CAT Tracks for April 4, 2005 BUSH VERSUS BUSH

When 77% of First Brother Jeb's Florida schools - including many that graded out as "A or B" under Florida's "A+" system - fail to meet Big Brother's NCLB criteria, it's time to yell "HELP!".

The following article is from The Miami Herald...

Florida wants to ease U.S. school standards

With nearly all of its schools at risk of not meeting federal standards under the No Child Left Behind act, Florida wants to make it easier for schools to comply.

BY STEVE HARRISON

Florida asked the federal government Friday to make it easier for schools to comply with the No Child Left Behind act, a rigorous set of rules that only one in four state schools currently are able to meet.

Since President Bush's signature education law passed three years ago, many Florida schools have allocated extra teachers and time to help bring various subgroups of students -- for instance, those in special ed, or with limit-English or low incomes -- up to standard.

Florida's changes, if approved by the U.S. Department of Education, would allow many principals to scale back those efforts.

By one estimate, they also would instantly triple the number of Florida schools making ''adequate yearly progress'' under federal law.

Some critics said the changes run contrary to the spirit of the law, which was designed to ensure that all children achieve.

''We don't want the state to diminish standards for those with diminished voices,'' said Nancy Nemhauser, chairwoman of Broward's Exceptional Student Education advisory board. ``If this goes through, this will have a terrible effect on those in special-education and/or who have limited English.''

'MIXED MESSAGE'

Florida Education Commissioner John Winn said the state acted to correct a ''mixed message'' being sent by Florida's poor performance under federal standards, but success with its own A+ plan, designed by the president's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush.

''Standards have value,'' Winn said. ``The ones that matter are linked to student learning. We are maintaining our high learning standards.''

The governor's A+ program assigns each school an A through F grade based on each grade's overall performance and improvement. No Child Left Behind examines various groups of children within the school, and wants each group to succeed.

If one group doesn't meet standards, the entire school is deemed not to have made adequate yearly progress. When a Title 1 school -- one with high poverty rates -- doesn't make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years, the school district must offer all students transportation to a better school.

Last year, 23 percent of Florida schools met President Bush's definition of adequate yearly progress -- while 68 percent received A or B grades under Gov. Bush's plan.

In Miami-Dade, 22 percent of schools met No Child standards. In Broward, it was 38 percent.

Nationwide, states have rebelled against No Child Left Behind, looking for loopholes in the 3-year-old law.

Florida officials have long insisted they would not follow that lead, and cited the state's A+ plan as proof that student achievement is improving.

''We have been concerned with the mixed message of No Child Left Behind and the A+ plan,'' Winn said. ``We believe this will be a unifying message.''

Under the current rules, the performance of a subgroup -- such as special ed students -- is tracked by the federal government if the group consists of at least 30 students in a given school. Florida is asking that the threshold be changed from the number 30 to 15 percent of a school's enrollment.

That means, in a school with 1,000 students, special ed performance would be tracked only if there were 150 special ed students at the school.

In Broward, almost all of the county's 251 schools have 30 special-education students. But far fewer -- 54 -- have 15 percent special ed enrollment. That means in 200 Broward schools, performance of special ed students would not count under No Child Left Behind.

A 15 percent threshold would be one of the highest in the country, said Jack Jennings of the Center for Education Policy, an education think tank.

''Most states are using flat numbers like 30, 40 or 50,'' Jennings said. ``Very few are using a percentage.''

The change would ease pressure on hundreds of other schools statewide that now must ensure, for instance, that their limited-English students meet standards. Others would not have to target minority students, because fewer than 15 percent of enrollment is black or Hispanic.

ANOTHER REQUEST

Florida is also asking for a slower phase-in of federally required higher standards that were to go into effect this year. Currently, 31 percent of students in each group must be proficient in reading and 38 percent in math. Those rates are slated to increase to 48 percent in reading and 53 percent in math this year, but Florida would like to increase them more gradually.

States are free to determine what constitutes ''proficiency.'' Winn said some educators wanted the Department of Education to change Florida's definition, lowering the ''passing'' standard on the FCAT.

''We wouldn't do that,'' Winn said.

Winn noted that Florida's proposals would not mean that a majority of schools make adequate yearly progress. Using 2004 scores, the state has said only 11 percent of Florida's 3,054 schools would meet federal standards this year. If the changes are approved, that would jump to 32 percent.

''We're not diminishing standards to the point where they don't matter,'' Gov. Bush said. ``We still would have some of the toughest standards in the country.''

Herald staff writer Marc Caputo contributed to this report.