Posted on 11/24/2009 7:46:50 PM PST by flowerplough
My home state of Florida is the fourth largest state in the U.S. -- and it's a fairly wealthy state. Yet, our K-12 school system is among the worst in the nation in some pretty important respects.
According to the Miami Herald, Florida is 39th (or 47th) in the nation in terms of school funding, and Florida schools got an "F" from Education Week Magazine in terms of our students' college readiness. In 2008, Florida ranked 29th in teacher pay. A Johns Hopkins think tank found that Florida was among a few states whose low high-school graduation rates render Florida in a "crisis category." According to one report, Florida has among the highest high-school-drop-out rates in the nation (1 in 4). It gets worse: less than 44% of our state's tenth graders are reading at grade level.
(Excerpt) Read more at bucknakedpolitics.typepad.com ...
Question, Deb, if I may. Sorry to be so impolite, but am wondering if you have any info on teh racial breakdown of the state's studii? Particularly the underachievers?
Please see:
We must convince our youth that scholastic achievement is cool!
April 10th, 2008 · http://latinopoliticsblog.com/2008/04/10/we-must-convince-our-youth-that-scholastic-achievement-is-cool/
Earlier this week, I found this article in the Monterey County Herald describing how many Latino youth feel that they are less popular or not cool if they excel in the classroom. Harvard researchers discovered that white students were more popular when they had higher GPAs, while black students’ popularity dropped when their GPAs reached a B+. Latino students’ popularity peaked at a C+.
The study cites motivation and an emphasis on pop culture (sports and fashion) as some of the obstacles to academic achievement. Of course, language differences, quality of public education, and access to resources factor in as well. However, attitudes about scholastic achievement matter. Poor whites and Asians outperform black and Latino students who are not economically disadvantaged on SAT tests. Latino students who have middle class upbringings are facing an uphill climb in part because of cultural attitudes and peer pressure that does not value academic excellence.
School expenditures have little relationship on the quality of the education. The WSJ had an article by the superintendent of schools in Wash. DC, Michelle Rhee, who said the same thing. WA DC schools are some of the best funded schools in the country, yet they are consistently at the bottom of the ratings. Ms. Rhee says that it comes down to the lack of accountability and the lack of political courage on the part of the people who run school districts.
In other words, the quality of public school education is inversely proportionate to the growth of the teachers’ unions. The courage part comes in with school boards and politicians who are afraid to buck the unions.
Educational quality is more of a function of the parents than the school system.
It has A LOT to do with quality of teachers. My kid is passing geometry because we reteach most nights. I even teach my kid’s friend and then they “get it”. Ten years ago, Switzerland was starting their teachers at $60K and they could make up to $180K. There was very little overhead. All the money went to the classrooms and they had the top schools in the world.
Do the Swiss have teachers unions? Do they pay teachers based on individual merit?
And the point is what??? No one forced these kids to drop out. They made the decision on their own--and now someone thinks this is an appropriate thing to sue over.
It has been that way for 40+ years.
It has been that way ever since the NEA hired Saul Alinsky to do their organizing for them in 1970.
“School expenditures have little relationship on the quality of the education. “
I agree with you.
But places in Florida pay 1st year teachers so little that the teachers qualify for foodstamps and section 8 housing.
Actually, as a member of the American Association of Educators, not the NEA, they touted FL’s move up in recent years...still a long way to go, but doing much better than most states with a high Latino population. Jeb’s educational changes are just now beginning to see fruit. Unfortunately, change (true reform) takes time and there are plenty (NEA, for one) who resist it. I will try to bring the article with me and post it. Yes, there is much room for change, but maybe change needs to get some of the old resisters out. Some do not want to change anything they have done...they have their routines set and they will not budge, thank you very much! But don’t take a couple cities only as your basis for the state failing miserably. Overall, it is coming around and the huge numbers of Latino students have a much higher school success rate than any other state with the same Latino numbers in the nation.
Exactly. At some point, the school system has to be allowed to give up on children who simply do not want to learn. It is not fair that the education of those children who do want to learn is compromised at the expense of those who do not.
First year teachers’ pay may be low, but the hourly wage is not bad.
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