The NUT Report: Florida Parents Raise the Roof

Parents, extended family members, and members of communities across the nation are on the same page: No Unnecessary Testing (NUT). The opposition to the classrooms as centers for test prep and testing rather than centers of learning continues to grow in numbers and in volume. Last night, U.S. Representative Ted Deutch and U.S. Department of Education representative Michael Yudin got an earful from "hundreds of angry parents and teachers from Palm Beach and Broward counties."

A report on the Parents Across America website describes a recent event at Princeton University where Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed U.S. education policies. A student asked about the risks and challenges of the national assessment effort. His response is included in the article:

"...there are risks in everything” and “we shouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” There is a healthy “competition” between the two consortia developing these assessments; and states can opt out of one group and join another. Though there may be “a couple of choppy years till we get it right, and “mistakes” will be made, there is a “level of thoughtfulness” behind this effort that is extraordinary, and we must get “to this point as soon as possible” if we want to compete with other advanced nations. (Why? Has any other nation in the world adopted these highly expensive and complex computer-based performance assessments – and so quickly and on such a massive scale?).

According to the same report, he got frustrated and said "You're not listening to me."

Who is not listening?

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/schools/parents-teachers-rail-against-weight-given-to-students-1424196.html 

Education Reform: Boondoggling along

Posted For

Sandra In Brevard









As SB736/HB7019 heads to Governor Scott's desk for signature, questions continue on costs. The Senate Pre-K12 Appropriations subcommittee peppered Commissioner Smith on costs, even though these committee members are the most knowledgeable on the question of costs. An article in the Tampa Gradebook asked if the questions indicate the bill went through too fast. Race to the Top funds will pay for most of the development of new tests, but no word on funding after federal funds run out. The merit pay portion of the bill receives no new money. Governor Scott indicates that he will sign the bill without answers to basic costs question indicating he is apparently satisfied that there will be no impact on taxpayers.


President Obama has presented his educational reform "Blueprint" modifying portions of No Child Left Behind, a welcome aspect; however, the plan includes additional testing to measure growth before the high-stakes test and pinpoint areas that require more attention. The rationale is that the correct things are not being tested. Congress is in a budget cutting mood and education will not get special attention on the chopping block.

Nationwide, parent unhappiness over the obsession with testing is getting some notice.

Duncan last September said he has visited 42 states and that nearly everywhere he went, teachers, parents, principals and lawmakers complained that what's taught in school is narrowing as more teachers focus on improving scores in standardized tests, especially in schools with large numbers of disadvantaged students

Pennsylvania allows parents to "opt out" of standardized testing and there is a movement to do just that in order to cause a shift away from schools as testing factories.

Under Pennsylvania Code Title 22 Chapter 4, section 4 (d)(5), parents have the right to opt out of testing for their children. The exemption is “religious,” but the Pennsylvania Department of Education confirmed this includes any moral, psychological, philosophical or even medical objection. The reason cannot be challenged.

A large national "opt-out" movement, will impact the quantity and frequency of tests and the way the results are used. Such a movement would impact the vast amount of dollars spent on test development, scoring, and implementation costs. Apparently, the only "opt-out" provision available in Florida is to homeschool or find a private school, where other accountability rules apply.


Against this backdrop, there are clear supporters of maintaining the status quo on the testing routine.

http://www.centredaily.com/2011/03/11/2575400/pssas-put-burden-on-schools-students.html#ixzz1H75J7RSo

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-18-schooltesting18_ST_N.htm

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Grumpy Note  Ducan openly admitts kids parents, teachers, smart politicians and Obama's dog Bo have had it with the all the testing,  As always Obama could care less about public opinion.  Besides his close buddies Jeb Bush and Bill Gates are all for it.  I'm beginning to wonder why when Gates barks, Obama jumps.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/gates-spends-millions-to-sway.html  

To see the rest of Sandra's blogs on Education Reform, visit Grumpy Educators

SB736/HB7019: Legislative Irresponsibility, Incompetence, or Deceit?

Posted For

Sandra in Brevard










This week, the Florida Senate passed SB736 fully informed that no one knows how much the bill will cost the State and localities or where funding would come from. In spite of the deep budget cutting, Senator Evelyn Lynn believes the money is available.


“I want money to be put into this bill,” said Sen. Evelyn Lynn, an Ormond Beach Republican who ultimately voted for the proposal. But she remained optimistic on future funding: “It will come, but we’ve got to get the structure in place to do exactly what needs to be done.”

