What future do you envision for the many students who attend school for 12 years and leave without a hope of a future, having been denied a meaningful diplma or vocational licensure?

From MyEdNext, by Diane Hanfmann

One is better able to understand this if they reside in Florida, where our students' Writing proficiency rate dropped from about 80 to about 30 in the three grades in which they are tested. But wait, there is more. The State Board of Education then moved the bar back so percentages of proficient students would again be around 80% via a teleconference. So is that the way accountability works when the results are negative and illusions shattered? It comes down to a phone call..hmm. The state decided to change the test, number of scorers, weighting of factors, and raise the bar all at the same time. What work was performed prior to this fiasco?

I have heard not a word from Jeb Bush and this newsworthy item is absent from his other FB foundation page as of my last look. However, Ms. Levesque did add her words on the other foundation's FB page and they aroused my curiosity.
Ms. Levesque, the Writng test has asked for minimal skills for years. Punctuation, grammar, and capitalization may not matter to you but to Florida's children's future, they may be a must. What future did you envision for sudents who spelled and wrote poorly? You speak of "God-given potential" and asked not that Florida's students spell or wrote properly. Was that beyond their "God-given potential"? How did you determine that?

When did Florida's gifted lose their potential? I didn't consult with God on the topic, just data. What did he/she tell you? I wish he/she would have told me as well. Did God suggest they sit in classes and review previously mastered material ad nauseum so they could score well on a test which many could have passed years earlier? I am not blaming a higher being. I doubt they are in the education business. I am asking you why it took Florida's legislature so many years to pass a bill and why, when it did pass, it had to contain a provision where money would be refunded to the state for failed EOC courses? Why do they still access a test which may be beneath their instuctional level? I am likely to hold you and Jeb accounatble for this foolishness. I sat on the first statewide Gifted Advisoy Committee due o the data I generated..and God was not a participant. The gifted in Florida need all the help they can get..please send God to their aid.

What future do you envision for the many students who attend school for 12 years and leave without a hope of a future, having been denied a meaningful diplma or vocational licensure?

Have they committed a heinous crime? No, they failed to score as desired on a test. So, am I right that you envisioned deleting the futures of many Floridian students? Have you paved a pathway from high school to poverty? Don't tell me God was in on that one.

How do you find the 2009 NAEP results indicative of Florida's students accessing a bright future when our Seniors scored below the national average in both Reading and Math? Of the 11 participating states, only two other states performed so dismally. Those students in Florida had many years of exposure to the stategies you advertise. Do you supply them with the fact I noted? Do you wish students in other states the same oucome? I am confused.

The Writing fiasco served as a lightning striike, illuminating the illusion and lack of credibility of Florida's success. I do figuratively think God may have been in on that, not because a higher being is into education but wishfully, because a major wakeup call was needed to end the harm to Florida's children and their futures.

Where are the words of Jeb? Should not he be held accountable for the failure of the A+ Plan?

http://myednext.org/profiles/blogs/an-open-letter-to-jeb-bush-and-patricia-levesque-what-future-do