Just a quick refresher, the QEA is a 45 million dollar endowment made to Duval County over the next five years by local philanthropists.
The bulk of the money is going to a merit pay scheme that pays proven veterans to go to our struggling schools where inexplicably they will be supplemented by 200 Teach for America recruits. On one hand the district said we need these veterans and are willing to pay them substantially more and on the other it says, hey anybody can be a teacher.
The district and Vitti himself have a lot riding on it and I believe it experienced a pretty big hiccup today.
From the Times Union: In Jacksonville, 24 percent, or 2,519 of Duval’s third graders, scored in the lowest quintile in the state, subject to possible retention. That’s slightly more than the 22 percent, or 2,469, who last year scored low enough on Florida’s old FCAT tests to be held back.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-06-04/story/state-says-24-percent-duval-third-graders-need-extra-reading-help
So Vitti and the philanthropists got what they wanted, business solutions to education problems and at least in third grade we have done 8 percent worse.
The bulk of the money is going to a merit pay scheme that pays proven veterans to go to our struggling schools where inexplicably they will be supplemented by 200 Teach for America recruits. On one hand the district said we need these veterans and are willing to pay them substantially more and on the other it says, hey anybody can be a teacher.
The district and Vitti himself have a lot riding on it and I believe it experienced a pretty big hiccup today.
From the Times Union: In Jacksonville, 24 percent, or 2,519 of Duval’s third graders, scored in the lowest quintile in the state, subject to possible retention. That’s slightly more than the 22 percent, or 2,469, who last year scored low enough on Florida’s old FCAT tests to be held back.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-06-04/story/state-says-24-percent-duval-third-graders-need-extra-reading-help
So Vitti and the philanthropists got what they wanted, business solutions to education problems and at least in third grade we have done 8 percent worse.
You are comparing apples to oranges by saying we went down 8%. Completely different reading test assessing LAFS not NGSSS. The assessment wasn't multiple choice for the first time. That factor alone, coupled with a new publishing company, students doing an editing piece for the first time can lead to different test results.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand they are not the same. My point which maybe I didn't make as clear as I could was the QEA was sold as a savior for our schools and after year 1, it looks like we have a LOT more saving to do. What's your thought on the district saying we need all these veterans but lets put a bunch of untrained novices there too.
Delete