The Florida Senate bill passed SB06 which will drastically change the contracts of teachers by basing salary and job security on the FCAT test scores and possibly standardized testing while also increasing the class size which the Florida voters voted in years past to decrease the class size to allow teachers to teach and to have a positive learning environment in the classrooms.
Simply stated this SB06 bill is WRONG. This will have a detrimental affect on learning gains for Florida students and decrease any possibilities on being competitive in a multinational world. To reward merit pay by test scores and annual reviews is not the answer. While increasing test scores and learning gains are important, it should hot be the only barometer in a teacher's salary.
I would ask the state legislatures to rethink and reevaluate this bill. It would be advantageous to incorporate some merit pay by test scores, tenure, and annual reviews. Yes, there are "bad" apples in the bushel. There should be checks and balances in the system to allow these mediocre or poor performing teachers not to earn a reappointment to teach.
Basically this bill would in my opinion, change the concept of learning in the classroom. Instead of teaching our children to synthesize, hypothesize, inquire and question, "thinking outside the box" these teachers will change their style and teach kids how to pass an exam. This will not assist our children in the very competitive world we live in. Teaching strategies on how to take a test is very different than teaching higher order thinking and learning skills for children to prosper and continue to be life long learners. This will be the demise of our country and will move the USA farther away from the competitive edge that Asia, and Europe are excelling at.
I ask the Florida state representatives to kill the SB06 bill. Go back to the drawing board and think outside the box to address teacher pay, job security and mainly our children's education.
