriving to class on time and to increase the instructional time in each class." (The principal also wants to make an A, natch.)

But parents at Pahokee wonder how this new policy achieves that goal. After all, one told the Post, it seems to give kids who don't want to be in school an easy way out.

"If you tell me my kid has to stay after school for a whole month, I understand. If you tell him he has to go to school on Saturday, I understand that," Emilio Perez said. "But if you suspend him, you're contradicting what you're trying to do."

You think?

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Study: Private donations drop for schools with bad grades

Turns out, Florida schools that get bad grades don't just miss out on school recognition money. Money from parents and local businesses dries up too, according to this new University of Florida study.

"What was particularly surprising in this study was the magnitude of the cutbacks; the numbers are very large," said Larry Kenny, a UF economics professor who worked on the study with David Figlio, a former UF professor now at Northwestern. "These contributions help schools, and losing the money lowers the quality of education."

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Legg to House Democrats: Glad you could join us

Yesterday's Gradebook post about House Democrat suggestions for Race to the Top funds - including development of end-of-course exams and differential pay for teachers in high-poverty schools - brought this swift, 3-page response (revised version here) from Rep. John Legg, R-New Port Richey, who chairs the House education policy committee.

Legg essentially asks (these are our words, not his), Why weren't Dems on board last year? He writes:

The PreK-12 Policy Committee passed legislation during the 2009 Session to reform the FCAT, create higher academic standards, and clearly define core knowledge and achievement goals, as well as establishing statewide, standardized end of course exams that ensure our students are mastering this core knowledge before they graduate from high school. 

Hopefully, education policy reform will now move forward in a by partisan manner, unlike last session, when the majority of democrats opposed these very same measures, which they are now advocating, and voted against these legislative concepts in the House PreK-12 Policy Committee.

We hear more Republicans will be weighing in on this. Stay tuned.

Florida's new high school grading system now in place

It's official: High school grades won't be based on just the FCAT anymore. We've been writing about this for oh, a year and a half now, so it's been easy to forget that the new formula wasn't totally in place until the state Board of Education voted unanimously for it at today's meeting in Miami.

The FCAT will now count for half of a high school's grade. The other half will include a slew of factors, including graduation rates, participation in Advanced Placement classes and industry certifications for students in career and technical programs.

Here's a recent look at how the new formula may affect schools in Pinellas. Here's a look at the formula in all its wonky glory.

The changes mean high school grades won't be announced in the summer any more, the Department of Education says. Expect them towards the end of the year.

Pinellas teachers debate exam exemptions

Lots of comments at the tuff-teach blog ever since the Gradebook reported that a majority of Pinellas School Board members seem inclined to chuck the existing policy. Wrote one teacher:

Keep the exemption alive, but tighten it. It doesn't have to be an all-or-none choice. Make all the kids take at least 3 exams per semester. Heck - go ahead and make 'em take 4. Just don't make those babies sit for 7 exams. That borders on being inhumane!

Chucking the policy is not what’s on the table at tonight’s board meeting. For now it will consider whether to move forward with a tweak aimed at swine flu concerns. But a bigger debate still looms, which we’ll get to after a yet-to-be-appointed committee weighs in.

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For Florida schools with good grades, another $122 million

The state is handing out $122 million this year to 2,103 schools with A and/or improving grades, a fall ritual that began under former Gov. Jeb Bush and continues under Gov. Charlie Crist. (Crist is visiting a Tampa school today to tout the program ... see post below). You can see which schools got how much in “school recognition” money here.

School advisory councils determine what to do with the money. Many choose to convert it into modest bonuses for teachers. Here are the totals for districts around Tampa Bay:

Hernando: $872,805
Hillsborough: $8,195,408
Pasco: $3,109,947
Pinellas: $3,796,279

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After further review, one less D for Pinellas high schools

The school grade for Northeast High School in St. Petersburg has been moved up from a D to a C, after a review of its appeal by the state Department of Education. That leaves eight Pinellas high schools with a D and one with an F.

