Florida Charter School "Boom": Warning Signs

There is a charter boom going on with too many oddities:

1) 15 of 30 "F" schools in Florida are charters. "Then last year in Florida, charter schools received 15 out of 31 of all the failing FCAT grades that went to public schools. Charter elementary and middle schools were seven times more likely to get an F than traditional public schools."
Read full article here.

2) VP Joe Biden's brother is associated with charter Mavericks HS, which has accounting and performance issues - plus a desire to open 100. Third whistle blower on alleged fraud emerges. Frank Biden has real estate experience.
Read full article here.


3) Parents signed up for an arts-oriented charter, but were not told of its association with Scientology.
Read more here.


4) Duval School Board, in North Florida, followed the rules on charter applications and denied an application. The charter took it to an Charter School Appeal Board established by the State School Board. The appeal board sided with the school board and against the charter. The charter took it to the State Board (all members are appointed), which overturned the appeal board and the district. The district is taking this one to court. What are the rules? Who decides? Murky. More loss of local control?
Read more here.

5) Then there was the recent Parent Trigger mess. Florida residents were denied opportunity to speak at committee meetings and at hearings to give opposing views, while proponents from outside the State were given that access. This is hardly an example of democracy. The good news is that the bill failed. It deserved to fail...the "devil is in the details."
Read more here and here.

6) Florida took RT3 funding and school districts are under strain trying to meet the requirements.

7) In Florida, former Governor Jeb Bush and his Foundation exert too much power.  The Director of his foundation, Patricia Levesque, is adviser to Governor Scott. Her husband is also General Counsel to the Florida House. When voting on charter bills, he advised no conflict of interest nor ethics violation for legislators with personal ties or ties via family to vote on those bills IF the bill did not affect only that family business. Read more here.

8) Last week the Florida DOE issued a report on public charter progress. While some point to the report as clear evidence that charters are "better" than traditional schools, the report itself does not identify variances. One critical factor is that of the total number of public charters in Florida, the performance of only 40% are included in the report. The remaining 60% are not required to be "graded" because the size of the student population is too small to be statistically relevant and under Florida law are excluded. So while we applaud student achievement, growth, and progress wherever it exists, taxpayers still have no information that affirms the disruption leads to any return on investment. There are too many unknowns to recommend Florida's charter boom as a scalable model to replicate.
Read more here.


What happens in Florida is worth watching. These initiatives are heralded in other states as models to follow; however, they do not hold up under scrutiny. Legislators should analyze carefully what is in the best interests of their states students, parents, community members, and taxpayers. Careful deliberation and legislative accountability is not a sign of being anti-charter nor anti-accountability; but rather a sign of doing the job they were elected to do.

Florida Parent Trigger: Too many holes

Parents, community members, and taxpayers pushed back on the Florida "Parent Empowerment" bill and those efforts were successful. The bill died on the last day of the legislative session in a tie vote, 20 to 20. The Miami Herald reported last minute arm twisting by former Governor Jeb Bush to influence a change of position by one Senator to ensure its passage in case the bill came up for a re-vote in the final hours of the legislative session. That did not happen and the bill can be declared officially dead and buried for this year.

Much has been reported regarding the way the process of the bill unfolded including the testimony provided by non-Florida parents and residents and lobbying by non-Florida non-profits to the exclusion of Florida parent groups such as, the Florida PTA and Florida League of Women Voters. The pressure injected all the way to the end is an indicator of how much money was riding on its passage.

Analysis of the bill itself received less attention. The Thursday night Senate debate included discussion of over 20 amendments, which exposed the bill as something far other than a thoughtfully crafted piece of legislation. The amendments were intended to close serious gaps, but instead made clear the bill was more akin to a piece of Swiss cheese than a movement toward parent empowerment, local control, and fiscal responsibility.

On its merits, this bill is little more than changing the deck chairs. As long as classrooms are test-centric and standardized environments for test preparation instead of student-centered environments of learning, there is no real reform.

The Florida legislature has a penchant for "pass it now, fix it later" legislating.
Proponents of this bill used the familiar and worn-out education reformer narrative that answers valid questions with disdain and insults. Why not answer the question with facts? Opponents were characterized as "conspiracy theorists" and concerns dismissed and ignored.

Undoubtedly, the bill will return next year. However, Florida parents, community members, and taxpayers learned much this year; and as others with legitimate concerns about education reform initiatives nationally, becoming more visible and active in federal and state-level shaping of education. The push back is real and growing.

Related article: Parent Trigger: "Scholastic Snake Oil with Deliciously Deceptive Spin on Parent Involvement."

Parent Trigger: "Scholastic snake oil with a deliciously deceptive spin on parental engagement"

This Saturday morning, Florida State Senators attended a special budget meeting that included consideration of SB1718, the so-called Parent Trigger. The committee meeting was hastily called and hit several procedural speed bumps and political posturing by bill proponents. However, efforts to short-circuit the process and fast track it were denied by committee members.

