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By Bill Kaczor The State Board of Education unanimously approved intervention plans Tuesday for closing one and revamping 11 schools with the worst student achievement records in Florida. The plans will kick in at the schools still operating if they fail to get off the critical list after the state issues its school grades later this year. The steps include firing principals and removing or reassigning teachers or requiring that teachers reapply for their jobs. Other actions include increased funding and staffing such as more reading, math and science coaches. Tallahassee's Belle Vue Middle School will be closed at the end of the school year. The state Department of Education already has sent in support teams to offer recommendations and advice for pre-intervention programs at the other 11 schools, which are in six counties. "They still have some challenges that they're continuing to work on, but overall all the schools are mending," said Iris Wilson, the department's deputy chancellor for student achievement. The intervention plans submitted by local school boards are part of an experimental program called differentiated accountability designed to help Florida schools comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Florida is one of six states the federal government approved to participate in the pilot program. It combines state and federal school grading systems and is aimed at focusing outside assistance where it is most needed. Most Florida schools have failed to make adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind although three-fourths of the state's schools earned A's or B's on their state report cards. The state grades are based on how well students do on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or FCAT. Students have been taking the standardized test this month. Before differentiated accountability, a school had to meet up to 39 No Child Left Behind criteria and missing just one might be enough to get a failing grade. Schools on the intervention list have received D's and F's from the state for the past couple years. A school must get a D or higher from the state and improve in at least one No Child Left Behind math or reading subgroup or its intervention plan will go into effect. To get completely off the intervention list, a school has to get at least a C from the state and improve in two No Child Left Behind subgroups. One of the intervention plans is for Warrington Middle School near Pensacola in Escambia County. Paul Fetsko, Escambia's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, praised state education officials who have been helping get the school turned around. "Everything that was said and everything that was promised was done," Fetsko said. "There was never a tone of punitiveness. It was cooperation. It was facilitation. It was 'We will help you be better as long as you'll take our help.'" Four of the intervention schools are in Miami-Dade County: Holmes Elementary, Liberty City Elementary, Miami Edison Senior High and Miami Central Senior High. Three are in Hillsborough County: Franklin Middle Magnet, Middleton High and Sulpher Springs Elementary. The others are Mollie E. Ray Elementary in Orange County, Larkdale Elementary in Broward County and John F. Kennedy Middle in Palm Beach County. Belle Vue's students will be monitored at their new schools for at least a year to see how they do, Wilson said. |
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