FL newspapers finding it tougher to criticize Jeb on education

FL's Education Governor: Jeb Bush.

FL newspapers finding it tougher to criticize Jeb on education

By summer -- a former Dem, now an independent, and a FL certified teacher

Change in FL often seems to happen this way: Gov. Jeb Bush announces some major new plan.

Shortly thereafter, his political opponents claim the entire state will immediately collapse if such plan becomes law; his plan does become law; the state does not collapse; and howls of protest follow.

Eventually - slowly but surely -- you start to hear positive aspects of his plan promoted by the very ones who previously slammed it.

Such is the point we're at now with Gov. Bush's "A+ Plan for Education."

Below we see a recent column by an Orlando Sentinel columnist who previously screamed in a headline that Gov. Bush deserved an "F" for education reforms - but, now, this same columnist claims the only change needed is teachers should be earning a higher salary. Gone is the hysteria from the tone of one Mike Thomas.

From Miami, where there were several "F" schools this year, the Miami Herald editors have concluded several lessons need to be learned, including this novel thought: maybe parents should be more involved in education -- as Gov. Bush, all by himself, can not do it all. Brilliant thinking from the Miami Herald, folks.

And, from the St. Petersburg Times, where the editorial board would love to compare and publicize Dem gov candidates' educational plans, the editors are stuck. Only one of three Dem candidates has even bothered putting forth an educational plan, so the newspaper finds itself discussing Gov. Bush's plan and its merits. Well, maybe that's why 62% of the voters in this state recently gave Gov. Bush a favorable job approval rating, because if it's leadership you want, you first need: a leader.

With less than 90 days to go until the FL Dem Primary, it looks like Dem voters intend to nominate Janet Reno -- who has not bothered to introduce any new ideas into the educational debate. Yes, she's able to find time for Martin Sheen and Jay Leno, but FL's students do not rank as high on her agenda. Sorry, kids.

Consequently, take a look at some of the positive comments about Gov. Bush and his "A+ Plan" that FL newspapers have reluctantly slipped into their latest editions….

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Below, from Mike Thomas: "In fact,
as much as he appears to be the Great White Republican Governor,
Bush's education program primarily benefits poor minorities.

(1) ORLANDO SENTINEL COLUMNIST: Mike Thomas

Want better schools? Try better salaries

Published June 13, 2002

Orange County has 11 failing schools. And do you know the most interesting thing about that?

Schools officials had to stand in front of the cameras and publicly squirm while coming up with excuses for why poor, minority children in their charge are flunking.

Say what you will about Jeb Bush's accountability program, but this is the first time that administrators and principals have felt real heat for not teaching poor students.

It used to be the kids simply were socially promoted on their merry way to a lifetime of poverty. Nobody cared because nobody had a stake in them.

Now Bush has fixed that problem.

In fact, as much as he appears to be the Great White Republican Governor, Bush's education program primarily benefits poor minorities.

His reforms aren't needed in schools in affluent neighborhoods. They already have oversight from parents who hold both their kids and the schools accountable.

But the inner-city schools lack that involvement. And until now, they lacked accountability from administrators, who were quick to blame failure on poverty, language barriers and negligent parenting.

When there are no consequences for failing, it is easy to make excuses.

Now there are consequences. There are scarlet letter F's. There are school vouchers. There are demands for an explanation.

Five years ago, Wednesday's news conference by Orange officials would have been about how many good schools got A's. Now, the big news is how many bad schools got F's.

Bush has changed the dialogue in Florida, a remarkable achievement. But the great flaw in his policy is the same flaw found in the education bureaucracy. It is the reliance on inflexible ideology to dictate policy.

The bureaucracy's ideology is that you don't hold schools accountable; the solution is to pay teachers more, provide them with better classrooms and give them fewer students.

The Bush ideology blames bad teaching and bad administration for bad schools; the solution is not to feed them money but force them to improve with what they have.

The correct answer, of course, is both. Bush's reforms have done much to force school districts to focus on at-risk kids. Poverty no longer is accepted as an insurmountable brick wall but as an obstacle to overcome.

But overcoming obstacles is expensive. These kids need more resources than kids raised with bookshelves and computers in their rooms.

Studies show they benefit most from smaller classes. They need good teachers and access to them. They need pre-K with certified teachers to give them the basics in word and number recognition. Without that, they spend their school careers in a hopeless game of catch-up.

If you want good teachers to stay at schools like Mollie E. Ray Elementary, which has an annual 34 percent turnover rate, you have to pay bonuses so they don't flee to Dommerich Elementary for easier work at the same pay.

