I try and repost as little as possible from the Times Union prefering to write about the topics. I am sure I will do that about below as soon as I get a chance. Reading this however was like how I imagine a high school kid must feel after asking a girl to the prom 29 times only to have her say no but then asking one more time and hearing her say yes; a combination of elation, relief and vindication. After years of writing about our school board and our education system, I finally feel like somebody heard me. I also feel like somebody finally cares which is what I hoped would happen. -cpg
From the Florida Times Union
by Topher Sanders
Key members of Jacksonville’s business community jumped into the heated discussion about plans for improving Jacksonville’s four most struggling public schools.
The Duval County School Board should immediately form an independent body “empowered to hire and fire principals, teachers and school personnel,” the business leaders wrote in an opinion letter appearing today in The Times-Union.
Written by Chris Corr of AECOM, Steve Halverson of The Haskell Co., John Rood of Vestcor Cos., Peter Rummell of Rummell Co. and Michael Ward of CSX Corp., the letter said students in Duval’s intervene schools are “doomed” unless the community responds now.
The independent body would determine the intervention response for the schools, the leaders wrote.
The letter piggybacks on an opinion piece from T. Willard Fair, chairman of the state Board of Education, which criticized School Board member Betty Burney for a letter she wrote the previous week comparing FCAT scores and college readiness data.
The schools in question are Andrew Jackson, Raines and Ribault high schools and North Shore K-8.
State law requires the school system to pick between turning the schools into charter schools, hiring an outside management organization to run the schools or closing them. The School Board is pitching a governance structure that would allow it to maintain control while it received input from a community-based organization on key functions of the schools.
The business leaders said that plan isn’t strong enough.
“It’s time for bigger thinking, more radical thinking and more radical change,” Halverson said.
He said he knows their proposal isn’t exactly what state law requires either, but it’s more aggressive than the district’s plan. And the business community must play a bigger role.
“We also think it’s important for the business leadership to step up,” he said. “There needs to be greater commitment of resources, both people and financial to help.”
The schools need more than the resources and funding provided by the state to improve, he said.
School Board Chairman W.C. Gentry said he respected the letter’s authors, but wishes they would have talked with the School Board and Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals to better understand the impact of the state’s requirements and the district’s plans.
“I hope this means they will be energetic partners with us in solving the problems that they have discussed in their article,” he said.
Burney said the point she intended with her opinion piece is that every student in the intervene schools is not failing.
“One thing I hope is that they decide to visit the schools and assist them, since they are so interested now,” Burney said.
Fair had called into question Burney’s use of college readiness data supplied by the state. Burney’s piece focused on students eligible for college readiness scores while Fair’s did the same but looked at the entire graduating group.
For example, there were 339 ninth graders in the 2006-’07 year at Andrew Jackson. Four years later, only 41 of those students were eligible for college readiness scores. Of those, 31 were found to be college ready in reading.
Rummell said the city’s future is dependent on the district’s improvement.
“It’s not just an education problem, it’s a Jacksonville-wide economic development problem because a good school system is fundamental to a strong economic development climate,” he said.
The first thing companies evaluate if they are considering operating in a new community is its school system, Rummell said.
Rummell and Halverson said the letter was not a vote of “no confidence” in the School Board regarding the four schools, but Rood said for him that’s exactly what the letter means.
“How could anyone have any confidence; they’re not doing anything different,” Rood said. “You’ve got all these kids going through year after year, and they’re not learning. These are kids’ lives. How are they going to catch up and what kind of a future do they have?”
The state Board of Education will make the final decision on the district’s plan.
topher.sanders@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4169
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-24/story/duval-school-board-challenged-think-big#ixzz1EycXvfdn
Showing posts with label DCSB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DCSB. Show all posts
Friday, February 25, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
The DCSB becomes unhinged
I found it ironic that I was reading; Members of the Duval County School Board expressed growing frustration Thursday with the state's laws and the education commissioner, with some questioning his trustworthiness. Especially since much of the city is also incredibly frustrated with the school board and we not only question their trustworthiness but their competence too.
They were talking about the prospect of the state both closing four of our schools and the fact the commissioner wasn’t willing to just accept the latest half baked plan the school board came up with to fix them, which in case you missed it is to turn them into two theme schools that shared the same campus.
I neither think they should nor want the state to force those schools to close or be taken over but if you are rational I think you can probably see their point. This date of no return wasn’t issued a week ago, on the contrary it has been on the books for years. Furthermore the solution the school board is proposing, is both not one of the options given but worse than that is the fact it is no real solution at all. How do we expect the kids to do well at two theme schools when they aren’t doing well or well enough in the states eyes at the schools as they are now? The school board is not addressing the problem which is how do kids get to high school without the ability to read or do math at an appropriate level and without the skills they need to be successful, instead they are just trying to buy time until their shipment of magic dust arrives. That also might be the number one reason the state closes the schools, the school board is not rationale. A reasonable person after reading the quotes by them in the paper might think a few of them have become unhinged.
Gentry said. “..the law regarding struggling schools was designed to kill neighborhood schools by putting them on a "death spiral" of options that ends in their closure.” Well sir what do you call the fact that only about ten percent of the sophomores at the three high schools can read at grade level, is that the equivalent of a head ache or a sprain to you? And when you wrote about bussing, well sir, that quite frankly was way over the top."We will again be busing predominately black kids out of their neighborhoods and spreading them all through the school system." Well in case you missed it Mr. Gentry over three thousand kids that could already be attending those schools have chosen to go elsewhere. They in effect are already bussing themselves out of those neighborhoods and spreading themselves all through the school system.
Then Paula Wright, who I had great hope for when elected, said "It's been terribly frustrating because you're working with a program that's researched-based and ready to work, but working against a system that is determined not to let them work." Um excuse me but your statement has more holes in it than a colander. If it is so proven to work why haven’t we done it before and no program will work if the kids don’t have the basic skills it takes to be successful. She then said she has faith in the community. I myself have hope for the community but it is hard to have faith in the community that for a decade now has allowed a massive exodus from these schools and is willing to buy whatever the school board is selling (how well has that worked for the last 30 years by the way).