On the other hand, North Carolina Republicans led the effort to end its expansive testing regime as a cost saving measure and to respond to over testing concerns. The Texas legislature is also considering a measure to reduce the quantity of tests its school children take, citing the frequency of testing provides little useful information.

Why is Florida in such a hurry?

One reason is found in the requirements to secure Race to the Top funding. Legislation must link student performance to evaluations or lose the funding. The details were left to the State legislatures. Failure to pass legislation could end up in loss of funds. Florida won $700 million and is late on that requirement. Oddly, this is one fact that is not mentioned in the legislative discussions or media reporting. School districts were invited to participate in Race to the Top, some did not and will be required to implement under this unfunded mandate. Others districts that did sign were aware implementation of Race to the Top would impact their budgets, they did not anticipate deeper budget cutting.

The Costs of Federal Funding

The connection between Race to the Top and SB736/HB7019 is clear. Without the federal funding and under current budget constraints, end-of-course exams would likely not be a subject of discussion. The implications of Race to the Top and previous federal mandates on local budgets and decision-making are clear.

Pete Hoekstra, former Chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee's oversight an investigations subcommittee, described the committee's 1998 study of effective and ineffective use of federal education dollars. The report concluded that "locally directed efforts - by the folks who know the names of the children they're responsible for educating works best." The subcommittee also found that successful schools were "characterized by parental involvement, local control, and emphasis on basic academics and dollars actually spent in the classroom."

"More than 760 education programs, overseen by at least 39 federal agencies, cost taxpayers $100 billion a year even as schools continued to decline. Teachers and parents in neighborhood schools saw federal mandates, paperwork and red tape — not the necessary tools to help educate their children. As little as 65 to 70 cents of every dollar made it into the classroom."

“It is time for the burden of proof to shift to the federal government,” the subcommittee report concluded. “If it cannot be demonstrated that a particular federal program is more effectively spending funds than state and local communities would otherwise spend them, Congress should return the money to the states and the people, without any burdensome strings attached.”

That was in 1998. Yet today, when children who were kindergarteners then should be ready to graduate from high school, the story remains the same. In 2001, Congress passed No Child Left Behind, a law filled with more mandates and red tape that significantly expanded the federal government’s role in K-12 education. The federal “educrats” tell local schools who the good teachers are and what schools are making adequate yearly progress."

Florida House to vote

Reports suggest the Florida House will vote on HB7019 as early as Tuesday of next week. The bill is quite similar to SB736. Are members of the Florida House equally uninformed regarding the costs of the bill and where the money will come from to support it? To persist in full ignorance and lack of accountability is a sign of both legislative irresponsibility and incompetence. Could it be that they do know the costs and prefer to go silent? That would be deceit.



You can find all of Sandra's blogs on Grumpy Educators

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SB736: Senate Budget Sub-Committee votes 8-1 in favor

The Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education Pre-K12 Appropriations voted 8-1 in favor of SB736. The lone "No" vote was caste by Senator Paula Dockery, who took a stand against SB6 last year because she believed Florida could not afford it. I am assuming she believes the same this year.

Committee member Senator Evelyn Lynn, however, suggested that the bill needs improving, but "suggested that the kinks could be worked out over time, saying that this legislation is the 'next major logical step in education reform,' building upon the state's A-Plus system." Next logical step? Senator Lynn also noted that money would be required.

“I do believe we’ll need the dollars. I don’t want the dollars to be taken away from one group of teachers to pay another group.”

According to the Orlando Sentinel, "most of the bill’s provisions don’t kick in until 2014, so supporters said there will be time to work out the finances — and the details of a bill that aims to use tests (some not yet developed) to help determine teacher quality and pay."

Others on the committee "cautioned that the bill needs more work before they're will to back it on the floor. " More revisions? Like what?

Questions remain over how to pay for raises, for instance, and how the bill jibes with other endeavors, such as Race to the Top."

Sounds like a rerun. Pass a flawed bill in committee, send it out to the floor in whatever shape it is, and promise to fix it later. Avoid the entire issue of the price tag.

Thank you Paula Dockery!

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_education_edblog/?p=16940

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/

Regarding Tenure

Posted For

Sandra in Brevard



In the month of January, Grumpyelder published eight blogs I wrote on education reform efforts in Florida. He has graciously opened a branch of the main site that holds all of those blogs. My hope is that these blogs serve to inform the Brevard community on this year's efforts on so-called education reform. I have attempted to tell a complicated story in manageable chunks of information, identifying the key players, their beliefs, factual information, the legislative process, often used terms and what they mean. If you've missed a blog or wish to read one again, you can find them here.

