Yesterday, I interviewed a parent who pulled his son out of Escambia County Public School District because he felt all the teachers had been doing since December was teach the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test).
“My son isn’t learning the three R’s,” he told me. “He’s learning how to pass the FCAT.”
Well, we can expect it to get worse in Escambia County.
The Florida Legislature is considering two teacher pay bills, Senate SB 736 and House HB 7019, that will use the FCAT scores to determine half a teacher’s compensation. They are called “merit pay” bills–as if a fifth-grader’s test scores are based solely on the merit of his teacher for the seven month before the test.
Last year, Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a similar bill. Rick Scott will surely sign whatever is passed.
Here are the key parts of the bills:
•Change evaluations for all teachers, requiring that at least 50 percent be based on student growth as measured by FCAT or other standardized exams.
•Require districts to develop or obtain exams for courses not covered by the FCAT and/or find alternative ways to judge teachers whose classes did not typically involve standardized tests.
•Evaluate principals on their school’s student test-score data.
•Require the state to develop a “value-added” system to judge student growth using three years of FCAT or other test data while taking into account factors outside a teacher’s control, such as a student’s absentee rate.
•Evaluate all teachers as unsatisfactory, needs improvement/developing, effective or highly effective.
•Raises only given to teachers with effective or highly effective ratings, only for teachers hired after July 2014.
•Current teachers remain on current pay plans, which give raises based on seniority and advanced degrees. Only teachers hired before July 2011 can have tenure.
• All teachers hired after July 2011 work on annual contracts, not the “professional service” or “continuing” contracts Florida teachers typically receive after three years.
•Existing teachers — even those with tenure — can not be rehired if they have several years of poor evaluations.
Escambia County had one of its worst FCAT years last year. The district received 494 points–its worst score since the 2006-07 school year (481).
Percentage of students meeting High Standards in Reading, Math and Writing dropped last year, as did the percentage of those making gains in reading and math. The biggest decline was in reading for the lowest 25-percent of Escambia County public school students, which dropped 10 percentage points. In fact, the percentage showing gains in reading for the lowest 25-percent was the lowest percentage since 2004-2005 school year.
The pressure on teachers and principals will be tremendous once these bills become law.