Use classical education in Miami-Dade schools? The idea will be studied
Miami-Dade County Schools on Wednesday gave the OK to “explore the feasibility” of offering a classical education curriculum, potentially bringing the politically tinged education model — which has been championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and conservatives — to the state’s largest school district.
The curriculum, which emphasizes a return to core virtues and subjects such as math, science, civics and classical texts, puts a strong emphasis on the “centrality of the Western tradition” — or a historical focus on white, Western European and Judeo-Christian foundations — and “demands moral virtue of its adherents.”
Hillsdale College, a politically influential private Christian college in southern Michigan that’s had a hand in shaping education policies in Florida, is one of the most prominent proponents of the classical education model.
The item, proposed by board member Monica Colucci, calls for determining whether the district could offer the curriculum and to “develop a plan and a timeline for its implementation” for the 2024-25 school year. The outcome of the exploration is expected to come back to the board in October.
According to Colucci, the proposal “isn’t seeking to impose this curriculum on every student [and] not seeking to mandate it as the norm for the whole district.”
Instead, it’s meant as a choice, “something for parents to consider” and a way to possibly increase proficiency levels in the district, something she said was a top concern as an educator.
THE CURRICULUM HAS BEEN CHAMPIONED BY GOV. RON DESANTIS AND CONSERVATIVES.
RESULTS DEBATED
She pointed to a school in Miami-Dade that uses a classical curriculum and is “outperforming in the district” but did not provide the name of the school. Instead, she referred to it during the committee meeting this month as “the school that will remain nameless.”
(In an email statement to the Herald on Friday, Colucci said the school was True North Classical Academy. The reason she omitted the name, she said, was to keep the focus of the discussion on the model of instruction, rather than the school.)
Some community members and board member Lucia Baez-Geller, who perhaps was the most vocal critic of the item, raised concerns about whether the curriculum does, in fact, boost proficiency among students.
“While I could appreciate the data, I do want to point out the glaring issues with us having four classical academies in our district [but] no data [presented] about our students. I think that’s very telling,” Baez-Geller said. Based on her research, Baez-Geller said, the four charter schools serve about 1,200 students and have “no difference” when comparing performance levels with the traditional public schools in the same ZIP code.
Included in Colucci’s proposal was data from classical charter schools in New York City, Nashville and Washington, D.C. Data from the classical schools in Miami-Dade was absent.
Nancy Lawther, the former president of the Miami-Dade County Council of PTA/PTSA presidents, said educators shouldn’t be “too quick to credit curriculum and instructional approach alone as determining factors” for proficiency outcomes, especially given the known correlation between family income and proficiency.
“We should perhaps instead look at some of our best-performing Title 1 schools in looking for a good model to follow,” she told board members during the regular meeting Wednesday.
The item passed with Baez-Geller voting no and board member Luisa Santos absent.
Colucci’s item comes as GOP lawmakers and conservative groups have pushed for the educational model to expand in the state and after a legislative session that doubled down in the state’s support of it.
Last month, DeSantis, alongside Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, signed into law HB 1537 and other education bills at True North Classical Academy. (Colucci is a longtime friend of Nuñez. Colucci left teaching to work in the governor’s executive office from February 2019 to August 2020 as the special assistant to Nuñez.)
STATE FUNDING
The law now provides state funding for school districts to administer the Classic Learning Test and expands Bright Futures Scholarships criteria to include the test, among other requirements.
The test’s founder, Jeremy Tate, said the test is meant to be an alternative to the College Board-administered SAT exam, which he argues has become “increasingly ideological” in part because it has “censored the entire Christian-Catholic intellectual tradition” and other “thinkers in the history of Western thought.”
Colucci, for her part, said in an email to the Herald that her item is “strictly academic and curricular in its scope. It has nothing embedded or intended with respect to religious teachings.”
In May, New College of Florida announced it intends to accept the test as an alternative to the SAT and ACT, becoming the first public college in the state to do so.
A committee of the state Board of Governors on Wednesday approved the test as an option for all 12 schools in the State University System, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The final vote is expected to take place later this summer.