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Charter Schools suspend special needs kids to improve test scores.

Arne Duncan blackmails schools to move forward on Common Core

Common Core is the controversial and unproven reform that has created an alliance between liberal progressives and tea party conservatives to fight against it. Arne Duncan, who never taught a class but somehow rose to the position of Secretary of Education, however is full steam ahead and he is going to use the unrealistic no child left behind as a club to make sure it happens.

In case you missed it, all children are supposed to be proficient in reading and math by 2014 a goal that no municipality or state is anywhere close to achieving. Because of NCLB even schools that do great on standardized tests will be in danger of being labeled failures.

Schools however can get a waiver around NCLB if they continue to enact odious teacher evaluation measures and of course you guessed it common core. According to Ed Week, the Department of Education wants to ensure states are on track with implementing college- and career-ready standards and assessments, including backup plans for states that may have dropped out of the Common Core State Standards or common-testing consortia. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-

Do what I want or I will hurt you seems to be the bottom line.

To read more click the link: http://www.politico.com/morningeducation/0813/morningeducation11504.html

The Florida Times Union's silence supports anti-gay remarks

When the Times Union does not report the controversial remarks of local politicians, they give those remarks tacit approval. State board of education chair and local resident Gary Chartrand made some controversial  remarks at a recent education summit. Controversial remarks about Florida’s values and homosexuality upsetting people. If you read the Times Union and missed  them don’t worry you weren’t the only one. You see, despite the fact every other paper of note in Florida reported them the Times Union did not. I found the remarks very offensive but even if you don't why didn’t the Times Union at least report them and let you make the call? Why hide them, the Tampa Times, Orlando Sentinel and Miami Herald among others thought their readers should at least know about them.

From the Tampa Times, Florida Board Chairman Gary Chartrand suggested that the state look for a curriculum or instructional materials for Common Core that "align with Florida's values and culture." He said reading lists could upset people; particularly in they mentioned topics such as socialism or homosexuality.

Then when I questioned the remarks Chartrand made on my blog the Times Union dropped my blog from their blog feed. This despite the fact I had been connected to them for nearly 3 years and 4,000 posts.

The Times union’s editorial staff has a long history of being on the wrong side of education issues and their news reporting is shoddy at best. Where was the story about the class size fines, the in depth coverage about Bennett resigning, Jeb Bush saying the schools of education should be blown up, the inconsistencies in Burney’s ethic violations case and Chartrand’s despicable remarks?

They were nowhere to be found, that’s where and to ignore them is to approve them. 

Chris Guerieri

School Teacher 

TU reporter Topher Sanders complains about blogs he never even read

TU reporter Topher Sanders complains about blogs he didn’t even read

I asked Topher Sanders if he had my blog kicked off the Times Unions blog feed. He said he did report the titles of two blogs he felt were controversial to the higher ups at the Times Union, the titles are:

Is Gary Chartrand Homophobic and White men praise Rick Scott for inviting so many white men to summit.

The first is a piece about some controversial remarks that state board of ed chair Gary Chartrand said and the second was about how one state senator thought there were too many white men invited to a recent education summit, while two others thought the mix of invitees was just right.

I then asked Topher Sanders if he read the blogs and he said, no. I just saw the titles. He didn’t even take the time to read them to see if what I wrote was controversial, libelous or just plain wrong. Nope didn’t bother. The blogs were short too. It would have taken him less than two minutes each to read them but he could not be bothered.

I have to say, I didn’t think my opinion f the TU’s writing staff could get much lower but I really stand corrected now.

Times Union Censors Education Matters

Times Union Censors Education Matters

I would like to point something out first. The Times Union is under no obligation to link my blog to their site, something they have done for the better part of three years and over 4,000 posts. That being said I hoped for better from them.

I thought it was odd that I got a screen shot of the TUs blog posts that included my blog with the title, Is Gary Chartrand homophobic, from former education reporter Topher Sanders, especially since there were no comments. However five days later quite by accident I put it together as I discovered my blog had been removed from the Times Union’s blog feed. I didn’t receive an e-mail, a note, a heads up, nothing.

The aforementioned Chartrand is the chair of the state board of education and he had just said some rather controversial remarks that many news out lets, not including the Times Union had reported. He talked about instilling Florida’s values into the curriculum and staying away from controversial subjects like homosexuality. I found this offensive so I put what he said with some commentary on my blog and asked if he is homophobic.

