{"id":3486,"date":"2019-07-01T15:26:21","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T19:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3486"},"modified":"2019-07-01T15:32:39","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T19:32:39","slug":"a-decade-later-and-science-education-is-still-not-important-to-floridas-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3486","title":{"rendered":"A decade later and science education is still not important to Florida’s leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Friday was the big day! The results for the annual statewide education assessments were released. A press release from Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran’s office<\/a> celebrated score increases in English Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies and Biology. He praised “awe-inspiring” teachers and he highlighted a new law that pushed all testing to later in the school year to allow for more instructional time and less testing time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Corcoran<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Did\nyou notice anything missing? Yes, biology scores rose by two percentage points.\nThat’s good. But … um … what about the rest of the science scores?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three science exams that public school students in Florida must take: the statewide science assessments in grades 5 and 8 and the high school biology end of course exam. Students have to score a level three or higher on the five point scale to pass. (See all the score reports at the DOE Assessments report page<\/a>.) The 5th and 8th grade tests cover a variety of science topics, such as the nature of science, earth\/space science, physical science and life science. The biology test is the only mandatory statewide science assessment given in high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biology\nwas worthy of mention in Corcoran’s press release because scores improved to\ntheir second highest level in eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biology End of Course<\/strong>
Statewide Percentage Passing (Level 3 or Above)
Spring 2018-2019: 67
Spring 2017-2018: 65
Spring 2016-2017: 63
Spring 2015-2016: 64
Spring 2014-2015: 65
Spring 2013-2014: 68
Spring 2012-2013: 67
Spring 2011-2012: 59<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\n8th and 5th grade science results? They dropped by two percentage points each.\nDefinitely not something Corcoran would want to crow about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8th Grade Science Statewide Science Assessment<\/strong>
Statewide Percentage Passing (Level 3 or Above)
2019: 48*
2018: 50*
2017: 48*
2016: 48*
2015: 48
2014: 49
2013: 47
2012: 47<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5th Grade Science Statewide Science Assessment<\/strong>
Statewide Percentage Passing (Level 3 or Above)
2019: 53
2018: 55
2017: 51
2016: 51
2015: 53
2014: 54
2013: 53
2012: 52<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nI point out nearly every year, flip these numbers to get the real story.\nInstead of 48 percent passing the 8th grade test, reflect on the fact that 52\npercent are not passing it. That means more than 101,700 8th grade students did\nnot earn at least a level 3. Also, 8th graders haven’t broken past 50 percent\nin eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n5th graders are doing a bit better, but note how their passing scores are just\nhopelessly bouncing around with no consistent upward trend since the 2012 to\n2014 streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\na factor to take into consideration when analyzing the 5th<\/sup> and 8th<\/sup>\ngrade science exams is that the results matter to the schools since their\noverall school grade takes the exams into account, but the tests have no real\nimpact on the students. Elementary and middle school students face few\nconsequences for failing the exam. So, why should the student take it\nseriously? Also consider the fact that the exams cover a wide range of topics\nlearned over the course of several years. Is an 8th<\/sup> grader going to\nremember science topics taught in 6th<\/sup> grade?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beside\nthe consistently dismal state of 5th<\/sup> and 8th<\/sup> grade\nscience scores, there are other worrying indicators that science education is\nnot a subject that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s elected and appointed officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One indicator: teacher shortages. The Florida Department of Education annually reports<\/a> the subject areas experiencing critical teacher shortages. In this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report “Science-General” was ranked the number one critical shortage. The report stated that in the 2018-2019 school year there were 1,026 science courses across the state led by teachers without certification in the subjects. That may be at least partially attributed to the fact that the pool of potential science teachers is shrinking. Another FLDOE report shows that fewer people take science certification exams every year<\/a>. For instance, the number of people taking the certification exam in Earth\/Space Science plummeted from 231 in 2015 to 140 in 2018. And not all of those most recent 140 are ready for the classroom; a little more than a quarter of them failed the exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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DeSantis<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Another indicator is the evaporation of physics from schools\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 course offerings across the state. Florida State University Physics Professor Paul Cottle dug through the data<\/a> and found that in public high schools with at least 1,000 students, 36 of them did not offer physics at all. This is an increase over the previous year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tally of 31. Unfortunately, this trend doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worry some state lawmakers. A bill recently signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis allows students to substitute computer science credits for math and science credits that are required for high school graduation. Promoting computer science skills is worthwhile, but shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come at the cost of learning about the natural sciences. The governor flippantly dismissed physics when he said<\/a>: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Other than trying to keep my kids from falling down the stairs in the Governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mansion I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how much I deal with physics daily. You cannot live in our modern society without dealing with technology or computers in your daily life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m\nmore discouraged today than usual. I spent time reviewing my blog posts about\nannual science assessments going all the way back to 2008. