Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

2-25-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:






Step Up for Students Delivers Astroturf Campaign Ahead of Civil Rights Event
NAACP Florida Conference President Adora Obi-Nweze was critical of Florida’s school voucher program in a WMNF story about next week’s Moral Monday event when he said “it’s very critical that we get a high quality education for our children. The dollars that are being cut as a result of dollars being siphoned off from the public school district is stopping our children from being able to have a qua

Florida VAM Scores: The Most Meaningless Teacher Evaluation Exercise Ever?
So writes Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post: There are numerous problems with using VAM scores for high-stakes decisions, but in this particular release of data, the most obvious and perhaps the most egregious one is this: Some 70 percent of the Florida teachers received VAM scores based on test results from students they didn’t teach and/or in subjects they don’t teach. Yes, you read that ri


VAM Part of the “Systemic Dismantling of a Teachers Worth”

The fall-out over the court-ordered release of VAM scores belonging to Florida teachers is just beginning. Joseph E. Joyner, the superintendent of schools in St. Johns County where the state’s best VAM scores came from, wasn’t doing an end zone dance. Here’s part of the public letter he released yesterday: The creation of lists/judgments of teachers by VAM data is inherently wrong in several areas


2-24-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week
Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education: The Gainesville Sun Rips Rick Scott, Calls for Pause in School Grade FormulaFrom the editors of the Gainesville Sun: Gov. Rick Scott should be providing leadership on this issue, but he has shown repeatedly he’s more about lip service on education than actually fixing wh