"If past American efforts are any guideline, what we're likely to come up with [are] vague standards and high-stakes tests."
Via Swift And Changeable.
It's the best and worst of times for charter schools right now. What they need to focus on next isn't expansion for expansion's sake, however, or even culling the herd to improve overall effectiveness. They need to make themselves relevant and useful to improving public education. And Arne Duncan and George Miller need to help.
The Knowledge Alliance's Jim Kohlmoos was kind enough to take some time and talk to me this morning about all things education, reminding me for example that we shouldn't forget the "other" Race to the Top Fund (ie, the $3 billion in school improvement money tucked into the stimulus). Not only is the school improvement money a big item, it's also going to all the states and (though them) to many of the districts with the most struggling school, and it's authorized for more than just the next two years. So while you'r etwiddling your thumbs waiting for the RttT RFP to come out you might want to think about getting your hands on some of that SI money. Or maybe you're already doing that. School improvement is where it's at. Assuming you don't hit it big with the RttT, that is.
UPDATED 6-16: There's also a recent CEP report about the combined $4.5B in SI money for anyone who's interested. Take that, RttT!
The Board of Education for the Chicago Public Schools is being forced to vote on over 100 school restructuring plans that were not properly reviewed and approved over the past three years. Apparently, Chicago schools had developed their own restructuring plans and submitted them individually to the state. Now that's decentralization. Reality is, nobody in Chicago has really paid much attention to NCLB anyway. We like to do things our own way. Click below to read the hilarious press release. Cross-posted from District299.
Continue reading "NCLB: Chicago Forced Into "Do-Over" For Duncan-Era Goof" »
I'm not a big Simpsons fan, but here's an education-themed episode that you might not have seen already. It originally aired on the first of this month, and is called "How The Test Was Won."
The plot involves Bart and Lisa's school's nefarious plans to game the high-stakes "Vice President's Assessment Test" by manipulating which students -- the Barts or Lisas -- take the test. (Yes, the plot is quite similar to the King of the Hill episode "No Bobby Left Behind".)
The episode opens with Homer and Marge celebrating with champagne and hats that say "Happy New Year." Bart and Lisa wander in and wonder what's going on. Marge: "It's the first day of school!" Homer: "You're the government's problem now!"
Enjoy!
From the current New Yorker.
Fun is fun, according to this from the Seattle Post Intelligencer editorial (Don't be clever). But Arne Duncan's call to rename NCLB -- aided ably by the duo of Andy Rotherham and Sam Dillon -- shouldn't distract from the reality that the law itself is what needs changing and the names aren't the point:
"Let's stop giving bills propaganda names like "No Child Left Behind Act," the "PATRIOT Act," etc. Use names more like the original aid-to-schools bill, passed in the Johnson administration: Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It was a name that made no fireworks and told no lies."
The Broader Bolder Approach folks are convening today to lament Linda Darling Hammond's return to Stanford explore how a workable accountability system can be designed, and principles for a new accountabily system that will be presented to the Obama administration.
Who's a member of this particular cabal? Presenters will include: Christopher Cross, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (1989-91); Daniel Koretz, author of Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us; Susan B. Neuman, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (2001-03); Tom Payzant, BBA co-chair and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (1993-1995); Diane Ravitch (via video), former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (1991-1993); Richard Rothstein, author of Grading Education, Getting Accountability Right; Robert Schwartz, Academic Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and founding president, Achieve.
Via Fritzwire.
NCLB "may be the single most influential piece of domestic legislation in a generation."
Columbia Journalism School Dean Nicholas Lemann in a New Yorker piece about the difference between popular and truly great Presidents.
"The notion that Obama would gut a law exposing the maleducation of millions of black children is a fantasy."
Richard Whitmire in a recent op-ed (Bush leaves gift of education reform behind).
"The sorting instinct seems part of our DNA, that tribal primate urge to know where everyone is in the pecking order...[It] is too often adopted by educational gatekeepers as an excuse for not doing their jobs, which is to teach."
Sorting Children Into 'Cannots' and 'Cans' Is Just Racism in Disguise Jay Mathews in the Washington Post
"If the test is an honest measure of a solid curriculum, then teaching kids the skills and knowledge they need to pass it is honorable work."
5 Myths About No Child Left Behind Checker Finn last spring in the Washington Post
The federal update from the good folks at Brustein Manasevit remind us that growth models aren't just for a few states anymore. There are now 15 state approved, including most recently Colorado, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Texas. "Pennsylvania and Texas are conditionally approved provided they satisfy the final requirements related to their accountability and assessment systems, respectively."
