Dear Senators/Representatives/Pres/DOE: I am the principal of a Differentiated Accountability (DA) school. The school made an F last year. However, we are now a magnet school and 57% of the students are new, over 50% of the classroom teachers are new and Im new. Id like to start fresh, but have to deal with the vestiges of last years school. DA schools, for the most part, are schools that deal with children of poverty. The last time I checked middle schools in Florida, 94% of the schools that had low numbers of poor children made As while only 7% of the school with high numbers had As. I expect that you would find similar numbers for elementary schools. So, now I have State intervention...which we had last year in many of our schools...but the results were not much different. Oh, well, maybe somewhat different as we have more D and F schools this year. If this is such a good idea, I think we should have DA for other businesses and especially state entities. For example, I mailed a package to my granddaughter in Texas. I tracked it only to find it left here, went to Jacksonville, arrived in Dallas, was send BACK to Jacksonville, then back to Dallas arriving almost a week late. Okay, Mr. Postmaster, you get an F. What if the garbage men get graded on how much refuse their customers leave? If your folks leave a lot of garbage, then you get a lower grade than the folks that recyle. Its not fair? Well, schools are graded basis on THEIR customers. If the students are low, but they made a years progress in one year, thats not good enough because to get to grade level they might have to make two or three or four years progress to be proficient. Oh, half the grade is based on gain scores, but that still doesnt put poor schools on a level playing field. Lets grade our commissioners and politicians. If they raise our taxes, dont take care of the housing crisis, or dont put money in our pockets and food on our tables, give them an F and make them a DA mayor or representative. Better yet, lets grade our policeman. If too many people speed, then lets punish them for what their clients do. Too many tickets, too much crime, youre a DA police department and well send politicians from Tallahassee who know nothing about your city or county or even about police work to tell you how to improve your performance. Makes sense, right? Vote!
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 23:39:26 +0000
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