13 Florida high schools earn nothing but D's and F's since 1999

Perhaps these administrators refuse to engage in questionable behavior to game the system. If so, thank you for your integrity and speak out against the pathetic stae school grades system!

These struggling high schools ought to be transformed into trade schools. At least that would give these kids a chance at becoming something useful.

Thats because florida doesn't give a hoot about education, they figure these kids can always work in a Jiffy store! thats a great job for raising a family..NOT

This is a social problem, not an academic one.

Obviously these schools arent "teaching to the test" well enough. Now lets do the Floridian thing and punish these already failing schools by taking away money.

the state test is meant to cause the educators to actually educate the children they are responsible for. too many shortcuts and illconsidered policies by the so called "educatiion professionals" shortchange our children.Keep the heat on and require an education for our children from our education dollars.

education professional decisions such as...
--classing autistic and learning challenged children in with the rest when considering grades
--summer school= several weeks of reading books in study hall,Lets see,,a child can't do 9th grade math so they send him to study hall where no math education is being taught and magically he is ready for 10th grade. I'm not an education professional but if a child isn't able to do 9th grade math,what is the 10th grade math teacher supposed to do with them?????
--Disruptive students= left in class to stop the good kids from being able to concentrate.I'm not an education professional but if a student doesn't behave and won't behave, shouldn't they be placed in a class for the more difficult students allowing the others an education opportunity.
--No fail policies,students who don't pass their tests are promoted anyway. let me see-if they couldn't complete 9th grade work,what is a 10th grade teacher supposed to do with them???
TEACHERS should be supported by their administrations in meaningful ways.
The pass the buck and damn the children policies of the past are not good. I agree with the teachers that education professionals should be making education decisions.BUT. the decisions that defy simple logic and show a disregard for the childrens need for an education cannot be allowed to continue. We need an outside grade such as FCAT to tell us what value our education dollar is getting.

tomb wrote:

This is a social problem, not an academic one.

Well said. Kids raised in the households that feed Jones and Evans are not prepared or willing to study and make the grades. Nothing new in this report. Not everyone is going to college. The sooner we accept that the sooner resources can be directed to those with a chance to make it.

elbert wrote:

education professional decisions such as...
--classing autistic and learning challenged children in with the rest when considering grades
--summer school= several weeks of reading books in study hall,Lets see,,a child can't do 9th grade math so they send him to study hall where no math education is being taught and magically he is ready for 10th grade. I'm not an education professional but if a child isn't able to do 9th grade math,what is the 10th grade math teacher supposed to do with them?????
--Disruptive students= left in class to stop the good kids from being able to concentrate.I'm not an education professional but if a student doesn't behave and won't behave, shouldn't they be placed in a class for the more difficult students allowing the others an education opportunity.
--No fail policies,students who don't pass their tests are promoted anyway. let me see-if they couldn't complete 9th grade work,what is a 10th grade teacher supposed to do with them???
TEACHERS should be supported by their administrations in meaningful ways.
The pass the buck and damn the children policies of the past are not good. I agree with the teachers that education professionals should be making education decisions.BUT. the decisions that defy simple logic and show a disregard for the childrens need for an education cannot be allowed to continue. We need an outside grade such as FCAT to tell us what value our education dollar is getting.

Someone who gets it. It is not the teachers. It is the ones that set these policies which the teachers have no recourse but to follow.

However, we do not need FCAT which has been a tremondous waste of education dollars. What we do need is a nationalized test, of which there are a few in existence, which tell us not only how a specific student or school ranks in the state, but how it ranks nationally as well.

I give all these Government schools an "F" for FAILURE to teach students anything but the Democrat Party Line of BS.

in my experience these students struggle because of attendance issues for the most part. it would be interesting to look at the performance of these kids and their attendance history. believe it or not... many of these kids show up to take FCAT but often miss 30-70 days of school. it isn't necessarily because they "hate" school either. many parents think highschool students are on auto pilot and can do it all themselves. it is critical that parents support highschoolers the same way they do elementary school students and make sure they make it to school.

okboston wrote:

<quoted text>
Someone who gets it. It is not the teachers. It is the ones that set these policies which the teachers have no recourse but to follow.
However, we do not need FCAT which has been a tremondous waste of education dollars. What we do need is a nationalized test, of which there are a few in existence, which tell us not only how a specific student or school ranks in the state, but how it ranks nationally as well.

Students take a national test called the NRT. This compares students nationally and is given the week or so after FCAT. Imagine how tired of testing these kids are. We do score a little better on these tests but that could be because the lower performing students that have attendance issues don't show up to take these tests and thus are not counted. hmmmmm... again if you don't show up you don't learn. not much a teacher can do about that.Teachers call, schools call... most of the time the numbers don't work. School social workers visit the home, but only focus on kids that are 15 and under. I think the new formula that will be implemented next year, while not perfect but closer, will give a more accurate look at how schools are performing.

Isn't there always a bottom 10% of anything. They get caught up on the comparison versus the best. As mentioned, the schools have improved a lot, just not enough to weight average, yet. Give them some more time, but if a school/kids is 30 and then later a 60...may still be a D, but 100% improvement. You knew this story was coming. It's one of the staple articles that comes after the success articles.
All is not perfect, but we are heading in the right direction. Kudo to those how are helping at these schools.

WOW this is progress. No actually it is!

The story IDENTIFIED the problem instead of the PC crap they usually do.

So the next step is for all these minorities to admit their culture of failure, is the reason for their failure.

"acting white" is not a crime people, wake up!

If these hateful comments are representative of the homes who feed our schools, then its no wonder some of our schools are in tough shape. Schools and teachers deal with students 7 hours a day...a high school teacher about 50 minutes a day. Parents and community have to commit to be a part of the solution,...funding, completed assignments, valuing education...and jobs for those who do. Without these things, who are we kidding? Rich folk will continue to send their kids to private schools, and the American public will rely on public schools for a work force...We'd better begin to see that public schools feed our lifestyle, and find a way to support and enhance in stead of beating it down and destroying. Its self destruction, and we'd better "get it" pretty quickly.

i blame the teachers, they are so lazy, i even whent to a meeting one time and the teacher actually had a lazyboy recliner in his class, true story.. this teachers do not care they only show up for a paychek and you should see how the female teachers dress, espcially in heigh shcool, most of them dress in geans and t=shirt and the other half in shorts cuz they are coaches of someting.. blame the teachers they are so uncaring.. do not blame the parents cuz this kids anit got any,,,.

tomb wrote:

This is a social problem, not an academic one.

That is exactly the problem. That it is why giving these schools more money will never work. It all starts at home.

You could triple the budget at these poor performing schools and it wouldn't have much effect.

Tie test score to welfare payments and then there will be a change.

Demand the cops and the elected officials clean up the neighborhoods of these schools, get rid of the drug dealers and crime and stand back and see what a difference that will make. A principal can't clean up the neighborhood, and can only pray the crime stays out of the hallways long enough to teach. Wake up people!

liberalism at work.