Next Betty Burney said "I understand when things are political, and I think the commissioner is trying to satisfy a political front, and I'm trying to deal with things on the education front, and the two just don't mix." Whoa, an education front, she wrote, well I remind everybody she has been working on this education front for six plus years now and we currently find the school system on the abyss of losing four schools. If she were a teacher she would be on an action plan and things would not be looking good for her. As for this being about politics, I have no illusions that the state is a friend of ours but I have firsthand knowledge that the school boards solutions to the problem for all of Mrs. Burney’s term in office has been the equivalent of throwing paint against a wall and hoping some of it sticks.
Then there was Tommy Hazouri a lifelong politician who will probably run for dog catcher once he has been term limited out of the school board. He said about the commissioner, “His responses were vague, if responses at all, with no answers,” ironically that’s pretty much what we can say about the solutions that he and the board are proposing, it’s no answer.
The only one of the group that had anything of any substance to say was Becki Couch. She said, "My frustration lies more with the focus from the state level [being only on] what the law says, and that's not really what's best for kids," She was right there, the law is not what is in the best interest of children. However what is best for the kids can't be found in the school boards, two school solution. The kids need structure, they need discipline, they need additional legitimate opportunities to learn the material and they don’t need to be pushed along without the basic skills they need. Mrs. Couch also said”… the state is not connected to reality.” She is right again but unfortunately, as I hope I have pointed out above, the state isn’t the only one who has come unhinged.
Friends we have real problems and we need real solutions. If the school board is not going to be part of this process they should get out of the way. Our city and its children can’t take much more.
They were talking about the prospect of the state both closing four of our schools and the fact the commissioner wasn’t willing to just accept the latest half baked plan the school board came up with to fix them, which in case you missed it is to turn them into two theme schools that shared the same campus.
I neither think they should nor want the state to force those schools to close or be taken over but if you are rational I think you can probably see their point. This date of no return wasn’t issued a week ago, on the contrary it has been on the books for years. Furthermore the solution the school board is proposing, is both not one of the options given but worse than that is the fact it is no real solution at all. How do we expect the kids to do well at two theme schools when they aren’t doing well or well enough in the states eyes at the schools as they are now? The school board is not addressing the problem which is how do kids get to high school without the ability to read or do math at an appropriate level and without the skills they need to be successful, instead they are just trying to buy time until their shipment of magic dust arrives. That also might be the number one reason the state closes the schools, the school board is not rationale. A reasonable person after reading the quotes by them in the paper might think a few of them have become unhinged.
Gentry said. “..the law regarding struggling schools was designed to kill neighborhood schools by putting them on a "death spiral" of options that ends in their closure.” Well sir what do you call the fact that only about ten percent of the sophomores at the three high schools can read at grade level, is that the equivalent of a head ache or a sprain to you? And when you wrote about bussing, well sir, that quite frankly was way over the top."We will again be busing predominately black kids out of their neighborhoods and spreading them all through the school system." Well in case you missed it Mr. Gentry over three thousand kids that could already be attending those schools have chosen to go elsewhere. They in effect are already bussing themselves out of those neighborhoods and spreading themselves all through the school system.
Then Paula Wright, who I had great hope for when elected, said "It's been terribly frustrating because you're working with a program that's researched-based and ready to work, but working against a system that is determined not to let them work." Um excuse me but your statement has more holes in it than a colander. If it is so proven to work why haven’t we done it before and no program will work if the kids don’t have the basic skills it takes to be successful. She then said she has faith in the community. I myself have hope for the community but it is hard to have faith in the community that for a decade now has allowed a massive exodus from these schools and is willing to buy whatever the school board is selling (how well has that worked for the last 30 years by the way).
Next Betty Burney said "I understand when things are political, and I think the commissioner is trying to satisfy a political front, and I'm trying to deal with things on the education front, and the two just don't mix." Whoa, an education front, she wrote, well I remind everybody she has been working on this education front for six plus years now and we currently find the school system on the abyss of losing four schools. If she were a teacher she would be on an action plan and things would not be looking good for her. As for this being about politics, I have no illusions that the state is a friend of ours but I have firsthand knowledge that the school boards solutions to the problem for all of Mrs. Burney’s term in office has been the equivalent of throwing paint against a wall and hoping some of it sticks.
Then there was Tommy Hazouri a lifelong politician who will probably run for dog catcher once he has been term limited out of the school board. He said about the commissioner, “His responses were vague, if responses at all, with no answers,” ironically that’s pretty much what we can say about the solutions that he and the board are proposing, it’s no answer.
The only one of the group that had anything of any substance to say was Becki Couch. She said, "My frustration lies more with the focus from the state level [being only on] what the law says, and that's not really what's best for kids," She was right there, the law is not what is in the best interest of children. However what is best for the kids can't be found in the school boards, two school solution. The kids need structure, they need discipline, they need additional legitimate opportunities to learn the material and they don’t need to be pushed along without the basic skills they need. Mrs. Couch also said”… the state is not connected to reality.” She is right again but unfortunately, as I hope I have pointed out above, the state isn’t the only one who has come unhinged.
Friends we have real problems and we need real solutions. If the school board is not going to be part of this process they should get out of the way. Our city and its children can’t take much more.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
The Cognitive Dissonance of the DCSB
Reading about the school board meeting where some applauded the decision to split our four most struggling schools into two smaller theme schools each, I couldn’t help but think those in the room were suffering from an extreme case of cognitive dissonance. In case you are wondering cognitive dissonance is a psychological term describing the tension that results from having two conflicting thoughts or engaging in behavior that conflicts with one's beliefs. In simple terms, it means you ignore information that conflicts with what you already believe, in an effort to reinforce your beliefs. Sounds crazy right? Well that’s what the school board meeting was.
On one hand we had the school board and I will give them the benefit of the doubt that none are meeting in back rooms with the likes of Jeb Bush, Rick Scott, Gary Chartrand, Eli Broad and a few others discussing how they can destroy public education. No where I think several are filled with hubris, a few are using the position of school board member as a stepping stone up or down in a political career and most are out of their depth, I believe they took the job because helping kids was at least semi-important to them. There they were gathered to help kids but at the same time agreeing to support perhaps the wildest, left field idea to come out of 1701 Prudential Drive in quite some time that has almost no chance of helping kids.
