Dear Duval Public Schools, why are you setting up your teachers and students to fail?

Here is a letter I sent to the district a while back that several middle school ELA teachers helped me compose. As of yet I haven't received a reply and don't worry, I am not holding my breath.

Hello

My name is Chris Guerrieri, publisher of the blog, “Education Matters.” The Florida Times-Union and Folio Magazine frequently reprint my blog posts, which primarily focus on local public education issues. The high volume of e-mails I have received, coupled with personal interviews of middle school ELA/Reading teams concerning the District’s highly publicized initiative to increase student reading proficiency prompts my latest article. It is my understanding that as Director of Middle School English Language Arts and Reading, you are responsible for the latest “roll-out” of the reading initiative. As such, I hope that you will address and clarify some questions I have based upon my investigation to date.   

When I met with middle school ELA/Reading teams and teachers, they expressed grave concerns over the scheduling, curriculum, and resources for the Reading and ELA courses using the double block/”Hybrid ELA” scheduling. They had voiced their concerns to you, but felt ignored or dismissed. Other teachers who contacted me voiced similar concerns to your Literacy and Reading Specialists, and likewise were dismissed.

As the Director of this program, I am seeking your input on these issues they have raised:
1. Lack of the required Reading Endorsement or field certification. Although scheduled under the proper course code, the Intensive Reading and Regular ELA teachers are required to follow the identical curriculum split between reading and ELA.  

- How are ELA teachers lacking reading endorsements yet teaching a curriculum mandating  SRA instruction, considered to be teaching in-field?
-How are Reading teachers lacking ELA certification yet teaching a curriculum mandating ELA instruction that exceeds the scope of the SRA material considered to be teaching in-field?

2. Lack of materials needed to implement the “Hybrid.”
- When will or will both the Reading and ELA teachers receive class sets of SRA books? If they don’t receive class sets, how are they to proceed?  

- How can the Reading and ELA teachers do a “novel study” on the same novel with only five-seven copies of the book, but 24 to 26 students per class?  

3. Inappropriate novels.
- Why are selections being mandated that have objectionable language and/or material in them? - - How are Level 1 and Level 2 readers to independently read novels that are many grade levels above their reading comprehension?

4. Inferior ELA instruction and preparation for the writing and reading tests.

- Why must the ELA portion be taught in small groups, rather than the teacher directed format usually used of I Do, We Do, and You Do?

- How will the thirty minutes of allocated ELA time adequately prepare the students for the new writing and reading tests, when a teacher will only instruct one to two small groups a class, while the remaining four to five groups are “self-teaching.?”  Is this realistic for middle schoolers?

It appears that the teachers and the district agree that reading proficiency and comprehension is essential. The district has a plan that teachers fear is grossly inadequate, burdensome, if not impossible to implement, and jeopardizes their “in-field” status, as well as performance evaluations. As you know, well-intentioned people can make the greatest plans, but if they can't get buy in from the people implementing them, they are most likely doomed to fail.

I realize that you are busy, however, I hope you can find the time to respond to the above concerns. My readership is large, so potentially tens of thousands of readers, many of whom are parents, will read my article. I would like them to know your position as to these concerns, as it would be relevant to their views and may assuage some concerns. I assure you that should you respond before I post the article, I will send it to you to review for accuracy as to your responses.

I hope to finish the piece by September 7, 2014. I look forward to hearing from you prior to that date.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Chris Guerrieri

Publisher, Education Matters

John Thrasher's hall of shame

Before wanting to run FSU into the ground he did his best to kneecap public education. Since he has been in the news a lot lately, I thought I would bring you some of his most infamous hits.

Then let’s let him know, we understand he has a pathological hatred of unions especially teachers unions, but politics is supposed to be civil not about crushing your enemies when you get the chance. Tell him to drop his union busting bills

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2011/03/does-john-thrasher-really-listen-to.html

I have long thought John Thrasher was no friend of education but it turns out he has been no friend of Florida either. His friends you ask, my guess is anybody who can add to his bank account.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2011/11/john-thrasher-is-no-friend-of-florida.html

I just wonder what some teacher did to him to make him hate all teachers so much.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2011/02/john-thrasher-hates-teachers-or-hates.html

State Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, expressed surprise when told of the charter requests and wasn’t sure why they wanted to come to a successful district such as St. Johns County.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2012/08/john-thrasher-says-charter-schools.html

But another leader with statewide stature, GOP Sen. John Thrasher of Jacksonville, is proposing to hit Florida's public-employee unions in the wallet by making it harder for them to raise and spend money. Unlike Mr. Scott's proposal, Mr. Thrasher's doesn't have fairness or financial justifications behind it.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2011/02/john-thrashers-anti-union-bill-solution.html

"I believe in the golden rule," said Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, according to the Florida Independent. "He who has the gold makes the rules..."

