Wonks debate Florida's effort to rate education colleges

Florida's efforts to begin rating teacher preparation programs based on FCAT scores - which The Gradebook reported first last week - is turning some heads nationally.

The Flypaper blog gives partial credit to Obama's education secretary because of his support for such rating systems. Meanwhile, education researcher Greg Forster credits Florida for continuing to push the envelope on education reform. He adds:

The only problem I can see here is that this just compares education schools to one another. All education schools are part of the problem. Still, I can see a lot of value in knowing which ones are more a part of the problem or less – not least because if they start competing with one another on the basis of results, maybe someday one of them will actually produce a radical transformative revolutionary breakthrough and actually become a value-adding rather than value-subtracting part of the education system.

Jeb Bush foundation: Say thanks to teachers this week

Message today from Patricia Levesque, executive director of Jeb Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future. Some excerpts:

As we gather with family and friends this week to give thanksgiving and usher in the 2009 holiday season, let us take a moment to thank the educators who make a difference in the lives of Florida’s children each and every day ...

In 2001, barely half of elementary students could read on grade level, now 72 percent can. The results are just as impressive in mathematics. Eight years ago, just 52 percent could get by in math, now 72 percent of elementary students are demonstrating mathematics skills at or above grade level. Moreover, there are nearly 100,000 more Hispanic students and more than 50,000 more African-American students reading and doing math on grade level than a decade ago.

Our progress in raising student achievement is outpacing national averages across the board. More students are learning, more students are excelling in rigorous coursework and more students are attending college. Most importantly, Florida is one of the only states in the nation to narrow the achievement gap.

Ten years of extraordinary progress in our schools prove teachers change lives.

Pinellas tweaks legislative wish list

A revised draft of the Pinellas school district's 2010 legislative agenda includes a few interesting changes - all suggested by school board members at last week's workshop.

It now begins with an excerpt from Article IX of the Florida Constitution - the excerpt that says it's a "paramount duty" of the state to make "adequate provision" for "high quality" schools. That's the same language that opened the door to this new lawsuit.

It now notes in the first section that the school board has been "unable to provide pay increases for any employee groups in the past three years." (It continues to say that the board's goal is to increase teacher salaries to the national average and that the Legislature should "build a budget that allows that to happen.")

It no longer says the Legislature should consider a proposal for a constitutional revision that would make the class-size amendment more flexible, but continues to ask for "as much statutory flexibility as possible."

The board will consider the revised draft on Jan. 12.

Survey: Many teachers buy food for hungry students

As if buying classroom supplies wasn't burden enough, a fair number of teachers say they occassionally buy food for students who don't get enough to eat at home, according to a national report released this morning.

Sixty-two percent of teachers surveyed said some students routinely come to school hungry, says the report from Save Our Strength, a group committed to ending childhood hunger. And of those teachers, 49 percent said they buy food for hungry students either every week or a few times a month.

On average, the report says, elementary school teachers spend $27.40 buying food for students while middle school teachers spend about $38.10. 

More data linking education colleges to FCAT scores

More data. More questions.

On Friday night, the state released more FCAT-based data rating the effectiveness of Florida's teacher preparation program - and it shows that it was in fact a good idea to take a grain of salt with the first batch of numbers that came out Thursday.

The Friday numbers, based on 2008-09 FCAT scores, shows that 82 percent of rookie teachers from the University of South Florida had 50 percent or more of their students make learning gains - putting it in a 3-way tie at No. 4 (with UF and UCF) among the 10 state university ed schools. In 2007-08, 76 percent of USF's rookie grads reached that bar, putting USF at No. 9 of 10.

On a related measure, USF slid a little. In 2007-08, 15 percent of its rookie graduates were deemed "high performing," because of especially large FCAT gains by their students. That put it at No. 6. In 2008-09, 13 percent earned that designation, putting USF in a tie (with UWF) at No. 8.

Pinellas names outstanding educator finalists

The list has been whittled from 22 to 14. Read the names here. Winners will be announced Jan. 20.

Hillsborough teachers react to the Gates grant

The $100 million, seven-year grant that Hillsborough schools received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Thursday has the potential to significantly alter the teaching landscape, both in Hillsborough County and nationally.

Its focus on reforming pay structures, evaluation procedures and other matters related to teaching promises to bring change to a culture where change is not always welcomed. And if the teachers don't buy in, it's possible that the best of intentions here could run aground.

That in mind, we interviewed some educators to gauge their views of the new direction. We found a range of reactions to the plans, from wariness to full-fledged support. Read on for a sampling.

USF near bottom in state analysis of teacher preparation programs

The Florida Department of Education is looking at FCAT scores to help gauge the effectiveness of the state’s teacher preparation programs. And according to its first analysis, the University of South Florida College of Education doesn’t look so good by comparison.

A draft report obtained by the Gradebook shows how rookie teachers from different programs – be they university colleges of education, community college programs or district alternative certification programs – fared in 2007-08, based on how well their students performed on the math and reading FCAT.