Statewide, 18 schools appealed their grades or "adequate yearly progress" status, and DOE accepted eight of them.

In Pinellas, DOE denied an appeal by San Jose Elementary, which earned an A grade but did not meet AYP.

In Hillsborough, DOE denied appeals by Summerfield Crossing Elementary, which earned a B, and Miles Elementary, which earned a C.

No other Tampa Bay area schools appealed.

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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In Pinellas, Lakeview Fundamental Elementary is No. 1

And Tarpon Springs Fundamental Elementary is No. 2, at least according to the number of points they received under the state's grading system, which is based on scores and gains on the FCAT.

Mr. Fundamental, Bud Zimmer, notes the rankings in his most recent "fundamentalgram." It shows how Lakeview, Tarpon Springs and the other fundamental schools rank against other schools statewide. It also shows how those rankings have fluctuated over the past four years.

We annually report school grades, but we don't often report on the points behind them. Maybe we should. If you want to see how the rest of the schools in Pinellas rank against each other, click here. (We plucked the info from the Department of Education's school grade site.)

Principal says Imagine charter school's F grade not fair

Are some F grades more defensible than others? The state’s grading formula excluded many of the highest performing students at Imagine charter school in St. Petersburg because they were home schooled or in private schools last year, skewing the results, principal Dawn Wilson tells the Gradebook. According to Wilson, 46 of 102 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders tested on the FCAT at the first-year school did not have matching scores from last year.

“It’s not particularly fair,” Wilson said. “I know that sounds childish … (but) the state grading system is inherently flawed.”

Imagine and Gibbs High were Pinellas County’s only F schools this year.

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.

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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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.

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.

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.

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.

Florida school grades bring plenty of good news, too

It would be easy to focus on the crashing scores of Florida's high schools in our coverage of today's school grades release. But that hardly would be fair to the huge number of schools in the Tampa area and around Florida that got great news today.

Here's just a sample of the good stuff:

• Pinellas had eight schools improve two grade levels, including seven from C to A and one from D to B. Overall, 18 schools improved their grades, with 73 schools making A's.
• Hillsborough logged in its highest number of A schools -- 120 -- while the number of its B and C schools dropped, and it got no F's. Sulphur Springs Elementary rose from an F to a B.
• Pasco also had a record number of A's -- 49 -- including seven schools that improved from a C to an A.
• Hernando saw 16 of 21 schools maintain their grade, and three improved from B to A.

Look for more details in our coverage later tonight and tomorrow.

Wanted: Your thoughts on Tampa-area schools

We found a comment buried in a month-old Gradebook post and felt it deserved a little airing out and response. A reader named "Wendy" says her family wants to move this way, but first needs more information about local schools. She writes:

"My husband and I are considering moving from the Pittsburgh area to Tampa. We are looking at several neighborhoods, but the deciding factor will likely be the school district. Would someone please shed some light on the best school districts and how their "report cards" are gauged? Here in PA, the state regulates the funding based on aptitude testing, in which the tests can be selectively submitted. (which I do not agree with). It is not a true measure of what our schools are producing. Any information would be greatly appreciated."

First, our (non-opinionated) answer. Florida's school districts are based on counties, to avoid huge funding discrepancies. That does not mean that all counties have similar school systems, though. Hillsborough, for instance, has a huge school choice program with all sorts of magnets. Pasco, just to the north, has essentially no magnet programs and very limited choice.

As for those school grades, they are based primarily on student performance on the state standardized test. But that's about to change for high schools, and most likely for all schools going forward. Many people will complain that the school grade is but one indicator of many whether a school is good or bad, but don't be surprised to learn that real estate often gets bought and sold based on whether a school got an A.

That's it for us. Now your turn. Which districts or schools are best? Which should Wendy and her family stay away from? Be sure to explain why. And please, keep your comments non-libelous.

