FCAT 5, Michael Thorne, Page 7


 one and two taking reading and extra math. We offered tutorial classes. We had
 the workbooks for FCAT that we ran through all the English and math and
 reading classes, and science this year. We made students, in a way, in a
 competitive fever. The ninth graders take it, but does it count? We made them
 feel like, hey, let's see how you do this year, compare it to the next year, so they
 were excited about that. We made it a little competitive with each other, not so
 much school to school or class to class, but with themselves, and we hope that's
 really going to make a difference.

S: Considering Alachua County is one of the poorest counties in the state, and
 funding is pretty much directly related to property tax, and all this can relate to
 FCAT, do you feel like the system is fair?

T: For some reason this is the system that's been accepted. Whether it's fair or not,
 I can only hope, and I hope it's fair for students. That's my only concern, that
 students are given a shot at this where they have an opportunity to pass with
 good teaching and can get their diploma. I can argue with you all day that
 Alachua County has all these problems, but every county I've been in has some
 unique problem, it's just the business were in. Businesses throughout time have
 had to go through radical changes to survive. Education is the only business that
 still stays the same, in a sense, which is unfortunate. You have a teacher in front
 of about twenty-five desks; they've been doing that since the beginning of time.
 We need to do things different, and I feel like at Eastside we are. We're doing a
 lot of cooperative and we're doing a lot of interdisciplinary teaching where math
 and science work together, or English. Where it used to be real tight in the class,
 where you'd want to hear a pin drop, it's much different now. It's almost a lab
 setting for a lot of classes. You walk in and it's controlled chaos. They're all
 learning different levels and helping one another, the teacher keeps them
 involved, it's pretty unique. We had to change to survive.

S: Can you describe the relationship that the school has with the county office, or
 school board?

T: Well, we survive on the support of the county office. In a sense we make our
 calls there to get answers for tough questions. A lot of things come from the
 county office that supports us to help us be successful, yet the county office still
 gives you the opportunity to sort of manage your school as a corporation on its
 own. They're there to assist you in any manner and you have your budget and
 things you have to do when you're teachers. It's definitely a tool for service and
 help.

S: How much does the school board help with FCAT preparation?

T: They let us know ahead of time when things are coming, they prepared us for the
 exam, what it's about, getting the academic information out to us in a fast pace