Think about it, if the schools were split into two theme schools occupying the same campus (even if they had one principal overseeing both) they would still need two different administrations, bands, sports teams (The Raines Vikings and the Raines Scandinavians anyone) a doubling up on practically everything but the janitorial staff (are the two schools going to eat together too). Is Eric Smith who I disagree with quite frequently, not a dumb fellow, supposed to go okay with that. Does the school board think he is going to pat them on the back and sat, that’s some real changes you are proposing? To me it sounds like how they have divided my school up into four houses each with its own set of administrators and its own way of doing things or what some of the staff at my school like to call unmitigated disaster 2011. We’re still one school, just now we are headed in four different directions
Even worse however is the fact that if the students at these schools aren’t being successful with the regular academic program, then how are they going to be successful specialized in specialized programs (magic wands, fairy dust and unicorn horns perhaps)? Friends, the problem is not the academic program at the schools, the problem is the kids are not prepared for it.
But despite these blaring, four alarm holes the school board went ahead and voted and seven love I might add, for it. Not one said um, hmm, you know I don’t think we are addressing the real problem here. Not one!
Then there were the community leaders like Mia Jones, Audrey Moran and the NAACP who have either played lips service to the problems facing those schools or embraced one quick fix after another for years. They must have seen the same holes in the plan too. They aren’t very well disguised and they must have known that without addressing the root of the problem the problem will continue (when you have a hole in your roof you don’t try and fix it by giving your car an oil change) but they supported the plan as well.
Their cognitive dissonance came in the form of them drooling at the opportunity to sit on a community board that will have over site of the schools, as if anything they have done up to this point has made a meaningful change, regardless if it helped kids, the reason they were there or not. Furthermore I would not be surprised if some back room deals, you support this and your spot on the board is assured, haven’t already been done, after all this is Jacksonville isn’t it?
Then there was the superintendant whose office came up with the plan. He cannot want to be the guy who was in charge when the state came-a-calling and took the keys to the schools. It’s a good thing he has such a huge paycheck to cushion the blow. He has to know if kids can’t read or do math at grade level, if they don’t have the skills they need to be successful, which includes both a work ethic and discipline, splitting the schools apart has no chance of working. Despite all that and with a straight face I might add went off the menu of choices and suggested the farce outlined above.
Here are these three groups all supposedly interested in the welfare are of children ignoring what’s best for children and that my friends, is text book cognitive dissonance.
I hope Eric Smith doesn’t have a case of cognitive dissonance. That instead he has clarity of purpose and doesn’t give the school system a reprieve with this pie in the sky idea. Not that he hasn’t already tried his best by rewriting the way the state grades schools and giving the district a two year grace period before the tough measures kick in. I can imagine it now; he must have slapped his forehead when he saw that the schools didn’t make enough gains this year and screamed, what do I have to do!
You also have to know the state doesn’t want to take over the schools. They have had their drone roaming the hallways for years attempting to justify their positions and the word walls, data notebooks and complicated lesson plans haven’t made much of a difference. In fact where we say the schools are in danger of being taken over by the state that really isn’t one of the options. Instead it’s either close them or pay somebody else to take them over.
I hate to say it but if these schools don’t improve I hope they are closed (and there is a little cognitive dissonance on my part because I believe the states ranking system to be laughable). It’s painfully obvious that our leaders don’t know what they are doing and the citizens who continue to elect the same group of names over and over don’t too. Let’s stop pretending like we do. Let’s end our collective cognitive dissonance.
On one hand we had the school board and I will give them the benefit of the doubt that none are meeting in back rooms with the likes of Jeb Bush, Rick Scott, Gary Chartrand, Eli Broad and a few others discussing how they can destroy public education. No where I think several are filled with hubris, a few are using the position of school board member as a stepping stone up or down in a political career and most are out of their depth, I believe they took the job because helping kids was at least semi-important to them. There they were gathered to help kids but at the same time agreeing to support perhaps the wildest, left field idea to come out of 1701 Prudential Drive in quite some time that has almost no chance of helping kids.
Think about it, if the schools were split into two theme schools occupying the same campus (even if they had one principal overseeing both) they would still need two different administrations, bands, sports teams (The Raines Vikings and the Raines Scandinavians anyone) a doubling up on practically everything but the janitorial staff (are the two schools going to eat together too). Is Eric Smith who I disagree with quite frequently, not a dumb fellow, supposed to go okay with that. Does the school board think he is going to pat them on the back and sat, that’s some real changes you are proposing? To me it sounds like how they have divided my school up into four houses each with its own set of administrators and its own way of doing things or what some of the staff at my school like to call unmitigated disaster 2011. We’re still one school, just now we are headed in four different directions
Even worse however is the fact that if the students at these schools aren’t being successful with the regular academic program, then how are they going to be successful specialized in specialized programs (magic wands, fairy dust and unicorn horns perhaps)? Friends, the problem is not the academic program at the schools, the problem is the kids are not prepared for it.
But despite these blaring, four alarm holes the school board went ahead and voted and seven love I might add, for it. Not one said um, hmm, you know I don’t think we are addressing the real problem here. Not one!
Then there were the community leaders like Mia Jones, Audrey Moran and the NAACP who have either played lips service to the problems facing those schools or embraced one quick fix after another for years. They must have seen the same holes in the plan too. They aren’t very well disguised and they must have known that without addressing the root of the problem the problem will continue (when you have a hole in your roof you don’t try and fix it by giving your car an oil change) but they supported the plan as well.
Their cognitive dissonance came in the form of them drooling at the opportunity to sit on a community board that will have over site of the schools, as if anything they have done up to this point has made a meaningful change, regardless if it helped kids, the reason they were there or not. Furthermore I would not be surprised if some back room deals, you support this and your spot on the board is assured, haven’t already been done, after all this is Jacksonville isn’t it?
