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Comment by Kim Boone on August 3, 2012 at 11:23am

http://takeaction.fundeducationnow.org/page/speakout/florida-deserv...

 Link above:  Fund Education Now suggests people write a letter regarding Florida's new grading plan.

Comment by Kim Boone on August 3, 2012 at 10:18am

http://www.newsherald.com/news/panama-104505-school-agree.html

School negotiators agree on incentives

August 01, 2012 10:11:45 PM

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ZACK McDONALD / News Herald Writer

@PCNHzack

PANAMA CITY — Negotiations between the Bay District School Board and the Association of Bay County Educators (ABCE) continued Wednesday evening, resulting in a tentative agreement on larger incentives for some teachers.

The agreement on incentives, doubling from the previous $2,500 to $5,000, will be available to teachers who meet qualification performance criteria outlined in the contract.

“We are glad to hear this,” said Pat Martin, chief negotiator for the board, adding that only certain teachers will be eligible for the bonus.

“This will only apply to schools that are ‘D’ or ‘F,’ ” he said. “And it doesn’t mean that every teacher that works at those schools will receive a bonus.”

Teacher attendance also was discussed.

“We are concerned this is still the big stick approach in a time when teachers are stressed to the max,” said Cindy Fowler, chief negotiator for the ABCE. “So in an effort to be creative and not bust the budget, we have come up with some creative language.”

The current contract states “leave shall be charged to the teacher’s accrued sick leave and shall not be cumulative.” However, the ABCE wanted to change the wording to be cumulative and add a sentence that would be incentive-based to keep teachers in the classroom, according to Fowler.

“If a teacher has banked 100 sick leave days, then he/she can sell back five days to the district at the hourly rate,” Fowler said.

It would take a teacher at least 10 years to accumulate 100 days, since 10 sick days are allotted each year, according to members of the ABCE.

“We understand the concern and agree that a sub is not the best in the classroom,” Fowler said. “Their teacher is much more effective, but we also think you could achieve this more with honey.”

Negotiations on the subject will be continued.

A School Board budget workshop will be held in the Nelson Administrative Building at 4 p.m. Thursday, followed by a hearing on the proposed millage levy and the tentative budget at 5 p.m.

Read more: http://www.newsherald.com/articles/panama-104505-school-agree.html#...

Comment by Kim Boone on July 10, 2012 at 11:23am

Great news!

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120709/ARTICLE/120709599/241...

As FCAT protests increase, state softens stance on test

Gov. Rick Scott recently said of standardized testing, “We have to make sure we don't have too much of it.”

AP ARCHIVE

By Christopher O'Donnell

Published: Monday, July 9, 2012 at 10:57 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, July 9, 2012 at 10:57 p.m.

Complaining has become as much a part of the high-stakes FCAT test in Florida as bubble answer sheets and No. 2 pencils.

But this year — with tens of thousands more children failing, a botched writing test and stressed-out teachers now being evaluated by the test — protests that the FCAT has become too dominant in education are louder and more widespread than ever.

Now, those living under the strain of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test are seeing some hope in recent remarks by Gov. Rick Scott that students face too many tests and the high-stakes nature of the tests is taking a toll on parents, students and teachers.

Last week, the first-term governor who will be up for re-election in 2014 acknowledged for the first time last week that the state received more parent complaints this year than in the past, especially about the FCAT. More than 800 complaints came in after the writing scores were released, he said.

"Parents and taxpayers expect measurement. We've got to measure, we've got to find out who the best schools are," Scott said at a convention of newspaper editors. "We have to have a good measurement system, but we have to make sure we don't have too much of it."

Scott already has shown that public opinion can sway him into major policy U-turns. A year after cutting $1.35 billion from public schools, Scott put almost $1 billion back into K-12 funding this year in part due to complaints from parents.

His remarks left some FCAT critics speculating about a similar reversal on how the state uses the FCAT.

"He wants to be re-elected, so he's behaving more like a politician, which I think is good because he's listening," said Manatee County Superintendent Tim McGonegal.

