Florida Education News
June 2009
Copyright © 2009 Queue, Inc.
IN
THIS ISSUE:
Bioscience Education Study Criticizes
Florida
Department of Education Releases 2009 Third
Grade FCAT Results
Writing Program Helps Martin County Become No. 1
in Florida on FCAT Writing Exam
Florida Education Report Back
Issues (http://www.queuenews.com/FLnews.html)
Education Research Report Back
Issues (http://queueeducation.blogspot.com)
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More than $1.8 billion is now available for Florida under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. This funding will lay the foundation for a generation of education reform and help save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs at risk of state and local budget cuts. Florida will be eligible to apply for another $891 million this fall. This funding is being made available per Florida's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1.
To
date, Florida has received more than $599 million in education stimulus
fundsÑrepresenting a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational
Rehabilitation Grants and Independent Living Grants. On April 1, Florida
received more than $245 million in Title I funding and $335 million in IDEA
funding. This represents 50 percent of the Title I and IDEA funding Florida is
eligible for in total. On April 1, Florida also received $16 million in
Vocational Rehab funds and $3 million in Independent Living funds.
In
order to receive the funds, Florida provided assurances that it will collect, publish,
analyze and act on basic information regarding the quality of classroom
teachers, annual student improvements, college readiness, the effectiveness of
state standards and assessments, progress on removing charter caps, and
interventions in turning around underperforming schools.
Florida
is also required by the Department of Education to report the number of jobs
saved through Recovery Act funding, the amount of state and local tax increases
averted, and how funds are used.
See Florida's application for initial funding under the State
Fiscal Stabilization Fund Program at
http://www.ed.gov/programs/statestabilization/stateapps/fl.pdf
States
across America are failing to prepare students for pursuing biosciences in
higher educationÑa key pipeline for developing the bioscience workforce of the
future. A new report funded and researched by BIO, Battelle, and the
Biotechnology Institute provides the first ever comprehensive study of middle
and high school bioscience education in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the
District of Columbia. The report also finds a wide disparity across measures of
student achievement in overall science and biosciences, an uneven record across
states in incorporating the biosciences in state science standards, supporting
focused bioscience education programs and higher level bioscience courses, and
ensuring science and bioscience teachers are well qualified.
This
review of state activities in bioscience education suggests a number of actions
that should be taken. For example, individual states:
á Should incorporate
biotechnology as they revise their science standards and should involve
research scientists with expertise in the biosciences in their development.
á Must commit to improving
student achievement in biology and the life sciences and ensuring that their
high school graduates are ready to pursue college-level bioscience courses.
á Should improve the
collection and dissemination of data, tracking student participation and
performance in the biosciences and the broader sciences and if they do not
participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science
exam should be encouraged to do so.
á Should take a more
systematic approach to teacher professional development, experiential learning,
and career awareness.
The
report provides the following evidence that states are not measuring up:
á On average, only 28% of
the high school students taking the ACT , which is a national standardized test
for college admission, reached a score indicating college readiness for biology
and no state reached even 50%.
á Only 52% of 12th graders
are at or above a basic level of achievement in the sciences, and for 8th
graders only 57% are at a basic level of achievement.
á Average scores for 12th
graders in the sciences have actually declined from 1996 to 2005 and shown no
improvement for 8th graders both overall and on the life science component.
á A significant gap exists
in science achievement for low-income middle-school students, although the gap
is slowly narrowing.
Some
states fared much better than others with respect to student achievement in the
biosciences. While it is difficult to give a single grade across states because
of the limited quality and comparability of the student achievement data, the
patterns of student performance suggest the states fall into several broad
categories.
Leaders
of the Pack:
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio,
Vermont, Wisconsin
Second
Tier:
Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota,
Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington
Middling
Performance:
Alabama, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan,
Montana, South Carolina, Wyoming
Lagging
Performance:
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia
Not
Rated:
States that do not participate in the NAEP science assessment were not rated.
The
report also finds an uneven record across states in incorporating the
biosciences in state science standards, supporting focused bioscience education
programs and advanced bioscience courses, and ensuring well-qualified science
and bioscience teachers.
Only thirty-one states reported that their science standards explicitly mention or define standards or applied laboratory or other instruction tools specifically for biotechnology or the biosciences.
At
least half the states have at least one school with a bioscience focus, and all
of the states have schools with a focus on broader STEM education. But states
do not seem to be succeeding in encouraging high school students to take
upper-level science courses. Although data on this subject are very limited,
the share of students taking the AP biology exam averages 4.6% of high school
graduates.