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a dark\ncloud of bad news for over a decade now. I wrote op-eds about this issue in\n2009 and 2017. Governors and commissioners have changed over the years, but my\nmessage has been unchanging and bleak. Sure, politicians love to pose for photo\nops as they give lip service to one STEM initiative or another. But then they\nignore the much larger issue of science literacy for all Florida students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our\nstate and country grapples with problems such as rising seas, invasive species,\nthe quality of our diminishing fresh water resources, and disease outbreaks, just\nto name a few issues that require a sound background in science to understand\nand solve. There are also job opportunities in space exploration. Boeing is\nmoving its Space and Launch division headquarters from Virginia to Florida.\nSpaceX is launching \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and landing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c rockets here. NASA is testing the Orion\nspacecraft here. By the way, these high paying jobs require a physics\neducation, Gov. DeSantis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nwill out state leaders start taking science education seriously?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—————————–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(*)FDOE\nstarted a few years ago combining the 8th grade science assessment results with\nthe results of 8th graders who instead took the Biology EOC. The combined\nstatistic reported on most of the FDOE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s documents this year is 51 percent\npassing in 8th grade. But the pure Statewide Science Assessment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c without\nincluding 8th grade biology results \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has a passing percentage of only 48. I\nhighlighted and questioned this data sleight of hand when I first noticed it a\ncouple of years ago: DOE: Just fudge the results; no one cares about science\nanyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally,\nit looks like the biology EOC report, which breaks down the performance of the\nvarious grade levels of students who took the test, includes 8th graders. Is\nthe DOE using 8th graders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 biology scores twice in their statistics: once in\nthe biology report and again in the 8th grade science assessment results?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday was the big day! The results for the annual statewide education assessments were released. A press release from Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran’s office celebrated score increases in English Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies and Biology. He praised “awe-inspiring” … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-Ue","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1015,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1015","url_meta":{"origin":3486,"position":0},"title":"Physics made a comeback","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an update to Jonathan's earlier post tracking bills related to science education. Physics made a comeback on the floor of the Florida House of Representatives late yesterday afternoon.\u00c2\u00a0 Late the previous night, Representative Fresen, sponsor of the House graduation requirements bill (HB 1293), filed an amendment to put\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1015#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1012,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1012","url_meta":{"origin":3486,"position":1},"title":"Politics Trump Physics","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"April 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite the good faith efforts of three representatives to improve the bills on high school science assessment and graduation requirements, today's events in the Florida House of Representatives demonstrated how difficult it can be to get education policy right in a challenging legislative environment.\u00c2\u00a0 Representative Fresen, the sponsor of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1012#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":991,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=991","url_meta":{"origin":3486,"position":2},"title":"High School science concerns","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Paul Cottle, a professor of physics at Florida State University and a member of the committee that drafted Florida's new science standards, has been busy writing articles in defense of science education. Here is his latest one: Two bills put high-school physics at risk in Florida. However, the legislation that\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=991#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1148,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1148","url_meta":{"origin":3486,"position":3},"title":"Commissioner responds","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"FSU physics professor Paul Cottle had sounded the alarm in the Tallahassee Democrat concerning Florida's leadership's unimpressive \"plans\" -- or lack thereof -- for improving our \"pretty much last in the nation\" standing in science education. Eric Smith, Florida commissioner of education, responded. I do commend Smith for taking the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1148#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":831,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=831","url_meta":{"origin":3486,"position":4},"title":"Florida’s Greatest Menace II: Objectionable phraseology","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"(This is the second part in the Florida's Greatest Menace series. For an introduction to the series, go here.) The great battle of the age is now on between Christianity and evolution, or so said George Washburn. He was one of the many men who heard the call to pick\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=831#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/newspdf\/tree_page483.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1057,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1057","url_meta":{"origin":3486,"position":5},"title":"What the professors said","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Following up on yesterday's post about Florida science professors wanting end-of-course tests rather than the 11th grade FCAT, here is the white paper they wrote and here is the list of folks who signed it. Below is the text of their statement: --------------------------- Graduation Requirements and Assessment Policy for High\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3486"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3491,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486\/revisions\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}