Certainly the comments from Scott do not yet signify a policy shift.

But his public statements mark a shift away from the combative stance state officials have taken in the past over complaints the FCAT is too influential or damaging to learning. Recently, Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson — a Scott appointee — made a personal appearance at a Florida School Board Association conference to chide school board members for considering adoption of an anti-FCAT resolution.

Scott's latest, more sympathetic comments have at least inspired cautious optimism.

"If the governor is saying what he said about looking at the depth of the testing, that's promising," said Paul Hockenbury, principal of Williams Elementary School in Parrish.

The FCAT was introduced in 1998 to help parents and lawmakers measure how well schools perform, and to add accountability into public education. Schools that did well earned good grades and bonus money; poor-performers were given low grades and demands to improve.

Since then, lawmakers have piled more consequences onto the test, making it the central focus of the school year.

Third-graders must pass reading to move to fourth grade. Middle-schoolers must pass reading and math to be eligible for electives and to avoid remediation classes. High-school students must pass reading and math to graduate.

Beginning with the 2011-12 ninth-grade class, students must pass a new version of the FCAT — the end-of-course exams — in algebra, geometry, biology and U.S. history to earn high school diplomas, a bar that some district administrators fear will put graduation out of reach for some students.

With students acutely aware of the stakes, testing weeks bring about extreme stress and anxiety, teachers report.

"The whole system is overbearing on the students," said Barry Dubin, executive director of the Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association and a former school psychologist. "You see kids getting sick at school. It's horrible to watch; it's really sad."

Beginning this year, the stakes get higher for teachers, too.

At least 40 percent of teacher evaluations for the 2011-12 year will be based on their students' scores on the FCAT. In two more years, any potential bonuses will also hinge on the scores.

And the state is in the process of approving more assessments so teachers in subjects like music, art and physical education can also be measured.

"When you think about all the subject areas not covered by FCAT, that's a huge increase in assessment," said Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Lori White.

Protests that the FCAT has become too influential have at least brought the concerns to the forefront, said White. But she warned that requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act make it unlikely Florida would ever scrap standardized testing.

She would at least like to see lawmakers ease back on the pace of change to give teachers and students more time to adapt.

"When there's a sensitivity to the impact this testing has on our situation in our schools, there will be some slowing down on additional assessments," she said.

The FCAT is regarded as one of the cornerstones of the tenure of former Gov. Jeb Bush, a darling of the Republican Party.

For that reason, the test has many advocates in Tallahassee who would oppose downgrading or eliminating it. That includes incoming Senate President Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican.

"As Senate President, I will continue to vigorously support accountability for students, teachers and schools," Gaetz said in an email. "What's measured is what matters. Accountability works when performance is measured, regression is remedied and success, especially against the odds, is rewarded."

FCAT tests in English and math will disappear over the next few years as the state transitions to a new rigorous curriculum called Common Core State Standards. But the new curriculum also comes with new standardized tests that will allow Florida students to be measured against children in 46 other states that have pledged to adopt the same curriculum.

"I don't think this governor is going to buck Jeb Bush," said Dubin, the union director. "Jeb feels this is his baby. Until that baby is discredited, I don't think you'll see a change."

Comment by Kim Boone on June 29, 2012 at 5:50am

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/1-100-college-profess...

1,100 college professors oppose K-12 standardized testing saying exams have failed to improve schools over the last 10 years

Resolution against exams set to be introduced in City Council. Professors say public school graduates woefull ill-prepared for college-level work

College professors are mobilizing against high-stakes K-12 testing.

Alarmed by the number of public school grads who are woefully ill-prepared to do college-level work, more than 1,100 college professors across the state are mobilizing against K-12 standardized testing.

The academics have all signed a letter opposing the proliferation of the high-stakes tests and arguing that the exams have failed to improve schools over the last 10 years.

“People are really seeing the limits of a high-stakes testing strategy,” said Michelle Fine, the original author of the letter, and a professor at CUNY’s Graduate Center.

