Thursday, February 06, 2014

Holliday: kids overtested, schools overburdened



Ky. education commissioner weighs in on common core,
preschool, career tech 
 
This from NKy.com:
Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday thinks kids are “over tested” and that many states are making a mistake by using Common Core tests to evaluate teachers or decide whether students should be held back.

Holliday made the candid comments during a visit Tuesday to the Enquirer to meet with reporters and editors.

His conversation focused mostly on the Common Core standards in English and math, and the Next Generation Science Standards that were recently adopted by the state.
But he also touched on some other issues universal: preschool (he’s for it), charter schools (he’s for them), vouchers (he’s against them). And he said there will be another proposed revamp soon for career technical schools.

On Common Core:
Kentucky was the first state in the country to adopt the Common Core – an overhauled set of education standards that aim to better prepare students for college and careers. Kentucky was also at the front edge in creating its own Common Core tests. Most other states don’t start testing until next year. The standards and tests have drawn criticism; some say they amount to a federal overreach.

Holiday said he’s open to tweaking the standards, but disagrees with critics. He said he was at the table when the standards were “dreamed up,” and “there was no one from the federal government at the meeting,” he said.

He said many states, however, have made mistakes with the standards.

“They have made the tests too high-stakes,” he said. “They should not be used to evaluate teachers. They shouldn’t be used to hold kids back from promotion. That should be a more widely discussed decision with all the teachers and parents looking at the body of the student’s work, not a one-day, one-shot test,” he said. “We’re just using common sense in Kentucky and I’m afraid some of the other states have been too misled by education reformists,” he said.

In Ohio, districts are required to base teacher evaluations in part on students’ performance on the standardized state tests. This year Ohio will also use third grade reading tests to determine whether students will be held back in reading.

“I [think] we’re over tested, he said. “We’re the most tested nation in the world and the least informed. Kids aren’t engaged anymore, it’s just ‘get ready for a test.’”
On unfunded mandates:
Holliday said although the changes in education may be well-intentioned, they’re coming too fast and schools are getting “piled onto” with unfunded mandates.

“I‘m very much a person who pushes back on these kinds of things because our schools are overburdened,” he said. “Back in the ‘50s, when I was in school, it was the three R’s, a little music, no standardized tests. Nowadays we teach everything – sex ed, financial literacy, hearing screenings, eye screenings, we’re giving them insulin shots. We piled onto our schools and districts.”

“The community expects schools to do everything,” he said. “Our schools cannot be everything to everybody. It (also) takes the parents and the community to help kids be successful.”
 • On Career tech:
Holliday said his office will announce major recommendations in a few weeks on ways to revamp the state’s career technical landscape.

Recommendations would include decreasing the number of career tech centers – there are 96 statewide – and have each one specialize more and serve bigger regions.
“It really makes no sense for three career tech centers to offer automotive technology and three high schools and Gateway (Community College) to offer it,” he said. He said similar models exist in other states.
On charter schools:
He’s supportive of allowing charter schools into the state, as long as the local school boards are the authorizers.

“It could be another tool that local school districts can use,” he said.

Charter schools are public schools run by independent organizations. They’re often criticized for academic performance, lack of oversight and financial accountability.

Kentucky is one of the few states in which law does not permit them. Holliday said the fall election may be the turning point. If Republicans take the majority in the House, as they have in the Senate, “we’ll probably see charter legislation pretty quickly.”
 • On vouchers:
Many states, including Ohio and Indiana, have voucher programs in which state money helps pay tuition for families to send their kids to private school. They generally are intended to give more options to parents zoned to low-performing school districts, especially those who can’t afford private school. Holliday doesn’t support them. He thinks they’ll open the door to privatization of education.
 • On universal preschool:
Holliday thinks more quality preschool is a good investment, but it needs to be a group effort.
“If we want to close the achievement gaps in the nation, we need to focus our dollars on preschool and high quality preschool with ... some parent accountability for this,” he said. “Communities need to invest so they have some ownership of these processes.”

