1 teacher reminds us voices have power

My Word by Kathleen Oropeza, The Orlando Sentinel

Real heroes don’t seek glory. Seldom rich, they’re the first to give. They see potential in the most challenging personality. They heal hearts and inspire greatness. They move silently among us, putting others first. That’s what Alachua County kindergarten teacher Susan Bowles did when she told parents she would not administer the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading test, stress out her 5-year-old students or lose three precious weeks of instruction time.

All eyes turned to see Bowles, a 26-year veteran, standing tall for teaching, willing to be fired for the sake of the children she loves. No snarky comebacks from the testing lobby this time. Frozen by truth, the Florida Department of Education suspended the K-2 FAIR test for the year, blaming computer glitches.

Seizing opportunity, Gov. Rick Scott called for a “thorough investigation of all standardized tests,” forgetting that he’s the one who signed SB 736 into a law mandating assessment tests for every K-12 course. Scott did not attend his own 2013 Education Accountability Summit on standardized testing. The result was that no new input was considered. Instead reformers stood in line to stridently oppose any change to Florida’s high-stakes misery. No heroes there.

The truth is that Bowles shut the FAIR test down by putting children first. She explained her decision to refuse to administer the test, stating that it “provides nothing significantly superior to what a typical kindergarten teacher would observe in her students.”

Deferring to Bowles, Florida Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart decided that in lieu of the suspended FAIR test, basic observations would suffice.

Florida politicians have spent 15 years denigrating professional educators by telling anyone who would listen that they weren’t fit to run their classrooms, let alone construct effective assessments. Now Stewart has agreed to teacher observations to replace the FAIR test.

Until now, the state did not consider teachers capable of observing K-2 student progress. Through the miracle of bureaucratic hypocrisy, teachers are now qualified to stand in place of a multimillion-dollar standardized test.

We have a hero to thank for that. Bowles reminds us that our voices have power. Surely her words will inspire others to work to end Florida’s high-stakes abuse of our children and their teachers once and for all. Given the status of Florida’s crumbling reform agenda, this is just the beginning.

Register to vote, our democracy needs you!

Today is National Voter Registration Day.  Voting is a remarkable right that too many Americans take for granted.  Today states across the nation, including Florida are continuing to look for ways to strip voting rights. Now more than ever, our democracy depends on the participation of every eligible citizen.

Bad incumbents who ignore constituents keep getting re-elected because vast numbers of people have not registered to vote.  The Rising American Electorate is comprised of unmarried women, people of color and young people aged 18-29. The irony, as reported in Voter Participation, is that this group, 71 million strong, makes up the new majority, yet their positions are dismissed by elected officials.

Don’t think for one minute that your vote won’t count. In Florida big races routinely get decided over less than 20 votes. Be the difference. Be the 21^st vote. On line registration is quick and easy.  

FL Suspends FAIR Test

When the Florida Department of Education suspended the K-2 FAIR test and blamed “computer glitches” it raised more questions than it answered. For starters, who can deny the impact of kindergarten teacher Susan Bowles refusing to give the FAIR test to her students? Second, how does this test move so easily from being the law to suspended for the rest of the year?  We’ve been down this road before with FCAT Writes, manipulating cut scores and creating emergency safety nets to spare our children from legislated chaos.

Dire on-line testing problems have plagued the FAIR Test since its debut in 2009.  Ask any teacher or superintendent.  Unwilling to face the facts, the Department of Education spent millions of tax dollars over the past five years failing at “fixing” this mess. Privately teachers call it the “un-FAIR” test because it robs kids of three precious weeks of instruction time.

It’s laudable that Commissioner Stewart decided to liberate our children from such a time consuming, troublesome and expensive test.  The Department of Education, with all of its highly paid experts and consultants, has never once administered the FAIR test or any other online assessment without serious computer problems.  How in the world will this same department handle hundreds of thousands of new on-line Florida State Assessments this spring?

It’s laughable that Gov. Scott is earnestly calling for a “thorough investigation of all standardized tests” when he’s the one who eagerly signed SB 736 mandating a high stakes standardized test for every K-12 course.  Wasn’t this the exact topic of Scott’s 2013 Education Accountability Summit which he famously chose not to attend?

Scott’s Summit concluded with no new input even considered. Attendees like Sen. John Thrasher, currently interviewing for president of Florida State University, jumped up on cue to vehemently oppose any changes to Florida’s A-F Accountability system.

Why is Florida sticking to a broken accountability system where children are subjected to 80 days of testing during 180 days of school? Test vendors with fat wallets are now more important than teachers and children.

 

Lift the burden of test obsession

by Kathleen Oropeza

THE GAINESVILLE SUN, September 12, 2014

Parents, teachers and school districts across Florida are engaging in open public discourse over “testing insanity” and exploring the possibility of opting out of state-mandated assessments. For the first time in at least 15 years, the talk is about what’s best for kids. People get that Florida politicians have made high-stakes testing more important than learning.

Florida is in no way prepared to transition to the new state-mandated high stakes test this year. That’s why our nationally respected district leaders are calling for at least a two-year moratorium on high-stakes testing and time to consider alternatives. The most uplifting part of this development is that parents, teachers, school board members, superintendents, business leaders and students are working in collaboration toward a solution.

Although the conversations vary, the theme is the same: Florida’s children need us to create a new way because Tallahassee refuses to alter its status quo.

Florida’s testing transition plan does one thing. It pauses the assigning of an A-F school grade to individual schools for a year. It does nothing for teachers or children who will still face all the usual punishments based on the new unproven test, including grade retention and being denied diplomas.

This sort of absurdity is causing the iron fist of Florida’s A-F accountability system to lose its grip. History shows that once the oppressed are no longer afraid, the oppressor doesn’t stand a chance. Florida politicians have themselves to blame. They alone turned what was meant to be a helpful diagnostic measure into a high-stakes tool of doom.

The threats and fear no longer resonate. No sane person believes that a snapshot of a fraction of a child’s year should be held up as proof of anything. Parents, who have been grossly disrespected by the state, do not believe that a score on a test no one ever sees is a valid way to measure and possibly harm their child.

This is Florida’s light bulb moment. The passionate conversations taking place in districts between the people who know and love our children best is authentic and real. The time has come for parents, teachers, school board members, superintendents, business leaders and students to see this through. Together we can lift the burden of test obsession and breathe new life into education.

It’s time for us to seize the moral high ground and work to give the gift of joyful learning to the Florida public school children we love so much.