The academics took aim at the state’s move to emphasize student test scores as part of principal and teacher evaluations.

A resolution opposing high-stakes testing is also set to be introduced in the City Council on Thursday.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/1-100-college-profess...

Comment by Kim Boone on June 29, 2012 at 5:47am

http://flaglerlive.com/40622/flagler-teachers-union-kh/

Flagler’s Teachers Union President on FCAT,
The GOP, and High-Stakes Misconceptions

FlaglerLive | June 28, 2012

I am a mother of two, a teacher, and the President of Flagler County Educators Association (FCEA).  More and more in the news media I am seeing articles and letters to the editor that have addressed high stakes testing and a few misnomers about unions.  Many of these recent articles and letters miss the mark and peddle half-truths on a number of key points.  As a teacher, I believe that knowledge and full understanding are empowering.  To that point, let me help fill in the rest of the story.

I have frequently said at school board meetings and in the media that high-stakes tests are an unnecessary stress for our students.   Teachers do not believe that one test on one day, less than 75 percent of the way through the school year, is an accurate measure of a student’s performance.  Don’t misinterpret my statements: I’m not saying that educators should not be held accountable. I just don’t believe that the current method of “accountability” is accurate or appropriate.  The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is plagued with issues and errors, which you can easily find documented on numerous websites that research the validity of FCAT tests and other high-stakes tests.

Beyond errors and issues with the test itself is the time teachers and students must devote to testing.  While there is a place for some testing, students are not going to improve simply because we test them more.  The FCAT test itself can take up to eight hours or more to administer, taking up as many as nine school days to complete, not to mention FAIR testing, End of Course exams, and the plethora of other tests that our students are required to take over the course of a single school year.  Wouldn’t this time be better spent with teachers teaching and working with the students to deepen and strengthen their understanding of concepts?

Click On: From “I’m Not a Dog” To Compromising Bullets as Teachers Union and ... Lord of the Flies On a School Bus: The Bullying of Karen Klein The Joy of Writing, Strangled by FCAT Testing, Is Revived One Page ... Flagler’s FCAT Writing Scores Collapse, a Reflection of Florida’s T... Largest Employer in Most Florida Counties, Flagler Included: Govern... FCAT Scores Plummet Statewide, Sending Education Officials in a Panic FCAT Season From a Teacher’s Perspective: An Absurd and Demeaning F... District and Teachers’ Union Seal Crucial Agreement on Vast Cuts an...

Anti-union sentiments out there are plentiful.  I recently read an article that asserted three things that a union is “good for,” including: keeping incompetent employees working, securing raises for people who don’t deserve them, and raising money for Democrats.

Frankly, only a person who has never been a blue-collar worker where a union was involved would incorrectly assert those three “purposes.”  While unions do not keep “incompetent” workers from being fired, unions do work to ensure that every member has due process.  If an administrator or member of management finds an employee to be “incompetent,” then the union ensures that the process is followed through correctly.

Here in Flagler County, the teachers’ union has played an active role in the creation and implementation of Teacher Success Plans.  These plans are used to assist and coach teachers that are struggling and to help them improve for the benefit of our students.  If an administrator finds a teacher to be incompetent and the teacher does not improve with coaching and assistance—and that administrator correctly follows the process—there is nothing the union can or will do to keep that teacher in the classroom.  Members of FCEA are teachers and parents. We don’t want incompetent teachers in classrooms, teaching our past or future students, or our own children.

Unions negotiate salaries with management, and here in Flagler County we negotiate with the school district for salary steps or increases.  Any raise we agree to at the bargaining table must be approved by both the teachers and a majority of school board members. The agreed-upon raise is then awarded to all teachers, not just a select few, not just union members, let alone just to “those who don’t deserve it” as I’ve seen it asserted.

