Florida is in full damage control mode after the recent changes to the school grading system. The constant changes have been panned in the Washington Post and by editorial boards across the state. The general consensus is the accountability that it was supposed to create has been gutted for appearances sake.
Jeb Bush likes to talk about how the A-F grading system has improved Florida’s schools but Matt DiCarlo of the Shanker Blog wrote how changes to the scoring system resulted in most of the improvement. http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/02/jeb-bush-kicks-60-yard-field-goal-from.html and Kathleen Orepaza wrote just today how they have led to many of the falls too. http://www.jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/07/floridas-manufactured-school-grade.html
Since that is the case what about the other reforms that the State of Florida has been ramming down people’s throats.
First there are Charter schools and the recent Sanford CREDO study said that despite several notable advantages Charter School’s here in Florida are performing worse than their public school counterparts. http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/06/charter-students-lose-equivalent-of.html
Then there are vouchers, which have zero evidence that say the kids that receive them do any better than the kids who attend public schools. http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2010/12/vouchers-there-should-be-parity-and.html
Merit Pay, nope there is plenty of evidence that says it doesn’t work, http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/p/teachers-arent-like-bankers-why-merit.html
And then there are standardized tests and even our pro privatization Secretary of education, Arne Duncan, says they have little value in education. http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/06/federal-government-standardized-tests.html
They have been wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong. Did I mention they have been wrong across the board, which may make some wonder why Florida has been so obsessed with ramming reforms that don't work down the people of Florida’s throats? Thee words, follow the money.
