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In Depth: Rick Scott Intimately Involved In FCAT Rollout PR Effort
May 23, 2012
As the Florida Department of Education tries to handle the fallout of the collapse in FCAT writing scores, the office of Gov. Rick Scott has been intimately involved in efforts to roll out the test scores, according to staff emails.
Showing an interest often reserved for issues like economic development, one of the governor’s priorities, Scott’s top staff has played a key role in coordinating the state’s response after a dramatic drop in test scores prompted a scramble by officials to temporarily lower the passing grade on the writing portion of the assessment.
After a first year in which creating jobs was his stated main priority, Scott has added education to his agenda in the past several months.
The test crisis began when passing scores on the writing test plummeted from 81 percent to 27 percent for fourth graders and showed similar drop in eighth and 10th grades. The Florida Board of Education eventually met in emergency session to lower the passing grade from 4.0 to 3.0 while they develop a longer-term answer.
In the meantime, Scott’s office has been closely involved in helping to craft the public-relations effort in the wake of the renewed focus by the governor on public education, including a successful push for $1 billion in new state education funding during the last legislative session.
At one point, the governor’s communications team and Carrie O’Rourke, a deputy chief of staff who handles education issues, made extensive comments and suggestions about a press release announcing reading and math scores.
“MORE IMPORTANTLY – what is the takeaway you want the media to have?” wrote Scott communications director Brian Burgess in one email in response to a draft of the press release. “From reading this, it appears you just want the media to know that FCAT results have been released. But why squander an opportunity to point out that we are raising standards? I don’t see that until the second paragraph.”
By then, the writing scores were already sparking questions about the move to boost performance and how it might affect schools. The governor’s office approved a draft of the press release announcing the change in cut scores for the writing test.
The agency had also sent a plan to Scott’s office for handling the FCAT results, a three-page document entitled “Higher Standards: The Right Thing to Do.”
The purpose of the plan is “[t]o win support and understanding for higher standards in our state as we move through a volatile period of rolling out the results of new, more rigorous assessments (FCAT 2.0) and higher achievement levels (cut scores),” DOE said in one email.
The department envisioned a “Full-Court Press,” including everything from efforts to get letters to the editor written by organizations allied with the governor and DOE, like the Florida Chamber and the Council of 100, to having Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson record on-hold phone messages. The plan also suggested a hash-tag on Twitter.
The blueprint caught the attention of outgoing Chief of Staff Steve MacNamara, who wrote a simple and typically cryptic response to O’Rourke: “Let’s discuss…”
Scott’s office was also working to head off questions about the job security of Robinson, who got the job after Scott reportedly pushed out former Education Commissioner Eric Smith. The governor’s office issued a statement to the Miami Herald in response to a question about whether Robinson was under pressure to resign.
“The Florida Board of Education selected Gerard Robinson after conducting a nationwide search for a commissioner who would bring a reform-based agenda, who is committed to raising Florida’s education standards and the expectations of our students, and I believe Commissioner Robinson is working to do those things,” said the statement, emailed by Burgess.
Other state officials have also expressed support for Robinson, and Senate Education Chairman Steve Wise, who has spoken to some board members, said he also believes the commissioner is okay.
“I think that he’s bright and he’s knowledgeable and he’s got connections, and he ought to be okay,” Wise, R-Jacksonville, told the News Service.
By The News Service Of Florida
Comments
5 Responses to “In Depth: Rick Scott Intimately Involved In FCAT Rollout PR Effort”
The only thing Scott should do is roll out of Florida…
Hmm, everyone wants government to work better, yet the Republican Party has been in TOTAL control of Florida’s government since January 1998, the day Jeb Bush took office.
Can’t blame the Dems after 14 years of Total legislative and gubernatorial domination.
If people want change…
REGARDING:
“I think the administrators of the system need to either come up with a better way to weed out the ineffective employees because we know there are some that exist and they really need to recognize the ones that really put forth the effort to teach our children. ”
I think we’ve all had some poor teachers a time or two. Some don’t know the subject they’re trying to teach or fail to communicate that knowledge to eager students.
That said, there’s a danger some other teachers would be deemed “ineffective” because they had no effect on students who were determined to fail. They fail to teach, not because they didn’t try properly but because sows’ ears really don’t turn into silk purses. Not every child is a sow’s ear, but I think we’ve all seen a few who were close.
There are even some schools where no decent teacher will want to teach because of the reputations of the students, parents, administrators and others lurking just outside the gates. Finding any teacher of any kind can be daunting in those situations.
Anyhoo, if we fix our test to perfectly determine if students mastered enough of what we consider essential to be acceptable, let’s also spend some time figuring out how to distinguish teachers who are poor teachers from teachers who have poor students.
David for perfect students,
perfect teachers,
perfect tests,
silk purses
I lived in florida all my life and this program is not what they thought i would be. I would like for the people that implamented this program to look and see if this should still be a program that we use. I had it when i was in school and we could not study our subjects for testing half the year for the FCAT. I dont think that this should be if a child is going to go to school and put forth an effort to learn and graduate they will if they are going to be a looser they will it shouldnt be some crazy test that we have to take to graduate if you dont pass your subjects in school you should just fell . Should the rest of the world be tested so our teachers have jobs no……………………this is a joke. All the time it takes for teachers to teach and plan so they can have high scores and have a job or get funding for is a joke. Teachers was put in the schools to teach they didnt have it years ago and we dont need it know. You tell me if this has anything to do with preparing them for life its a line of crap. Years ago everyone worked know we have 57% of the popluation that lives of the state and dont work maybe the FACT is teaching them how to work the system. So why should our kids have to pay for what we are doing to help those that dont have help to get out the front door and get on the bus. The FCAT dont help those students period just puts stress on the teachers and the other students that are there to learn. This is y home school is so popular today was it years back no and another reason they home school becasue the mess thats out like this test that does nothing for our kids. For the time that it takes to teach you how to take this off the wall test that someone came up with isnt working cant you see that this needs to be done away with.
William, let me tell you their plan to correct some of this. The school system is getting ready to go to a new grading system. In lieu of grading as they have for as long as I can remember [ A-F], they’re going to M for Mastered or D for Developing. To my understanding, that will be the only two grades that will be given. If you take that into consideration, how many students will or could master a subject in let’s just say Elementary school? While in my opinion, we all even as adults are always developing our knowledge through everyday life, I would think this may take some of the attention off of the ones [administrators] responsible for the core problem with a child’s education today. We volunteer in our children’s class on a weekly basics and it’s sad to see the children that don’t get any assistance from their parents when their at home. I don’t agree with the pay system that’s in place right now with the teachers pay being affected by the grades of their students and I see this new grading system only helping them get out of that position. It’s not fair to the teachers in the current system when you have parents that will not help their child learn and then it’s not fair to the child with this new grading system they’re going to comes to past. I think the administrators of the system need to either come up with a better way to weed out the ineffective employees because we know there are some that exist and they really need to recognize the ones that really put forth the effort to teach our children. They seem to create one problem trying to fix one of their screw ups. Teachers don’t get paid enough in my opinion with the qualifications that are expected of them and the little pay they get when they’re responsible for the education of the future leaders of our country. To the parents of our children, please get involved in the education of your children and don’t just expect it to be the sole responsibility of the teachers, make it a team effort.