The Flagler County School Board in a recent vote unanimously approved the agreement on teacher pay.  Think big picture though. The board employs nearly 1,700 employees.  It is the by far the largest employer in Flagler County. We support the local economy.  We keep small businesses in business.  We help ensure that many other workers keep their jobs, simply because we are spending our hard-earned money in Flagler County.  Suggesting that teachers and educational professionals don’t deserve the salaries that the school board agrees to hurts not just our families, but also many, many more families and businesses throughout Flagler County.

As to the “purpose of a union”—that unions only contribute to the Democratic National Committee—I find myself once again wanting to do a bit of educating.  In the last two election cycles, the Florida Education Association (FEA), to which FCEA and other teacher unions across this state belong, contributed approximately $100,000 to republican candidates.

Contrary to the preconception that unions only support Democrats, unions prefer to align themselves with candidates that support the same educational issues that we do, regardless of which side of the aisle they are on.  And with Republicans being quoted as intending to raise and spend $1 billion (yes, with a b) on the 2012 elections, I’m not sure that any party or person should be pointing any fingers.

At the end of the day, I am proud to be a teacher and union member.  I know that I work hard to better the lives of my students, both in my role as teacher and as Union President.  I will continue to stand side-by-side with the other hard-working teachers and education professionals in Flagler County, my fellow union members, to continue to work to provide great public schools for every child in Flagler County.

Katie Hansen, a teacher at Indian Trails Middle School, is president of the Flagler County Educators Association. Reach her by email here.

Comment by Kim Boone on June 29, 2012 at 5:45am

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/jun/29/departing-principal-at-chall...

Departing principal at Challenger claims nonrenewal in retaliation for not hiding FCAT improprieties at Martin school

STUART — The chairwoman of the Martin County School Board said Thursday she'll contact the state Department of Education about allegations of improper administration of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test this year at the Challenger School and attempts by district administrators to cover it up.

During a special board meeting called Thursday to deal primarily with routine administrative reappointments, the board discussed a memo in which Timothy Romano, the outgoing principal at Challenger, claims Schools Superintendent Nancy Kline did not renew his contract "to retaliate directly against me for my unwillingness to cover up the improper administration of the FCAT at my school."

In the memo, which was sent Tuesday to Kline, other district officials and School Board members, Romano said he reported "a breach of security" during the FCAT that included a teacher leaving students "unattended and unsupervised" and discussing the content of the test with students.

"According to the FCAT Administration Manual, these two items would constitute an invalidation," Romano wrote.

Romano wrote that an investigation was conducted, but "all involved teachers and students were never interviewed."

He added that teachers and other witnesses have and will "corroborate that the directive to 'make this go away' and 'cover this up' came from your (Kline's) office through others to me who were acting upon your directive. ... I also have documentation that has been falsified by those you directed in an effort to 'make this go away.'"

Asked about the allegations by board members, Kline said the Department of Education was notified about the situation, and "the DOE's recommendations were followed ... all the proper protocols were followed."

Kline said many of the statements in Romano's email were incorrect.

In an email sent to Kline late Thursday afternoon, Frank Raffone, the district assistant superintendent, called Romano's allegation "blatantly false. The appropriate procedures were followed in this case, as we do in any testing issue."

In an email sent Thursday evening, Cathleen Brennan, the district public information officer, said Dawn Caruso, the district's assessment coordinator, "conducted a thorough investigation into a testing incident at Challenger that involved a student. The district immediately contacted the Florida Department of Education, which provided guidance on how to proceed during the testing period."

In an email sent to Raffone earlier in the day, Tamika Brinson of the state Education Department's Bureau of K-12 Assessment wrote that she spoke to Caruso on April 20 "regarding an incident that occurred with a student."

The email does not specify the school at which the incident occurred, but Brinson wrote: "Based on the information provided to (the Florida Department of Education), the following determinations were made and communicated: test security was not breached; the validity of the test results was not compromised."

Board Chairwoman Sue Hershey said she was "going to forward this information (in Romano's email) to the Department of Education because I feel obligated to do it," adding that she wanted to know whether an investigation was conducted and whether its results were ignored.