Republicans understand you attract top people in the private industry with a good salary. But somehow, they don't apply the same logic to the public sector. The kind of smart, motivated people Bush wants in teaching jobs don't flock to careers that start out at under $30,000 a year.

Bush has laid the groundwork for a substantial investment in education. Now, he just has to provide it.

Mike Thomas can be reached at 407-420-5525 or mthomas@orlandosentinel.com.

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Below, from the Miami Herald editors: "Yet some schools in
desperately poor communities beat the odds, improved their scores
and emerged among the winners, getting a grade of A or B...."

(2) THE MIAMI HERALD

Posted on Sun, Jun. 16, 2002

GRADING FLORIDA'S SCHOOLS FCAT SCORES SHOW CONTRADICTIONS

Page One pictures in this and other newspapers across the state told the whole story. Some faces showed jubilation; others were in despair. The FCAT scores were in, and the results showed winners and losers.

These images show what teaching has come to in Florida. The question is: Does this constitute genuine education?

The just-released Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores were a mixed bag of successes, failures and contradictions. The scores confirmed the obvious link between poverty and low academic achievement.

Yet some schools in desperately poor communities beat the odds, improved their scores and emerged among the winners, getting a grade of A or B. Therein lie some of the lessons that should be heeded by the state, local school districts and the communities they serve: Schools with strong administrative leaders and involved, creative faculty do well; parental involvement and community support are essential for success; the jury is still out on vouchers.

The mixed message in FCAT grades was also reflected in a recent poll of Floridians that showed most residents are ambivalent about Gov. Jeb Bush's A+ Plan for Education. Some 46 percent of those polled said that schools were not improving under the governor's plan, although they gave the governor high marks for effort.

MORE F SCHOOLS

The test this year was more difficult than in years past. There were 14 F schools in Miami-Dade County -- five of them got a failing grade for the second time. There was one F school in Broward. However, there were more A schools in both counties.

This year's FCAT results give the clearest picture yet of what students are learning from grade to grade. Better yet, the tests are fairer now. Students get credit not just for what they know, but for their learning gains, too.

The test scores contain no magic bullet for what ails the failing schools. But some lessons cannot be ignored:

o Schools that scored lowest will continue to fail students if they are denied ample resources, including funding. Resources must be used creatively.

Each school district is required to develop an assistance and intervention plan for F schools. The plans must be approved by the state Board of Education. This is a district's best chance to fully examine a failing school's needs and develop a plan to dismantle barriers to improvement.

For example, at Miami Edison High School, which received its second F, any intervention attempted should focus on bridging cultural gaps that confront the Haitian-majority school. Many parents have little formal education; some students arrive not knowing how to read or write, even in their native Creole; and teacher turnover is high. Despite a dynamic, innovative principal and loads of school spirit, the school struggles to pass the FCAT.

At Dillard High -- the only F school in Broward, the remedial plan will have to focus on reading.

o Parents are an integral part of the equation. When parents aren't involved, their children may be doomed to failure. Individual schools, with help from downtown administrators and School Board members must develop outreach plans to bring parents into the fold.

o Community involvement is essential. One good example: At Charles Drew Elementary, an A school in Miami's inner city, a group of philanthropists helps shepherd students through their educational careers. Students know that they are expected to succeed, and they do. Though businesses have partnered with some local schools, far more volunteers and support are needed.

o School vouchers will not necessarily mean a better education. Stuents at the five Miami-Dade schools that twice have received F's now are eligible for vouchers that can be used at private schools. But students' options are severely limited by the few private schools willing or qualified to accept them. Here the A+ plan gives with one hand, but takes with the other. ''Opportunity scholarships'' must deliver just that -- a real chance for a better education.

The FCAT scores show that the state of education in Florida is still a muddle, neither completely reformed nor a complete failure. The challenge is for Florida to master the art of delivering quality education -- not just winners and losers.

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Below, from Jack Reed : "…I can't complain
about focused instruction in reading, writing and math when
so many students lack those skills in our increasingly competitive society."

(3) THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

A Times Editorial

Measure of school reform success

St. Petersburg Times

published June 17, 2002

The debate over Gov. Jeb Bush's education reform plan focuses on three issues: vouchers, school grades and tests. Do vouchers weaken the financial underpinnings of public education or offer students trapped in a failing system a way out? Are letter grades for schools a publicity stunt or a reflection of performance? By placing such importance on a single standardized test, are we teaching to the test or teaching the necessary skills for success?

I could argue either side of those issues but they aren't what interest me now. I don't think vouchers will play an important role in the success or failure of Florida's schools. The letter grades assigned to schools are based on too simplistic a formula, but I think the exercise has made teachers and students try harder. I worry that preparation for the FCAT will dominate class time, yet I can't complain about focused instruction in reading, writing and math when so many students lack those skills in our increasingly competitive society.

