Total Pageviews

Search This Blog

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Did Sonita Young tell a whopper to the people of Jacksonville?

From WJCT.com: However, last week, some teachers got an early look at the individual VAM scores of their colleagues due to an error that occurred while upgrading a system program, district officials said. 

Duval Schools Chief of Human Resources Sonita Young said the glitch allowed some teachers to briefly access the scores before they were taken down.
I wrote about the glitch on Sunday which was the 30th when I was informed about it. The VAM scores that I saw were up likely since the 18th. I say likely because you had to open an e-mail sent on the 18th to see them. Now I guess they could have done a patch at 4:59 on the 25th before the district closed down for Thanksgiving break but I doubt it. Most likely they were up for nearly two weeks.
Words have meaning and when the district attempts to deceive us about one thing it makes me wonder what else they are being less than truthful about. Why didn't Young just say. Unfortunately a glitch allowed some teachers to access the scores but it has since been fixed. She's making it sound like it was no big deal and happened at 2 and by 2:15 they were having drinks high fiveing their quick fix. 
We need and deserve transparency something the district from the QEA initiative to this seems very reluctant to give.

8 comments:

  1. She is absolutely lying, because I got the 12-13 scores from the same place last year as I got the 13-14 scores this year. I still have the print out. Sonita Young lies like most people breathe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Can you send me a copy of what you have? I will keep it between us. cpgbonjovi@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. It wasn't just teacher eval scores, but principals and their henchmen too. And STUDENT scores from every school in the county. I saw that my neighbor's daughter didn't pass her AP exam. I could see student FCAT scores, not aggregated....by NAME. There was a folder showing who was overage and what grade they repeated. They weren't just my students. I could look at any student in the county. If they took any test I knew their score. FCAT, EOC, CGA, AP, SAT, ACT of every student in the county. And, unlike you, it didn't make me feel icky. It was a wealth of info and knowledge is power.

    I noticed that teachers who teach AP get great evals from administrators (besides the joy of teaching enthusiastic, well behaved students). But most also teach a standard class or two and their EOC/CGA scores were no better than other teachers of standard students. In fact, they were often worse. It looks like they get a lot of credit for teaching smart students, because if you teach AP students, that's all your VAM is based on. So they'll also get a nice Highly Effective bonus.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Why is the union not doing something about this? So am I to understand that my VAM score was out for all to see before they were even released to us.

    As for questioning the VAM, it's not worth it. They can't even explain it themselves. One of my classes counted twice and they should not have. I have never been so discouraged but this year has really left me beyond words.

    ReplyDelete
  5. When has DTU ever done anything about anything? The Code of Conduct has been dumbed down beyond belief and it still isn't being enforced. Have you seen all of the things teachers have to do before there is any consequence for the student? Intervention, and conferences that comprise hours of time. Wrist slapping doesn't even begin until the 5th referral and by then the teacher is called out by the principal. And the 5th referral is actually the 9th, because 4 were just thrown away with no action taken.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hold the bus!!! You mean to tell me that my child's data was compromised and available for all to see?!?!? That is a clear violation of privacy. Yes, I am a teacher but I am also the parent of a Duval County student and I am appalled that her information was compromised. As parents, we need to check this out because that is not right.

    ReplyDelete