John O'Connor is the Miami-based education reporter for StateImpact Florida. John previously covered politics, the budget and taxes for The (Columbia, S.C) State. He is a graduate of Allegheny College and the University of Maryland.
Some Florida school board members are upset at comments by education commissioner Gerard Robinson. The Florida School Boards Association approved a resolution opposing the current use of FCAT Thursday.
Florida school board members say education commissioner Gerard Robinson issued a threat to local control during a lunchtime speech Thursday at the state association meeting in Tampa.
Robinson told the Florida School Boards Association members they were free to oppose the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, but they were not free to ignore state law or Florida Board of Education decisions.
The group later approved a resolution opposing the current use of the FCAT to asses student, teacher, school and district performance.
Robinson made a similar statement in an earlier interview with StateImpact Florida.
“They can express their opinion,” he said. “But let’s also remember the local school board’s obligation is to implement the laws approved by the Florida Legislature; to implement the regulations approved by the state board.”
Florida education commission Gerard Robinson says a Florida School Boards Association proposal objecting to the current use of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test does a disservice to students and ignores a decade of state school improvement.
Robinson spoke to state superintendents and school board members gathered at a Tampa meeting Thursday. A Florida School Boards Association committee approved a resolution opposing the current use of the FCAT Wednesday, and the full organization could follow suit this afternoon.
Robinson said FCAT opposition ignores the reality of the workforce.
“What they’re focusing on is high-stakes testing, which is a political way of saying that ‘We just don’t like testing,'” Robinson said. “Let’s be real clear: Many of the teachers who are in our classrooms have to take tests in order to be a classroom teacher; many of our students are going to become CPAs or lawyers and they have to take exams.
School boards representing 1 in 4 Florida public school students have asked for less emphasis on FCAT results..
Schools boards representing more than one out of every four Florida students have approved a resolution asking state education leaders put less emphasis on standardized tests.
A dozen Florida districts have approved a national anti-testing resolution. Those districts include large counties such as Broward and Palm Beach — the nation’s 6th and 11th largest. Pinellas County joined the list earlier this week.
Those districts educate more than 750,000 Florida public school students in total.
But the system breaks down because of ‘FCAT frenzy’ and the anxiety school districts create with extra drills, pep rallies and other events which ratchet up the pressure on students.
Nearly a dozen Florida school districts have approved resolutions asking Gov. Rick Scott and other state leaders put less emphasis on FCAT results. The resolution asks that students are evaluated in a number or ways, not just through standardized test.
The Florida School Boards Association is meeting in Tampa Thursday to debate a statewide resolution.
Bush recently spoke with StateImpact Florida about his role in the national education debate, why Republicans and Democrats can find common ground on education and what he’s learned .
Q: Governor, how do you see yourself? How do you see your role as a national education figure?
A: I don’t know if I’m a national education figure. I do know that the Florida experience is one that we like to share because a lot of people are very interested in the academic results that have been achieved over the last decade and few years.
So we have created a strategy of going state by state, where invited, trying to create coalitions of people interested in reform. Telling the Florida story and building on that with exciting new elements of reform that I think states are embracing at record levels.
It’s a really exciting time to be engaged in education reform. The ultimate objective is not just to reform the system. The ultimate objective is to improve student learning.
Several districts — Alachua, Broward, Osceola and Palm Beach schools, among others — have approved the resolution (read a version here) and many others may follow.
But even as school boards vent their spleen about the test, more is riding on FCAT results than ever.
Here’s five reasons why the FCAT protests are not likely to accomplish much.
Palm Beach and Broward county school boards have already approved a similar resolution. Alachua, Flagler and Pinellas boards are weighing the measure.
The resolution is based on one authored by Parents Across America, a group that opposes so-called high stakes testing the privatization of public education. More than 400 Texas school boards have approved the resolution.
Read the Hernando County school board version after the jump:
Pinellas County schools superintendent John Stewart.
Pinellas County schools superintendent John Stewart isn’t sure how the state calculates the number of chronic absentees but says getting students to school more often is a priority, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Pinellas County schools ranked first among Florida’s urban school districts for the percentage of students missing at least 21 days of school, according to a StateImpact Florida analysis. Nearly 18 percent of Pinellas students were chronically absent, according to state data.
Those days add up quick — 467,586 days last year, or the equivalent of nearly 2,600 school years.
Stewart disputes that ranking, saying he doesn’t know how other districts report absenteeism. But Stewart wants students in school more often.
This week we told you about former Gov. Jeb Bush’s national education role, and how many of the policies he’s taking to other states got their start in Florida thanks to a well-maintained political network.
We also told you that Bush’s ideas are seeing some resistance from Floridians.
Readers took to the debate.
Standardized tests are the backbone for holding schools and teachers accountable, and a guest commenter said they are a necessary tool despite their shortcomings:
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