This is the blog:

Is Gary Chartrand homophobic too? Union members, black kids, poor kids, what is next?

How is this guy allowed near education again? From the I can’t make this up category, today at Florida’s education summit he said: Florida Board Chairman Gary Chartrand suggested that the state look for a curriculum or instructional materials for Common Core that "align with Florida's values and culture." He said reading lists could upset people; particularly in they mentioned topics such as socialism or homosexuality.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/gov-scott-wont-attend-his-three-day-education-summit/2138554

Where do I start? Oh I know, throwing up in my mouth a little bit.

Replacing professional teachers with scabs is not a value I share but it is a value he has. I am not a big fan of raced based goals or handicapping those schools, neighborhoods and students that can least afford it either. Charters, A-F grading scale and ignoring poverty anyone?

Next reading lists should be about expanding horizons and boundaries, opening up student’s minds and allowing them to explore. They shouldn’t be narrowed to reflect Gary Chartrand’s supposed values.

Chartrand talks about values and then proposes we ignore homosexuals as if they didn't exist. I guess for him it would be better if they were all back in the closet.

Money obviously does not equal tact or intelligence.

Very critical and a little snarky too but as you can see nowhere did I say he was homophobic, I merely let his words do the talking for him.

I got a comment from anonymous, who said they were going to report me and now I have no idea is some powerful figure pulled some strings or it was the title of my blog was to controversial as Topher Sanders indicated when I spoke to him but the result is the same as the Times Union has seen fit to drop me from their blog feed in effect censoring me from their readers.

Maybe what I wrote was controversial, maybe people disagreed with my characterization and maybe some people think I am an ass for writing it but at the end of the day since I wasn’t libelous and I didn’t use adult content, shouldn’t the Times Union, the bastion of the first amendment stand up for me, the Washington Post ddidn't think my position was offensive as they printed an excerpt from my blog about Chartrand. The Times Union could say hey we disagree and didn’t like it, it doesn’t reflect our views but at the end of the day he had a right to ask the questions and say it. Heck they could have asked me to change the title and I would have done that too. Instead after years and thousands of posts they chose to censor me.

I just want to add, my mother worked at the Times Union for 28 years. She taught me to read with the Jacksonville Journal at the kitchen table. The Times Union has been a big part of my life and I think I deserve a little more than just to be cut off because someone didn't like a title something I had to discover by accident and I think the people of Jacksonville deserves a paper that stands up for the freedom of speech, even if they don’t necessarily agree with it.

Chris Guerrieri

Long time Ed White teacher lets it all out!

From a Reader

I was a teacher at ED WHITE for 17 years and watched the downhill trend occur..Yes it was a great school--full of constant activities--then--no more! the electives were not important only the core classes.. also, no more assemblies/field trips-performances-CLUB DAYS etc. when a school has a lot of enjoyable activities-students are happy to attend and do better in that school! they are proud of their school-thus proud of themselves. TOO MUCH OF THE "NEW WAY OF TEACHING" GOING ON! go back to the basics and let teachers really teach!!! I sometimes wonder how we got to the moon? invented the microwave? internet? without the NEW WAY OF TEACHING!!! Also--when does every lesson HAVE TO BE FUN!!! EVERYDAY AT WORK IN THE REAL WORLD IS NOT FUN!!!SO-WHAT ARE WE DOING TO THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT! PREPARING THEM TO WHAT????

Time we got back to teaching the real world and the real subject matter of a class..not just the FCAT FCAT FCAT!!! TEACHERS have no help with discipline...class becomes a baby sitting of bad behavior instead of a class of students who behave and learn. teachers have no support when discipline is a problem and this comes from DOWNTOWN!!!! SCHOOL BOARD BUILDING!!!

YOU WANT LESS TURNOVER AND BETTER RESULTS...

change the discipline ways--let teachers teach their subject matter--add more activities during the day and after school for entertainment and encourage participation in all activities... the learning will happen when this is done. AND TEACHERS WILL TAKE PRIDE IN THE SCHOOL WHERE THEY TEACH AND STAY THERE!!

Local teacher bemoans the loss of librarians

From a Reader

I'm a Duval County high school teacher. We have no librarian. The librarian is teaching classes.