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2011/06/florida-senator-john-thrashers.html

There are a few dozen more but I think you get the point.

The appointment of John Thrasher gives FSU a permanent black eye.

From on Presidents and Politics by Jennifer Proffitt Ph.D.

I’ve had several people ask me why I am “surprised” that the BOT chose Senator Thrasher to be our next president, and obviously, I am not surprised. I’ve been predicting this since February. But I am extremely disheartened by the absolute lack of consideration of the key constituents of the university, namely faculty and students. The Trustees completely, utterly, shamelessly ignored the will of campus and selected their political buddy over three extremely qualified higher education leaders.

I keep thinking, how are we going to recruit and retain faculty at a university that doesn’t care what the faculty think? How are we going to retain and recruit faculty at a university whose president knows nothing about the academy (but everything about the Capitol), denies science and whose own voting record demonstrates anti-union, anti-faculty, anti-tenure attitudes and policies?

I saw an article in the Democrat this morning with a headline that one of the faculty leaders on campus is eager to work with Thrasher (though I'm not sure that's exactly what he said), and yes, obviously we will need to do so (though, folks, he still has to go through the BOG, which was grumbling earlier because the search was a national embarrassment—and still is).  But that doesn’t mean let’s roll over. I’m happy to work with anyone who has the best interests of the institution at heart and who respects faculty so we can move this university forward--absolutely. But we will not give up shared governance; we will not give up academic freedom; we will not give up tenure; we will not give up integrity; we will not give up on our faculty one tiny bit because someone made a campaign promise to increase salaries. We will, however, hold anyone who makes such promises to them. But I guess Senator Thrasher is gonna have to manufacture money in his basement because as Trustee Rolando said, unless the legislature finds religion and allocates more money to higher education, then the argument that Thrasher knows the legislature and can steer more funds to us is garbage.

The fact that this search was a sham from the beginning only adds to my, let’s call it frustration, that a non-academic politician with personal, political, and financial ties to the BOT members and most of the PSAC members was rammed through despite loud opposition by all facets of the community (and calling him a non-academic is not name-calling—there’s evidence that has been presented and reported multiple times—and having a law degree does not make one an academic if he/she hasn’t worked in academia). Let’s not forget that alumni—who are also donors—are also outraged. I’d love to know how many people pulled their donations. I have anecdotal evidence of this, but I would like data.

Perhaps others aren’t hearing the same things I’m hearing: faculty already being recruited or applying for jobs, students and parents upset that politics trumped experience and merit, alumni outraged, community members flabbergasted that this could happen at our university.

So, no, I’m not surprised by the outcome. I’m surprised by the blatant in your face we don't care what anyone thinks politics after the search firm recruited excellent and qualified candidates. Wasted everyone’s time and taxpayer money just to give FSU a permanent black eye.

http://presidentsandpolitics.blogspot.com/

WJCT joins the marginalize teachers crowd!

A little more about WJCT's dinner supporting education figures. First it is beyond the pale that they honored Gary Chartrand. That guy has done more to harm public education in Florida than anybody and to be honest I am not a fan of Betty Burney either. The only thing that improved with her on the school board was her bank account. I guess some people can disagree with me but one thing we should all agree upon was WJCT's shoddy treatment of teachers.

They acknowledged/celebrated five people in the education world at their dinner and only one was a teacher.  You know one of the actual people that does the educating. That's how it is though in education, the people that do the job are also the people most often ignored, neglected, and marginalized.

There are 7,000 teachers here in Duval but only one was worthy of acknowledgement. That's half as many as who serve on various WJCT boards, Gary Chartrand and Trey Csar, that were recognized, which makes me think that was a more important contribution to them than being involved in education.

Sadly WJCT joined the ranks of those people who believe teachers are an unnecessary evil in education and instead celebrated a privatizer and a few others who either have never or its been years since they saw a classroom.

If you think about it, it really is shameful. 

WJCT can't really be considered a source for Education News anymore

I have to say I like what Rhema Thompson, WJCT's education reporter has done over the last few months  which makes me sad to say that they have jumped the shark.

You see as part of their  American Graduate series they threw a dinner honoring among others Gary Chartrand the local millionaire and sworn foe of public school teachers and champion of privatization.