First rolled out in 2006, the growth model program now encompasses 15 states. Those approved are: North Carolina, Tennessee, Delaware, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Alaska, Arizona, Michigan, Missouri, Colorado, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Texas. Meantime, 39 states have approved standards and assessments. Holla.
They grow up so fast, education laws do.
From the USDE:
Secretary Spellings will join President Bush at General Philip Kearny Elementary School in Philadelphia to mark the seventh anniversary of the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act.
President Bush’s remarks will be open press.
Many educators will be happy to know that, under Arne Duncan Chicago was the poster child for districts resisting and criticizing the law. Others may find themselves worrying that as EdSec Duncan will be a little too loose with district "flexibility." But there's little doubt that Duncan (and Daley) fought tooth and nail against many of the law's key provisions like tutoring, transfers, and AYP ratings. Some clips:
To Duncan, NLCB law is 'burdensome'... Chicago Sun Times 2003
Tutoring firm expelled from 7 of city's schools. Tribune 2005
Chicago public schools chief may sue US agency over tutoring Tribune 2004
Failing Schools across Illinois Scramble to Obey Federal Law. Sun Times 2003
New rules help raise Illinois students' test scores. Tribune 2004
Daley protests student transfers Sun Times 2002
Fewer join in school transfer program - Duncan criticizes... Sun Times 2003
Schools blast state test data that could lead to sanctions Sun Times 2003
A Failing Grade Mother Jones 2003
MANY CHICAGO STUDENTS CAN'T TRANSFER SCHOOLS 2003
50 schools can send students to better ones - The catch is... Sun Times 2003
No Child Left Behind Act causing hardships for many public... NPR 2003
Kudos to blog contributor John Thompson for digging up this episode of King of the Hill, which -- perhaps a media first -- doesn't just reference NCLB once or twice. It focuses on the law for an entire half-hour episode, and is amusing for both critics and advocates of the law:
In the episode, Bobby's principal is under pressure to make AYP and decides -- falsely, by the way -- that he can just reclassify Bobby and some other lower-scoring kids as special needs to avoid having to try and get them to pass the test. For a while, this harebrained strategy seems to work and is enjoyed by all. But then, alas, it turns out that reclassification won't fly.
New America's Jennifer Cohen has her say here about what happens next for NCLB (Looking Forward to NCLB) -- most of it the usual fare.
[Someone needs to ask New America how to toughen comparability provisions without a massive influx of new federal education money.]
The logo is pretty good, though. Best I've seen so far. Me likes it.
"What schools need is, first, a national standard of what proficiency in
reading and math means; second, a curriculum that gets students to that
level; and finally, tests tailored specifically to that curriculum," writes Nick Lemann in the latest issue of The Washington Monthly (What NCLB Left Behind
People see the Times' story about Baylor paying freshmen to retake the SATs (Baylor Rewards Freshmen Who Retake SAT) all sorts of different ways, as you might imagine: Some Inside Higher Ed readers think the story highlights how lame the SAT is (here). Over at TQATE, Kevin Carey thinks that the story raises the bar for university-based cynicism and debunks the notion of "merit" aid (Baylor, the SATs, and "Merit Aid").
Personally, I blame NCLB; Baylor is just imitating the games that schools and districts have developed to make AYP. It's not their fault -- they're just responding to incentives.
Meanwhile, the story's not entirely over down in Texas: Baylor officials defend move to allow students to retake SAT, Faculty Senate decries SAT retakes.
"In my experience, greatschools.net is used predominantly by the middle class as a surgical scope illuminating what parts of town to flee."
Sandra Tsing Loh, Los Angeles parent and author of Mother On Fire.
While politicos ponder the differences between a "bailout" and a "rescue," I'm wondering about the differences between a "turnaround" and all the other terms used to describe school improvement efforts: restructuring (from NCLB), conversion (to charter, to small schools), close and replace, etc.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of agreement or consistency surrounding these terms, which can create confusion and misunderstanding (in me, at least). Not to speak of resistance and fear among those on the receiving end.
It seems to me that "turning around" a school is the goal, not the mechanism through which the changes are triggered, or the means through which they are attempted. The mechanisms that trigger the effort can include consistent failure to meet AYP, or district or state takeover, or de-accreditation. The means can include all sorts of things -- bringing in a new principal (aka "turnaround specialist"), bringing in new staff entirely, small schoolifying, conversion to charter status, mandatory curriculum, or the close and replace thing where you stop taking new kids into the old school but let the older kids continue on.
