March 17, 2011-  I voted no on SB 736. Here are my remarks on the House Floor:

“As a mother and a teacher, I know how important it is to be effective in helping children learn. I also know that being an effective teacher is an art. It is difficult to define. What troubles teachers and others troubled about this bill is that this bill grapples what it is to be a good an effective teacher, without including teachers and parents in the discussion…This bill holds teachers accountable with new and experimental methods but does not hold the Florida Legislature accountable to determine if this experiment in educational reform will prove effective. We need to adopt simple, understandable, standardized measures to adequately compare Florida’s students with those of the best states in American and nations around the world.”