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A lot of educators have major concerns as can be seen with the survey conducted. 39 of them were from Jacksonville while the remaining six were from Ohio, Massachusetts, Illinois, California and Florida. Their main concern was how far would educational initiatives that do not really deal with community issues have an impact that is lasting. They also had concerns regarding the manner in which the money will be distributed.

According to them all schools and the entire community must benefit from the resources. According to the principal of an elementary school, achieving students have been neglected even as resources are being funnelled to schools that are challenged. This has resulted in a great reduction in A and B school performance. It is important that we achieve mediocrity, he said.

He also said that it is vital providing effective support rather than burdening schools that are already struggling in various aspects with oversights, mandates and paperwork. Another elementary school teacher said that there are many sea-worthy ships out here that just need a few holes to be plugged. Massive efforts are on and a lot of money is being thrown into sinking ships. He went on to say that problems of all students must be addressed with innovative and creative ideas and not just those studying in turnaround schools.

A support staffer from Duval with an experience of 16 years said that no matter how much money was being pumped in to the turnaround schools, it is not possible to effectively make a difference without quality parent, teacher and staff training, community support and neighbourhood support.
Two more Duval county educators opined that teachers are often instructed on what they must do. Without enough background support, it is not possible for teachers to monitor six children, create effective lesson plans after a one to one conference with each one of them and also implement lessons created without support, materials and time.

They also said staffs are being burnt out because of the school ranking pressure. The need of the hour is to look for realistic solutions and not pressurize teachers who are already facing the challenge of a difficult job with additional work load. They also said that teachers reach the age of retirement by the time they acquire skills to effectively handle students who pose a challenge. System must therefore be based more on teacher and less on testing.

Some of them argued that the lesser we spend time and efforts in assessments, the better. If there was no sufficient focus on teaching, there will actually be nothing to assess. Some suggested education for teachers that are financed by districts. In urban schools especially, it is very important for teachers to be highly effective. Teachers must be offered funds to be motivated to do their higher studies.

With regard to the challenged students, educators suggested early intervention that will have a major impact on their performance. Most of them suggested review of standards with a reality check.