Will more Florida high schools get F's?

This is a test. This is only a test. But for some, the test is ringing alarm bells.

While the state Department of Education has been chipping away at a new formula for determining high school grades, it did a little simulation recently to see how schools would fare. The Legislature mandated that half of the new grade should be based on the FCAT (as opposed to the entire grade in the past) and that the other half should be based on a combination of other factors, including graduation rates, participation in AP courses and SAT and ACT scores.

The result? According to the simulation, which is based on 2007 grades, not so good. About a third of the state’s high schools dropped a letter grade, while only a relative handful improved a grade. Of the 51 high schools in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando, 20 dropped a grade, 1 rose a grade and the rest stayed put.

Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco each had one high school that dropped to an F (Leto in Hillsborough, Dixie Hollins in Pinellas and Gulf in Pasco).

Some district officials are upset, according to this recent Miami Herald story. And part of it may be due to a perception that if high school grades were based on more factors than just FCAT scores, they’d get better, not worse. (Which seems like a strange expectation, given that schools with poor FCAT scores also tend to have lower grad rates, fewer students taking AP classes, etc.)

The new formula won’t kick in until the 2009-10 school year. And DOE officials told tcpalm.com it’s likely the formula will be further tweaked in the meantime. They also left themselves an out, saying if grades do drop initially, they’re likely to rebound in subsequent years, as they have following other changes to the grading system.

For more details about the simulation, see this DOE presentation here. For a spread sheet with the school-by-school results, click here.

New group to discuss high school grading formula

A new, high-profile and previously unannounced group formed to advise Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith meets today for the first time. The group is scheduled to discuss how to change the grading formula for high schools, but it will take up other accountability issues in the future, according to a press release.

The group’s 41 members include superintendents, principals, district accountability directors and representatives from several statewide interest groups, including the teachers union and Jeb’s Foundation for Florida’s Future. Hillsborough superintendent MaryEllen Elia is the only representative from the Tampa Bay area.

The meeting will be Web-cast here from 1 to 3 p.m.

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256 Tampa Bay schools get state checks

This year’s list of schools receiving school recognition money is out. Hundreds of schools statewide are splitting $147-million, including 128 in Hillsborough, 76 in Pinellas, 40 in Pasco and 12 in Hernando.

The money is annually awarded to schools that improve a letter grade or maintain an A grade, based on FCAT scores. Budget cuts this year reduced the per-student amount from $100 to $85.

To see how big a check your school got, click here.

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And now for the carrots

Another year, another round of school recognition money. More than 1,600 Florida schools will get $129.3 million in bonuses based on their school grades, Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg announced this afternoon. "It is a pleasure to honor these schools for the superior academic performance and improvement shown by their students last year," she said in a press release. "Through their accomplishments, we can clearly see that hard work, inspirational teaching and a commitment to student achievement are true catalysts for success."

Former Gov. Jeb Bush started the program in 1999, as part of his plan to attach carrots and sticks to school performance. To date, it has doled out $982 million. Schools get an additional $100 per student if they earn A grades or improve a grade. Advisory councils at each school decide how to divvy up the money. To see which schools are getting the money, and how much, click here.

Another year, another push to end school grading

Democratic Sen. Frederica Wilson of Miami doesn't give up. She has already filed a proposed bill (SB 292) for the 2008 legislative session that would remove letter grades for schools.

Wilson, a former Miami-Dade school board member, tried and failed to get the legislation passed this spring, and also failed in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

All A's, all the time

When school grades came out last week, the attention went to the failures. Maybe that makes sense. The numbers receiving D's and F's did double, after all. But let us now give some deserved credit to 34 schools that slipped under the radar.

These are the schools that have earned an A every year since school grading began in 1999. Whatever the change in standards or grading scale, whatever the new demand, these schools have risen to the challenge. "It is hard to keep it up, especially when you already have higher scores," says Kathy Wickett, new principal of nine-time A McMullen-Booth Elementary in northern Pinellas.