However it's done, a clear and consistent set of terms will help. Anyone got one? Oh, here's a PowerPoint overview from the helpful folks at Mass Insight.
Previously: The "Privatization" Misnomer
The most interesting part of this story (SC probes award-winning, inner-city school) isn't that the cheating went on or that the state finally figured it out. (I blame NCLB.) It's that one of the folks who dropped a dime on her was a principal at a nearby school who had read about the test scores but wasn't impressed by the abilities of the kids who transferred into his school. Teacher Magazine Via The Core Knowledge Blog.
"A four-year effort to improve student learning has earned national recognition for a charter school in the polygamous community of Centennial Park."
(Polygamous community school gets NCLB honors Salt Lake City Tribune Via The Gadfly)
Concerned about unexpectedly large fluctuations in last spring's test score results, Illinois went back to the statistical well and brought in a new, more robust "equating" method to smooth things out before releasing state test scores to the public. The state tells me that scores are always equated from year to year, and that the fluctuations it was correcting for were not all in one direction or the otherBut the process, and the delay, and the reported improvements have all generated a certain amount of skepticism and confusion. See my District299.com blog for the full explanation from the state, and teachers' and administrators' questions. (llinois test scores show split results Tribune). How soon until someone blames this on NCLB?
Eduwonkette thinks that the percentages of schools not making AYP this year seem high and wants to consider some sort of risk adjusted model like the one used in rating hospitals and doctors (here). It's a familiar type of argument at this point -- but I'm not sure about its usefulness. Risk adjusting school (or student) performance might make accountability more palatable to some but effectively lowers expectations and -- just as important -- complexifies the process in ways that create political problems. Not that AYP couldn't be improved a hundred ways. But it's already squishy and varied enough, thank you very much (state variations, n-size variations, etc.) By the end of her post, the 'Kette seems to realize the corner she's in. Let's get all the states on the same page first before we start refining accountability into oblivion.
Which is the better way to measure a nation's Olympic success -- its number of gold medals or its number of medals over all -- and what does that say about your views on education?
The Chinese think that the gold medal is all that really counts, while US officials perfer the overall count (here).
Seems to me that people are always trying to find a measure that makes them look better, rather than one that's the most fair and comparable. (In the Olympics, by the way, such a measure would have to accommodate each nation's population size, and its GDP or some other measure of wealth.)
I heard some interesting things last week when I had the chance to talk with Larry Mishel, the president of the Economic Policy Institute and chairman of the Broader Bolder effort. Check it out below.
UPDATE: Mishel writes in to correct the record noting that BBA is only against ‘narrow test-based accountability’ -- not any use of tests -- and that BBA has as much support from the civil rights community as the other side. Speaking of the other side, Mishel provides what he says is the original list in support of EEP, which includes just 22 signatures (EEP signers.doc).
Last but not least, in response to several queries, the beets signify nothing. Just a nice picture.
Thanks to a reader for pointing me to this item about a group of young female muralists whose latest effort is meant to raise awareness about military recruiting in low-income high schools:
“They say there’s not a draft,” said Katie Yamasaki, an art teacher who is directing the project. “But when they say they can’t afford to fund college because 40 percent of our tax dollars go to war, a lot of youths feel stuck.” (here)
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These folks are talking about what to do with NCLB here. Let me know if they say anything new or interesting.
"Illinois has been plagued with testing problems since 2002, when No
Child Left Behind required states to ramp up testing," writes the Chicago Tribune's Stephanie Banchero. "In every year
except 2005, testing data has been riddled with errors, seriously
delayed or contained sizable shifts."
Right about now, Ray Simon is going onstage to give a talk to the folks at the National Reading First conference in Nashville (details below). How strange it must be to be there, knowing that the program is under such a cloud. I wonder what crafty ways RF administrators have figured out to keep doing the parts of RF they like even without the federal money.
Continue reading "What Parts Of RF Will State And Locals Keep?" »
Using fancy new technology, blogger Melissa discovers just who's been mucking around with the Wikipedia for NCLB (The NCLB Wikipedia Article’s Sordid History). Wikipedia entries are supposed to be neutral and are usually corrected quickly by vigilant Wikipedians. But sometimes -- 684 times, to be precise -- folks have apparently needed to vent. Hint: It's not who you think it would be.