Passing this bill is a priority for former Governor Jeb Bush, who issued a statement urging its passage, as well as funding speakers at today's hearing. Hailed by bill proponents as "giving parents that voice they need to make sure their children are receiving the best education possible," journalist Darryl Owens asked where the parents had been all along. In his piece published in the Orlando Sentinel, Owens precisely and perfectly describes the bill this way:

Scholastic snake oil with a deliciously deceptive spin on parental engagement.

Shirley Ford, a Democrat from the California-based pro-trigger Parent Revolution organization used the "the children cannot wait" as the importance of this bill. Florida Senator Evelyn Lynn informed her of all ways, including vouchers, in place today and that Florida is not California. Ford asked if Florida had ways that parents had impact on school decisions, not just a place at the table. Senator Lynn explained how community schools exist that offer just that.

Ms. Ford raises an important issue that is left unanswered. Does a Parent Trigger give the voice parents need? Grumpy Educators says categorically no. The Parent Trigger that allows a charter to move in is simply moving around the deck chairs. For real change to occur at chronically failing schools, the last ten years of test-centric instruction must end. Common core standards, increased testing, and a narrowing of curriculum does not address the specific barriers and impacts at the school level. Until parents have the right to opt-out of standardized testing regimes, they have no voice to impact the education their children receive. Schools must cease to be centers of test preparation and be true centers of learning. Rational accountability measures must replace excessive standardized testing.

Scathing Purple Musings reports additional significant insights from today's hearing. Here are a few that should not be missed:

Parent Revolution representative Michael Trujillo, mentioned “reams and reams” of positive results but didn’t bring any with him. When pressed by Sen, Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, who’s also a school superintendent, evaded testifying as he was “just there to provide technical background on the legislation.”

Sen. Steve Wise, D-Jacksonville, who remarkably voted for an amendment to clarify who was eligible to join a petition, had another meltdown moment. Wise irrationally bemoaned opposition by parent groups to parent trigger in a way which failed to even consider the technical points they emphasize. It was predictably visceral and vintage Steve Wise demagoguery. Wise asked “whether or not the parent groups were psychotic” and that “he needs prozac and xanax” to deal with them.

A young intern of Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Florida’s Future attempted to present himself as a former teacher and was outed by Sen.Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood. Now a law student, he was naturally for the bill.

Notably, bill proponents filled the time, ran the clock, leaving opponents, real Florida parents, waiting and excluded from participation. The committee voted on a firm vote time and with five minutes left, Senator Alexander invited any parent in the room to speak. The Miami Herald reports "a mom from Gainesville came forward against the proposal. But she was cut off at 9:59 a.m. so the secretary could call the roll. There was no time for debate among lawmakers."

Grumpy Educators finds there is no priority for this bill. The legislative analysis for the Senate bill indicates there will be fiscal impact at state and local levels. Money trees are not in bloom anywhere in Florida. The only way this unfunded, unfundable mandate will get funds is through increased property taxes. In the end, parents, students, community members, and taxpayers are further UNempowered by Tallahassee's persistent fiscal and legislative irresponsiblity.

The bill will move quickly to the Senate floor for a vote. Take a moment to call your State Senator, tell them that a NO vote is a demonstration of who exactly they are accountable to.

FCAT hits national news: "They are defending a test that has no validity."

UPDATE: This story inspired a new movement! Join #takethetest - Invite your politicians to take state standardized tests and publicize their results.

Orange County School Board member Rick Roach did not believe that students were unable to read and read well in the 10th grade as measured by the FCAT. The 39 percent pass rate of reading at grade level in 10th grade caused him to question the test itself.

I have to tell you that I’ve never believed that that many kids can’t read at that level. Never ever believed it. I have five kids of my own. None of them were superstars at school but they could read well, and these kids today can read too.

“So I was thinking, ‘What are they taking that tells them they can’t read? What is this test? Our kids do okay on the eighth grade test and on the fifth grade test and then they get stupid in the 10th grade?”

In a bold move that garnered national attention in the Washington Post, Roach asked to take the FCAT that by state law only allows it to be taken by students. He was ultimately able to take a version of it. For an experienced professional with bachelor of science degree in education and two masters degrees, in education and educational psychology, the results were a surprise. He did not pass.

He found the reading section suspect as a valid indicator of reading ability:

He said he understands why so many students who can actually read well do poorly on the FCAT.

“Many of the kids we label as poor readers are probably pretty good readers. Here’s why.

“On the FCAT, they are reading material they didn’t choose. They are given four possible answers and three out of the four are pretty good. One is the best answer but kids don’t get points for only a pretty good answer. They get zero points, the same for the absolute wrong answer. And then they are given an arbitrary time limit. Those are a number of reasons that I think the test has to be suspect.”

He found the math section also suspect:

The math section, he said, tests information that most people don’t need when they get out of school.

“There’s a concept called reverse design that is critical,” he said. “We are violating that with our test. Instead of connecting what we learn in school with being successful in the real world, we are doing it in reverse. We are testing first and then kids go into the real world. Whether the information they have learned is important or not becomes secondary. If you really did a study on what math most kids need, I guarantee you could probably dump about 80 percent of math scores and leave high-level math for the kids who want it and will need it.