Most have advantages - low poverty, strong parent involvement, low teacher turnover and the like. They also have an unwillingness to sit back on their laurels. "We continue to stretch ourselves," says Ellyn Smith, principal of nine-A Alafia Elementary in eastern Hillsborough. "We try very hard not to be OK with being OK."

School grades drop

School grades in Florida took a dip this year, with slightly fewer A and B schools and more than double the number of D and F schools, according to data released this morning by the Department of Education. Educators saw it coming, given changes in the school grading formula. But that's not likely to make the news go down any easier.

The number of D schools rose from 122 to 220, while the number of F schools nearly quadrupled, to a record-high 82. Meanwhile, the number of A's actually increased slightly, to 1,472, while the number of B's dropped from 608 to 469.

The drop-off, though projected for more than a year, is likely to be viewed by teachers and parents as another strike against the school accountability system built by former Gov. Jeb Bush. The system, based on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and already unpopular, took a huge hit last month when the Department of Education disclosed 200,000 third-grade reading scores in 2006 may have been inflated due to human error.

School grades coming Friday

The Department of Education will hand out its annual report cards Friday morning, The Gradebook has learned. But "better late than never" might not be the first thing Florida educators say when they see the results. Administrators fear a slew of lower grades this year because of two major changes to the school grading formula: the addition of science scores; and the addition of a penalty provision that results in the loss of a letter grade for schools where the majority of the lowest-performing students don't make gains in math. Previously, that penalty only came into play with reading scores.

The changes are expected to hit high schools especially hard. Some district officials say parents and teachers shouldn't be surprised if there's a whole mess of D high schools tomorrow. Pinellas officials even say they're expecting their first F high school. In recent weeks, district concerns about all this grew so intense that the Department of Education even floated recommendations to nix the reading penalty and revert to last year's grading formula. But last week in Miami, the Board of Education said no: Schools "knew this was the expectation," said board member Donna Callaway, a former high school teacher and middle school principal. "To say now, 'This doesn't count" - I don't support that."

BOE: No to school grade change

The Board of Education shot down a recommendation this afternoon to suspend a portion of the school-grading formula that puts extra weight on the progress of students who struggle the most. The recommendation - floated last week, in the wake of the debacle over botched third-grade FCAT scores - was made by Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg and supported by many superintendents. But board members said the recommendation was too big a change to consider on a whim, with little time for input and debate. "I don't think this is the way we should go about changing a basic policy of the Board of Education," said board member Roberto Martinez, a Miami lawyer.

The provision in question is a product of the Jeb Bush accountability system. It penalizes schools a full letter grade if a majority of the students in the bottom quartile fail to make academic gains on the FCAT. Last year, 98 schools in the state - of nearly 3,000 total - felt the sting of the penalty provision, with the vast majority missing by 5 percentage points or less. But as Blomberg noted in her presentation, some of those schools had a greater percentage of their bottom quartiles making gains - yet were still penalized - while more than 900 schools went un-penalized despite showing declines. Blomberg had recommended that the board suspend the penalty for this year's school grades, while alternatives are considered later.

In a related development, the board agreed that the Department of Education should calculate this year's school grades without the third-grade reading scores in the mix.

Rep. Peterman: 'You can't fault the school'

State Rep. Frank Peterman, D-St. Pete, won't be upset if a key component of the state's school grading formula gets nixed by the Board of Education tomorrow. The component in question penalizes schools a full letter grade if a majority of their most-struggling students don't make academic progress on the FCAT. Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg recommended last week that the state suspend that provision, and Peterman told The Gradebook he supports the move: "You can't fault the school," he said. "You can't expect the school, with the resources they have, to do that overnight."

Peterman's position puts him at odds with another member of the Legislature's Black Caucus, Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, who told the St. Petersburg Times for a story in Saturday's paper that the penalty provision was one of the few planks in Jeb Bush's school accountability system he liked. The Orlando Sentinel weighed in with this editorial Sunday.