Kudos to Emily Bazelon for her Sunday NYT magazine piece The Next Kind of Integration, which gives a clear update on the recent changes in the law and how districts are responding. (As an editor at Slate, Bazelon is also kind enough to look at and occasionally greenlight my story ideas.)
That being said, I don't think that the strategies outlined in the piece stand much chance of working.
In essence, Bazelon seems to be suggesting that, as in Louisville, carefully-created systems that use economic class as well as race can meet the law's requirements and, by grandfathering in some students, remain practically and politically viable.
While I have no real objection, I think it's extremely optimistic to think that this could happen on a national scale. Racial or economic integration is no longer really an option for many urban districts without a radical shift to larger (city-suburban) districts or the massive return of white families to city schools[, a point Bazelon makes]. Neither of those things seems to be on the horizon. Ditto for any type of pro-integration mandate from the courts.
Even in places where it might still be numerically possible, I'd remind us all that if we've learned anything from NCLB at all it's that "receiving" schools don't like to take in new kids -- especially if they're minority, low-income, low-achieving, or all of the above. This we already know.
To make academic or class-based integration viable, lawmakers would need to create a special provision or reward for schools that increase their proportion of low-income or minority kids -- protecting them from getting slapped down by short term performance but still holding them accountable after the first year. Without something along those lines, it feels to me that talking about integration is increasingly nostalgic and quite possibly a waste of time.
"As a general rule of thumb, if there's any policy proposal that is opposed by both the Texas Republican Party and the American Federation of Teachers, it's probably a good idea."
Kudos to New Jersey. You don't see this very often:
State raises minimum standards on proficiency tests
NJ Star-Ledger
The change raised the so-called "cut scores" for proficiency to at least 50 percent in the four affected grades, and also raised the requirements to be considered "advanced proficient."
In New Jersey and many other states, cut scores have been set notoriously low with the advent of increased testing and, especially, No Child Left Behind, which requires schools to reach proficiency targets in reading and math or face possible sanctions.
[Of course, the state standard and test rigor may still be low.]
Direct Effects (for better or worse)
Increased focus on reading and math
Annual state testing
Increased federal funding
After school tutoring
Kids getting recruited for the war in Iraq
Unintended or Indirect Effects
Teacher anxiety over test consequences
Narrowing of the curriculum towards basic skills
Focus on bubble kids closest to passing exams
Ridiculous and Unrelated Effects (including those actually claimed)
Students being held back a year in school
Students failing to graduate because of exit exams
Kids throwing up over test anxiety
Removal of ineffective teachers (I wish!)
Teen pregnancy in Gloucester, MA
School violence, bullying
Childhood obesity, depression
The war in Iraq
Here are some different snippets from mainstream coverage of the CEP report to ponder and parse:
Report: Racial gap narrows, but what did No Child law do? USA Today
What the law clearly has done — the change some identify as its most
notable benefit — is give researchers and parents the data to track
student progress.
Alabama
follows national trend of closing achievement gaps among students in
lower grades, but widens gap in high school reading.
Birmingham News
Alabama's
elementary and middle school students are making strides in closing the
achievement gaps in math and reading by race and income level,
according to a national report released Tuesday.
Since NCLB Law, Test Scores on Rise EdWeek
Students???
math and reading achievement is improving, and the gap between minority
and white children is narrowing, a new study indicates.
Test Results Improve After 'No Child' Law, Study Finds Washington Post
Because standards vary from state to state, some analysts have
questioned the reliability of state tests as a gauge of academic
performance.
School achievement in Tennessee gets better, study says Chattanooga Times
Although there were far more instances of achievement gaps narrowing
between student groups, Mr. Jennings said, in Tennessee, that gap
widened for both poor students and black students in elementary reading
test scores
Study Says Student Reading and Math Scores Are Improving US News
The study shows some states like Tennessee with large numbers of
proficient students but, because each state gets to create its own
standards, that can mean a state's academic standards are too easy.
NEA: Test Scores Improving in Spite of NCLB THE Journal
According to the NEA, any improvements in student test scores may have come in spite of NCLB rather than because of it.
The CEP just put out a big report on state test score increases since 2002 (here), with comparisons to NAEP results.
Chairman Miller responds below.
Your basic options would seem to be:
(a) Test results mean nothing, I tell you.
(b) These results aren't all that good, really.
(c) NCLB works!
(d) I question the motives of all involved.