Then there was the superintendant whose office came up with the plan. He cannot want to be the guy who was in charge when the state came-a-calling and took the keys to the schools. It’s a good thing he has such a huge paycheck to cushion the blow. He has to know if kids can’t read or do math at grade level, if they don’t have the skills they need to be successful, which includes both a work ethic and discipline, splitting the schools apart has no chance of working. Despite all that and with a straight face I might add went off the menu of choices and suggested the farce outlined above.
Here are these three groups all supposedly interested in the welfare are of children ignoring what’s best for children and that my friends, is text book cognitive dissonance.
I hope Eric Smith doesn’t have a case of cognitive dissonance. That instead he has clarity of purpose and doesn’t give the school system a reprieve with this pie in the sky idea. Not that he hasn’t already tried his best by rewriting the way the state grades schools and giving the district a two year grace period before the tough measures kick in. I can imagine it now; he must have slapped his forehead when he saw that the schools didn’t make enough gains this year and screamed, what do I have to do!
You also have to know the state doesn’t want to take over the schools. They have had their drone roaming the hallways for years attempting to justify their positions and the word walls, data notebooks and complicated lesson plans haven’t made much of a difference. In fact where we say the schools are in danger of being taken over by the state that really isn’t one of the options. Instead it’s either close them or pay somebody else to take them over.
I hate to say it but if these schools don’t improve I hope they are closed (and there is a little cognitive dissonance on my part because I believe the states ranking system to be laughable). It’s painfully obvious that our leaders don’t know what they are doing and the citizens who continue to elect the same group of names over and over don’t too. Let’s stop pretending like we do. Let’s end our collective cognitive dissonance.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Will somebody please ask the DCSB the right question?
The Times Union asked the Duval County school board, do they get it? The answer to everybody by now should be a painfully obvious no? Its 2011 friends and the problems we are experiencing as a district with reading, intervening schools and so many other things did not magically appear over night; they have been here for decades. Though to solve these problems perhaps the district only needs to answer one question.
The question the Times Union and the city should be asking is how did all these children get to high school without the ability to read and in many cases do math at the appropriate level? Want to figure out why so many kids are doing poorly, well figure out how and why so many kids were passed onto high school without the skills they need to be successful. Answer this question and we might be able to figure out what to next. I can tell you what the answer will not be and that is they suddenly forgot everything they learned.
Friends as long as we continue to shrug our shoulders or turn a blind eye to why this is happening, as long as we don’t figure out why kids show up to high school unprepared and change it, we will continue to find ourselves in the same failing position, regardless of whatever fly by night fix, and make no mistake, splitting the failing schools into two theme schools each is as fly by night as you can get, the school board comes up with.
Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher
The question the Times Union and the city should be asking is how did all these children get to high school without the ability to read and in many cases do math at the appropriate level? Want to figure out why so many kids are doing poorly, well figure out how and why so many kids were passed onto high school without the skills they need to be successful. Answer this question and we might be able to figure out what to next. I can tell you what the answer will not be and that is they suddenly forgot everything they learned.
Friends as long as we continue to shrug our shoulders or turn a blind eye to why this is happening, as long as we don’t figure out why kids show up to high school unprepared and change it, we will continue to find ourselves in the same failing position, regardless of whatever fly by night fix, and make no mistake, splitting the failing schools into two theme schools each is as fly by night as you can get, the school board comes up with.
Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Teacher questions DCSB splitting schools
Below appeared in the Florida Times Union
By Dennis Egan, Teacher
Questioning the idea
In a district that already has a serious financial deficit, the district now proposes to spend an additional $2.7 million to split four struggling schools into eight.
That means four new principals and more assistant principals and other administrative staff. Two schools housed in the same building with no real plan for the details of how that will work.
I can see where a lot of that $2.7 million is going, and it's not into direct student performance activity.
The same student body that generally has been unable to sustain even minimum levels of performance will now be "forced" (superintendent's word) into more rigorous programs.
I'm a science and technology person. Reading is a prerequisite for these topics. How many of these new courses will students in remedial reading and math classes be able to take?
Have we given up on the basics, or have we just given up?
By Dennis Egan, Teacher
Questioning the idea
In a district that already has a serious financial deficit, the district now proposes to spend an additional $2.7 million to split four struggling schools into eight.
That means four new principals and more assistant principals and other administrative staff. Two schools housed in the same building with no real plan for the details of how that will work.
I can see where a lot of that $2.7 million is going, and it's not into direct student performance activity.
The same student body that generally has been unable to sustain even minimum levels of performance will now be "forced" (superintendent's word) into more rigorous programs.
I'm a science and technology person. Reading is a prerequisite for these topics. How many of these new courses will students in remedial reading and math classes be able to take?
Have we given up on the basics, or have we just given up?
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
More of the same, School Board excludes the public
The following was in the November 9th issue of the Times Union:
The Duval County School Board is holding a special meeting at 10 a.m. today in Room 613 of the School Administration Building at 1701 Prudential Drive. The board will hold a public hearing before it votes on updates to its official policies.
The board will consider incorporating into its policies the process used to create, review and amend the district strategic plan, update the responsibilities and authority of the board, update the policy that governs professional development for non-instructional personnel, and update the policy to require all comprehensive high schools have an acceleration program.
I hope everybody sees the problems with this. First the school board announces the meeting to the public on the day of the meeting. Then they have the meeting at a time that practically ensures nobody can or will come. This my friends is not how government is supposed to work and I have to say it severely diminishes my optimism for this new board that for the first time in a long time actually has members who have worked in local classrooms.
If we want things to improve for our schools and our children, the school board is undoubtedly going to have to include the public, not think of creative ways that exclude them. They must change their ways and stop paying lip service to the citizens of Jacksonville.
I am reminded of a quote from one of our national treasures, Mark Twain, who was hopefully being studied somewhere as the new school board decided to leave out the public during their very first meeting. “First God created idiots; that was for practice, then he created the school board.”
I will hope for better but sadly after seeing how the school board has been run for the last decade and one meeting, I will prepare myself for more of the same. "
The Duval County School Board is holding a special meeting at 10 a.m. today in Room 613 of the School Administration Building at 1701 Prudential Drive. The board will hold a public hearing before it votes on updates to its official policies.
