Posted on 03/23/2006 2:44:12 AM PST by summer
As a certified Florida teacher, I will give a brief update to those of you who do not have time to wade through all the news now coming out of the FL legislature: the GOP is doing right by teachers, students and parents, and the Dem leaders are dragging their feet, as usual.
Also, speaking as an independent, it’s times like these when I can’t help but think: Good thing FL voters elected more GOP leaders in the FL House than Dem leaders, because these Dem leaders don’t seem to know anything about education, as explained below.
First of all, here’s what going down as we speak: The GOP-controlled FL House has passed the final education reform package of bills sent by Gov Bush to the FL Legislature, meaning these bills now move along to the FL Senate. So, we’re at half time.
And what a win for Gov Bush (and FL) with this package of reform bills here! Needless to say, some of my favorite education reform ideas showed up in bills that were rejected by Dem leaders, and barely mentioned in the press. Now, let’s take a look at what’s happening:
As reported HERE in the Sun Sentinel --
1) “[A] plan to protect students who were in a private school voucher program declared unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court…75% of those students will go into another voucher program that uses corporate donations to pay private school for tuition for economically disadvantaged children.”
2) “the voucher bill (HB 7041) also requires private school teachers and employees who have contact with children to undergo state and national background screening similar to what public school employees must do”
3) “[the bill also] requires all voucher students to take an annual assessment test selected by the state Department of Education.
An attempt by Democrats to force all voucher students to take the public school exam -- the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) -- was voted down by the Republican majority.”
3) “A key provision of the middle and high school reform bill (HB 7087) allows the governor to declare an educational emergency to take over failing schools…”
4) In addition: “middle-schoolers [now required] to pick college-like majors”
5) “establish a uniform school start date for the state”
6) “force high schools with an F grade to post their graduation by ethnicity on the school's Web site.”
In addition, as reported in the Palm Beach Post HERE:
7) [A new bill] would require districts to have at least the same number of experienced, well-paid teachers at failing schools as there are at its higher-performing schools.
8) It also would let districts give bonuses to teachers who choose to work at D and F schools.
(9-10) “[New] oversight and accountability requirements to the corporate and McKay voucher programs. McKay vouchers are for disabled students.”
From the Dem side of the aisle, also mentioned by the Palm Beach Post article linked above:
1) “[Amendments to] require D and F schools to annually report teacher retention rates and
2) [such schools’ reports would] include reasons why teachers left the school.”
My favorite bill is number (7) above, a GOP sponsored measure not even mentioned by the Sun Sentinel, though it is the most important bill in my view as a teacher.
It would require local school districts to revamp their hiring practices and finally change a decades-long inequity, by forcing low performing public schools to stop being filled solely with new teachers. Now, these low performing schools will have to hire as many experienced teachers as the high performing schools, thereby providing new teachers with:
(a) more opportunity to have mentors/team leaders available at the worst schools;
(b) more opportunity to get positions in better schools (because more of the experienced teachers will be at low performing schools); and, of course:
(c) more students taught by experienced teachers at the worst schools.
This will surely help students, and help retain new teachers.
In addition, teachers choosing to work at D and F schools could now receive a bonus, automatically.
Why the teachers union has rejected such changes, over and over, for years, is beyond my comprehension.
Finally, as a teacher, I did not appreciate a Dem leader’s comments about these much needed hiring reforms: "This is just another gimmick in an election year," said Rep. Susan Bucher, D-West Palm Beach.
Not hardly.
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WTF?!?!? NOOOOO!
FYI. :)
Thanks for the article.
What I'm a little concerned about is the talk of requiring 16 year olds to declare their major in order to steer them into a more "appropriate" high school study plan.
My son did dual enrollment, and even with three years of college and credits for his AA, it was a difficult decision to "declare his major"...which he had to do...since he was being admitted to the university as a Junior (he was 17).
I can't imagine having 16 year olds make that decision, even before they've taken their first college class.
Are you aware of how far this idea has progressed on the state level?
Well, anyone can change a major at any time, even in college. I think there is a bigger picture here, involving the drop in student achievement that seems to happen in middle school. Gains have been made in elementary, but then in middle school, when kids become so focused on their peers, it seems like all the gains go up in smoke. So, this push to have kids THINK about SOMETHING like a MAJOR and express an interest in middle school is an attempt to address this. I don't think it's so bad, and it will probably help some students to stay focused.
BTW, how old was your son when he started dual enrollment? It sounds like he started quite young. Also, did he take any AP classes?
FYI. :)
He was homeschooled, so he was allowed to start in 10th grade...(I think there are different rules for public school kids.)
The dual credit program allowed him to take 15 credit hours per term, and there were three terms a year, so it wasn't hard to get the AA credits.
I don't think he ever took more than 12 credits a term, and he's leaving the program (this is his senior year) with 78 credits, enough for his AA, plus others that were pre-reqs for his major.
Here's a link to the program we used.
http://www.spcollege.edu/ac/dc/
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