The
report also notes that nearly one in eight U.S. high-school biology teachers
was not certified to teach biology. The average share of biology teachers who
are certified in a given state ranged from 50% to 100% in data collected by the
Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), although 88% of biology
teachers are certified nationally on average.
Florida report:
http://www.bio.org/local/battelle2009/FL_bio_09.pdf
The percent of Florida third-graders
performing at or above grade level in math reached its highest point to date
according to Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) results released
today. The results build on the stateÕs long-term progress in math where the
percentage of third-graders performing at or above grade level has increased 26
percentage points in only nine years. Additionally, African-American and
Hispanic third-graders continue to close the math achievement gap with their
White counterparts.
ÒI'm highly encouraged by this yearÕs third
grade math results and the progress our students have made over the last
decade,Ó said Education Commissioner Dr. Eric J. Smith. ÒYear after year, our
students, teachers and school administrators show us that through their hard
work and passion, incredible gains can be achieved.Ó
Florida also continues to experience
long-term reading progress. Although the percentage of third-graders reading at
or above grade level dropped slightly this year, the percentage of
third-graders reading at or above grade level has grown 14 percentage points
since 2001.
ÒAlthough it appears weÕve reached a
plateau with this yearÕs reading results, IÕm confident Florida is poised to
push forward with new initiatives and strategies that are specifically defined
to move student achievement to the next step,Ó said Smith.
A brief summary of the results are as
follows:
á
78
percent of third-grade students are performing at or above grade level in math;
up two percentage points from last year and 26 points since 2001.
á
African-American
and Hispanic third-graders narrowed the achievement gap with White students in
math by one percentage point this year.
á
71
percent of third-grade students are reading at or above grade level; down one
percentage point from last year and up 14 points since 2001.
In 2002, the law was changed to require the
retention of third-grade students who failed to achieve a score of Achievement
Level 2 or above on FCAT Reading. Because the FCAT is not the sole factor for
determining a childÕs promotion to fourth grade, the Department does offer
parents of third-graders additional remediation resources at www.justreadflorida.com.
The options available to help third-graders achieve their goals include summer
reading camps, reading mentors and student portfolios.
Individual student score reports will be
available to parents at each school district after June 3, 2009. Districts and
schools can use their secure login and password provided by the Department to
access electronic copies of their reports today.
To
view the 2009 Third Grade Reading and Mathematics FCAT fact sheet, visit http://fcat.fldoe.org/mediapacket/2009/pdf/2009G3RMFactSheet.pdf
(PDF). To view school, district and state FCAT results, visit http://fcat.fldoe.org/mediapacket/2009/default.asp.
The Florida Department of Education (FDOE)
has announced its intention to award the Next Generation Florida Comprehensive
Assessment Test (FCAT) contract to Pearson. As part of Pearson's work with
FDOE, the company will provide item, test and pre- and post-test ancillary
development; psychometric review and support; print and production services;
and distribution, retrieval, scoring and reporting services.
Pearson,
through its acquisition of Harcourt Assessment, has provided item, test and
pre- and post-test ancillary development, psychometric review and support, as
well as print and production services for the FCAT Development contract since
2000. Pearson previously held the administration contract from 2000-2005.
Announcement
of this award follows an open bidding process.
FCAT
is an accountability measure designed by FDOE and Florida educators and
informed by national experts. The assessment is unique to Florida and offers
educators opportunities to design their instructional practices around the
particular instructional needs of their students. This assessment meets the
requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001.
The term of the contract with Pearson is five years and will
end on December 1, 2013. Pearson remains engaged with the FDOE in finalizing
all details, but the prospective contract has a potential value of $254.million
Eighth
and 10th grade writing test scores soar in county; two highest improving
schools benefit from Vantage LearningÕs MY Access!¨ Instructional
Writing Program
Teachers and students in the Martin County School District are
celebrating becoming No. 1 in the state of Florida after a dramatic increase in
test scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) writing assessment,
thanks to the districtÕs recent implementation of online writing tool MY Access! ¨. This award-winning, Web-based program from Vantage Learning builds better writers by
instantly scoring class essays, and providing immediate response to
intervention (RTI) that engages and motivates students. South Fork High School
rose to 82 percent, scoring 3.5 or above in 2009, while Andersen Middle School
showed an increase from 83 percent to 95 percent. Both schools showed the
highest increase in the district, and both used the MY Access! program to
prepare for the FCATs and improve writing skills among students.