The board will consider incorporating into its policies the process used to create, review and amend the district strategic plan, update the responsibilities and authority of the board, update the policy that governs professional development for non-instructional personnel, and update the policy to require all comprehensive high schools have an acceleration program.
I hope everybody sees the problems with this. First the school board announces the meeting to the public on the day of the meeting. Then they have the meeting at a time that practically ensures nobody can or will come. This my friends is not how government is supposed to work and I have to say it severely diminishes my optimism for this new board that for the first time in a long time actually has members who have worked in local classrooms.
If we want things to improve for our schools and our children, the school board is undoubtedly going to have to include the public, not think of creative ways that exclude them. They must change their ways and stop paying lip service to the citizens of Jacksonville.
I am reminded of a quote from one of our national treasures, Mark Twain, who was hopefully being studied somewhere as the new school board decided to leave out the public during their very first meeting. “First God created idiots; that was for practice, then he created the school board.”
I will hope for better but sadly after seeing how the school board has been run for the last decade and one meeting, I will prepare myself for more of the same. "
A Pratt-Dannals Disservice
I’ll just jump right to it. Superintendant Ed Pratt Dannals is doing the city, its schools and its children a tremendous disservice. Now I am not talking about his leadership and the policies and procedures he has either put in place or endorsed, though many of them are at best suspect, no I am talking about something much more dangerous and that’s the misleading words he takes every opportunity to spew.
Despite almost overwhelming evidence to the controversy the superintendant is constantly saying, look at us we have a B district and we’re heading in the right direction. He celebrates a two percent increase in the drop put rate but doesn’t mention how it only came about after the state changed its formula. He says look at Stanton and Paxon but through omissions says please ignore the other 11 D or F public high schools. Have you seen our award winning magnet programs, he asks, while deflecting attention away from the fact we have four schools on the verge of being taken over by the state? I could go on and on and on. In short he takes every opportunity to paint a rosy picture, when the picture is far from rosy and this misinformation is holding both our city and its schools and children back.
The truth is we have real problems, problems it is going to take everybody rolling up their sleeves and pitching in to solve. How are Jack and Jill public supposed to know how dire the situation actually is when the superintendant with a wink, a nod and a don’t look at my pay check says, you know what, sure we can improve but things aren’t that bad.
The public might not understand that the uptick in youthful violent crime is a direct reflection on what is happening in the hallways of many of our schools, especially when the superintendant says look how suspensions are down 49%. They might not understand that the reason many employers despite the cities obvious plusses resist coming here is because of our school system. He glosses over the fact that over half our tenth graders have been passed along without the skills they need and can’t read at grade level and the facts that many of our kids graduate woefully unprepared for college (over 70% have to take remedial classes) or for the world of employment. The people of Jacksonville are being blinded by the superintendant and his proxies saying; look at us we have all these great things going on that has made us a B district. Well friends just like the C has become the new F in many of the district’s schools making it in many cases practically meaningless and/or deceptive, being a B district on the states scoring scale just isn’t that impressive.
Mr. Superintendant I implore you, no make that I beg you, please call a press conference and after you sigh and throw your hands up in the air tell the people of Jacksonville the truth, let them know how dire things really are, the serious trouble that we are really in. Tell them how our teachers are having their morale crushed and are overwhelmed with tasks that only have a peripheral relationship to teaching, tell them how policies and procedures are squeezing the joy of learning out of many of our children and putting fewer and fewer in situations where they can actually succeed. Tell them how you have cut the budget to the bone and so many needs are going unmet and the states unfunded mandates usurp the people of Jacksonville’s ability to choose their future for themselves. Tell them how it is going to take them getting off the sidelines, them volunteering, taking an interest, and demanding their representatives in government do what is right and that is the only way our city, our schools and our children are going to have a chance. Tell the people of Jacksonville, black white, rich or poor that we must put our differences aside and start working for the good of our schools and our children. Be a leader and put a true face on things, don’t just be a guy collecting a huge paycheck trying to protect his niche anymore. Sir, I know it was a long time ago when you get into education but it was probably because you wanted to make a difference. Well again sir right now your words are making a difference unfortunately they are not making a positive one.
Superintendent Pratt-Dannals when you paint a rosy picture you have robbed the people of Jacksonville of the choice to get involved or not and this at time when we desperately need them more than ever. Why would they and why should they get involved if our top teacher says, things could be better but they really aren’t that bad after
Despite almost overwhelming evidence to the controversy the superintendant is constantly saying, look at us we have a B district and we’re heading in the right direction. He celebrates a two percent increase in the drop put rate but doesn’t mention how it only came about after the state changed its formula. He says look at Stanton and Paxon but through omissions says please ignore the other 11 D or F public high schools. Have you seen our award winning magnet programs, he asks, while deflecting attention away from the fact we have four schools on the verge of being taken over by the state? I could go on and on and on. In short he takes every opportunity to paint a rosy picture, when the picture is far from rosy and this misinformation is holding both our city and its schools and children back.
The truth is we have real problems, problems it is going to take everybody rolling up their sleeves and pitching in to solve. How are Jack and Jill public supposed to know how dire the situation actually is when the superintendant with a wink, a nod and a don’t look at my pay check says, you know what, sure we can improve but things aren’t that bad.
The public might not understand that the uptick in youthful violent crime is a direct reflection on what is happening in the hallways of many of our schools, especially when the superintendant says look how suspensions are down 49%. They might not understand that the reason many employers despite the cities obvious plusses resist coming here is because of our school system. He glosses over the fact that over half our tenth graders have been passed along without the skills they need and can’t read at grade level and the facts that many of our kids graduate woefully unprepared for college (over 70% have to take remedial classes) or for the world of employment. The people of Jacksonville are being blinded by the superintendant and his proxies saying; look at us we have all these great things going on that has made us a B district. Well friends just like the C has become the new F in many of the district’s schools making it in many cases practically meaningless and/or deceptive, being a B district on the states scoring scale just isn’t that impressive.