The DOE determined what percentage of rookies from each institution had 50 percent or more of their students making learning gains. And then, using “value tables” – which you can read more about here – it determined what percentage were “high performing.”

USF – a huge pipeline for teachers in the Tampa Bay area – had 76 percent of its graduates in the first category, which puts it ninth among the 10 state university programs. Florida International was tops at 85 percent. The University of West Florida was last at 70 percent.

Teacher quality initiatives could be big part of Florida's Race to the Top application

Florida has two months before it submits its Race to the Top application. But if this presentation to the state Board of Education yesterday is any indication, a whole bunch of teacher quality initiatives are being looked at by the Florida Department of Education. Among them: Finding ways to put more high-performing teachers into low-performing schools. Using student test scores to gauge the effectiveness of colleges of education. Coming up with better ways to evaluate teachers. And linking student data to professional development.

Who knows what form the application will finally take? And who knows whether Florida will win one of the grants? But if the $350-$700 million figures being thrown around are real, and if Florida is in as good a position to get the money as some suggest, Florida teachers could be seeing some big changes, soon.

UPDATE: Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith is feeling pretty good about Florida's chances.

Manatee moves to fire teacher for incompetence

Here's something you don't see every day.

The Manatee school district has taken steps to fire a tenured educator for failing to educate.

The Herald-Tribune reports that Buffalo Creek Middle School math teacher Laurel Davis didn't give enough tests, failed to grade some assignments and regularly turned in late lesson plans. On top of that, nearly half of her students declined in their FCAT performance.

District officials have counseled Davis and offered her more training, to little success. Meanwhile, parents requested to move their kids out of her class.

Most of the time, teachers facing this fate resign quietly. But Davis isn't going down without a fight.

She's requested a formal hearing, with the backing of the Manatee Education Association.

"It should not be easy to terminate a teacher's employment," MEA president Pat Barber told the Herald-Tribune. "The administration should be required to show they have good cause for doing it."

Florida gets an F for removing bad teachers

Florida got a mixed and overall mediocre report card today for its education system, including an A for data, a C for school management and an F for how well it removes ineffective teachers.

Put together by researchers at a trio of think tanks, including the liberal Center for American Progress and the conservative American Enterprise Institute, the "Leaders and Laggards" report focused on what it calls the "innovation gap" in American schools. It did not grade on a curve. No state got more than two A's (out of 8 categories), and the report reached pessimistic conclusions about the nation's schools as a whole. "From weak data capacity to anachronistic finance systems, schools just do not have the ability to respond to 21st century educational challenges," it says.

Like a lot of reports these days, this one received funding from the Gates Foundation.

A weekend interview about teacher quality and a possible Gates Foundation grant with Hillsborough schools superintendent MaryEllen Elia

There's talk around the nation about the need to change the way teachers are trained, evaluated and paid. Even President Obama has called for reforms in this area. The Hillsborough school district hopes to get on board with the help of a major Gates Foundation grant, for which it's one of 10 finalists. Superintendent MaryEllen Elia spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek about her goals with the grant and teacher reform.

Tell me first about grant one you're looking into and what it would do for the school district.

We received a call in February from the Gates Foundation asking if we would be interested in examining whether a partnership would be a good thing between the Gates Foundation and Hillsborough County. They had done a thing screening 16,000 districts in the country. And they came up with 20 districts that they wanted to look at and get more information on and see if they were interested in working on this project.

What did they tell you was the reason why Hillsborough would be one of those?

Apparently they have a number of things that they looked at. And it was all done by Gates or contracted services to Gates, because we didn't know much about it. I know that it had to do with the kind of work that you had previously done and your commitment to working on issues related to teaching and good teaching. But I really don't know. We weren't part of exactly what the screens were. ... When they called, they asked if we were interested, and I said, "Yes, we are." And they came in with a team of people and they met with people throughout the county and the community to get a real feel of this community and our teachers and the teachers union and the administration. Kind of how we run.

What did they ask?

They talked to us about the relationship we had with the Classroom Teachers Association. They also talked to them. They wanted to see how we function as an organization. They looked particularly at my staff, to see what kind of leadership we have both at the district and school level. They also interviewed the School Board, talked about the commitment the board had moving forward with student achievement by addressing issues that would affect good teachers. They talked to the business community. They met with the foundation. So it was a pretty good screening of Hillsborough County. And then, after that, about a month or two later we got a call saying, "You have made it to the Top 10. Are you interested in moving forward?"

And of course you said no, right?

Survey: Younger teachers more open to merit pay, but ...

Generation Y teachers (those born since 1977) are more likely than older teachers to support the idea of earning more money for working harder, and more likely to say that linking financial rewards to student performance might improve teaching, a new national survey finds.

But the survey from Public Agenda and Learning Point Associates also finds that younger teachers are less likely to support performance pay based on standardized test scores. And they're just as likely to say other things will improve teaching more, such as reducing class sizes, improving professional development opportunities or increasing teacher pay overall.

There are plenty of other interesting nuggets in the survey, including this one: 66 percent of teachers strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that "the union sometimes fights to protect teachers who really should be out of the classroom." That's up from 48 percent in 2003.

