I sent the following to state Representative Charles McBurney this morning:

Dear Representative McBurney,

Thank you for meeting with the group from the Duval County PTA on Thursday. You asked that we provide you with questions regarding SB 6 (now HB 7189). Instead, I would like to share an anecdote from my own high school career which I believe illustrates much that is wrong with the bill.

I attended a series of private elementary schools and Jacksonville Episcopal High School, which at the time accepted students beginning in seventh grade. I had some difficulty in French and stumbled a bit at the beginning of Algebra 1, but otherwise made acceptable grades through my junior year, including Honors and Advanced Placement classes. In my senior year, I was enrolled in Advanced Placement classes exclusively.

At the beginning of my senior year, it became obvious that, while I had made acceptable grades in Algebra 1 and 2 and Pre-Calculus, I had not mastered the skills necessary to succeed in Advanced Placement Calculus. After struggling for several weeks, with extra assistance provided by my teacher, Mister Hazen, I chose to drop the class in order to protect my grade point average. (The class was not required for graduation.)

Keep in mind, the class was small, perhaps 20 students. Mister Hazen was the head of the mathematics department, and had been teaching for many years. I came from a stable home. I planned to attend college the following Fall and very much wanted to succeed. In short, I had every advantage, and yet I failed.

In other words, sometimes it is not the teacher's fault.

I was one student out of 20. At Ribault, Jackson, or Forrest High School, three quarters of the students in a teacher's class may be struggling, either in school or outside of school. If I couldn't succeed in Mister Hazen's class, is it reasonable to judge teachers at those schools on the basis of their students' performance?

If HB 7189 becomes law, I suspect teachers will simply "cherry pick" students, either discouraging students from enrolling in difficult classes or arranging for them to be assigned to teachers with less seniority (and political clout). That would allow some teachers to reap the rewards of merit pay, but would truly be a disservice to tudents who are either discouraged from trying or denied the opportunity to learn from the best teachers.

Feel free to share this with whomever you wish.

Sincerely,
Dave Baldwin