Mr. Superintendant I implore you, no make that I beg you, please call a press conference and after you sigh and throw your hands up in the air tell the people of Jacksonville the truth, let them know how dire things really are, the serious trouble that we are really in. Tell them how our teachers are having their morale crushed and are overwhelmed with tasks that only have a peripheral relationship to teaching, tell them how policies and procedures are squeezing the joy of learning out of many of our children and putting fewer and fewer in situations where they can actually succeed. Tell them how you have cut the budget to the bone and so many needs are going unmet and the states unfunded mandates usurp the people of Jacksonville’s ability to choose their future for themselves. Tell them how it is going to take them getting off the sidelines, them volunteering, taking an interest, and demanding their representatives in government do what is right and that is the only way our city, our schools and our children are going to have a chance. Tell the people of Jacksonville, black white, rich or poor that we must put our differences aside and start working for the good of our schools and our children. Be a leader and put a true face on things, don’t just be a guy collecting a huge paycheck trying to protect his niche anymore. Sir, I know it was a long time ago when you get into education but it was probably because you wanted to make a difference. Well again sir right now your words are making a difference unfortunately they are not making a positive one.
Superintendent Pratt-Dannals when you paint a rosy picture you have robbed the people of Jacksonville of the choice to get involved or not and this at time when we desperately need them more than ever. Why would they and why should they get involved if our top teacher says, things could be better but they really aren’t that bad after
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Same in Same out: The F-cat
If you are having a hard time judging how the county did on the F-Cat I think that’s understandable. It can be difficult to look at the statistics and know exactly what an improvement is especially when different parties might disagree. The Duval County School Board web site has a very positive spin, though if the past is any indicator they could spin a school burning down as an opportunity to practice building conservation. Then the Times Unions headline was Northeast Florida schools get mixed FCAT results and if you know anything about the typical Times Union coverage of the DCSB, that’s them pretty much blasting the district. So what to do?
Well when I wanted to know how to interpret all the data, the pluses, the minues and the pushes, to get to the real nitty gritty, I looked at one of my teacher colleagues updated facebook status which said, Checked out the FCAT Scores online .... Not pretty :( Next year is gonna be a WHOLE lot of *fun*
I sighed and not because I sensed sarcasm there but because this past year wasn’t a whole lot of fun either.
This past year saw a lot of changes to the teaching profession and to what teachers were required to do. When I started teaching a little over a decade ago I could fit six lesson plans on a page, where this year I was required to create individual lesson plans that were often more than two pages long. Next Data became the word as the year as teachers were required to create complicated and time consuming data notebooks that took the place of the information most teachers could get just working with their students for a few days. Then teachers were required to create word walls, board configurations, artifact maps, agenda boards, group justifications, basically a list of extra tasks a mile long and that was before teaching even began and for many teachers this robbed them of both their creativity and enthusiasm.
To make sure teachers word walls were correct and that the standards were posted, there were stress inducing and time stealing state walk throughs, district walk throughs, academic coach walk throughs and administration walk throughs too. Unfortunately there main concern didn’t seem to be how the teacher was teaching or if the students were learning but if everything was uniform and posted in the right position.
Then this year it seemed like we gave up any pretense of not teaching just to the test. In this era of high stakes test taking it has been going on for quite some time but this year it was more focused than ever. We had blitz sessions, practice tests days, after school and Saturday sessions, and meeting after meeting all about the f-cat. Speaking of meetings I actually went to one meeting, I kid you not about all the other meetings I had to go to.
Basically for a few extra points on the f-cat the district put yokes on the back of teachers, subtly cajoling then into working hundreds of hours of unpaid over time by giving them more responsibilities to do in a day than was possible. Forcing them to be away from their friends and families in order to complete tasks that at best only had a peripheral relationship with teaching. Since Jacksonville has a school district that is almost universally believed to be struggling this begs a few questions, the first of which is, what are we doing wrong?
Teachers are working harder and longer than ever before but for the most are just concentrating on the one thing the district has deemed important the f-cat but despite all that they are doing, on average kids are making marginal gains at best. You would think since the district has put all its energies into one task, we would be doing a lot better. There’s not a lot of joy in schools these days and even though there is a lot of hard work going on we are having less and less to show for it.
I may have a solution.
The Premack principal basically says people will perform a less desirable activity to get at the more desirable activity, for example, eat your vegetables before you can have your desert. There are no deserts in schools any more, not for teachers or for students.
What would happen if instead of micromanaging teachers, giving them more tasks than they can do, thus stealing some of the joy from many, the district gave teachers autonomy, just a list of what was to be covered. Encouraged creativity, telling them to find their kids strengths and to teach to them and then finally asking them to give just one extra unpaid hour a day so they don’t get burned out or feel overwhelmed.
What would happen if instead of making school a dreary place for many children filled with many classes they aren’t interested in we tailored curriculum's to their likes and at least in high school had reasonable schedules that aided them in being successful.
I didn’t always love school growing up and there were sometimes I didn’t even like it. I grew up in an era, not that long ago where one test didn’t determine my fate. I can’t imagine the pressure that must be on some kids especially the ones just marginally interested in school or whose schedules have no classes they could look forward to. There was a time however when I loved being a teacher, I would look forward to coming up with lessons and engaging and working with my classes. Now however I often feel as overwhelmed as the kids, actually teaching hasn’t become drudgery but so much else during the day has. It would be disingenuous of me not to say that hasn’t taken it’s toll and I don’t think I am the only teacher that could say that.
I see everyday the way we do things and I see the results and like I think you should be, I am unimpressed.
Would we do worse if we tried a different approach? Could we do worse?
I would bet we would do better and much better. People typically perform a higher level when they enjoy the thing that they are doing or have something to look forward to and that goes for teaching and learning as well.
So how did we as a county do on the f-cat? You tell me. How d you think we will continue to do unless we change things? You tell me that one too.
Well when I wanted to know how to interpret all the data, the pluses, the minues and the pushes, to get to the real nitty gritty, I looked at one of my teacher colleagues updated facebook status which said, Checked out the FCAT Scores online .... Not pretty :( Next year is gonna be a WHOLE lot of *fun*
I sighed and not because I sensed sarcasm there but because this past year wasn’t a whole lot of fun either.
