A personal perspective on education statistics in Florida
My good friend, Rita Solnet, is is a Florida co-founder of Parent Across America, has given me permission to cross-post a piece she just did. I strongly recommend you read her story.
Everything below this point is Rita's words. Please read and pass on to others. Thanks
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Statistically Speaking, Florida -- I Don't Believe Them
Florida's education statistics were front and center all week. As I prepare for my son's college graduation, I can't help but wonder how different his future would be had we lived by statistics.
A '08 graduate of an outstanding public high school in Boca Raton, Jeff attended twelve years of Florida's public schools. He gained admission to some of the finest universities in our nation thanks to a village of supportive teachers, staff, guidance counselors and a host of interesting AP and college courses at his disposal.
Today Florida's education reform decisions are based on failed reforms touted by third parties with vested interests. Worse still -- those decisions are then supported with illogically skewed or fatally flawed statistics vs. real-world, in-the-trenches input.
Last week we learned that children could not write any better than martians arriving on planet earth yet later in the week the news trumpeted that Florida's reading scores improved across the state. Both tests crafted and scored from the same company. They can't write but they can read and comprehend very well. Does that make sense to anyone? Flawed results based on flawed tests, forgotten instructions to schools, and flawed scoring methods were inflicted upon children. But one Conference call and presto, the passing grade drops under a recommendation by Jeb Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future which receives funds from Pearson.
Everything below this point is Rita's words. Please read and pass on to others. Thanks
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statistically Speaking, Florida -- I Don't Believe Them
Florida's education statistics were front and center all week. As I prepare for my son's college graduation, I can't help but wonder how different his future would be had we lived by statistics.
A '08 graduate of an outstanding public high school in Boca Raton, Jeff attended twelve years of Florida's public schools. He gained admission to some of the finest universities in our nation thanks to a village of supportive teachers, staff, guidance counselors and a host of interesting AP and college courses at his disposal.
Today Florida's education reform decisions are based on failed reforms touted by third parties with vested interests. Worse still -- those decisions are then supported with illogically skewed or fatally flawed statistics vs. real-world, in-the-trenches input.
Last week we learned that children could not write any better than martians arriving on planet earth yet later in the week the news trumpeted that Florida's reading scores improved across the state. Both tests crafted and scored from the same company. They can't write but they can read and comprehend very well. Does that make sense to anyone? Flawed results based on flawed tests, forgotten instructions to schools, and flawed scoring methods were inflicted upon children. But one Conference call and presto, the passing grade drops under a recommendation by Jeb Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future which receives funds from Pearson.