ÒMY Access!Õs ability to give students immediate feedback on their
writing assignments has been such a tremendous help to us,Ó says South Fork
Principal Pat Schmoyer. ÒIn addition to preparing for the FCAT writing
assessment, we used MY Access! to challenge students to continually revise
their writing. The evidence is there that the more students write, the better
writers they become. This yearÕs No. 1 ranking on the FCAT writing exam is an
incredible testament to our studentsÕ desire to learn and succeed, and the
learning environment created by MY Access!.Ó
To use MY Access!, students write an essay based on a teacherÕs
assignment, and submit it to the Web-based system. The program instantly
analyzes over 350 semantic, syntactic, and discourse characteristics, and
scores the students on focus and meaning, organization, content and
development, language use and style, mechanics and conventions, and overall
writing proficiency. MY Access! then scores the essays on a scale of 1 to 6,
provides immediate feedback to students, and saves teachers valuable time to
focus on personalized, targeted student instruction instead.
Pasco
County Schools
Pasco County is primarily a tourist and retirement destination,
given its location along the Gulf Coast. However, eastern portions of the
county remain agriculturally based. Unemployment rates slowly rose above state
levels this decade, and increased greatly in March 2009 to 11.5%, signaling
weakness in the local economy. Per capita personal income levels exhibit
similarly downbeat trends.
Overall financial operations are sound and reserve levels are
solid. The district's fiscal 2008 unreserved general fund balance equaled 7.3%
of spending ($36.1 million), a healthy level for a Florida school district.
Officials expect the fiscal 2009 unreserved balance to remain essentially
unchanged, despite cuts in state aid and overestimated enrollment growth of
approximately 800 students. A wage freeze and deferment of other planned
spending helped close the gap, which reportedly reached $25 million. Officials
are preparing for a 10% reduction in the fiscal 2010 budget, and they are
committed to maintaining an unreserved general fund balance equal to at least
5% of spending.
Moderate overall debt ratios equal $2,164 per capita, or 3.5% of
total assessed value. The district currently leverages an above-average 0.9
mill of the capital outlay levy for COPs repayment, and Fitch believes that
declines in the district's fiscal 2010 tax base will increase this figure to
over 1.0 mill. However, the district has no plans to issue additional COPs and
is currently compliant with the state's class size reduction amendment at the
school level.
St.
Lucie County Schools
St. Lucie County is located on the eastern coast of Florida,
approximately 120 miles north of Miami. The county includes the cities of Port
St. Lucie and Fort Pierce with a large portion of the county unincorporated.
The economic base is limited with a sizeable agricultural component and is
largely residential. Population growth in the county has been rapid since 2000,
reaching 260,939 in 2007, significantly outpacing population growth statewide.
Unemployment in the county historically exceeded state and national rates; in
March 2009 unemployment was high at 12.8%, above the state and the national
rates of 9.5% and 8.5%, respectively. While income levels remain below average,
this is in line with other agriculturally based communities in Florida.
The district's financial position has shown moderate volatility
over the past few years due to a combination of mid-year reductions in state
aid and a policy decision to reduce fund balance. Fiscal 2008 ended with a $2.6
million general fund deficit marking the second consecutive year of a fund
balance drawdown and lowering the unreserved general fund balance to $14
million, equal to 4.6% of spending. Expectations for year-end general fund
results for fiscal 2009 are again negative as the district made a policy
decision to reduce fund balance as a means to manage declining state funding
and an uncertain economic environment.
The fiscal year 2010 budget calls for $30 million in proposed
cuts, including a hiring freeze, no raises for current staff, reduction in
athletics, and closing of three schools. Fitch believes these expenditure cuts
will benefit the district and likely lead to growth in fund balance in fiscal
2010. Financial results notably weaker than expected could lead to downward
pressure on the rating.
School district enrollment, measured by FTEs (full-time
equivalents) averaged a strong 4.1% annual growth since 2003. In the 2008-2009
school year, enrollment declined 4.2%. The district expects enrollment will
stabilize in the 2009-2010 school year. The district has the adequate number
student stations required to meet state mandated class-size requirements.
Overall debt for the district is moderately low at $1,837 per
capita and 2.01% of taxable value. With the district experiencing a small
decline in enrollment for the first time in 20 years, capital needs are
expected to be limited and no additional debt is planned in the near-term.