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Pinellas names semifinalists for best educator

The district has announced 22 semifinalists across five categories in the 2010 Outstanding Educator Program, according to this list out today. The winners will be announced Jan. 20.

BOE member: $2.7 billion wasted on bad teachers in Florida

Chris Matthews recently dubbed Rep. Alan Grayson "Captain Cojones," but Florida Board of Education member Roberto Martinez may be gunning for the title himself. Martinez, a former U.S. attorney who is close to both Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist, has become increasingly vocal about two issues: education funding, or a lack thereof, and teacher quality, or a lack thereof.

In this letter to Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith, which will be sent to Crist and state lawmakers, Martinez pulls the two issues together at several points, including in this paragraph:

The total amount budgeted statewide in FY 2008-2009 for the salaries and benefits of the instructional personnel was approximately $13.6 billion. That represented about 70% of the dollars appropriated by the State for education. If we assume that 20% of that workforce is low or non-performing (which may be a low approximation by some estimates), then that represents in excess of $2.7 billion that was wasted and that could have been directed to attract and retain high-quality teachers.

Maybe the best teachers should teach more kids

Here's a teacher-quality-related idea that might crash up against Florida's class-size amendment but could dovetail with its efforts to expand virtual schooling. The national consulting firm Public Impact says in this new report that instead of trying to boost the ranks of top teachers by doing more to recruit, train and retain, maybe districts should expand the reach of the top teachers they already have -- by giving them more students either directly or virtually.

Public Impact calls these teachers 3X teachers -- because research shows that teachers in the top 20 percent get three times the learning gains of teachers in the bottom 20 percent. The report says that efforts to boost their ranks are doomed to fall short, which is why a new approach is needed.

Despite these efforts -- and even if they grow far faster -- our nation still will not have an excellent teacher in every classroom. Why? Simply put, the magnitude of the gap is too enormous. For example, as an article in The Atlantic reported, Georgia has 440 high schools but only 88 certified physics teachers. And, if those 88 follow the typical distribution, only 15 or so are top-notch teachers. None of the strategies we are pursuing as a nation could realistically move Georgia from having 15 excellent physics teachers to having 440. Students in 425 schools in Georgia will have a sub-optimal learning experience in a subject that's vital to the economic prospects of our nation.

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Will Florida track effectiveness of teacher preparation programs?

In his big speech yesterday on teacher preparation, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan singled out Louisiana for being the only state in the nation that uses student test scores to track how effective its teacher preparation programs are. Then he said this:

Every state in the nation should be doing the same—and, as I said, we are going to provide incentives for states to do so in the $4.3 billion Race to the Top competition. It's a simple but obvious idea—college of educations and district officials ought to know which teacher preparation programs are effective and which need fixing. Transparency, longitudinal data, and competition can be powerful tonics for programs stuck in the past.

Any chance Florida will follow up soon?

Other Pinellas schools in mix for performance pay, differential pay

Teachers at Gibbs High won’t be the only ones in Pinellas who benefit from – or have to deal with – new performance pay and differential pay plans that are coming down the pipe. According to the state’s new differentiated accountability system, districts must also come up with those kinds of teacher pay plans for all D and F schools in Correct II status (among other categories that don’t apply in Pinellas, for now).

In Pinellas, that means all D high schools – Lakewood, Boca Ciega, Dixie Hollins, Dunedin, Countryside, Pinellas Park, Tarpon Springs and Largo.

National survey: 40 percent of teachers are 'disheartened'

There's a lot of bummed-out teachers in America -- burned out by too much testing, too many unruly kids and too much accountability pressure, according to the results of a nationwide survey released today.

The poll by Public Agenda, based on a nationally representative sample of 890 teachers, shows that 40 percent of teachers are disheartened. Asked about drawbacks to their jobs, 58 percent said there is too much testing, and 50 percent said there are too many kids with discipline problems. Asked what is the most difficult thing about teaching, 32 percent said unreasonable pressure to raise student achievement.

The survey also asked teachers about a host of other issues, with nuanced and sometimes surprising results:

* 75 percent said good teachers can lead all students to learn, even those from poor families or who have uninvolved parents, compared to 24 percent who said it's too hard for even good teachers to overcome those barriers.

Pinellas to consider performance pay, differential pay for teachers

The details aren't in yet, but the Pinellas school district and the Pinellas teachers union will soon be discussing plans for performance pay and differential pay for teachers - two things that Pinellas has famously resisted in the past.

"We have to come up with a way to reward people and to encourge them to work with our most needy students," Pinellas Superintendent Julie Janssen told the Gradebook today. She said she talked this morning to Marshall Ogletree, executive director of the Pinellas teachers union, and "they're ready to sit with us and design a plan."

Ogletree said initial discussions will focus on Gibbs High School, but that whatever is ultimately proposed there could be a template for other struggling schools. Ogletree said the state's new differentiated accountability system is helping to drive the discussion - it requires that districts implement performance pay and differential pay for low-performing schools - but he said the union had other motivations, too.

