No change will be substantive until NCLB is revisited and amended to reflect reality. The root causes of our current educational woes range from unchecked illegal immigration to the culture of African American memory, still steeped in generations of slavery and racism and are compounded by knee-jerk liberal reactions. Our country must find values that meet the needs of our children. We must set the example of acceptable behavior and lifestyle that children crave. I have a little 4th grade black girl who is getting notes from other black girlsl to have sex with a boy, because “[If] she likes him she should do that to show him.” This is what they see at home, what they hear pounding from the CDs they play or hear on radio. Turn off your radios and listen to the lyrics of the music your children hear daily. Get a grip on your kids–fast.
The primary purpose of school is to get a job. There are few to get now. Quit playing with elementary and focus on high school.
We won’t be hearing from most of you when your kids get to high school.
I am a thirteen year veteran teacher who is glad to have moved to chicago from palm beach county..gimme snow over B.S. anytime
Some of the comments are just absurd! The one about Hernandez “ripping a marker out of a teachers hand” was laughable. I think that some of you are making a career out of drama and instead of providing solutions, you are fanning the fire. Get a life and perhaps volunteer. You certainly seem to have the time.
The meeting today shows that nothing will come of any of the future meetings – regardless of the audience.
This is stalling – pure and simple.
The CTA needs to call for a massive demonstration on Dec 16, vote of confidence/no confidence on AJ, JH and the school board, immediate call for working to hte contract only !!
The CTA Board has VOTED DOWN DOW on 2 occassions to get a vote of confidence/no confidence. Perhaps the CTA membership needs to look at replacing the CTA Board also.
FYI – This was presented to the Board on November 24th!!
School District’s Chief of Performance Accountability Provides Background On District’s Curriculum Initiatives
Public Affairs – (561) 434-8228
November 24, 2009
The following statement was presented to the School Board on November 17, 2009 by Dr. Marc Baron, the School District’s Chief of Performance Accountability. It is a succinct and factual description of the implementation of the district’s current curriculum initiatives. Dr. Baron’s areas of responsibility include testing, research and evaluation and the Education Data Warehouse.
“Good evening School Board Chair, School Board members, Dr. Johnson and staff. My name is Marc Baron.
I believe teachers, parents, and educators care deeply about students and we are here today because we want all students to graduate and achieve success in their future careers.
Although the District has made progress over the past years in improving student achievement, the District currently has too many students below grade level and too few have reached the higher levels of achievement. This is particularly true for too many students in several of our federal accountability groups.
What can we do to raise all of our students to grade level and above and have more of our students reach the highest level of achievement?
Major national educational organizations and well-known educational researchers have identified the educational practices in effective and high quality school systems* (See * below). Today, I will discuss two of the practices that have the greatest impact on improving student achievement: a guaranteed and viable curriculum and challenging goals and effective feedback.
Essentially, a high quality school system has a guaranteed and viable curriculum when it:
Clearly defines the standards that students are supposed to master at each grade level and subject, and when it
Provides sufficient time for teachers to teach the standards so that all students can master them in the time available
A high quality school system also promotes effective feedback by
Implementing a comprehensive assessment system that provides timely, frequent, and accurate information on how well students are mastering the standards and by
Helping teachers and students to use the results of those assessments to adjust ongoing teaching and learning.
Now that we reviewed what the research has said, this is what the district has done to implement these practices
The District had translated Florida’s curriculum, the Sunshine State Standards, into a scope and sequence that provides clear learning objectives, and
The district has also promoted effective feedback through a comprehensive assessment system, including embedded assessments, that provides feedback on student mastery of the learning objectives.
However, research also suggests that strategies are not as important as an organization’s ability to effectively implement them. Leading researchers have found that organizations often fail to achieve their vision because they implement it poorly.
Dr. Johnson has already recognized that the District did a poor job of engaging the community and communicating the reason the practices were necessary, and the District tried to do too much too fast. Nevertheless, the District’s practice of providing a scope and sequence and embedded assessments is critical to students’ academic success.
Rather than abandoning these practices, the District needs to work together with teachers, parents, and other stakeholders to find a better way to implement these practices to help all our students succeed.
After all, this is why we are here today.”
* Statements based on the following research -based best practices:
Broad Prize for Urban Education
The National Center for Educational Achievement
Council of Chief State School Officers
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement
Robert Marzano :
Classroom Instruction that Works: Research
Building Background Knowledge for Academic
Making Standards Useful in the Classroom
Nine Essential Instructional Strategies
Douglas Reeves:
Accountability in Action…
The Leaders Guide to Standards…
Making Standards Work: How to Implement …
TELL US… ANONYMOUSLY – WHAT’S GOING ON BEHIND YOUR CLASSROOM DOORS.
TELL US… ANONYMOUSLY – WHAT’S GOING ON BEHIND YOUR CLASSROOM DOORS.
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The despicable manipulation of the meeting at Santaluces and the way in which district administration brought in uninformed people to create the illusion of caring should reveal the truth of the “supervisor’s new clothes”. It is all bluff and effrontery. And there is no cheap shot they won’t take. On the other hand, if it is these specific populations who allegedly benefit from this baseless program, fine. Give it to them Not me, them! Why continue to spend millions on a vast array of ineffective programs for every student in the district? At least carve it down to those who supposedly will benefit and let the rest do what has worked, NCLB/AYP is based on 100% success; utterly irrational and unachievable in virtually any popultaion but especially so in an ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse on as large as ours. One solution to government abuse that has been effective and holds the moral high ground is both simple and yet very challenging (and sometimes costly on a personal level): CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. Just say “No!” Just do not comply. Let them huff, puff, bark, ramble, threaten, and bluster; then go do what you know needs doing and will work. If someone don’t like it, well, “Come on and teach the class yourself, I’m going to DisneyWorld!” (At least there we all know it’s a joke.)