This past year saw a lot of changes to the teaching profession and to what teachers were required to do. When I started teaching a little over a decade ago I could fit six lesson plans on a page, where this year I was required to create individual lesson plans that were often more than two pages long. Next Data became the word as the year as teachers were required to create complicated and time consuming data notebooks that took the place of the information most teachers could get just working with their students for a few days. Then teachers were required to create word walls, board configurations, artifact maps, agenda boards, group justifications, basically a list of extra tasks a mile long and that was before teaching even began and for many teachers this robbed them of both their creativity and enthusiasm.
To make sure teachers word walls were correct and that the standards were posted, there were stress inducing and time stealing state walk throughs, district walk throughs, academic coach walk throughs and administration walk throughs too. Unfortunately there main concern didn’t seem to be how the teacher was teaching or if the students were learning but if everything was uniform and posted in the right position.
Then this year it seemed like we gave up any pretense of not teaching just to the test. In this era of high stakes test taking it has been going on for quite some time but this year it was more focused than ever. We had blitz sessions, practice tests days, after school and Saturday sessions, and meeting after meeting all about the f-cat. Speaking of meetings I actually went to one meeting, I kid you not about all the other meetings I had to go to.
Basically for a few extra points on the f-cat the district put yokes on the back of teachers, subtly cajoling then into working hundreds of hours of unpaid over time by giving them more responsibilities to do in a day than was possible. Forcing them to be away from their friends and families in order to complete tasks that at best only had a peripheral relationship with teaching. Since Jacksonville has a school district that is almost universally believed to be struggling this begs a few questions, the first of which is, what are we doing wrong?
Teachers are working harder and longer than ever before but for the most are just concentrating on the one thing the district has deemed important the f-cat but despite all that they are doing, on average kids are making marginal gains at best. You would think since the district has put all its energies into one task, we would be doing a lot better. There’s not a lot of joy in schools these days and even though there is a lot of hard work going on we are having less and less to show for it.
I may have a solution.
The Premack principal basically says people will perform a less desirable activity to get at the more desirable activity, for example, eat your vegetables before you can have your desert. There are no deserts in schools any more, not for teachers or for students.
What would happen if instead of micromanaging teachers, giving them more tasks than they can do, thus stealing some of the joy from many, the district gave teachers autonomy, just a list of what was to be covered. Encouraged creativity, telling them to find their kids strengths and to teach to them and then finally asking them to give just one extra unpaid hour a day so they don’t get burned out or feel overwhelmed.
What would happen if instead of making school a dreary place for many children filled with many classes they aren’t interested in we tailored curriculum's to their likes and at least in high school had reasonable schedules that aided them in being successful.
I didn’t always love school growing up and there were sometimes I didn’t even like it. I grew up in an era, not that long ago where one test didn’t determine my fate. I can’t imagine the pressure that must be on some kids especially the ones just marginally interested in school or whose schedules have no classes they could look forward to. There was a time however when I loved being a teacher, I would look forward to coming up with lessons and engaging and working with my classes. Now however I often feel as overwhelmed as the kids, actually teaching hasn’t become drudgery but so much else during the day has. It would be disingenuous of me not to say that hasn’t taken it’s toll and I don’t think I am the only teacher that could say that.
I see everyday the way we do things and I see the results and like I think you should be, I am unimpressed.
Would we do worse if we tried a different approach? Could we do worse?
I would bet we would do better and much better. People typically perform a higher level when they enjoy the thing that they are doing or have something to look forward to and that goes for teaching and learning as well.
So how did we as a county do on the f-cat? You tell me. How d you think we will continue to do unless we change things? You tell me that one too.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
A Lack of Vision
One of the biggest problems the Duval County School District has is it lacks vision. We don’t seem to have a comprehensive and realistic plan for our children. Now we do have a vision statement. It says: Every student will graduate from Duval County Public Schools with the knowledge and skills to be successful in post-secondary education and/or the workforce.
Unfortunately recent indicators say we’re not doing such a good job achieving that.
Florida State College at Jacksonville reports that seventy percent of recent grads have to take remedial courses before they start their studies. Then several employers have likewise said that finding competent workers among recent graduates is getting harder and harder to do. Which begs the question what are we doing wrong?
Could it be that we are requiring every student to take and pass the same classes to graduate? That’s right folks, here in Jacksonville we require every child regardless of ability, aptitude, intelligence, interest or desire to take the same classes to finish school. We in effect have a one-size fit’s all curriculum that sadly isn’t leading to many children being successful either in school or once they graduate.
The truth is the reality of society doesn’t support our districts vision. We don’t want a society of just brain surgeons or engineers, which is what the school board will have you believe, is possible. We need laborers, artists, tradesmen, and dozens of other professions that won’t be outsourced to India or other emerging third world countries. We however do need them to be able to do their jobs well.
Shouldn’t our vision instead be to help every child be as productive member of society as possible regardless of what they do? Whether they work with their hands or with their brains? Whether they dig ditches or fix hearts? Shouldn’t the vision we have for our children be realistic and achievable?
Furthermore if some or our students after they graduate high school get a job with a decent wage that has potential for advancement even if they never plan to go to college we should celebrate that. Not every child is going to be cut out for college and even more aren’t going to have the desire to attend. We as a society should not just accept that fact we should also embrace it. We should encourage children to be the best they can be whether they have a degree or not and public school should help develop whatever skills they have, not what skills we wish they had.
Also as society has evolved it’s become completely debatable if it’s even necessary that college be required to be successful. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that seven of the 10 employment sectors that are growing the quickest, those that include occupations such as home healthcare aide, customer service representative, food prepares and servers not only will see the largest gains over the next decade but require little more than on the job training to do successfully. These jobs don’t require four years of college and tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt to do. They also don’t require advance maths like algebra II or other courses that the DCPS system requires. A math teacher colleague of mine once asked, why am I teaching algebra II to a kid who wants to drive trucks for a living?
In a recent Las Angeles Times article W. Norton Grubb, a professor at UC Berkeley's School of Education said that "People with bachelor's degrees will increasingly get not very highly satisfactory jobs. In that sense, people are getting more schooling than jobs are available." He also noted that in 1970, 77% of workers with a bachelor's degree were employed in professional and managerial occupations but that by 2000, that number had fallen to 60%. The article went on to quote the National Assn. of Colleges and Employers, which said that only one out of four college seniors this year had a job waiting for them upon graduation.