"It's kind of a cliche but we're trying to break the mold," he said. "We have to work on plans to close achievement gaps, no ifs, ands or buts about it."

Should Florida change its class-size rules? Lawmakers want to hear your thoughts

The Florida Department of Education is busy running the numbers to see how many teachers school districts might need to hire next fall when the class size amendment moves to classroom counts.

Districts are making noises about how difficult it will be to meet the stricter rules next fall. Newspapers are publishing stories highlighting those concerns.

In that atmosphere, Florida lawmakers are again talking about how they should deal with the amendment, especially in light of budget estimates projecting continued multibillion-dollar deficits.

The Florida House seems poised to pass yet another measure aimed at keeping the class-size reduction rules as a school average. "We're going to do exactly what we did last time," said Rep. Will Weatherford, chairman of the House Education Policy Council.

But will the Senate follow?

Columnist: Democrats 'cowed by teachers' unions

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's turn to rag on teachers unions:

Good schools constitute a far more potent weapon against poverty than welfare, food stamps or housing subsidies. Yet, cowed by teachers’ unions, Democrats have too often resisted reform and stood by as generations of disadvantaged children have been cemented into an underclass by third-rate schools ...

It’s difficult to improve failing schools when you can’t create alternatives such as charter schools and can’t remove inept or abusive teachers ...

Research has underscored that what matters most in education — more than class size or spending or anything — is access to good teachers. A study found that if black students had four straight years of teachers from the top 25 percent of most effective teachers, the black-white testing gap would vanish in four years.

Whose teacher needs a makeover?

Does your classroom teacher need a new "cool" look? Is he or she so harried and frazzled that some pampering is in order?

Several bay area businesses have donated all sorts of stuff, from skin treatments to cycling sessions, that one lucky Pinellas, Pasco or Hillsborough teacher can win for a little rejuvenation. Think your teacher deserves it most?

You can send nominations to DrMackayContest2009@gmail.com. Here's what to include:

• An explanation of why this teacher deserves to win a full makeover
• The teacher's full name and contact information
• A picture of the teacher
• A photo of any spider veins the teacher has (one of the prizes is spider vein removal)

Nominations end in mid-November. For more info, check out the sponsor's Facebook page.

(Image from teachercreated.com)

Are teachers unions warming to tying test scores to performance?

Maybe, if last week's announcement by the American Federation of Teachers is any indication. Two winners of the AFT's new innovation grants -- including the Broward teachers union in South Florida -- will give some weight to standardized test scores when they design new teacher evaluation systems.

As we all know, efforts to tie FCAT scores to performance -- and to performance pay -- has made many a teacher want to hurl. The Broward proposal links test scores (and other factors) and compensation. So, what gives?

"I suspect they want to figure out how to use this data before it's imposed on them," Joe Williams, of Democrats for Education Reform, told Newsweek. (He was not referring to the Broward project specifically.)

Arne Duncan: Colleges of education must improve

Said President Obama’s education secretary, in a speech Friday:

So I think that teaching should be one of our most revered professions, and teacher preparation programs should be among a university's most important responsibilities.

But unfortunately that is not the case today. In far too many universities, education schools are the neglected stepchild. Often they don't attract the best students or faculty. The programs are heavy on educational theory--and light on developing core area knowledge and clinical training under the supervision of master teachers.

Generally, not enough attention is paid to what works to boost student learning--and student teachers are not trained in how to use data to improve their instruction and drive a cycle of continuous improvement for their students. Many ed schools do relatively little to prepare students for the rigor of teaching in high-poverty and high-need schools.

In all but a few states, education schools act as the Bermuda Triangle of higher education—students sail in but no one knows what happens to them after they come out. No one knows which students are succeeding as teachers, which are struggling, and what training was useful or not.

A story on Duncan’s remarks in the Chronicle of Higher Education drew this response from Catherine Emihovich, dean of the College of Education at the University of Florida:

While I appreciate Secretary Duncan's comments about teacher preparation being a university wide responsibility, it is very disappointing to see another diatribe being launched against colleges of education as if they conformed to a "one size fits all" model.

Jeb Bush: Obama is changing the political dynamic on education reform

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is in Washington D.C. this week, at a national education summit sponsored by his Foundation for Excellence in Education. In a brief phone interview, he talked to reporter Ron Matus about the politics of school reform and what he thinks of President Barack Obama's education agenda.

Why do you think the political lines nationally – and maybe even in Florida – are blurring when it comes to positions on education reform?

Fights that were fought 10 years ago when we first embarked on our reforms, the context has changed. We in fact have been successful, as measured by any objective indicator, for moving the needle on student achievement. It’s kind of hard to continue to argue. It’s like policy makers in Washington continuing to fight the Cold War.

(Nationally) a lot of the credit goes to President Obama and his secretary of education, who have been outspoken in their opposition to the old way … This is one place where President Obama has advocated an unorthodox position that takes on a core constituency of his party. That changes the dynamics a lot. … That speaks well of him. And rather than doing the typical thing in Washington, which is to oppose the president on every thing, this should be a place where reform-minded liberals and reform-minded conservatives can come together.

