Julie Delegal
Last of six parts.
A test developed by the Partnership for the Assessment of College and Career Readiness (PARCC) might still win Florida’s contract, even though Gov. Rick Scott withdrew Florida from the multi-state, test-development group on Sept. 23.
Scott also dissolved Florida’s obligations as fiscal agent for the group, so bids for PARCC’s testing-related contracts will no longer be submitted through Florida’s vendor system. It’s anybody’s guess which exams Florida will decide to use.
The career moves of a former Jeb Bush gubernatorial aide, William Piferrer, might be predictive. In addition to serving in Gov. Bush’s executive office, Piferrer also held various positions with the Florida Department of Education before joining the testing conglomerate Pearson in 2007, the year before Pearson won Florida’s $250 million FCAT vendor contract. In July of last year, Piferrer moved from Pearson to its competitor, CTB-McGraw-Hill.
Only time will tell whether Piferrer’s latest move presages another Florida vendor contract with another testing company.
It’s unknown whether a new “Florida” test is already in the bag, or if not, whether it and the requisite infrastructure will be finished in time for the 2014-’15 implementation deadline. Will the new test get pushed back for a year or more?
At least two Florida lawmakers have introduced bills that try to address these questions. Rep. Karen Castor-Dentel (D-Maitland) wants to suspend testing next year to give Florida lawmakers time to get a handle on which test will be used. Rep. Debbie Mayfield(R-Vero Beach) also wants to suspend testing but is more concerned about states’ rights issues. She appears to reject both the Common Core State Standards along with the PARCC-developed exam.
Education advocate Colleen Wood, founder of 50th No More, agreed that Florida should hit the pause button.
“If this is really about raising standards, and not about a profit-driven motive to fail schools, then pausing is the only option,” she said. Wood’s two children attend St. Johns County Public Schools, and she also serves on the national board of Diane Ravitch’s Network for Public Education.
Florida Education Association President Andy Ford agrees with Wood. “What we see from these legislative proposals is a concern that we’re not ready for this,” he said. “We don’t have the infrastructure. We don’t have the research.”
Meanwhile, a Florida DOE website portal asking for public input, avoids using the words “Common Core.”
Florida policymakers may be taking notes from Arizona Education Superintendent John Huppenthal, who has changed the name of that state’s adopted standards from “Common Core” to “Arizona College and Career Ready” standards.
Utah calls its standards the Utah Common Core. Will these various state-named exams (AARCC? FARCC? UARCC?) share enough fungible items to make the state-to-state comparisons that Common Core proponents say are essential to improving the nation’s schools?
The larger uncertainty is whether a division has occurred, or will occur, between Scott and former Gov. Jeb Bush on the issue of education. The question may turn on whether the Tea Party governor and the more moderate Bush need each other politically.
Scott, who won in 2010 with considerable Tea Party support, faces re-election in 2014. Bush, according to some pundits, may run for president in 2016.
Bush’s 15-year crusade on education in Florida — much to the chagrin of grassroots parent advocacy groups and teachers — has brought school grades, privatization and an emphasis on high-stakes testing. Will his marquee issue now be subject to the machinations that are sure to emerge during the next legislative session?
Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of Duval County Schools, has some advice for lawmakers and the Florida Board of Education as they determine their next steps.
“Whatever we do in Florida, we have to be consistent in our next steps. We have to stop changing standards every other year,” he said.
“We’re eroding the public trust that those [test] results mean anything,” he added. “Let’s keep things consistent for long enough to determine whether kids are learning at a higher level or not.”
Read a version of Julie’s six-part series “Problems at the Core,” in the October 16-23 issue of Folio Weekly.
