I thought this was another one of those teaching to the test that is the ground work for Florida schools, but, it is not at all about students. Ready for this? If a teacher, regardless of their student's achievement, had a SAT or ACT exam scores in the top 20 percent the year they took them, even if that was decades ago they will be awarded monies somewhere in the number of $10,000.
Senator John McCain needs to take a look at this one.
By Leslie Postal
By Leslie Postal
Nearly 7,200 Florida teachers (click here) will get bonuses this year under a hotly debated program that ties the extra pay to scores on college admissions exams.
These teachers, including more than 1,400 in Central Florida, are eligible for the state's Best and Brightest Teacher Scholarship Program and will earn bonuses of about $6,800 each, according to the Florida Department of Education. They are to be paid by April 1.
The program, fiercely controversial since its inception, is likely to get renewed scrutiny from state lawmakers this year.
The number of bonus-eligible teachers this year is about 1,800 more than last year and represents about 4 percent of Florida's public school teachers. The Orange County school district had the most "best and brightest" winners in the state, with 785, up from 672 last year....
It makes complete sense really, if the Florida Governor wants to confuse the public this certainly is the way to do it. Heck, if I were a teacher and receiving the "Best and Brightest Award" based on past academic performance, I would not bother teaching to the test and do exactly as I please to improve my student's learning. What a great incentive for teachers to "go rouge" and actually send students home that do more than pass a test. With Betsy DeVos (I spelled her name right, yes?) coming on in the Department of Education this qualification of teachers may take on a national standard. Exciting.
It is a real bummer it isn't provided in the pay check before Christmas Holidays.
Oh, heck. It is time for a change; just when I was getting all interested and everything.
...The education department and the State Board of Education this fall recommended the state scrap best and brightest and replace it with a bonus plan that would reward teachers who'd helped their students make the biggest academic gains and that would help recruit teachers to struggling schools and to hard-to-fill classes.
Gov. Rick Scott has signaled that he liked the department's idea, while leaders in the House have suggested some willingness to alter the program, perhaps by lowering the needed test scores, so more teachers would be eligible, the News Service of Florida reported....
It makes complete sense really, if the Florida Governor wants to confuse the public this certainly is the way to do it. Heck, if I were a teacher and receiving the "Best and Brightest Award" based on past academic performance, I would not bother teaching to the test and do exactly as I please to improve my student's learning. What a great incentive for teachers to "go rouge" and actually send students home that do more than pass a test. With Betsy DeVos (I spelled her name right, yes?) coming on in the Department of Education this qualification of teachers may take on a national standard. Exciting.
It is a real bummer it isn't provided in the pay check before Christmas Holidays.
Oh, heck. It is time for a change; just when I was getting all interested and everything.
...The education department and the State Board of Education this fall recommended the state scrap best and brightest and replace it with a bonus plan that would reward teachers who'd helped their students make the biggest academic gains and that would help recruit teachers to struggling schools and to hard-to-fill classes.
Gov. Rick Scott has signaled that he liked the department's idea, while leaders in the House have suggested some willingness to alter the program, perhaps by lowering the needed test scores, so more teachers would be eligible, the News Service of Florida reported....