Although polls show Floridians are divided on the plan, I believe Bush is winning the public relations battle. Parents want accountability from their schools, and the governor has given it to them. I hear people belittle the significance of FCAT scores and school grades, but when they're posted, everyone pays attention. From what I hear of parents' conversations, they take a school's grade seriously, and some apparently use the information when deciding where to live.

So while the governor's Democratic challengers might take exception to his tactics, they had better come up with their own proposal to hold schools to high standards or parents will tune them out.

A fair question for all of us to ask, however, is this: How will we know that the governor's plan has succeeded?

I put that question to Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan, a former state education commissioner, principal and teacher who helped write the plan. Don't get him started unless you have the time to listen. He is eloquent in defense of the plan, explaining how the state now has uniform academic standards and a consistent method of measuring whether those standards are being applied in every classroom throughout the state. He defends giving failing grades to schools this way: "Maybe people no longer will be able to camouflage consistent failure."

Who can argue with that? But it is difficult even for Brogan to say exactly how we will know that the plan is working. Student achievement "will be the epicenter of everything," he said. Children from poor families or who speak English as a second language will not be left behind.

Those are noble goals, but hard to measure. I'd like to add some others. Florida will begin to rise from near the bottom of so many education rankings, particularly on spending. After all, we are a large and wealthy state. Instead of fewer than 60 percent of our students graduating from high school, 70 or 80 percent will earn a diploma, as they do in other states. We won't be worried that a third of 10th-graders may not pass the test needed for graduation. When our high school graduates do enter college, half of them won't fail to make it to their junior year, as they do now.

The pressure is now on Gov. Bush to prove that his plan can accomplish such gains. If vouchers, school grades and testing do the job, then you won't hear a complaint from me.

-- Jack Reed is a Times editorial writer.

Excellent, summer. This Sunday in church this was the topic of conversation around the donuts - the newspapers are dying because they cannot really fault Jeb's education plans, and his ratings are consistantly high. While what people are associating with Reno's candidacy is lesbian rights and the Hollywood elite.

I have been reading your posted threads for some time. You are really becoming quite adept at it. Keep up the good work. I have to admit that I like Jeb's politics much better than his brother's politics. At the risk of establishing another American poltical dynasty I must say that Jeb is still in the running in my book.

It never ceases to amaze me how school columnists focus on inputs - money - while not even considering outputs - learning.

Sure, it's nice to have more money and all, but I don't think that's what makes kids learn. A lot of miserable schools have absurdly high budgets.

Respectfully, I think Jeb is trying to make the right moves in education, but thus far he has been unconvincing. Perhaps it is his advisors.

The FCAT is a joke - funding for a school is tied to a one-day test. Schools even call up the brightest students to make sure they will be present for the FCAT.

Jeb is head and shoulders about his competition, I think with the right advisors, he will improve Florida's low education rank!

Thanks for your post #9. I appreciate your comments.

Funding is not tied to simply the results of a test. The grade of a school does not determine its funding -- however, schools that improve do receive bonus money to spend however they choose, while schools that fail do receive additional funds in a much more structured scenario.

I can understand what you are saying: that you do not want a test to determine all.

The number of students who take the test (as some schools will purposely suspend their worse students during testing week), and the learning gains made by students (a new measure) also count in a school's grade.

While any test does increase the pressure on a teacher and on students, I would just say this: if a kid wants to get into law school, or medical school, or a wide variety of other institutions someday, guess what? The kid has to take a test. No one follows you around for a year to find out if you'd actually make a good lawyer despite your low score on the LSAT.

In addition, kids have to take and pass tests for driver licenses, boating licenses, etc. When you deal with testing in a larger sense, students appreciate the practice they are getting for many other tests to come in life -- and, none of such tests will be eliminated any time soon.

But, I still appreciate your comment here. :)

Thanks for the ping and bttt! Jeb is having success as well in other areas that are unrelated to education, that were designed to give folks opportunities to participate in Florida's economy.

Just from listening to him, I am starting to think that Jeb's IQ qualifies him to be in the Mensa Society. People just don't realize how brainy he is because he's so informal one on one and, because he doesn't spend time bragging about himself.

He is so good with kids it's no wonder they clamor to get his autograph or have their picture taken with him.

...This Sunday in church this was the topic of conversation around the donuts - the newspapers are dying because they cannot really fault Jeb's education plans, and his ratings are consistantly high....

Thanks so much for your kinid words and reply #3, I still care. I see I struck a chord here!!! :)

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