Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for July 9, 2008 YOU ARE NOT ALONE

In the "misery loves company" department...

Key statistic for me..."only six out of 60 Title 1 schools made adequate yearly progress."

HELLOOOOOOOO!

WAKE UP OUT THERE!

It's NOT the teachers...the common denominator is P-O-V-E-R-T-Y, whether it's black, white, Hispanic, whatever.

AND...by putting undo pressure on the teachers to perform miracles, NCLB is exacerbating the problem...running off the teachers who cared enough to come to these schools in the first place...INCLUDING THE TEACHERS THAT WOULD EXCEL ELSEWHERE! (I know...all caps is a no-no in cyberspace...it's considered "yelling". HELL...THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING!)

The brainless people who brought you NCLB want to offer big bucks (not THEIR big bucks, mind you, but big bucks that would come out of local resources that tend to be in short supply in areas served by Title I schools...shall I spell it out for them again...Title I = P-O-V-E-R-T-Y!)

Okay, since the thought got lost in the previous sentence, I'll start over.

The brainless people who brought you NCLB want to offer big bucks to replace existing staff with people of "excellence"...who will "care", who know how to teach, who will perform the aforementioned "miracles".

Yeah, right!

Those "people of excellence" will collect the big bucks for a couple of years (IF they tough it out that long, which is a BIG "IF") and then move on with their careers, leaving the same failing students in their wake.

To be replaced by whom?

This is where the "self-fulfilling prophecy" will kick in...after kicking out the teachers who cared for kids and spending the big bucks on "people of excellence" who cared for, well...BIG BUCKS, the continuing-to-fail districts will most likely have to reach into the bottom of the barrel to re-staff their schools...ending up with people who do not care about kids and, unable to find other employment, will accept a hopeless assignment for "little bucks."

What was that promise, President Bush (and your Republican and Democratic accomplices)...there would be "No Child Left Behind"?

17 Polk Schools Face Restructuring After Missing Goals

By John Chambliss
THE LEDGER

LAKELAND | Call it Black Tuesday for 15 struggling Title 1 elementary schools and two middle schools.

For six straight years, those schools have failed to meet the standards imposed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and they now face restructuring and more oversight from the Polk County School District. Restructuring is required after five years.

One longtime struggling school, Sandhill Elementary in Haines City, made what is known as adequate yearly progress and does not face any sanctions. Adequate Yearly Progress is the measuring stick of the federal No Child Left Behind law. It is based largely on how students perform on the state’s FCAT tests.

The rest of the schools that failed to meet standards now face drastic changes. All of them receive federal money from the Title 1 program that helps children of poor families. Each year, many schools fail to make adequate progress, but only Title 1 schools face consequences for not meeting the federally required measurement.

It remains unclear what the consequences will be, because changes were recently made by U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who allowed Florida and five other states to impose their own sanctions on the schools rather than follow the stringent federal law.

In the past, critics have complained that the federal approach to struggling schools is too rigid and treats them the same regardless of whether they miss the mark by a lot or a little.

The Polk County School District still expects to hire at least one executive principal, a new $100,000 position the district has created to oversee and help improve struggling schools.

But Superintendent Gail McKinzie said there are “more questions than answers” about how to sanction certain schools.

“We have to wait and see what they (the state) will tell us,” McKinzie said.

This year, only six out of 60 Title 1 schools made adequate yearly progress, an 11 percent decrease in the number of schools hitting the mark. It was a decrease from 14 Title 1 schools made adequate progress last year.

Statewide, schools continued to struggle to meet federal No Child Left Behind Act standards at a time when schools are preparing to absorb severe budget cuts that could slow their progress.

“Adequate funding is necessary to provide the kind of intervention and the kind of acceleration we need,” Education Commissioner Eric Smith said Tuesday. “Certainly the budget is an issue.”

Despite the high grades from the state, the DOE’s report said 1,104 Florida schools that receive federal funding for low-income students failed to make adequate yearly progress under federal standards.

Wilma Ferrer, Polk schools’ senior director of assessment, accountability and evaluation, said the target to make adequate progress increased this year.

In reading, the percentage of students required to meet the proficiency level increased from 51 to 58 percent, while math increased from 58 to 62 percent.

Lakeland schools facing sanctions are Crystal Lake Elementary, Foundation Charter, Combee Elementary, Jesse Keen Elementary and Winston Elementary.

Other schools are Westwood Middle and Snively Elementary in Winter Haven, Dundee Elementary, Wahneta Elementary, Kingsford Elementary in Mulberry, Alta Vista Elementary and Boone Middle in Haines City, Auburndale Central Elementary and Boswell Elementary in Auburndale, Frostproof Elementary and Ben Hill Griffin Jr. Elementary in Frostproof, and Loughman Oaks in Loughman.