What works in D.C., Miami, or Singapore, may not work in Brevard County. The term tenure fires up emotions. I believed there was tenure in Florida until a comment was posted saying otherwise. I was surprised at the comment, arched an eyebrow, and went looking for facts. Well, the fact is here is no tenure in Florida and the practice was ended through legislation in the mid-1980's. I notice that when legislators talk about tenure now, they qualify it with "or what we call a professional contract." Currently, after successfully completing new teacher requirements, teachers are offered a three-year contract that can be broken under specific circumstances stated in law. SB736 would remove three-year professional contracts and any assurances of a job the following year. New evaluation systems, 50% based on student achievement scores, would determine whether a teacher would be offered employment again, or not. The manner in which the other 50% of teacher evaluation is not clear to me, but you might want to watch the video on the new site. Teachscape is a U.S. company ready to sell video systems to school districts.

Since salaries are varied and higher in other areas of the State, how will elimination of a professional contract help Brevard keep the competitive edge to attract, hire, and retain highly prepared and effective teachers? If local school districts want to be able to offer a professional contract, then that should be a local decision and not directed from Tallahassee or Washington D.C

******************

Last year at the Wickham Park Tea Party they announced the Charlie Crist had vetoed SB 6.  A huge cheer went up, maybe for the wrong reasons but Crist had done something right.  At the time I wished Sandra had been there to hear it.  Just like she's working this year to let us know the truth about SB736 she had exposed dozens of problems with SB6. Not the least of which was potentially billions of dollars in unfunded mandates that would have been passed down to local districts in order to pay for an experiment.  An experiment that had an unknown cost and countless foreseeable unintended consequences,

This year all the same players in Tallahassee are back,  pushing a variation of the same scheme   As many of you know, Sandra has done a considerable amount of research on this years version.  Everytime she posts a new blog we find something else to dislike about the bill.  Eveything from data Mining our kids,  forcing teachers to teach to tests instead of teaching a subject and putting our teachers under constant video surveilence.  Not surprisingly, the bill is being written by special interests who stand to sell Florida School Districts billions of dollars worth of products if it passes.  So far no one is willing to guess how much this will cost... But they want to make law 

The information Sandra has been putting together will a tremendous asset for people who want to know how much were spending and what we'll get out of it, before we're stuck with something that might or might nor work.

SB736: Fiscal Impact Indeterminate

Posted for

Sandra in Brevard




The Florida Senate Bill Analysis and Fiscal Impact Statement for SB736, filed by State Senator Stephen Wise, appeared on the PreK-12 Education Committee website. On page 11, Section V: Fiscal Impact Statement reads as follows:

A. Tax/Fees Issue: None

B. Private Sector Impact: None

C. Government Sector Impact:

"The fiscal impact of this bill is indeterminate.

According to the DOE, there will be additional costs to the districts for monitoring the use of evaluation criteria by supervisors and administrators.

As part of Florida's funding in Race to the Top, the DOE will assist school districts in their development of assessment items that may be used for locally developed assessments. Specifically, the DOE will provide the following:


Resources for districts to develop assessment items for "hard to measure" content areas, including Physical and Health Education, Fine Arts, and World Languages; Assessment items for core academic areas (Math, Social Studies,


Science, Language Arts, and Spanish) for grade levels and content areas that are not already tested by FCAT or state end-of-course assessments; and Development of a technology platform that will provide districts secure access to high-quality assessment items and tools for the creation and administration of student assessments.


The DOE notes that over the next three years the grant will provide funding for the development of end-of-course exams in most subject areas. The DOE also noted that additional resources or user charges will be necessary to maintain an assessment item bank or platform at the conclusion of the grant period.

According to the DOE, there are over 400 charter schools in Florida. The DOE reports that there will be a significant impact on its staff to review the evaluation systems for these schools.

It is not anticipated that the bill revises the total funds for instructional personnel and school administrator compensation."

Senator Wise seemed to indicate that he would focus on getting legislation written, but let the Senate Education Appropriations Committee figure out how to fund it. No cost analysis ever emerged for last year's effort (SB6).

Given the current state of the economy and Governor Scott's newly released budgetary measures, it is impossible to guess if SB736 is fundable even if a cost analysis emerges. With the proposed additional slashes to education funding, it would be unreasonable to divert a single remaining local dollar and/or resource to new tests and database development. Race to the Top funds extends to those school districts who signed on. The analysis does not address funding for districts that are not getting Race to the Top support.