Our students cannot check out books, and cannot use the Internet to research at school.

Many students do not have the Internet at home, and do not live near a library. The school library is the only resource they have, and Nikolai Vitti has taken it away from them.

Dr. Vitti may have some good ideas, but he is extremely pigheaded and has everyone scared to death for their jobs if they're not a yes-man to anything he says.

So he plods forward with everything, whether or not it makes any sense.

No matter who you are, if you're closing all the high school libraries, there is something wrong with the budget.

The Problems with Florida’s School Grade Formula Cannot Be Fixed

By Greg Sampson 

Perhaps the most pressing issue generating consensus among the attendees at the Clearwater Education Summit is the school grade formula. The consensus: something needs to happen to restore the fairness, accuracy, and credibility of Florida’s School Accountability scheme.

Thus the vision statement from the Department of Education: School grades must be fair, simple, clear, understandable and transparent, based upon student learning outcomes and objective measures. The school grading system should be statistically valid, trustworthy and sustainable. It must accurately reflect school performance and motivate achievement.

They don’t get it. The Department of Education and the State Board of Education have monkeyed around with changing standards, performance levels (known as “cut scores”), and emergency rules that they have lost credibility with educational professionals, parents, and the general public alike.

Even NASCAR, which changes the rules every time they don’t like the results, applies the changes moving forward—to the next race. Florida’s Department of Education, however, along with the State Board of Education, thinks it appropriate to retroactively apply rule changes—grading formula changes—whenever they don’t like the results the formula produces.

When I read the statements on FLDOE’s website, I come across references that vaguely refer to provisions that will reset performance levels upward, thus lowering assigned school grades, if too many schools in a given year make an A or B under the formula.

To state it clearly, they change the rules until they get the results they want.

Do you wonder why teachers feel they are merely grist for the mill?

 The school grading formula is constantly tinkered with to produce two statements of propaganda for the media: one, that Florida’s schools excel because of the politicians and bureaucrats forcing these awful schools to improve (that’s right, they take the credit for the achievement of people who actually work in the schools); two, they have to continue to punish the people who work in the schools because they are the reason schools are failing.

Wait a minute—the schools are outstanding and awful at the same time?

Does anyone still believe these people?

There is the problem. The Clearwater summit assumes that the Department of Education and the State Board can be trusted on this. We have learned they cannot be trusted, even though we do not have a scandal where the grading formula was changed to accommodate a political donor.

Imagine how that would work in the classroom. Teacher Jane Doe changes her grading formula so that Johnny, the star quarterback, no longer has the F he deserves but now passes with a C. When called into the principal’s office, Ms. Doe justifies her grading change because it helped 20 other students also.

Tony Bennett resigned, to the expressed chagrin of our politicians in the State. The logical conclusion is that they own the problem themselves.

Do you still trust them to be able to objectively grade Florida’s schools?

Until the State of Florida outsources its accountability program, which we know as school grades, to an independent organization outside the influence and control of the politicians and bureaucrats, you cannot believe in any school grades they assign.

(Greg Sampson is a DCPS teacher on special assignment as the instructional math coach for his school, which is located on the Westside.)

Step up for Students takes Florida’s taxpayer to the cleaners, spends 1.5 million in tax payer money to lobby for more tax payer money

Only in Florida is this possible. The state of Florida gave Step up for Students 6.9 million dollars in 2012 to manage the states voucher program. Step up for Students then turned around and spent 1.5 million dollars to support pro voucher candidates who would presumably funnel more money into the states vouchers program meaning the state would give Step up for Students even more money.And if you just said “what the beep” then you aren’t the only one.

According to the state’s own voucher expert, students that attend private schools with vouchers don’t experience better education outcomes than their public school counterparts which means the state government would rather line the pockets of private enterprises with management fees (see most charter schools as well) than invest in our students and schools.  

Rick Scott's education record.

This year's per student funding is the highest of Scott's three years as governor. But it is still lower than each of the five previous years under his predecessors, Charlie Crist and Bush. Scott also signed into law the legislation that siphons off school construction money to privately run charter schools. And the governor's last two handpicked education commissioners have shown more interest in advocating for charter schools and expanding voucher programs than in creating successful public schools. http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-governor-phony/2139239

He also stole three percent of teacher’s salary to balance the state’s books, ended teacher’s worker protections making them at will employees, called for but did not fund merit pay and created an odious and unworkable teacher evaluation system

Jeb Bush’s money woes

Jeb Bush says we are spending too much money on education and that we are not getting a return on our investment. I wonder if he thought the same way when he sent his children to a private school that cost 28 thousand dollars a year and had small classes to boot.