Pasco teacher to get back pay

Jeffrey Bush won his Pasco County teaching job back more than a month ago. Now he'll get his lost pay returned, too.

The Pasco School Board this morning rejected superintendent Heather Fiorentino's recommendation that Bush, who was accused of manhandling a student who made crude comments about his wife, not receive the nine months of pay he lost while suspended awaiting his disciplinary hearing.

"I don't believe we talked about the charging document," board member Joanne Hurley said. "And I do not believe the evidence supports those two charges."

Only chairman Frank Parker disagreed.

"He was suspended without pay. He openly admitted that he grabbed a student ... (and) dumped a chair," Parker said. "That's basically what the allegations were."

After the hearing, Fiorentino said she would abide by the result but still stand by her effort to fire Bush: "My job is to do what is right for children."

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Jeb Bush foundation to rate teachers based on multiple years of FCAT data

Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education will rate Florida’s teachers again this year, but with a potentially far-reaching new twist: It'll use several years’ worth of FCAT data. This may sound wonky as all get out, but if you’re a teacher you’ll want to pay close attention.

Last year, the foundation honored what it said were Florida’s best teachers based on a single year’s gains in FCAT scores. That criteria drew criticism from researchers who said one year’s data is too volatile to get an accurate measure of teacher quality. A teacher whose students made gains big enough to propel her into the top quartile one year might fall to mid-range the next year, they said. But if you look at multiple years worth of data, they continued, you’re likely to find some teachers consistently squeeze big gains out of their students (while others consistently squeeze nothing.)

This year, Jeb’s foundation is partnering with the American Institutes of Research to analyze three year’s worth of FCAT data, foundation spokeswoman Kristy Campbell tells the Gradebook. The former governor and AIR researchers are expected to talk about this in more detail at the foundation’s summit in D.C. later this week.

Media no longer chummy with teachers unions?

From today's Wall Street Journal op-ed by Richard Whitmire (immediate past president of the National Education Writers Association) and Andy Rotherham (former education advisor to Bill Clinton and the guy behind the Eduwonk blog):

In recent months, the press has not merely been harsh on unions—it has championed some controversial school reformers. Washington's schools chancellor, Michelle Rhee, who won't win any popularity contests among teachers, enjoys unwavering support from the Post editorial page for her plans to institute merit pay and abolish tenure.

Editorial pages of major papers nationwide have begun to demand accountability for schools, despite objections from vested interests. Since the Obama administration took an unexpectedly tough line on school reform, the elite media response has been overwhelmingly positive.

On his blog, USF education professor Sherman Dorn says Whitmire and Rotherham "fall prey to faux-trend fallacy."

Pinellas teachers frustrated with FAIR test, too

It should come as no surprise, but for the record, Pinellas teachers are plenty annoyed with the same, new FAIR test that is causing massive grumbling around the state. Pinellas administrators feel their pain, but they’re also saying, Please be patient.

“Trust the process” is what Pinellas assistant superintendent Pam Moore says she’ll be telling principals and assistant principals this week. “We’re going to remind them … it will be worth it,” Moore told the Gradebook.

Moore is not downplaying the well-documented problems with the system, or widespread concern among teachers. The frustration level has been “intensive,” she said. “Teachers are not trusting the results because they’ve had so many technology issues.”

Study: Better teachers make their peers better

Better teachers not only improve their own students' academic performance, they lead to improved performance in other classrooms, a new study finds.

One way the authors defined "better" was by looking at gains in student test scores. They found evidence that teachers learn from higher-performing peers -- a finding with implications for merit and differential pay, and maybe even Florida's oft-criticized school recognition program.

The findings may be a strike against merit pay plans that reward individual teachers instead of teams, the authors say. At the same time, the study suggests that finding ways to bring higher-quality teachers into struggling schools -- and/or to keep them there -- could have spillover effects. (Hillsborough is way out front on this.)

"The fact that weaker and less experienced teachers are more responsive to peer quality than stronger and more experienced teachers suggests that novice teachers should be exposed to effective experienced teachers," the study says. "This would imply that the high concentration of novice teachers in inner-city schools could be particularly detrimental to student performance at these schools in both the long and the short run."

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'An education law that is worthy of a great nation'

From U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's big speech today, in which he said No Child Left Behind had big flaws and should be revamped into a "transformative education law that guarantees every child the education they want and need" ...

We're still waiting to get a critical mass of great teachers and principals into underperforming schools located in underserved communities, where our failure to educate has in fact perpetuated cycles of poverty and social failure. We're still waiting for a testing and accountability system that accurately and fairly measures student growth and uses data to drive instruction and teacher evaluation. We're still waiting for America to replace an agrarian 19th century school calendar with an information age calendar that increases learning time on a par with other countries. We're still waiting and we cannot wait any longer.

Florida education commissioner in Finland

Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith is in Helsinki, Finland this week, attending a global education summit as a member of the Council of Chief State School Officers.