Reports suggest that the Governor's proposal was not received with smiles and cheers in Tallahassee. While Scott proposes lowering the forced property tax, he cannot control local (county) education property taxes. If SB736 turns out to be an unfunded mandate, will local governments have to look at local increases they control?

The devil is in the details and we just don't have enough of that. Scott's proposal has to be voted on by the legislature and it looks like Scott needs to convince them. Simply stated, there must be no unfunded mandates and no encroachment on local control.

Read the full bill analysis here: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/736

Merit Pay: Senator Wise hints at significant roadblocks to bill development

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Sandra in Brevard




Senator Stephen Wise is described as the "Senate's key player in the movement to reform teacher pay." A few key issues emerged after a week of committee meetings and from the three hour public workshop in Tallahassee on Thursday. These issues are not new, but significant ones that went unaddressed in last year's legislative attempt that led to Governor Crist's veto. Senator Wise indicates that merit pay is a complex issue that may require more than one year to sort out, the legislature needs to figure out how it will fund merit pay, and how teachers of special needs children will be evaluated. The input at the public meeting repeated last year's calls for greater local control over merit pay decision-making versus increased Tallahassee regulation. Nevertheless, Wise "hopes to have a bill in the second or third week of March."

It looks like fiscal responsibility, 100% missing in SB6, has found a place at the table this year:

"Lawmakers must also work out how to pay for a performance pay system. The state's Race to the Top money will help some districts put into place a system to evaluate educators, but the federal program does not provide dollars for a salary bump. There is a limited pool of state money for districts that want to participate in merit pay, but it is like not enough for statewide participation."

Not only was I unavailable to travel to Tallahassee for the workshop, but I could not view it via live-streaming from my workplace. So far, a replay has not been uploaded. Nevertheless, you can see Senator Wise's video invite, the workshop if it appears, and other meetings you might be interested in here:




Grumpy Note: Wise is no idiot, he's perfecty aware that parts of Florida are almost a ten hour drive from Tally. Even Jacksonville is three boring hours behind the wheel from Tallahasse. Making the trip was out of the question for most people, and he knew it.

His announcement wasn't an invitation, he went through the motions so he could tell us later he'd invited the public.  In truth, it wasn't an invitation it was pure horse manure 

Merit Pay Bill: Senator Wise promises it won't be like last time

Posted for

Sandra in Brevard


We can only hope that Senator Wise is a man of his word. He says that his committee will devise a "thoughtful" bill. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Senator Wise will be holding a meeting this Friday, January 28, so that the "public can give testimony on the controversial topic." I don't know about any of Grumpyelder's readers, but I cannot travel to Tallahassee to give any testimony. These are the things I would like Senator Wise to be "thoughtful" about as he crafts the new bill:

It must be both fiscally possible and responsible given the budget deficit.

It should place no additional fiscal burdens on school districts nor on property owners.

It must recognize that there are differences in students. For example, exceptional ed teachers cannot be measured based on the performance of their students based on one test only. Merit pay has to be fair.

It must reasonable and allow the use of multiple measures to indicate student achievement. Tennessee has been doing just that for some time and recognized as a good practice.

It must recognize the long-standing concerns by parents and community members that schools have become testing mills, too much attention on tests and not enough on instruction. The bill should not increase the teaching to tests.

Anything else? What else should Senator Wise and the committee seriously consider???


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-florida-merit-pay-superintendents-20110126,0,6284635.story

Data Mining: An Education Reform Strategy

Posted for Sandra in Brevard
If you got mad a few years ago, when you found out Motor Vehicles was sellng information, this won't make you at all happy


If you buy a book through Amazon, rent a movie through Netflix, or have a Facebook account, your information and choices are "mined" to market new products catered to what the data reveals about you. In these large databases, your choices are compared with others and a book you liked might be offered to others who seem to have similar tastes or interests. Specialized algorithms are developed that "mine" in an effective process to sell products.

Wikipedia defines algorithms in part this way:
"Algorithms are essential to the way computers process information. Many computer programs contain algorithms that specify the specific instructions a computer should perform (in a specific order) to carry out a specified task, such as calculating employees' paychecks or printing students' report cards."

