A bakers dozen of education topics

I was just following orders
Have you ever heard the expression; I was just following orders? It’s what people say over and over when they want to absolve themselves of any responsibility for their actions. How is that relevant to education you ask? Well in the case of education here in Jacksonville Florida, just following orders is destroying it

I have the luxury
I write about education issues a lot. Sometimes I try to expose things that are going on, other times I offer suggestions, and occasionally I point the finger and say it’s your fault and every time I do this I freely admit that I have a few luxuries. I have the luxury of writing about what’s right not about what’s easy, cheap or even always fair.

State of confusion (reading)
Over half our students in high school can’t read at grade level, well I have a solution; lets jam all the non-readers into reading classes and force them to read ninety minutes a day and lets have them take this class instead of classes they enjoy. Then lets incorporate reading into every class on the grade level they should be on not the level that they are on. If this doesn’t make them love reading and do it well then nothing will.

The art of the game
What does fifteen years of dedicated service running an award winning art program at Ed White get you? Well if you don’t want to teach reading it gets you a so long and don’t let the door hit you where the good lord split you.

Cooking the books
Some people call it, spinning the numbers; others use massaging the statistics and a few calls it cooking the books, but what you should really call it is, wrong. However the powers-that-be here in Jacksonville have to do it, how else could they say we are a B district despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. How else could they keep their jobs?

Twenty-two new faces
Every year there is turn over in a schools teaching staff. Some teachers retire, others transfer and in recent years more than a few have left the profession all together. This year at my school we had twenty-two new faces at orientation, that’s a sixth of the staff and I am now taking bets on who won’t last a semester.

Inclusion
Inclusion in education technically means putting regular education students and special education students in the same classroom, that way both groups can get a first class education. What it really means is something all together different.

No child left behind
I think the best teachers make it real for their students. They take a topic or a subject and put it in terms that the kids can understand, you know the opposite of what, no child left behind, the law that currently drives education, does.

Magnet Mayhem
The district received a 12 million dollar for more magnet programs today. I don’t know which program will be more successful, the coastal sciences or the museum sciences one. That’s right. I wrote, I don’t know which program will be more successful, the coastal sciences or the museum sciences one.

Chocolate Milk
F-cat scores got you down? Worried about children’s ability to read? Concerned about all the dropouts, poor graduation rates, graduating seniors taking remedial classes in college or employers not being able to find qualified workers? Well go ahead and stop because when the department of education gets rid of chocolate milk all our problems will be solved.

Slow down you move to fast
In my special education classroom last year I covered five topics. We drilled and we practiced and then we drilled and practiced again and then, if you guess drilled and practiced some more you win a prize. I like to think they got it. This year after five weeks in the regular education classrooms because of the pacing guide I have covered five subjects already. I like to think thy have gotten it too. Though which group do you think I feel more confident about?

The assault on teachers continues
Duval County was recently awarded two grants that will bring millions of dollars to the county. They both have components for improving teacher quality. Um I want to know wheres our grants for improving superintendent, school board and state government quality are? How come the powers-that-be get a pass. I guess it’s easier for them to point their fingers at teachers and throw money at the problem even if it doesn’t really exist. I am reminded of the Wizard of Oz, when he said, ignore the man behind the curtain

Meritless
Just as a study was released saying merit pay for teachers doesn’t work, the county was awarded almost ten million dollars for and you probably guessed it by now for merit pay. Oh brother here we go again.