The second annual Pearson International Education Summit, sponsored by the Pearson Foundation and the council, is hosting more than 40 international education leaders, says this write-up from Pearson. It is "focused specifically on teacher quality and international best practices for identifying, training, and supporting great teachers." And it is being held in Finland "in the hope that this worldwide delegation can learn from Finland’s own success in preparing its K-12 and university educators to meet the demands of an increasingly inter-connected and technologically advanced workforce."

The Florida Department of Education awarded a 5-year FCAT contract to Pearson - worth up to $254 million - in May.

DOE officials tell the Gradebook the council is picking up the tab for Smith. They said no other DOE officials are attending.

Pasco teacher honored among top English educators

Abigail Kennedy, an AP English teacher at Pasco High School, has been named among the tops in her field by the National Council of Teachers of English.

Kennedy is one of 23 teachers across the continent to receive the group's 2009 High School Teacher of Excellence Award. She is the only Florida educator to get the honor, which aims to recognize high school teachers.

Kennedy, 30, has worked for the Pasco school district since 2003. She became National Board certified in 2008.

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Duncan: Teacher performance must be tied to student data

From U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in an interview in September issue of Kappan magazine:

In education, we've been so scared to talk about excellence. I don't understand that. Great teachers and great principals make a tremendous difference in students' lives. Talent matters tremendously in education. Great teachers and great principals are the unsung heroes in our society. They perform miracles every day. They change student lives on a daily basis ...

There are actually states that prohibit linking student data with teacher data. That, to me, is stunning. That totally devalues the profession. It basically says that teaching doesn't matter, that anybody can do this. We know there's tremendous variation there. In those situations, everyone loses. Teachers who are successful don't get rewarded. Teachers who are struggling don't get the support that they need. Teachers who shouldn't be teaching don't get moved out. So every adult loses. And when the adults lose, guess what? The children lose, too.

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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.

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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Florida Democrats may push differential pay for teachers

Buried in the suggestions to the state on Race to the Top funds was this interesting nugget from the House Democratic Caucus:

To encourage high quality teaching in low-performing schools Florida should offer National Board Certified teachers incentives to help struggling students reach their full potential. Realizing that not all high quality teachers are board certified, an incentive program should be implemented for other high quality teachers to move into low performing schools. Also strong principals should be incentivized to lead low performing schools which will naturally attract high quality teachers because of their strong leadership.

By incentives, we hear, House Democrats mean money. And that could signal a big shift for Florida Democrats, who haven’t exactly been out front when it comes to differential pay for teachers in high-needs schools.

Outside of Hillsborough, not many districts in Florida offer meaningful differential pay plans. State Sen. Don Gaetz floated an in-the-works idea to change that last year, but it got derailed by budget woes. Could there be bipartisan cooperation on this one? Stay tuned for a bill.

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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A weekend interview with Nicholas Whitman, executive director of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association

With the recent retirement of Yvonne Lyons, the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association needed new leadership for the first time in many years. Rather than turning to an insider, the association turned to a young gun from up north. Nicholas Whitman, most recently the head of the Racine (Wis.) teachers union, took over the HCTA executive director job last month. He spoke with Jeff Solochek about teacher unions, contracts and his expectations for the coming year.

How did you wind up here?

I spent about the last 20 years, to be honest with you, working in various capacities with organized labor. About eight years ago, my girlfriend -- who's now my wife -- started coming to the Florida area to vacation. We had a time share on Madeira Beach and we would come down a couple of weeks a year. And certainly loved the area and loved the state of Florida, for the weather and all that good stuff. Then I just happened to start looking, exploring what options were out there for new challenges after being in the Racine area for a while. I saw that there was a position open here in Hillsborough County. Then just keeping that in the back of my mind I started doing an electronic newspaper clipping search. And there was a lot of stuff that kept coming back about positive collaborative working relationship, early reports about interest in the Gates Foundation grant. ... My former managers in New York knew Jean Clements, who was and is the president here. So all those streams came together to convince me to apply for it.

This is a pretty big district. And I know Racine is not exactly huge. Does the job you do change because you've got so many more people you're dealing with?

It's dependent on whether you look at the positions of responsibility. I was the executive director for the entire state organization in New York, the National Education Association's New York affiliate had about 45,000 members. So comparatively speaking, I had staff I was responsible for overseeing in 10 offices. ... In terms of the scope of things, this job isn't any larger of a responsibility than that one was. Similarly after the NEA and AFT merged in New York, I became the exec director for the entire state of North Dakota Education Association. And so again, being responsible for staff and members across a state. ... This isn't the largest job I've been responsible for.

When you work up north, teachers can do things like strike. Here they can't. So I imagine the things you're able to do in negotiating changes a bit.

Forced out of teaching job, former St. Lucie educator turns to porn

Tiffany Shepherd became a minor Internet sensation a bit more than a year ago when she lost her job teaching biology at Port St. Lucie High over her second job, serving drinks as a bikini mate on a fishing charter (shown at left).

Fifteen months later, she's still unable to snare another teaching job. She has lost custody of two of her children, and she has been evicted from two apartments.