His conclusion? “They are defending a test that has no accountability.”

Florida Department of Education Commissioner, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Jeb Bush support an increase in 10th grade cut scores, which will make the new retooled FCAT harder to pass. School superintendents disagree with the logic in such a position.

Who pays? Who benefits?

References:

State Education commissioner, local superintendents spar over minimum acceptable FCAT scores for high school students

Gerard Robinson Sides with Jeb Bush and Florida Chamber of Commerce on FCAT Cut Scores

2011 NAEP: The Nation's Report Card

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) testing results were released for reading and math. Math scores show increase; however, there is little change in reading scores. Nationally, 4th graders scores in reading were "flat" or on the average unchanged since 2009. The scores for 8th graders in reading continued to rise. The results also indicated that scores for Hispanic and Black-American students continued to increase. Nevertheless, compared to White students the average scores had not significantly narrowed for Hispanic and Black 4th and 8th graders in reading.

In Florida, there was no significant change in reading scores as compared to 2009.

The Foundation for Florida's Children, an organization that lists Jeb Bush as chairman, issued a press release today in response to the publication of these scores. In that statement, the organization recommends that Florida legislators increase reading and math requirements through the FCAT to raise "flat" scores and increase funding of public schools:

“Since 1999, Sunshine State student achievement has skyrocketed, but today’s data shows performance has plateaued,” said former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Chairman of the Foundation for Florida’s Future. “Now is the time to raise the bar. We cannot rest on our first decade of success.”

One certainly would like to see an upward trend; however, for over a decade, test-centric instruction has dominated instructional environments. Washington D.C. reading initiatives, funded through NCLB, have yielded no return on investment (ROI). Florida continues to face declining high school graduation rates. In 2011, Florida graduated 63.1%, which leaves 36% high school drop outs or 83,516 students.

Parents, community members, and taxpayers are not convinced it makes any sense to do continue investing and mandating requirements that do not achieve results. The term "disruptive innovation" is used frequently these days for education reform initiatives. There is a lot of disruption, to be sure; but very little innovation.

Perhaps innovative disruption is more appropriate terminology.

Read the press release from the Foundation for Florida's Children below.
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2011 NAEP Underscores Need for Higher Standards
Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Tallahassee, Florida – Today, the 2011 Nation’s Report Card for reading and math was released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Although Florida’s overall results show no significant progress between 2009 and 2011, Sunshine State fourth grade readers continue to score above the national average in reading.

“Since 1999, Sunshine State student achievement has skyrocketed, but today’s data shows performance has plateaued,” said former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Chairman of the Foundation for Florida’s Future. “Now is the time to raise the bar. We cannot rest on our first decade of success.”

“Right now, we have the opportunity to raise achievement levels for math and reading on the FCAT, the foundation of Florida’s data-driven system of accountability. Commissioner Robinson and education leaders have proposed higher math and reading requirements in grades 3-7, and we encourage them to increase grades 8-10 as well. We must also prioritize ensuring that every student masters the skill of reading. Early literacy is the cornerstone of learning. And investing in education is also important. We urge the Florida Legislature to protect funding for public education, particularly policies and programs that support, incentivize and reward student achievement. These are critical elements for keeping Florida’s students on a path of continued success."

Jeb Bush's Reform Initiative Gets Reviewed

On June 24, Jeb Bush was challenged for his support for national standards as expressed in a recent NY Times op-ed in a post by Greg Forster, Senior Fellow at the Foundation of Educational Choice.

On June 30, William Mathis of the National Education Policy Center reviewed the presentations Jeb Bush makes as he travels around the country marketing Florida's reforms as the model for success. "The mission of the Foundation for Excellence in Education is to ignite a state-by-state transformation agenda to “support reform, primarily based on the success of the FloridaFormula on Student Achievement” model. The foundation’s president is former Florida Governor Jeb Bush."

Mathis states that "Jeb Bush's education foundation makes unsupported claims ignores facts to push agenda."

"Fundamentally, Mr. Bush's presentation is based on the fallacious causal claim that his selected set of loosely coupled reforms introduced in Florida between 1992 and 2011 caused fourth-grade reading score gains," Mathis wrote in his review. "No evidence is provided to sustain this linkage. Further, this claim ignores the fact that some of the favored reforms were implemented as late as 2010, and some are not yet implemented."

Mathis finds that Jeb Bush's claims are too narrowly focused on 4th grade reading scores and links great success, including improvements in the graduation rate, to selected reforms ignoring much else.

Florida high school dropout rates in 2008 were reported at 63.9%, about 7% less than the national average. Floridians do not find this fact an assurance that so-called reforms are having the effect that matches the claim. Mathis concludes:
Real problems are ignored. The most troubling aspect of the presentation is the avoidance of and failure to address real problems while, instead, embracing false solutions. This avoidance increases the likelihood that these real educational problems will intensify. Unfortunately, if research is our guide, the effect of the Florida reforms will likely prove to be a more inequitable and inadequate educational system.


Read the June 30, 2011 review here.