It’s okay for him to throw money at HIS children’s education and for them to have small classes and a well-rounded curriculum but YOUR child’s school spends too much. Speaking of spending too much money, we are the richest nation in the history of the world, shouldn’t we be spending the most? Why is that a bad thing? Bush obviously thinks it is okay to spend a lot of money on his kid’s education.

Furthermore don't think for a second, having a student centered approach to education is his goal? What does that mean anyways? Do you think any student ever chose to be tested 20 days a year, be put in a one size fits all curriculum and had those things that made school bearable to so many sucked out? No friends it is money, as in the money his family, friends and supporters stand to make.  

In his video he goes on to say our schools lag behind the rest of the world but the truth is when you factor out poverty, something bush has never heard of, our school’s scores zoom to the top of list.

So at the end what do we have from Bush? Half-truths and hypocrisy. 

There have been ZERO formal discussions about teacher raises in Duval County

That’s right friends despite the money being allocated months ago there have been zero formal discussions between the union and the superintendent.  According to the union they are waiting for some dates from the super to get talks going. I guess if you make 270 grand there’s no real since of urgency, not that there seems to be much on the union’s part either. The problem is teachers don’t make 270 grand and a lot I know are hurting. People don’t realize it but the vast majority of us went two months without pay checks and yeah it’s true at the beginning of the summer we may have been sitting pretty, here now at the end it is the opposite for way to many.

Where it has been slow going in other parts of the state as far as I can tell at least it has been going.

Corey Booker needs to get it together

This blog’s first title was, the more Corey Booker talks the less I like him. Don’t get me wrong. I agree with almost everything he says, like we do have a system that sets up a lot of people, mostly minorities to fail and ones sexuality should not matter, only ones character should. Then he catches Obamaitis and laments about the nations failing school and how they have let so many down.

I would like to ask Mr. Booker a few questions.

Has a school ever cut a budget?

Did schools create the drill and kill testing culture that sucks the life out of education.

Are schools responsible for crippling poverty, absentee parents and the privatization movement that takes the resources out of schools that can least afford to lose them?

Did schools pass the punitive and unrealistic No Child Left Behind or the bill that turned education into a game, Race to the Top?

How were schools involved with pushing measures that have no evidence that says they work, merit pay, or who experts say shouldn’t be used, high stakes standardized tests?

Finally did schools fail neighborhoods or did society fail schools?

Mr. Booker you need to get it together and stop blaming schools for the problems government created or my next piece will go with my original title.  

Was the Jacksonville Public Education Fund watching the same education summit as the rest of us?

Oy Vey. The JPEF does some nice statistical work. If you go to their web site they have some easy to navigate tools that take you to some good information about schools. But come on now, can they please get on the right side of one education issue?

They touted this dog and pony show as a success. Sure it was if you are Pearson or stand to make money off Common Core, then it was a rousing success.  However if you are a parent, teachers, or student things did not get better.

Common Core is a roll of the dice. Sorry make that an expensive roll of the dice.

Merit pay is still unfunded and still doesn’t have any evidence it works.

The teacher evaluation system is still a disaster only slightly trumped by the A-F grading system double disaster.

Charters and Vouchers are still siphoning money away from public schools and providing substandard options.

Where is the success here again?

Then they quoted Rick Scott. "All of the participants and attendees share a common goal: Making sure that each child in Florida is prepared to succeed," said Governor Scott. "The discussion and ideas generated this week will guide our future decisions and steps we will take through either legislative proposals, action by the State Board of Education or executive action."

That’s not even close to true, voucher and charter concerns were there to make money, more money that is. And please don’t color me optimistic that this pro-privatization commissioner and legislature are going to do anything to make things better because first they would have to admit they made things worse and that’s never going to happen. 

JPEF how about standing up for students and teachers for a change. 

What do 5 year olds, scan trons and art have in common in Duval County?

From a reader: Today, new Kindergarteners were required to Write their first and last name on a scan-tron sheet and "bubble" their answers for the Art and Music Baseline CAST Assessment!!!!! REALLY???!!! How developmentally inappropriate!!