From WJCT: Chartrand is executive chairman of Acosta Sales and Marketing agency as well as chairman of the State Board of Education. He was also recently chosen to head the WJCT Foundation.

WJCT CEO Michael Boylan presented the evening's awards.

"The motivation for American Graduate Champion was to provide mentors for other people in our community to know that the rank and file from the Chairman of the State Board  to a local teacher can be impact our community in such a significant way," he said.

http://news.wjct.org/post/wjct-american-graduate-honor-local-education-advocates

By significant does Boyland mean dreadful? Chartrand has done more to harm public education than anybody in Florida over the last few years has and in a state where there are a lot of bad actors that is saying a lot.

Well now we know why WJCT hasn't covered Chartrand's attempts to buy school board seats, his homophobic remarks, and his donation to a pac that out and out lied about Paula Wright among other things.

WJCT instead traded their journalistic integrity for 30 pieces of silver.

Incoming House Speaker Steve Crisafulli cherry picks the Constitution

Incoming speaker Steve Crisafulli recently penned an op-ed in Florida today extolling the virtues of standardized testing and then doubled down saying in the Tampa Times: According to the Florida Constitution, the state has the paramount duty to provide a high quality public school system. Without an accountability system for all public school students, the state cannot ensure that children attending our public schools have the opportunity to receive a high quality education."

Maybe without an accountability system but who says it has to be the one we have now that is so based on high stakes tests which many experts say do more harm than good and VAM scores which the DOE admits are wrong more than a third of the time and don't factor in poverty.

But what really gets me is he paraphrased the Florida Constitution because it says a lot more.

The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require.

https://www.fldoe.org/ClassSize/pdf/amendment.pdf

Let's look at two words, paramount and uniform. Florida is currently ranked 38th in per pupil spending according to the Florida Tax watch.  Couple that with superintendents and school boards throughout the state lamenting a lack of resources and our education system hardly seems paramount.

Now uniform. Florida sends hundreds of millions of dollars to charter schools, which as a group under perform when compared to public schools, over 260 of which have taken public money and failed leaving numerous communities in a lurch and many of which are for profit and voucher schools which are exempt from the accountability system that Crisafulli joyfully advocates for. Hardly seems uniform does it.

Notice it nowhere say schools and teachers have to be graded on a system that most experts and people in the education world believe is a disaster.  

Ignoring and misrepresenting the Florida Constitution seems like a poor start to his speaker ship and it should concern us all no matter where in the state we live.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/florida-house-leader-not-keen-on-letting-parents-opt-out-of-testing/2199155

20 year Duval teaching vet, this is the worst I have ever seen!

From a reader:

 Yet, at the elementary level, they are forcing these children to read entire novels that are sorely lacking in any sort of literary value! 4th graders are being forced to read a book by a "local" author yet it is a book that few seem interested in. We can't use the textbooks because there "aren't enough". We can't run copies yet we are supposed to have the items preprinted for the interactive journals. We lack the basic supplies such as paper yet I am expected to print 30 plus pages in lesson plans a week for just 1 subject, not including my documentation of small group instruction. 

Printers are slowly being phased out in the schools and rumor has it, computers that teachers may or may not be getting will not even have a DVD/CD drive. That is, of course, assuming our teacher computers (some of which are 6+ years old) are even replaced. However, I am supposed to implement technology in my classroom. That is, when the computer ports in the classroom are working or the network is actually working. That is also assuming that my 6+ year old teacher laptop isn't being shut down in the MIDDLE of a lesson for an UPDATE that should have been done AFTER school when I wasn't in the MIDDLE of TEACHING AN ACTUAL LESSON to my class!! My computer shut down 4 times in the past week for UPDATES in the MIDDLE of lessons!! 

I have worked in Duval for over 20 years. I am also proud to say I am a product of Duval County Public Schools. However, this year has been unreal!! To call it a HOT MESS would be a gross understatement! I have never seen such disconnect and such hand tying as I have seen this year. We aren't purchasing the textbooks and other materials needed to do our jobs so where is the money going?!?!? We have core classes that are overcrowded and no one downtown seems to care. Let's pay the fine rather than do as the voter's wished and limit class size. All I can do at this point is do my best and pray that it is enough because we certainly aren't getting any help from the powers that be. Sad!

Representative Crisafulli’s teacher conspiracy theory

Crisafulli our incoming speaker of the house penned an opt-ed advocating for the states continued reliance on high stakes test. There was a lot wrong with his reasoning, like an absence of facts and him just making stuff up but what really got me was his teacher conspiracy theory.

