DeSoto High School appears prominently on the state's list of schools needing "level two" corrective action -- one rank above a full-scale intervention. The news came as part of a set of documents released Thursday by the state Department of Education. The DOE's announcement describes a major expansion of its Differentiated Accountability Program to include every public school in need of improvement. That category includes DeSoto High where students, as a group, have failed to make adequate academic progress in several consecutive years.
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LINK to Department of Education Press Release and supporting materials
Thursday June 25 2009:
Successful School Improvement Program Expands to Cover All Public Schools~ Schools unable to meet the academic needs of all students set to receive increased district and state assistance ~
TALLAHASSEE – Bolstered by strong performance increases in struggling schools this year, Florida’s Differentiated Accountability program has been expanded to account for every public school student in the state. Authorized by Governor Charlie Crist’s recent signing of House Bill 991, the successful pilot program now incorporates all public schools that, for two years in a row, fail to meet 100 percent of federal proficiency standards. These schools will receive escalating district and state support based on their specific needs.
For DeSoto High, the news means the district must implement a wide range of very specific steps aimed at improving teaching and learning. All the steps require state oversight. A few examples:
--The school assigns or hires lead teachers with district assistance and state oversight.
--School ensures performance appraisals of instructional personnel are primarily based on student achievement.
--The district uses a pay for performance system based on performance appraisals.
--The district implements a hierarchy of school and individual (teacher) improvement plans, professional study groups, and study groups.
--The school can employ no teacher who is rated as needing improvement.
--The school does not have a higher percentage of first-year or out-of-field teachers than the district average.
Local readers should click on the press release link above and scroll down the page to the DOE links. The supporting materials describe how the schools are ranked and what corrective measures each must take. More on this will follow.
Good morning! This is very interesting Thank you for this information. Did you have to dig up this information from Tallahassee,or was this material offered voluntarily by the schools'district office or did you read this in the local Sun-Herald? It must have been the former as I'm certain that the superintendent would muzzle this one.!I also suspect that Mr Cline muzzled the press on the boards decision, as you suggested, to expand the dual-enrollment with the local community college to include grades nine and ten. He should have qualified the statement to say 9th and the 20% of the 10th graders who can read. I recall your veiled question in the June 29th blog -"send a 9th or 10th grader to take college courses from a state D-rated high school"? And now, as of June 25th, a state rated Level 2 school for corrective action, one step away from state takeover! It is no wonder that 26-28 high school teachers are volunteering to help the high school. Job scared? And livid that the regime prevented them from really doing their job all along? One of my biggest concerns is that the inevitable remediation that these kids will require at the college will eventually dilute, soften or weaken the college curriculum. We cannot let this happen.Toward this end we must be certain that the state law requiring that teachers involved in dual enrollment have a masters degree be strictly adhered to.I'll be watching this carefully!
ReplyDeleteMickey the Dunce
Barry,
ReplyDeleteRe: The Successful School Improvement Program
The rules of House Bill 991 state, "The School will ensure performance, hire qualified teachers and implement plans for improvement." It all sounds good in theory, but under the leadership of Mr. Cline, the school has supposedly been hiring competent teachers and ensuring quality education all along.
Unlike most other Florida counties, Desoto chooses to elect their Superintendent. And here, the School Board answers to the Superintendent rather than the other way around.
It seems to me that since Mr. Cline wants to run the show, it follows that responsibility for the D rating should fall squarely in his shoulders.
It's obvious that this community is unwilling to remove Mr.Clline on the basis of poor performance, so all the hoopla about House Bill 991 seems a bit like a dog chasing his tail.
If you don't make a change, there won't be a change!
Mary