2008 Education Reforms:
A Bold Step Forward, But Much Work Remains
While the 2008 Legislature will mostly be remembered for massive budget cuts to public education and other high-priority programs, lawmakers did take a bold first step to begin undoing the narrow focus of the flawed A-Plus public school accountability system in place since 1999.
The legislature adopted a policy change long advocated by CIVIC Concern and House Democratic leadership that calls for school grades to be based on more than just students’ scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (“FCAT”). The new legislation broadens how high schools’ grades are determined. Rather than being based solely on the FCAT, high school grades will now be based on a more comprehensive formula that includes elements like graduation rate, advanced placement courses, vocational certificates, and other factors.
The policy changes are rooted in large part in a 2004 CIVIC project headed by the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University where experts conducted a critical analysis of Florida’s A-Plus public school accountability plan. The report found that the A-Plus plan’s sole accountability measure, the FCAT – which only measures students’ progress in reading, math, science and, to a very limited extent, reading – is too narrow and needs to be broadened. This conclusion was confirmed by the Buros Report in 2007, a study conducted after the third-grade FCAT reading tests in 2006 were improperly scored, prompting the Department of Education to seek an independent assessment of the accountability system.
Bills based on the CIVIC study were introduced in 2005, 2006 and 2007 but were unable to make much progress because of opposition from House leadership. This year’s FCAT reform bill was introduced by Senator Don Gaetz (R-Niceville), a former Okaloosa County school superintendent. For the first time, the legislative majority has begun to embrace these education reforms.
However, there are still much-needed changes that need to be made. First, this concept of broadening the accountability formula should apply to every public school from kindergarten through 12th grade, not just high schools. Overemphasis on the FCAT has forced public schools to gear their teaching and curricula toward producing higher scores on one standardized test rather than producing high quality graduates with high grade point averages who are ready for college or careers.
In the long-term, the accountability system may need to be totally revamped in order to offer a really accurate reflection of school quality and progress. For example, because the FCAT only tests reading, math, and science, leading schools to give short shrift to other subjects, such as history, geography, social studies, art, and music. If school grades reflected students’ progress in these subjects too, not only would the school grades be more accurate, but also schools would be able to focus on offering a more balanced and well-rounded curriculum.
Other reforms addressed in the 2004 Civic study also need to be made. The current policy of requiring third graders to be held back if they do poorly on the reading FCAT should be ended. Study after study shows that children who are forcibly retained are more likely to dropout or become involved with the juvenile justice system than students who proceed to the next grade but receive intensive help to remedy their academic weaknesses. Just this week we learned that 16 percent of our third graders did poorly enough on this year’s FCAT reading that they face automatic retention.
The policy of rewarding improving or high-performing schools with money that should be going to low performing schools to help them achieve higher results also needs reform. In light of the worsening budget crisis, House Democrats proposed that next year school districts be given the flexibility to use money from this fund, called the School Recognition Fund, to pay for classroom needs if necessary. The idea was voted down.
Another major concern that urgently needs to be addressed is that some school districts are being forced to close underutilized schools in low-performing neighborhoods, leaving parents and children in these neighborhoods with few good school options. In Volusia County, for example, seven low-income schools are being closed this year. Contributing to this problem, legislative leaders pushed through a controversial $30 million expansion of an $88 million per year corporate tax credit voucher program this year. The program is aimed at getting children out of poor, underfunded, low performing public schools and into religious and private schools.
While the corporate voucher program may be unconstitutional based on the Florida Supreme Court’s 2006 ruling striking down the A Plus plan’s “opportunity scholarship” vouchers, but no one has challenged corporate vouchers in court. An amendment on the ballot in November would remove the constitutional language relied on by the Supreme Court, clearing the way for taxpayer dollars to be spent sending children to religious schools. Stay tuned to the CIVIC website for more information about this and other ballot amendments.
How You Can Get Involved
Join CIVIC's new initiative, What Kind of Florida Do You Want to Live In? and join other Floridians in working to create a better tomorrow for our state. Learn more at www.CIVICconcern.org/whatkind.