"All I want is validation from the Department of Education," she said. She later added, "Things get swept away and hidden by the superintendent."

To which Kline replied, "You'd better be careful what you say about me in public."

Betsy Walson, a former test coordinator at Martin County High School, told the board the allegations "call into question the validity of all the test results in our all schools."

Walson asked the board to call for an immediate investigation by the Department of Education and for Kline to "step down as superintendent pending the investigation."

Bobbi-Jo Gould of Jensen Beach, mother of an 11-year-old autistic child, asked that Romano remain at the Challenger School.

"He is a breath of fresh air and willing to do whatever it takes to help his students succeed," Gould said. "He is kind and has always taken into consideration what is best for his students."

Gould said the special children at Challenger "do not do well with changes or transitions and need the familiarity and stability of seeing the same faces every day. Removing Mr. Romano would be taking away a key part of that stability, and simply put, is just wrong."

Gould said more than 50 people have emailed Kline asking that Romano stay at Challenger.

Hershey told those who had spoken on Romano's behalf that the board doesn't "appoint or remove (school) personnel. That's solely the superintendent's decision."

After the meeting, Kline declined to say why Romano's contract was not renewed, calling it "a personnel matter."

Romano could not be reached for comment.

Comment by Kim Boone on June 29, 2012 at 5:44am

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20120629/NEWS01/306290029/Breva...

Brevard School Board members Thursday called on state leaders to overhaul a school accountability system that they say over-emphasizes and over-uses the FCAT as a measure of student, teacher, school and district performance.

“It’s important to be accountable for student performance, it’s important to have standards. But it’s wrong to have one indicator be the Holy Grail,” School Board Member Andy Ziegler said. “Everything lives and dies by it.”

Thursday’s unanimous vote to approve a Florida School Boards Association resolution marks a commitment by the Brevard School Board to join the growing movement to change a system they say has gotten out of hand. Board members had previously expressed support for the movement; their vote formalizes that support. Concern about the FCAT expanded this spring when FCAT writing results showed that only 27 percent of fourth-graders statewide passed. An emergency decision by the state lowered the bar so more students passed, but the turn of events raised questions about the system’s trustworthiness.

The resolution includes calls on the governor, state legislators and the state Board of Education to:

• Contract with an independent organization to conduct a transparent and independent review and evaluation of the state’s accountability system, including its contracts, the return on investment and its overall quality, reliability and validity.

• Revise the system to included data from multiple forms of assessment and limited standardized testing to more accurately reflect student learning gains and learning weaknesses.

• Eliminate the practice of using student results on tests as the primary base for evaluating teacher, administrator, school and district performance.

In the 12 years since high-stakes testing was first mandated in Florida schools, more and more consequences have been tied to the state tests — stretching the FCAT past what it was originally developed to do, and creating a variety of unintended consequences, the resolution said.

That includes stifling student engagement, narrowing the curriculum, reducing student access to elective and other courses, and impeding the recruitment and retention of teachers and administrators — claims that Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson disputed in a statement shortly after the FSBA resolution was created.

“The FCAT neither drives the curriculum nor narrows the educational experience of Florida students,” Robinson said.

“In fact, at the middle school level, student enrollment in courses such as dance, drama, and world languages has increased more than student enrollment in the subject areas assessed on the FCAT.”

He and other proponents also have pointed to gains in student achievement made over the last decade as officials have raised the bar, calling it a “formula with a proven track record of success.”

Student results on the FCAT and end-of-course exams now determine student promotion from third to fourth grade; high school credit for math and science courses; attainment of a regular high school diploma; evaluation and re-employment of teachers and principals; and distribution of state funds that act as rewards. Ziegler said that, eventually, even property values will be tied to test scores, as families move to be close to neighborhood schools that are perceived to be succeeding based on their A-F school grade. Student FCAT results are a key part of those grades

“Everyone should be concerned about that,” Ziegler said.

