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.