The deal will mean that ESE students, mostly learning disabled and profoundly learning disabled will have their test scores count in the grade for the school. Florida schools are graded on an A to F basis, and many more are expected to be considered failures if the new plan is approved.
Here is the projection from the state officials as to the possible number of new schools that will be considered failing.
Explaining Why More Florida Schools Will Earn Failing Grades
Before that meeting, state education officials made projections on the number of F grades Florida schools would earn under the new grading system.
Here’s the breakdown of Florida’s largest school districts:
In Duval County the number of F schools would go from 6 to 29.
In Broward County the number of F schools would go from 5 to 27.
In Hillsborough County the number of F schools would go from 2 to 18.
In Miami-Dade County the number of F schools would go from 5 to 50.
In Orange County the number of F schools would go from 3 to14.
In Palm Beach County the number of F schools would go from 1 to 14.
Those are drastic changes in the number of failing schools. It is not because the students would score worse, but because included in the figures will be students who have special learning needs. Some will never be able take such a high stakes test.
They simply keep making the tests harder whenever there is any success at a level. FCAT 2.0 is meant keep more students from passing, thus giving the schools themselves a bad grade.
There are a lot of questions about this new requirement.
New school grading system questioned
Florida recently received a waiver from meeting the controversial mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, including the adequate yearly progress (AYP) requirement.
But for Florida to get the waiver, the state had to agree to start including performance scores of Exceptional Student Education (ESE) students, most of whom have learning disabilities. The equivalent FCAT for severely disabled ESE students is called the Florida Alternative Assessment test.
Until this year, only the learning gains of these ESE students were factored into the equation. But now the performance scores of profoundly disabled students will count toward a school’s grade.
Students in the English Language Learners (ELL) program, also known as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL will only have one year before their scores count toward school grades. Before this they had two years.
Many superintendents from larger urban areas have spoken out on this issue.
New grading formula could mean more F’s for Miami-Dade, Broward schools
Among other things, they took issue with the proposal to include test scores from special education students in the school grade calculation.
“It is unreasonable and inappropriate to expect that all exceptional students, regardless of the degree of disability, should meet the same definition of proficiency as their non-disabled grade level peers,” they wrote.
Instead, the superintendents suggested including only a measure for improvement.
Had the new formula been in place this year, Broward would have had more than 50 schools classified as D or F. In Miami-Dade, that figure would have skyrocketed to 109 schools.
After 10 years of the Bush reforms like NCLB, we are heading toward 100% failure. In fact Arne Duncan himself said that 82% of schools were failing last year under these reforms.
After a decade of No Child Left Behind
We're approaching 100% "failure"
Arne Duncan said Wednesday, that 82% of all schools could now be labeled as "failing" under NCLB rules. The DOE estimates the number of schools not meeting targets will skyrocket from 37 to 82 percent in 2011 since states have "raised standards" to meet the requirements of the law. Yes, we're truly racing towards the top.
The latest news has forced Duncan to re-triangulate. He has been pushing, so far unsuccessfully, for NCLB re-authorization for the past two years. He still praises NCLB for supposedly "shining a light on achievement gaps among minority and low-income students," but now admits, ""No Child Left Behind is broken" and needs to be fixed.
...."The law is all about test-and-punish.
Arne having to change tune since NCLB is causing 82% of schools to fail....