So Shepherd has turned to another profession where her looks matter most. She's now starring as Leah Lust in porn films. Page2Live.com, a Palm Beach-area gossip Web site, caught up with Shepherd to talk about her latest turn.

“I’m not particularly proud of it. To be honest, I hate it,” Shepherd told the site. “I’m an educated woman, but I never thought it would come to this. No one gets brought up thinking they’ll be a floozy.”

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'The battle over New York City's worst teachers'

From today's New Yorker:

In a windowless room in a shabby office building at Seventh Avenue and Twenty-eighth Street, in Manhattan, a poster is taped to a wall, whose message could easily be the mission statement for a day-care center: "Children are fragile. Handle with care." It's a June morning, and there are fifteen people in the room, four of them fast asleep, their heads lying on a card table. Three are playing a board game. Most of the others stand around chatting. Two are arguing over one of the folding chairs. But there are no children here. The inhabitants are all New York City schoolteachers who have been sent to what is officially called a Temporary Reassignment Center but which everyone calls the Rubber Room.

These fifteen teachers, along with six hundred others, in six larger Rubber Rooms in the city's five boroughs, have been accused of misconduct, such as hitting or molesting a student, or, in some cases, of incompetence, in a system that rarely calls anyone incompetent.

Ooh, ooh, ooh! Call on me, Mr. Horshack, err, Palillo

Who'd have ever expected to see one of the indelible characters of 1970s TV turn up in the world of Florida education? Not us, but we're happy to share the Sun-Sentinel's news that Ron Palillo, the actor who played Arnold Horshack on Welcome Back, Kotter, is now teaching acting classes at a high school for the arts in Palm Beach County.

Many of the kids in his class had no idea who he is. And Palillo told the Sun-Sentinel that he'd just as soon keep his profile low. Still, he granted some access in hopes of giving the G-STAR School of the Arts for Motion Pictures and Broadcasting some attention it might otherwise not have.

Which we'll give it, just for a little nostalgia. Kotter was, after all, one of the funniest shows about school that we know of. Or was it Head of the Class?

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Poll: Americans want teachers paid more, differently

Most Americans think teachers should earn higher starting salaries, but a strong majority (72 percent) also favor merit pay, according to the results of the latest PDK/Gallup poll, released this morning.

The poll also found Americans have different opinions of teacher tenure, depending on how it is defined. If defined as a “lifetime contract” awarded after a two- to three-year period, 73 percent disapprove. If it’s defined as policy that ensures teachers are given a formal legal review before they can be fired, 66 percent approve.

A weekend interview with Belinda Pope, media specialist at Sand Pine Elementary

With the increasing use of technology in education, the importance of a school's media center continues to grow. The Florida Association for Media in Education has recognized the media center at Sand Pine Elementary in Wesley Chapel as one of 26 to meet its highest standards. Media specialist Belinda Pope spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek about the award and the changing role of what used to be called libraries in the school system.

What is a Florida Power Library, and why did you want to have one?

Last year was the inaugural year for that process, and it all came about because our district self-evaluation process that we have. Our school did real well on that, so the district personnel kind of challenged us to go for it. Because they knew it was coming up.

So it means you have the most excellent library ever?

Well, it is to see how well we are working with our teachers. The whole motivation behind it is to promote collaboration in our state instead of the old fashioned what you would think of a school librarian, who just sat and checked out books. We are full-time instructional employees K-12, teachers, and we really need to be collaborating with our classroom teachers to increase student achievement. It's been shown that excellently staffed and well stocked and well managed media centers, those students score higher on tests, they perform better on information literacy skills and are more adept at technology.

You asked me last night why it wasn't called a librarian any more. The old term librarian still exists for public libraries, but it's way more than books. I guess that's why. We do way more with technology now. In our school we have mobile labs that we can check out, of laptops, for every student. That's been a big boon to me, because I can check out the mobile lab, put every child on a laptop computer and give them a research lesson that is all hands-on. So they're not just watching me do it.

How did you get to this point? It doesn't sound like something you can achieve over a summer.

Duval replaces low-performing teachers

In its push to improve academic achievement at six F-rated schools, Duval has taken 53 teachers out and installed new ones with better track records of getting struggling students to perform.

The district sees some urgency in getting the kids on the right track immediately, deputy superintendent Pat Willis told the Florida Times-Union. "And if that means that we have to get the best teacher in front of [students], then we certainly need to do that."

The removed teachers were not fired. Rather, as they had generally satisfactory evaluations, they were transferred to schools where their sets of skills could be put to better use. The teachers' union called the process fair.

One thing stands out in this story. Schools are increasingly using data to evaluate how teachers are working with students, and how students are responding. It's the step right before performance pay. And the Duval district, at least, seems not to be using the information as a club, but as a way to get the right educators in front of the right students. Different folks have different skills, after all.

Is this, then, a demonstration that No Child Left Behind moved schools in the right direction and that President Obama's Race to the Top is keeping them on track? Or is this just a prelude to a fight over the way we rate and reward teachers? Thoughts, anyone?