NY Times contributor Seth Freeman wrote this week a clever article this week titled "Me and My Algorithm" of which he said:

“If this is a case of my algorithm, my cyber personal shopper, coach, guardian angel and avatar, knowing me better than I know myself, I really do need to figure out why I, a guy, get repeated offers — tied to a e-mails on vastly different subjects — for mastectomy bras and for something called a vaginal ring. Is the idea that these items make lovely gifts? Since articles I have written have circulated through the Internet by e-mail, it could easily turn out that my algorithm will soon get the opportunity to read what I have had to say about it here. What, I wonder, will it think?” (1)
 
Last year, Bill Gates and other Microsoft executives obtained a patent for a personal data mining system that "would analyze information and make recommendations with the goal of aiding a person's decisions and improving quality of life. The patent abstract described the system this way: "Personal data mining mechanisms and methods are employed to identify relevant information that otherwise would likely remain undiscovered." Users supply personal data that can be analyzed in conjunction with data associated with a plurality of other users to provide useful information that can improve business operations and/or quality of life. Personal data can be mined alone or in conjunction with third party data to identify correlations amongst the data and associated users. Applications or services can interact with such data and present it to users in a myriad of manners, for instance as notifications of opportunities. Of course, it's not all about improving lives: Further down, the patent explains that "such data can be afforded to businesses involved in market analysis, or the like, in a manner that balances privacy issues of users with demand for high quality information from businesses." (2)
 
Building Longitudinal Data Systems for Education

What does this have to do with education? Plenty. There is a widespread belief that the development of longitudinal data, from early childhood through the 12th grade and beyond is a necessary element to educational reform. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC), "a national, collaborative effort to encourage and support state policymakers to improve the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement." The organization articulates a widespread belief that "States have made remarkable progress in developing longitudinal data systems that can follow student progress over time, from early childhood through 12th grade and into postsecondary education through implementation of the 10 Essential Elements. The 10 State Actions are the fundamental steps states must put in place to change the culture around how data are used to inform decisions to improve system and student performance."

Florida received a federal grant for $9,975,288 with funding starting in July 2010 and ending in June 2013 and cited these major outcomes in their proposal
 

a) Upgrade the four major source data systems that are incorporated into Florida’s Education Data Warehouse (EDW)

b) Employ a unique identifier system so that social security numbers are no longer the key field for tracking students between the Local Education Agencies and the State

c) Provide several different reporting capabilities for use by a myriad of stakeholders

d) Implement a data mining tool for FLDOE to analyze and evaluate its program and policies more efficiently and effectively (3)

The Data Quality Campaign reaffirmed that "Florida is among the top states in collecting data (10 of 10 criteria along with 11 other states) and using it (5 of 10 criteria, better than all but two states). "When states collect the most relevant data and are able to match individual student records over time, they can answer the questions that are at the core of educational effectiveness." (4) According to their website, the founding father of the Data Quality Campaign is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with additional support from Casey Family Programs, Lumina Foundation for Education, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts. You can follow DQC on Facebook.

DQC’s executive director believes that there is education data collected that is not necessary and cited Kansas and Tennessee as “leaders in establishing rules for data control.” However, the Fordham Law School Center on Law and Information Policy conducted a study (5) on the massive data collection efforts and concluded that states "are collecting far more information than necessary, failing to take appropriate measures to safeguard student privacy and protect them from data misuse, and failing to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Fordham's investigation also reveals that 80% of the states "do not have a system to delete student records. "Fordham law professor Joel R. Reidenberg, who oversaw this study, had this to say of the Center’s findings:

“Ten, 15 years later, these kids are adults, and information from their elementary, middle and high school years will easily be exposed by hackers and others who put it to misuse. States, he said, "are trampling the privacy interests of those students." (6)
 
Conclusion

Bill Gates and the entire computer industry need a literate population with financial means to buy and make use of their products. Therefore, at some level, these efforts are intended to spur improvements. I do not mean to suggest any nefarious intent. Clearly, there is business development intent. Then, I wondered what other benefits a massive data collection has. Could it be a way for an industry, like the computer industry, to be able to identify minds early on with potential to join that workforce, nurture them, and ensure that the U.S. has sufficient minds here versus importing from abroad. Right now, the jobs in this sector are blooming in China and India and likely a destination for unemployed U.S. computer guru's, leaving the potential for a U.S. brain drain. Whatever the reasons, I find it troubling. What do you think?
 

1.     http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18freeman.html?_r=2
2.    http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/02/gates_ozzie_other_microsoft_execs_patent_personal_data_mining.html
3     http://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/state.asp?stateabbr=FL
4.     http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/2010/01/florida-among-top-states-in-education-data-collection-and-use.html
5.     http://law.fordham.edu/center-on-law-and-information-policy/14769.htm
6.     http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/AR2009102703562.html

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