UPDATE: NEA presser below
A big group of education types led by EPI and joined by former USDE official Susan Neuman have come together and signed statement calling for a broader, bolder approach to education -- specifically working beyond NCLB and beyond the schoolhouse doors (No Child Left Behind: Doomed to Fail?
TIME). It's not a full-on slam against NCLB, though, praising as it does the disaggregation requirements in the law. But its main focus is outside traditional K12 education, including preschool afterschool health service and parent education.
This school didn't just meet AYP, it met the 100 percent proficiency mark.
"We think of MSA as the floor, as sort of the basics of what all students should be doing," Principal Irene Kordick said. "We shoot for the ceiling."
School In Ocean City Nails Its Target Washington Post
I wonder how many other schools have achieved 100 percent proficiency or thereabouts -- and why it took the mainstream news so long to find these kinds of examples, given how, er, proficient they have been at finding examples of failure.
Think most ed groups and every ed association are all against incentive pay? So did I. But then I found out that the 175,000-member ASCD supports incentive pay and has endorsed the Teacher Excellence for All
Children (TEACH) Act (Incentive Pay for Teachers Is an Option (Take 2). ASCD supports incentive pay and performance pay, for individuals as well as schools. As long as it's voluntary, not based on a single test, and determined locally. Sure, it's not a traditional association like the AASA or the Chiefs, but it's worth noting.
It'd be a lot more credible if it wasn't the folks at Fordham making the claim that NCLB is a lot less popular among big-city newspaper editorial pages than charter schools. Fordham is notoriously pro-charter and anti-NCLB (well, since Mike turned in his NCLB pin).
But it's still interesting to look at Fordham's handy-dandy chart of where the editorial pages fall out on the NCLB-charter school matrix, and of course to be reminded that public opinion against NCLB is only 43 percent. (Take that, NCLB-haters.)
Link: Opinion Leaders or Laggards?.
Amazing to realize that so few schools and districts are in restructuring, given all the hullabaloo you hear and read:
School districts start to face sanctions under landmark law Associated Press
Nationwide, 411 school districts in 27 states now face intervention.
California has 97 school districts that failed to meet their goals
under the law for four years, more than twice as many failing districts
as any other state so far. Kentucky has the next highest number facing
sanctions, with 47.
No Child Left Behind Lacks Bite Wall Street Journal
About 1,300 schools out of 99,000 public schools were in restructuring
during the 2006-2007 school year, the most recent tally. More than 400
schools have emerged from restructuring by demonstrating progress.
State eyes No Child compromise Florida Times-Union
Georgia education officials are hoping to win a
spot in a pilot program that would allow the state to treat less
harshly than others some school districts that fall short of federal
standards.
Think that gaming the numbers is something that only happens in education or maybe crime? Think again. Last weekend's On The Media show on NPR included this segment (Cooking the Books). In it, an economist explains how the government's economic measures (like unemployment) have, over time, been softened to make things look better than they really are. The real unemployment rate, for example, is roughly double what the reported number is. And the media goes along with it. It's apparently called the Polyanna Effect.
Imagine if someone walked up to you (or your child) and asked if they could call you white instead of black, or Native American instead of Hispanic. You'd be startled, I'm guessing, and probably want to know why. Now imagine that they told you it was so that they would look better under NCLB.
Kudos to the Sacramento Bee for its recent analysis of California schools using NCLB loopholes to -- big surprise -- make themselves look better under the law (Schools reclassify students, pass test under federal law). Eighty schools flipped from not making AYP to passing muster last year by reclassifying kids' subgroup status to get below the subgroup minimum (100 kids!). It's an August "cleaning" of the data that schools in many states go through. It's also a loophole that the newly proposed NCLB regulations may help close, finally.
Racial identification is a complicated thing, no doubt, but shouldn't be motivated by a desire to game the accountability system.
S & C Comments on The Proposed NCLB Regs Charlie Barone
We think it’s generally a good package, but falls short in a few
key areas. We’re sure she knows that she is in for a rough ride. And we
wish her luck.
You, Too, Can Voice Opinions on NCLB Rules The Hoff
Whether you're the mother of a special education student in
Massachusetts or a school administrator in Kansas, you can voice your
opinion.
Black no more Joanne Jacobs
Black
students’ low test scores caused Will C. Wood Middle School to miss its
No Child Left Behind goals. But the Sacramento school met NCLB after
all by persuading parents of four previously “black” children to let
the school reclassify their kids as white or American Indian.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in This Week In Education are strictly those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Scholastic, Inc.