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Do teachers need education degrees?

That's the subject of an online debate over at the New York Times. It features comments from the dean of Temple University's college of education, a Virginia high school English teacher, a California prep school principal and others.

Here's but a sampling of the views:

A master's degree in most subfields in education (especially reading — or what they like to call "literacy" — early childhood education, teaching and elementary education) adds little or nothing to students' knowledge or practical skills.— Martin Kozloff, professor of education, UNC-Wilmington

The idea of tying teacher salaries to the accumulation of academic credit and advanced degrees made sense when it was introduced as a vehicle for insuring fairness in pay and fostering continuing teacher growth. But it doesn't serve our children or schools well today. — Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation

As any reflective teacher will tell you ... teaching and learning don't necessarily go hand in hand, no matter how good the talker in front of the classroom. There is nothing as critical to the learning process as method, what John Dewey characterized as the effective arrangement of subject matter for learning.— Margaret Crocco, arts and humanities department chair at Teachers College, Columbia University

Check out the entire set of essays and then weigh in yourself. Teachers, how much does your education degree matter to you? Parents, can you see a difference between those with and those without? Let the debate begin.

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Hillsborough district, teacher group team with voucher organization for training

Here's a collaboration you might not have expected.

Step Up For Students, which oversees Florida's corporate tax credit scholarship program (vouchers to some of you), has joined forces with the Hillsborough school district and the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association to improve the training of teachers at the private schools where voucher students end up.

Step Up For Students plans to provide at least $100,000 to help create professional development modules for those teachers.

Hillsborough superintendent MaryEllen Elia said in a release that the partnership makes sense for the community. “Ultimately, we all want to help teachers get better, wherever they’re teaching our kids,” Elia said.

HCTA president Jean Clements agreed. “This is not a competition. It’s about all of us doing our best to help children who come from very difficult circumstances. I can’t ignore the legitimate needs these children have.”

How's that for commitment to school choice?

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Want to sub? Go to college

When teachers were in short supply, Florida school districts began to relax their standards for the people they'd let substitute in the classroom.

They didn't much like the idea of having folks with only a high school diploma lead classes. But everyone with a degree and training was being snapped up.

What a difference a down economy makes. The Wall Street Journal highlights a Florida teacher in its story about how 100,000 teachers who had jobs a year ago are unemployed now.

With more teachers on the open market, it's not surprising that some districts are now raising their requirements to sub in their schools. Lee is the latest.

Its School Board unanimously changed policy so that substitutes must have at least an associate's degree or its equivalent to instruct Lee children. Even the county's association of subs supported the plan.

"The association pushes for professionalism among staff so that we have the best teachers available for the children of our county," Lee County Association of Professional Substitute Teachers president Marvin Goetz told the Fort Myers News-Press.

Can't you hear PTAs around Florida hoping that their district is next?

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A weekend interview with Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association president Jean Clements

Late last month, President Barack Obama announced his Race to the Top, a competitive grant challenge for states to make major reforms to their education systems. Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association president Jean Clements was one of just five speakers at the event, chosen to speak about her organization's efforts to improve teacher quality. She spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek about how she got on the stage, and why she supports the president's initiative.

How in the world did you get invited to be one of only five speakers?

Isn't that an amazing fact? Yeah. I'm not exactly sure, except that it was through the American Federation of Teachers. ... Both (AFT and NEA) presidents were invited and allowed to bring a few people with them, just to be in the audience. And I don't know how it came to be that the AFT was offered the speaking spot on teaching quality. ... But when I got the call on Tuesday that I was being invited to sit in on a meeting with the President of the United States at the AFT's invitation, they told me that the AFT was going to be speaking on teacher quality. ...

Did you have any thought that they would say, 'Hey Jean, come talk'?

No. No. Not then. But by the next day ... the level of security clearance increased and the phone calls I was getting got a little more interesting. ... They were saying, there was just a really really remote possibility, just a remote possibility, that I could be the person that the AFT would have speaking on teacher quality. And I was speechless. My heart was racing. I was extremely nervous about that because now instead of being in the same room with the president I might be speaking on the same stage with the president. ...

Evidently their take on it is, if we're going to have people in the room with Race to the Top is unveiled, then we want to have local leaders from around the country where they know that these union leaders have done some extraordinary, different and not the classic traditional union types of things.

Stop right there. ... You are not ordinary in many ways, because you often wind up making agreements with the district that no other district is making. Things like performance pay. So the next question is, why are you so unusual?

"The best classroom teacher in America"

This morning's blog post from Jay Matthews, education columnist at The Washington Post:

I have spent more time in Room 56 of the Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in the last few years than any other classroom in America. It is an average-sized room — 25 by 30 feet — in an average Los Angeles public school. There is nothing unusual — at least in the way school systems assess pupils — about the 32-or-so fifth graders assigned there. What keeps me coming back is the teacher, Rafe Esquith, and the eyebrow-lifting things he is doing with those kids.

Read the full post here. (Photo from cbsnews.com)