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Did District Belly-Flop Off SpringBoard?

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By STEVE OTTO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

Most of this is anecdotal. Shoot, all of it is anecdotal, which is troublesome but understandable if you know the system.

School has been back in session for a few weeks now. They've even had the first football games on sultry Friday nights in August, which doesn't seem exactly like football weather but at least we haven't had to evacuate yet.

The biggest story so far has been the school bus fiasco, which was so poorly handled you can still only look at it in awe and wonder why more heads haven't rolled over this one. But then again, when it is the heads in charge that should be rolling it isn't so surprising.

What I'm hearing now is problems with an issue as basic as the school curriculum. Parents, it is still early in the school year and not too late to take your kid out of school, sell the house, change jobs and move to Nebraska.

This fall, Hillsborough County is implementing a program called SpringBoard. It is a $30 million program designed by the College Board, the same company that does the SAT and Advanced Placement courses. The new program, which is going to be in all middle and high schools, will replace the old math and language arts programs.

Workbooks And Dirty Looks
What was a little surprising to me was that something as monumental as SpringBoard would be sprung on the system out of the blue in important subjects such as math and language arts.

There was training and there were test programs at selected schools. But with only two to four days of training in the new system, there are plenty of unhappy teachers.

OK, unhappy teachers may be redundant, but these are your children, and if they were mine, I would be watching my school so closely they would assign the dean to follow me around the campus.

Some of the changes, as reported by Tribune education writer Marilyn Brown, include students teaching as teachers move around to assist, classes in hallways with classes engaged in three-dimensional activity, workbooks that allow parents to monitor work, desks forming small groups or pods, and video clips and music incorporated into lessons.

All of that and other changes look creative on the surface - I wish I'd had some video clips and music back in algebra - but it seems there are problems.

'1 Size Fits All'

"I know this sounds stodgy," writes one teacher, "but I have spent over 25 years developing a solid curriculum with results that allow me to cover a lot of material in the very short time allowed me. This is a 'one-size-fits-all' program that does not fit everyone and is so obviously flawed and incomplete that I am stunned we have put this into place without more trials."

Another says, "Please do not use my name. I do not trust the higher-ups. In any case I am teaching a new English curriculum, SpringBoard, and my students do not have books. ... Other schools are apparently in the same (sinking) boat."

Like I said, everything I've heard is anecdotal, but I'm soliciting your feedback and also encourage you to be active in your child's school, which you should be anyhow.

Columnist Steve Otto can be reached at (813) 259-7809. Keyword: Otto Graphs, to read and comment on Steve Otto's blog.

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