Comment by Kim Boone on June 26, 2012 at 8:36pm

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_education_edblog/2012/06/pare...

Parent group supports school boards anti-testing resolution, urges ...
FCAT, Florida School Boards Association, Gerard Robinson, Leslie Postal, Uncategorized — posted by lesliepostal on June, 25 2012 3:01 PM

Discuss This: Comments(0) | Add to del.icio.us | Digg it

Fund Education Now, the Orlando-based parent group, is pleased with the Florida School Boards Association for taking a stand against te...

Now the group is urging others to show their support by signing an online petition.

The group, founded by three Orlando moms, doesn’t like how Commissioner Gerard Robinson reacted to the resolu.... They think he wants local school boards to “obey” him, while they argue local school boards are elected, constitutional officers who “owe their allegiance to us, the voters.”

The group adds, “In contrast, the Commissioner and the Florida Board of Education are gubernatorial appointees selected to defend the architect of the FCAT status quo.”

In a related piece, education writer Marion Brady had a column in Sunday’s paper on “25 reasons to worry...

His column was in response toan earlier one by Robinson and Kathleen Shanahan, chairman of the S.... Both think the anti-testing resolutions are misguided.

Comment by Kim Boone on June 25, 2012 at 5:06pm

http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2012-06-24/no-pay-raises-yea...

ses this year for teachers, but step increases set for January, fall 2013

Posted: June 24, 2012 - 12:13am

By MARCIA LANE

marcia.lane@staugustine.com

A tentative agreement on teacher salaries means teachers won’t get a pay raise this year but they will get a step in pay midway through the coming school year and another step in pay the next school year.

However, it’s not a done deal until the St. Johns County School Board approves it and teachers belonging to the St. Johns Education Association ratify the agreement.

And that won’t happen until other negotiations are completed on issues including planning time, discipline language and supplements. Also up for negotiation will be social media policies recently passed by the board.

“The School Board and the county’s teachers were able to come to a tentative agreement about step in pay,” said Dawn Chapman, president of SJEA, on Friday, emphasizing the membership of both groups has to agree to the agreement before it’s official.

Associate Superintendent Tim Forson, who heads the School Board’s negotiating team, would only confirm, “We’ve made progress toward compensation.

“There are some other areas of negotiation,” he said. “We still have some other language we’re working on.”

Step in pay is a negotiated salary schedule that lets teachers know what salary to expect for each year they work. It runs from the first year of teaching to the 19th year. Teachers teaching past 19 years go to longevity pay, about $500 per year additional pay. Increases are based on education and experience.

Teachers received no step in pay for 2011-12. That put all teachers a year behind in pay. For instance, if a teacher had worked five years he or she was paid at the four year pay step.

The tentative agreement for the two-year contract calls for the next step in pay to begin in January. The pay increase is not retroactive so it works out to half a step. In 2013-14 another step in pay will take place if the agreement is approved.

Teachers already at the top of the salary schedule will get $200 added to their pay for 2012-13 and another $200 in 2013-14, Chapman said.

Associate teachers, who all get $26,000, will see an additional $300 beginning in January 2013.

Chapman said teachers have not seen a cost-of-living increase in five years and won’t see one this year.

“We appreciate the School Board working with us,” she said. “We were able to compromise, and it also made the teachers feel valued by the district.”

Negotiations continue at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Yates building on Orange Street.

The St. Johns Educational Support Professionals Association, representing non-instructional personnel, is also negotiating with the district.

Comment by Kim Boone on June 25, 2012 at 9:59am

FundEducationNow.org

Manatee County School Board candidates for District 4: Robert Gause (incumbent) and Linda Schaich and District 2: Robert Moates, David “Watchdog” Miner and William S. Chaltis discuss their individual positions and answer pressing questions from FCAT and Charter Schools to Healthcare and Budgets.

If you live in Manatee County please watch both forums to learn about the candidates. Manatee County residents vote for all School Board Members regardless of district. A 4th candidate for D2 declined to participate in this forum.

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