Why should people believe anything Gary Chartrand says about education?

Gary Chartrand backed away from his values, keep homosexuals in the dark remarks that he may or may not have made at the recent education summit. He said, he was merely saying what he feared other people might say. The Tampa Times however stuck with their story.

The thing is why should the people of Florida believe anything he has to say? He voted for the safety net that allowed schools to fall only one letter grade regardless of performance. Now I think the school grading system is fatally flawed and inaccurate, however he doesn’t, which means he basically said, let’s try and fool the people of Florida.

Then he has played fast and loose with the facts about KIPP, who he loves and the class size amendment, which he hates. He also stood up for Tony Bennett, who basically admitted his wrong doing by resigning just two days after the scandal that he changed the grade of a charter school that was run by a donor, broke.  Friends as far as I can tell Chartrand is not above saying anything to anybody depending on the situation he finds himself. If he told me today was Thursday, I would have to check my calendar and get two independent sources.

John Thrasher, Gary Chartrand, Jeb Bush and Rick Scott walk into a bar...

Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke right? Instead of a bar they are scheduled to have dinner tonight in Miami. From the Herald Tribune:  Scott will have his own chance to talk education issues today, when he is scheduled to have dinner with former Gov. Jeb Bush, state Sen. John Thrasher and Board of Education chairman Gary Chartrand, said Thrasher, who was at the three-day summit. Thrasher said it will be a chance for him to brief Scott and Bush on the sessions. http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2013/08/28/education-summit-boost-for-scott/

What weren’t Steve Wise and Beelzebub available? I certainly am glad Bush can get a private briefing not that he didn’t already have a dozen representatives at the summit and since the summit reaffirmed funneling money to testing companies, I am sure it went just as Scott had hoped.

Scott is just a political animal, I believe he would cut education to the bone if he thought he could get away with it but at the same time, I think he would throw billions into it if it helped him get reelected. Woe to education if he does, a lame duck Scott could do some real damage. Bush, Thrasher and Chartrand are another breed all together. They have collectively done incredible damage to our schools and I sincerely believe when the state wakes up, and it has started too, that they will be considered the villains of the story.  

It turns out it is a bad joke after all.

White men praise Rick Scott for inviting so many white men to education summit.

State senator Dwight Bullard criticized governor Scott for inviting so many white men to the education summit (scroll down my main page to see what he was talking about). Senate President Don Gaetz and Senate Education Committee Chairman John Legg, both known to be white men disagreed.

“Governor Scott should be commended for elevating the conversation on education in the State of Florida,” Legg wrote in a statement last week. “It is of utmost importance to convene the stakeholders to create a comprehensive strategy and I am honored to take part."

Gaetz said the summit would "provide the leaders of our Senate committees on education and education appropriations the opportunity to collect various perspectives and ideas."

By Stakeholders and Leaders of Senate Committees of course they meant more white men.

Bullard also hit the nail on the head when he said: "In order to get it right you have to recognize where you went wrong," Bullard wrote. "Over testing, misdirection of dollars, failure to listen to stakeholder input, and countless other misfires that have now muddied the water of education. Clean up the mess and start from a good place in which all ideas are weighed on the value of their merit and not the size of their checkbook or political affiliation."

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2013/08/bullard-blasts-gov-scotts-

Common Core, the New Coke of Education Reforms

I think one of the big problems with common core is the scope of it. We are going to totally change everything that we do and on a little more than a whim. What if we spend billions of dollars and then five years from now somebody says, oops, man we got that one wrong. Let’s face it Florida hasn’t done well on reinventing education, charters, vouchers, A-F grading scale, merit pay anyone?

I am also reminded of the recent Advanced Placement scandal. For the last decade kids unprepared for them were thrown in those classes because of some anecdotal evidence that said it would improve their lives. Well after a decade we now know that wasn’t true and in many ways prevented kids form getting the skills they needed.

I have other concerns, increased testing, the hit schools will initially take will energize the privatization crowd and all the resources siphoned out of the classroom, but mostly nobody really knows if this is the best thing since sliced bread or if it is new coke.

Why don’t we slow down and get it right or make sure it is right anyways. Carvalho in Miami seems to love it, why don’t we put it there for three years and see if it works before we blow up what we have now.

Is it too much to ask that we get things right?