Today's news

ARE THEY SMART, OR NOT? Florida 10th graders generally do poorly on the FCAT reading test. But they perform near the top of the nation's students on NAEP. Could it be because Florida's passing score is too high? Times education reporters Letitia Stein and Tom Tobin explore the concept.

GIVE US ANOTHER TEST, PLEASE: In most conversations, teachers don't have pleasant things to say about the FCAT. But when they want some love for their subject areas, they increasingly call for an addition to the annual exam. First it was music educators. Now it's social studies teachers, the Palm Beach Post reports.

FAMU-FSU FEUD: A recent commentary about troubled FAMU by a top Florida State administrator has made things more tense between the two Tallahassee campuses, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

IS HANDWRITING DOOMED? We text. We e-mail. Just 15 percent of the kids taking the SAT used cursive on the essay portion. A recent survey by Vanderbilt University found teachers spend fewer than 10 per week on the subject. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune looks at whether it's the communication, or the form, that matters most.

Split up, boys and girls. And don’t forget your uniform.

Single-gender classes and student uniforms could be coming statewide to some of the state's most struggling schools, the chair of a key House education committee said Tuesday. "I do believe we’re going to try to take a stab at some language" for legislation, said Rep. David Simmons, who chairs the Committee on 21st Century Competitiveness. "Something has to be done to improve D and F schools. What we’re doing now is not enough."

Simmons' comments came after his committee heard a presentation on single-gender classes from a Volusia County principal and a presentation on school uniforms from an official in Polk County, which has had a far-reaching uniform policy for more than a decade.

Woodward Avenue Elementary is one of a handful of schools statewide (along with a couple of schools in Pinellas) that has, with parental permission, separated boys from girls in an effort to boost student achievement. Now in its third year, the experiment at Woodward has resulted in higher test scores, particularly for boys, who initially lagged far behind the girls in reading and writing.

Meanwhile, anecdotal evidence in Polk County shows uniforms have resulted in lower disciplinary rates and less gang activity. But, warned that district’s general counsel, expect a legal and public relations fight if the Legislature passes a policy with any kind of statewide scope. In Polk, more than 650 people showed up at initial hearing on uniforms - most of them opposed to the idea - and a lawsuit based on free-speech issues dragged on until 2000. (The district won.)

Simmons said more specifics on both ideas will be ready within two to three weeks.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Today's news

MEET THE LOAFERS: You can tell who they are by their shoes. They talk about girls, not guns. Columnist Ernest Hooper discovers a "gang" at Armwood High that he wouldn't mind having his own son join.

GOODBYE, BLOCK: Block scheduling is disappearing in many Hillsborough County high schools, as superintendent MaryEllen Elia tries to save money by forcing teachers to work the full 300 minutes of their contract. Reporter Saundra Amrhein finds a group of parents who are none too thrilled.

SCIENCE, TOO: As if Florida's school grading system weren't busy enough, the state adds science to the mix this year. Kids have taken the FCAT science test for a while, but now it counts. The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel looks at what some educators are doing to make sure their school grade – that translates into bonuses if it stays high – does not suffer.

MAJOR BORE: While state education officials make a big deal about forcing high school students to declare a "major," some school districts are nonplussed. They say they've been doing much of that, better, for years. Count Palm Beach County in that category, the Palm Beach Post reports.

THAT SEX OFFENDER IS HER DAD: See, it's not just Citrus County that has concerns about whether to allow parents who are sex offenders to volunteer in schools. The New York Times reports about a similar debate in Torrance County, Calif. It's a tough call when you have a "loving parent" who other parents don't trust.

YOU'LL BE HOME WHEN? It has not been the norm to see kids in schools for more hours a day than their parents work. But the extended school day is looking like a blessing in the effort to boost achievement levels of low-performing students, Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews writes. One school he visits has 12-hour days.