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

They have made the tests too high-stakes . . .should not be used to evaluate teachers . . . shouldn’t be used to hold kids back from promotion. . . .not a one-day, one-shot test"

I realize he is speaking to CC exams but what does he think we are doing with end of course exams (English II, Algebra II, U.S. History, Biology - all graduation requirements) which the state expects you to base 20% of a student's grade? If you have a kid who has been working the entire year to achieve a "C" and he ends up bombing this one EOC exam the last week of school - he is at risk of failing the course as a result. Similarly 20% can drop kids one and even two letter grades based on just one exam which the teacher has no input in its creation or scoring.

Anonymous said...

They have made the tests too high-stakes . . .should not be used to evaluate teachers . . . shouldn’t be used to hold kids back from promotion. . . .not a one-day, one-shot test"

I realize he is speaking to CC exams but what does he think we are doing with end of course exams (English II, Algebra II, U.S. History, Biology - all graduation requirements) which the state expects you to base 20% of a student's grade? If you have a kid who has been working the entire year to achieve a "C" and he ends up bombing this one EOC exam the last week of school - he is at risk of failing the course as a result. Similarly 20% can drop kids one and even two letter grades based on just one exam which the teacher has no input in its creation or scoring.

Anonymous said...

"I think we are over tested"

So whose organization in this state has spent the last three decades implementing all of these assessment models?

I think what his statement really indicates is that we are over "measuring" and as a result coming to realize that we can't really measure any of this stuff accurately, much less with some sort of contrived one size fits all instrument. We aren't machining engine parts or doing knee replacement surgery folks, we are dealing with millions of very different students under significantly different learning environments (physical, social, economic, cultural,technologic and dare I even say climatic). They aren't all going to function the same and trying to standardize them isn't going to work any more than trying to standardize the individualities of the learners and the teachers. Until folks recognize this we will continue to bang our heads against this standardized measurement wall.

Anonymous said...

"“I‘m very much a person who pushes back on these kinds of things because our schools are overburdened,”

Come on Commish, the only pushing I have seen as an educator these last five years is you and KDE pushing unilateral mandates down on me and my colleagues with the SB1 plunger and an assumption that educators were the problem.

Now after half a decade you decide you want to contextualize it, recognize that maybe schools have an unaccomplishable mission sprawl which sweeps well beyond its capacity.

Sorry Dr. H. but you are no chameleon, you have already shown your colors in your behaviors the last half decade. Now you just look like a hypocrite in my book.

Anonymous said...

"“I‘m very much a person who pushes back on these kinds of things because our schools are overburdened,”

Come on Commish, the only pushing I have seen as an educator these last five years is you and KDE pushing unilateral mandates down on me and my colleagues with the SB1 plunger and an assumption that educators were the problem.

Now after half a decade you decide you want to contextualize it, recognize that maybe schools have an unaccomplishable mission sprawl which sweeps well beyond its capacity.

Sorry Dr. H. but you are no chameleon, you have already shown your colors in your behaviors the last half decade. Now you just look like a hypocrite in my book.

Anonymous said...

Pre-school sounds great but the jury is still out when it comes to research in closing gaps. What I have read indicates that some early identification programs for pre-K at risk kids may get them to increase upon induction but by the end of primary the advances have eroded back to gap status.

I think it is somewhat ridiculous for this state to even talk about preschool when it only funds kindergarten at 50 % when the vast majority of schools have moved to all day K. It is same on the other end for that matter. Who cares if K-12 gets the college ready if the state is going to make post secondary financially out of reach for the ones who probably need it the most?

Anonymous said...

To the first post above: if a student has received Cs all year and can't pass the EOC, what does that mean for the validity of the Cs received all year? Most likely the C contained non-standard mastery items such as homework completion, class participation, behavior, and perhaps even extra credit. Students who receive passing grades all year and yet can't pass the EOC does not instill in me a great faith in the grades the teacher is assigning.

Anonymous said...

To the "C's" response of 2/8/14.

EOC are much more limited in the application of IEP accomodations in terms of assessment formatting and support. Equally, can we guarantee that all students will perform at their optimal level regardless of health, emotional state, etc on a one time shot at a written assessment even if it weights 20% of their grade.

I understand your point about validity of assessment, the point being taken from the Commish is that we shouldn't be doing this sort of thing, yet it is a significant part of the current KPREP system. Are we to assume that half the high school teachers in the state aren't doing their job because of one test taken by juniors says that half aren't college ready?