Letter to Florida Legislature

Dear Members,



I wish that I could be in Tallahassee to address you personally but prior commitments make it impossible to do so.


I am a historian of American education at New York University. I served as Assistant Secretary of Research and Improvement in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. I was a founding member of the Koret Task Force of the Hoover Institution. I was also a founding trustee of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. I have been studying and writing about American education for 40 years.



I write to oppose SB 6/HB 7189.


I understand that this bill would prohibit districts from paying teachers in relation to their experience and education, but would base teachers' salaries mainly on student gains on standardized tests. I further understand that it is the law's intent to develop new tests for every subject area, paid for by reducing operating expenses by 5 percent in the schools.


I strongly believe that this bill will have very negative consequences for the children of the state of Florida. I believe that it will dumb down their education. I believe that it will cause many of your best teachers to leave the profession or the state because this legislation is so profoundly disrespectful towards the education profession.

I urge you not to pass this bill.


My new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, demonstrates that pay-for-scores schemes don't work. The main reason they don't work is that the measures were not intended for that purpose. Standardized tests are intended to evaluate whether students have learned what they were taught. They are not designed to assess teacher effectiveness or teacher quality. The more that teachers focus on these measures, the more they rob children of time for instruction and for the activities that engage children in their education and promote comprehension.


Teachers are not solely the cause of student progress. If students fail to make progress in their studies, there are many reasons for their failure. The causes of academic success or failure include the students' own effort; the students' regular attendance or lack thereof; the family's support or lack thereof; the family's poverty and its effects on the student's health and well-being; the school's resources; the district's oversight or lack thereof; and the quality of the test itself, which may be subject to random variation. It makes no sense to hold the teacher alone accountable when student performance is affected by so many different influences.


Should the teacher get a bad evaluation if students have a poor attendance record? Should the teacher be harshly judged if her students don't speak English or move frequently from school to school? Should the teacher get an F if the student has poor eyesight or suffers from other undiagnosed health problems? Should the teacher be considered a failure if the student's family offers no support for his learning?


Since the 1920s, American schools have experimented with merit pay plans. None has ever demonstrated success. Teachers will bend their efforts to raise test scores, but achievement nonetheless lags. The reason for this is that teaching-to-the-test does not yield good education. The students may learn test-taking skills, but they don't learn how to generalize what they have learned to new situations. Thus, even when state reading scores go up, in response to intensive coaching, national test scores remain flat. As the national tests become more demanding—in 8th grade—the scores don't rise at all.

Our nation has now had eight consecutive years of rising reading scores at the state level, yet the national scores for 8th grade students have not budged from 1998-2009. The reason for the discrepancy is that students are learning test-taking skills, but they are unable to understand complex materials or to demonstrate their progress on a test that is not the state test.


Test scores do not identify the most effective teachers. A teacher who produces big score gains one year may produce none the next year, depending on which students happen to be in his or her class.


The legislation now under consideration will not improve education in Florida. It will harm kids and their teachers.


I urge you to stop and reflect. The research on teacher effectiveness does not support the policies of SB 6/HB 7189. Please defeat this legislation.


Yours truly,
Diane Ravitch

Do you 'DEWEY'??

Are you a librarian looking for Dewey materials for this coming school year??

I've been helping out in our school's media center to organize some books and I must admit...it's been a long time since I "deweyed." I had forgotten all about the Dewey system, how it works, the beautiful art of organization and systematic placement of books into categories based upon topic. It's really amazing to think about this amazing feat when you look at tens of thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of books- yet every year- librarians across the world do it daily! Some without the help of a clerk to assist them.

Here are some resources you can use to help orient your students to the Dewey system. (btw... I have never taught this skill to my students- but plan to in the future... I do see it as useful and I wish I had memorized the numbers myself!)

Here are some links to help you plan for future instruction:

http://languagearts.pppst.com/deweydecimals.html
 (powerpoints on the system itself- kid friendly)

http://www.scottpublib.org/dragon/Dewey.htmlDe

http://www.breitlinks.com/dewey_for_kids.htm
http://www.cf.k12.wi.us/library/deweydecimal.htm
http://www.shambles.net/pages/school/libskills/

http://lmnet.wikispaces.com/Dewey+Decimal+System
 (great link to Dewey bingo- Dewey poster- and other items for your media center, library, classroom library, or homeschool library!!)


http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listthedeweli.html
(a list of more resources)

http://www.mikids.com/Deweygroups.htm'
 (resources broken up by grade level)

http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/public.htm
 (powerpoint presentations on the Dewey decimal system)


http://www.lisd.org/library/Bramlette/Rohner%20_Dewey%20Decimal%20System.htm
 (even more resources than you could ever imagine- there is a GREAT ThinkQuest activity which would be great to use- however you need to sign up for an account first- which you will need an administrators permission)


***The above resources will keep you busy for a good while... If you need more- Let me know and I will post more resources for you on this website but for now... have fun!

Sparks- New Teacher Retreat!

Our Sparks-New Teacher Retreat, which was held at the Duncan Center in Delray Beach on May 7 and 8th was a HUGE SUCCESS. Not only did the teachers who attended have a great time, but I haven't laughed that much in years. No Joke- my ribs were actually sore on Sunday from all the laughing I did! I think the teachers there agreed, it was sooo much fun!!

Check out the following posts to see the fun and learning that occurred and stay tuned for our next retreat... to occur in August!! Only 30 New teachers will be selected to attend, the first 30 to respond to the email that is sent out by CTA will be going- so JOIN CTA TODAY- if you aren't already a member!! (You won't have to pay any dues until August 2010)... and don't forget that dues go a VERY LONG way... You will have LOADS of resources coming your way this summer and this coming school year!