2012 FSBA Annual Springs Conference

In mid-June I went down for the day to the 2012 FSBA Annual Springs Conference in Tampa.  The FSBA Conference can be an excellent opportunity to learn more about the issues we as board members are facing and to learn more about how we can better serve our students and communities.

On the day I attended the featured speaker was Dr. Willard R. Daggett, Ed.D. from the International Center for Leadership in Education. Dr. Daggett spoke to the school board members about the move to Common Core and why he felt it was critical.  He began by asking, “Which kids in the U.S. do we educate?” He went on to say that, “equality and excellence in education is real expense and that is just the reality”. Dr. Daggett stated that it is important that we are educating students to be able to compete globally.  He cautioned that Florida needs to re-evaluate its testing standards because, in his opinion, “Florida has never met a testing standard it didn’t like”.  He explained that we have more testing standards than any other state in the union and that we are too broad in our testing standards and, rather than that, we need to go deeper with our testing standards.  He believes that we can accomplish that with Common Core Standards.  While I can agree with many of the points Dr. Daggett made, I am still concerned regarding the data which was used to determine the selection and development of the Common Core Standards and using them as our national standards.  I am not opposed to assessments (see my blog post: Standardized High Stakes Testing: Where do you stand Thomas?), but I am concerned at the manner which standardized tests are being used to penalize students and educators.

During the conference I attended Learning Sessions on; Digital Classrooms, Compensation under Fla. SB 736, and putting Your Advocacy Skills to Work. I learned some informative information that I will be sharing more details about in the future

While at the conference I was present when Florida Education Commissioner, Gerard Robinson, had requested on his own to speak before us specifically as school board members. I was most disappointed by Commissioner Robinson’s comments, “Our kids are not born innately being adverse to tests and assessments.” Robinson went on to say, “They learn that from adults who tell them that this test is going to be punitive.” I respectfully disagree with the Commissioner.  I believe we now have a system of assessing students that was developed by both the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Legislation, which is punitive to both the students and the teachers.  The Commissioner further stated, “You can express as School Board Members your opinion, but let’s also remember that the local School Board’s obligation is to implement the laws approved by the Florida Legislation and to implement the regulations that are approved by the State Board.”  The Commissioner said later that, “Assessments are part of being an educated citizen in our society across the board. I support that the FSBA was given the opportunity to express their opinions, and now I feel it is appropriate that I express mine”.  State-Impact reported in its story: Florida School Board Members Say Education Commissioner Challenged Their Authority, that Leon County School Board Chairman, DeeDee Rasmussen, said that Robinson’s comments show the issues that school board members and the state agency have talking to each other about FCAT. “We don’t have any intention of not upholding the law or the constitution of the State of Florida”, she said, “But for our Florida Department of Education not to be willing to listen to the concerns from parents, students and school board members all across the state of Florida, then we have a problem. We do have a communication problem, we have a messaging problem.”

Later that very afternoon the General Membership passed a Resolution expressing FSBA’s concerns about high stakes testing in Florida and offering recommendations to address those concerns.  (Click here to readthe FSBA’s resolution)  I believe that it was Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson’s words that only served to reinforce school board members concerns of the State of Florida’s over emphasis on high stakes testing. As a member of the FSBA, I voted and supported the resolution.

For more information from the FSBA on High Stakes Testing visit: http://www.fsba.org/briefsupdates.asp#accountability_testing

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