Please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying college isn’t important, you will find study after study, which indicates it leads to higher salaries and more opportunities. I also personally greatly believe in education and encourage the kids in my class to pursue as much as they can, even the ones I know because of desire or ability won’t get that far.
I am also not saying we shouldn’t have minimal standards. Kids should be able to read and write, do math to a realistic level and have the ability to critically think upon graduation. They should also be respectful and have some semblance of a work ethic too, things the school system destroys when it doesn’t give kids consequences for bad behavior or pushes then along without the skills they need to be successful or just teaches to one test.
What I am saying is we need to have graduation tracks that teach kids, skills and trades. We need to serve the needs of all our students not those just destined to go to college upon graduation.
What I am saying is a bachelors degree is not the end all be all that it was a generation ago and what with the fast food eating, video game playing, Ritalin popping kids we have roaming the halls of today’s schools we should be exploring other options. I am saying that instead of just unrealistically preparing all our students for college, instead we should be preparing them for life and to be successful at whatever they choose to do.
How’s that for vision?
Those who are in charge at 1700 Prudential Drive might disagree with me when I say we lack vision. They would probably point to the Magnet School programs that have seen two of our schools, Stanton and Paxon be ranked in the top eight of the whole country. They might also point out that for years students here have been required to take advanced maths and science classes to graduate. That these are requirements that the state is now just beginning to phase in over the next four years.
The thing is for every success like above that the district points to, critical thinkers can also find numerous blaring drawbacks. There’s our graduation, reading and drop out rates, which are some of the worse in the state that people can easily point to. That and the fact even that college isn’t for everyone and by forcing all students into the same track more and more are needlessly dropping through the cracks. Plus I never said we lacked vision, I said we lacked a realistic and achievable one.
Unfortunately recent indicators say we’re not doing such a good job achieving that.
Florida State College at Jacksonville reports that seventy percent of recent grads have to take remedial courses before they start their studies. Then several employers have likewise said that finding competent workers among recent graduates is getting harder and harder to do. Which begs the question what are we doing wrong?
Could it be that we are requiring every student to take and pass the same classes to graduate? That’s right folks, here in Jacksonville we require every child regardless of ability, aptitude, intelligence, interest or desire to take the same classes to finish school. We in effect have a one-size fit’s all curriculum that sadly isn’t leading to many children being successful either in school or once they graduate.
The truth is the reality of society doesn’t support our districts vision. We don’t want a society of just brain surgeons or engineers, which is what the school board will have you believe, is possible. We need laborers, artists, tradesmen, and dozens of other professions that won’t be outsourced to India or other emerging third world countries. We however do need them to be able to do their jobs well.
Shouldn’t our vision instead be to help every child be as productive member of society as possible regardless of what they do? Whether they work with their hands or with their brains? Whether they dig ditches or fix hearts? Shouldn’t the vision we have for our children be realistic and achievable?
Furthermore if some or our students after they graduate high school get a job with a decent wage that has potential for advancement even if they never plan to go to college we should celebrate that. Not every child is going to be cut out for college and even more aren’t going to have the desire to attend. We as a society should not just accept that fact we should also embrace it. We should encourage children to be the best they can be whether they have a degree or not and public school should help develop whatever skills they have, not what skills we wish they had.
Also as society has evolved it’s become completely debatable if it’s even necessary that college be required to be successful. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that seven of the 10 employment sectors that are growing the quickest, those that include occupations such as home healthcare aide, customer service representative, food prepares and servers not only will see the largest gains over the next decade but require little more than on the job training to do successfully. These jobs don’t require four years of college and tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt to do. They also don’t require advance maths like algebra II or other courses that the DCPS system requires. A math teacher colleague of mine once asked, why am I teaching algebra II to a kid who wants to drive trucks for a living?
In a recent Las Angeles Times article W. Norton Grubb, a professor at UC Berkeley's School of Education said that "People with bachelor's degrees will increasingly get not very highly satisfactory jobs. In that sense, people are getting more schooling than jobs are available." He also noted that in 1970, 77% of workers with a bachelor's degree were employed in professional and managerial occupations but that by 2000, that number had fallen to 60%. The article went on to quote the National Assn. of Colleges and Employers, which said that only one out of four college seniors this year had a job waiting for them upon graduation.
Please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying college isn’t important, you will find study after study, which indicates it leads to higher salaries and more opportunities. I also personally greatly believe in education and encourage the kids in my class to pursue as much as they can, even the ones I know because of desire or ability won’t get that far.
I am also not saying we shouldn’t have minimal standards. Kids should be able to read and write, do math to a realistic level and have the ability to critically think upon graduation. They should also be respectful and have some semblance of a work ethic too, things the school system destroys when it doesn’t give kids consequences for bad behavior or pushes then along without the skills they need to be successful or just teaches to one test.
What I am saying is we need to have graduation tracks that teach kids, skills and trades. We need to serve the needs of all our students not those just destined to go to college upon graduation.
What I am saying is a bachelors degree is not the end all be all that it was a generation ago and what with the fast food eating, video game playing, Ritalin popping kids we have roaming the halls of today’s schools we should be exploring other options. I am saying that instead of just unrealistically preparing all our students for college, instead we should be preparing them for life and to be successful at whatever they choose to do.
How’s that for vision?
Those who are in charge at 1700 Prudential Drive might disagree with me when I say we lack vision. They would probably point to the Magnet School programs that have seen two of our schools, Stanton and Paxon be ranked in the top eight of the whole country. They might also point out that for years students here have been required to take advanced maths and science classes to graduate. That these are requirements that the state is now just beginning to phase in over the next four years.
The thing is for every success like above that the district points to, critical thinkers can also find numerous blaring drawbacks. There’s our graduation, reading and drop out rates, which are some of the worse in the state that people can easily point to. That and the fact even that college isn’t for everyone and by forcing all students into the same track more and more are needlessly dropping through the cracks. Plus I never said we lacked vision, I said we lacked a realistic and achievable one.
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