Why the Civics EOC Outrage? Oh, Now We Get It…

On Thursday, we published a post, wondering why the Florida Coalition of School Board Members (FCSBM), whose motto is “Relentlessly Dedicated to Student Success,” would question district strategies designed to help struggling students succeed on state mandated End of Course exams.

After further investigation, we think we understand why these changes in student progression plans would throw this group of ed reforming, privatizing school board members into a tizzy. Hint: it’s not about student success. This appears to be all about privatization via Schools of Hope corporate charter chains. Legislation passed in 2017 (HB7069) allowed state-approved corporate charter (“Hope”) operators to move into communities with perisistently low scoring public schools. This year, some of those schools, ripe for privatization, improved their school grades enough to disrupt the privatizers’ plans. And “Hope supporters”, like the FCSBM, are not happy…

Promotion from middle to high school, F.S. 1003.4156(1)(a) requires students “successfully complete” a Civics course, and take its corresponding state created End of Course exam.  Traditionally, most middle school students take Civics in 7th grade, but that is not required. Last year, some districts delayed Civics to eighth grade for certain struggling readers, with the hope they would be more successful following an extra year of instruction.

When this year’s test scores were released, the FCSBM saw the drop in Civics participation in those districts, along with the rise in passing rates (directly due to fewer struggling readers taking the assessment) and cried foul. The districts insisted such changes to the student progression plan were allowed. The struggling readers aren’t skipping the Civics EOC, it is merely being delayed a year. Next year’s test scores will reflect the returning cohort’s scores and determine whether the the delay led to increased student success.

The percentage of students who take and pass the Civics End of Course exam is one component of the Middle School Grade calculation, worth more than 10% of the School Grade. The score is based on the percentage of passing scores, not the number of test takers. All students taking Civics are required to take the state mandated EOC.

Early reports about the FCSBM’s concerns included remarks from the districts explaining the new student progression plans’ goals to aide struggling students as well as a statement from the Florida Department of Education confirming that delaying Civics to eighth grade was perfectly acceptable. Current state law mandates students take Civics in middle school but does not assign the specific grade level. You would think that would be the end of the story. You would be wrong (the FCSBM does claim to be relentless, after all).

Later in the day, reports of a letter from lawmakers to Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart surfaced, accusing Duval, Manatee and Polk County school districts of “potentially undermining the integrity of our state’s public school accountability system through employing questionable testing practices on the state end-of-course exam in civics.”  Five state representatives, including former FCSBM member, Jason Fischer, along with Senator Baxley, signed the letter which referred to the changes in student progression as dishonest and unethical and accused “certain adults running the system” in these districts of being “more committed to their own interests than the interests of the students they serve.” The lawmakers called for a review of existing state testing policies “to ensure these dishonest and unethical practices do not happen again.” (You can read the entire letter here)

It is important to note that signers of the letter included Rep. Bileca and Rep Fisher, who co-sponsored the initial 2017 Schools of Hope bill, HB5105, which later became HB7069. The remaining legislators signing the letter to Stewart, Reps Sullivan, J. Grant and Rommel, along with Senator Baxley, were all vocal supporters of Schools of Hope and/or voted for HB7069.

First of all, legislators, especially House Education Chair, Michael Bileca, calling for a review of existing state testing policies, and the accountabaloney associated with them, is something we have been calling for since our very first blog. We would also like them to investigate whether mandatory third grade retention isn’t designed to raise 4th grade NAEP scores in much the same manner as these Civics scores. (You can read the letter we wrote to Commissioner Stewart regarding our concerns here).

The real concerns of these legislators and their rogue school board member friends, however, do not appear to be the integrity of the accountability system but rather center around lost opportunities to privatize targeted public schools.

Travis Pillow, who writes for Redefined, a paid blog created to promote the nonprofit which runs Florida’s school voucher programs and otherwise advocates for school choice and ed reform, explained how the delay in Civics participation in specific schools, protected those schools from charter takeover (privatization) via Schools of Hope:

“Then there were schools like Matthew Gilbert Middle School in Duval County.

The school has earned D’s and F’s since 2012. Last year, it earned 333 points in the state’s school grading formula and received a D.  This year, it rose to a C, bolstered by improved performance on state civics tests. Last year, 144 students took the civics test, and 47 percent passed. This year, only 44 students took the civics test, and 95 percent passed. Increased social studies scores netted the school 40 points in its A-F score this year, and it earned a total of 402 — enough for a C. Without the civics improvement, it would have narrowly missed a C and faced takeover under Schools of Hope.”

It appears Schools of Hope corporate charter operators were eagerly awaiting failing school scores so they could sweep in and either open new charters or take over failing schools. Unfortunately, when those schools earned “C” grades, their plans were dashed. Supporters of Schools of Hope, like House Speaker Richard Corcoran, the FCSBM and other privatizers have been quick to speak out about the “travesty” of these improved school grades. These schools were supposed to be “failure factories”, after all.

This brouhaha is not about students… it is about privatizers upset that attempts to improve student scores resulted in higher school grades, eliminating some at-risk schools from the “pool” of takeover options for these corporate charter chains.

Schools on the cusp of a “C” grade are the best targets for takeover because they are easier to show turnaround improvement, than schools earning low Fs for years. This outrage is over the schools these privatizers HOPED would fail.

Did the districts delaying Civics enrollment for struggling readers anticipate this, alone, would lead to improved school grades this year?… probably. Does it mean these students aren’t being served? Not necessarily. The Department of Education has confirmed that such changes in student progression are allowed. Clearly the outrage is more about the loss of privatization opportunities.

What was merely a change in student progression, with the aim to help struggling students, has become a brouhaha … it is not about transparency, or gamesmanship or the “integrity of the A-F grading system.” It is about disappointed privatizers who will have to wait to take over these schools. Shame on them.

We hope the Department of Education will see through this malarkey from those with an agenda and allow what is truly in the best interest of children. No two kids are alike. If a child needs extra time to improve their reading skills so they can have a better understanding of Civics (and be more successful on its assessment), why would anyone be upset about that?