He wrote:  The recent misuse of the phrase “high-stakes tests” can be attributed to the fact the results are now high stakes for teachers. Starting this year, teachers are eligible for performance pay based in part on student progress. Teachers aren’t graded on a child’s ability to pass a test, but are rewarded for helping children make progress.

Oh he thinks teachers met together at their secret head quarters where they had to give the secret union handshake to get in and there hatched an ultra secret plan to discredit high stakes testing to avoid merit pay.  He is implying that before tests were used to reward teachers there were no problem with high stakes testing at all but now all of a sudden people are complaining and it's because of teachers. It must be because he believes teachers are to lazy to work for the wonderful rewards the state plans to give us.

Oh those darn teachers, just trying to trick people.

The disdain this guy shows for teachers is dripping off his op-ed and he isn’t above being deceptive to sell his points either and this guy is about to be the leader of the house too but more on that in a future post.

Incoming speaker Steve Crisafulli's willful chutzpah, ignorance and hypocrisy about testing.

The incoming speaker of the house Steve Crisafulli did an op in Florida Today where he advocated for Florida's culture of high stakes standardized tests which have faced withering criticism recently from local school boards and parents, i.e. those closest to the problem. I don't know what worried me most about Crisafulli's op ed, his ignorance, chutzpah, hypocrisy or his apparent disdain for teachers.

First the hypocrisy. Crisafulli is a huge supporter of vouchers. The public pays for students to go to private schools which are exempt from the high stakes test. Why are they a necessity for public schools but not for private schools that receive public money? 

Now for the ignorance. He says because of testing our graduation rates have gone up, well friends graduation rates all across the country have seen dramatic rises, even in states that have not relied on high stakes testing. He then points to the our ranking sixth in the Quality Rankings report. This is a fairly new group which pushes corporate reforms. Most knowledgeable people don't give it much credence but lets look at how we got that ranking.

We were 32nd in providing chances for success, 36th on school finances, and 5th on tests and accountability. In short our grade was so high because they like testing and Florida does too! 6th sounds impressive but if you go to the report and look at it, you would be hard pressed to be as impressed as the speaker designate. (note there are other categories)

Then there is his apparent disdain for teachers. He wrote: The recent misuse of the phrase “high-stakes tests” can be attributed to the fact the results are now high stakes for teachers. Starting this year, teachers are eligible for performance pay based in part on student progress. Teachers aren’t graded on a child’s ability to pass a test, but are rewarded for helping children make progress. We understand children come from different backgrounds and possess varying knowledge and skills, but every child can learn.

The state is using VAM scores to determine teachers effectiveness. The department of education says they are inaccurate more than a third of the time and yes children do come from different backgrounds but VAM scores don't account for poverty but somehow he thinks it is fair to measure teachers with this system. Then yes every child can learn but depriving schools of proper resources, and saddling teachers with inappropriate metrics makes it that much harder, 

Finally his chutzpah. Those people closest to our schools, the states parents and school boards have started a tsunami of protest but the designate who is not a teacher and as far as I can tell has had little interaction with them announces proudly that he knows best. I doubt he would be appreciative of teachers telling him how to run his agriculture business.  

I wish just once one of these guys would say, I just don't like public schools and I am going to do everything I can to privatize them. I would disagree with him but at least he would be being honest. 
Friends this is who is suppose to lead us for the next two years and I hope you are as troubled by this as I am.

Sunday Morning whiffs on Common Core

Sunday Morning did a piece on common core this morning

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-debate-over-common-core/

and despite interviewing principal Carol Burris who is against common core, the tone of the piece was far from fair and balanced. 

Have you noticed that whenever somebody is for common core they start their talking points with something like, Launched by state officials, the Core was backed by the federal government, offering grant money to states signing on.

Well this Sunday morning piece was no different as that is a direct quote and yes, launched by the cash strapped states during the great recession where they traded local control for those grants. 

There were two pro-common core people interviewed, the secretary of of playing basketball with Obama, education , Arne Duncan and Tampa superintendent MaryEllen Elia but it's the questions the interviewer didn't ask that really got me.

Like how does common core address poverty? CBS gave us our middle of the pack international stats but they didn't mention how our scores zoom to near the top when we factor out poverty a pretty big oversight if you ask me.

Next I want to know if the countries we are trying to catch use common core because as far as I can tell they don't?

Finally I would have liked a  mention about all the people who are going to get rich off common core and all the money being siphoned out of our classrooms to pay for it.

CBS didn't think any of above was worth a mention.

Nobody is against tough standards what the pro-common core speakers implied but for them to dismiss and for CBS to ignore legitimate questions and concerns does our children and schools a disservice.