Rethink State Board of Education Terms

This editorial from the Messenger-Inquirer by way of KSBA:

As the Kentucky Board of Education wades through the process of selecting a new state education commissioner, most of the public’s attention has focused on the fact no in-state applicants were selected as finalists.

What has been absent from the discussion so far is that most of those responsible for choosing the next state education head will have a very short relationship with the candidate they select.

Seven of the 11 members of the Board of Education likely won’t be reappointed once their terms end in April, yet they are intimately involved in selecting a candidate who could serve for years to come.

As political appointees, board members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the House and Senate to serve four-year terms. Terms are staggered to create continuity across time, but changes in the governor’s office decrease the likelihood of reappointment.

In April 2008, Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, appointed four new members to the board, replacing four members put in place by his Republican predecessor, Ernie Fletcher.

Fletcher made the same type of wholesale change after he came into office in 2004 by selecting seven replacements for those board members selected four years earlier by former Gov. Paul Patton, a Democrat.

Recent changes in the state education commissioner’s post and the governor’s office have put the board and the governor at odds in recent years. The search in 2007 to replace departing Commissioner Gene Wilhoit, who had been in the post for six years, created a such a conflict.

At that time, the board — all appointed by Gov. Fletcher, who was on his way out of office — ignored a request by newly elected Gov. Beshear to restart the selection process. Beshear contended the board’s search was not broad enough and the state would benefit from making a fresh appeal for applicants.

Now in the midst of another commissioner search, the majority of the board likely won’t work longer than a few months with the new commissioner.

That’s not to suggest outgoing board members would sabotage this process because they were appointed by a governor from a different political party.

But this does create another possible political conflict over a position that this state has attempted to make less political.

With four-year appointments for board members staggered by two years, a governor can have a board filled solely with his appointees by just more than midway through his first term in office. That might allow for the creation and implementation of a cohesive educational policy, but it can create conflict and disjointedness with a change in administrations.

One solution to be considered would be lengthening board member terms. States with appointed boards of education have varying term lengths, with some board members serving terms as long as nine years, as is the case in Mississippi and Tennessee.

Longer terms could help avoid the frequent turnover that Kentucky can see with changes in the governor’s office.

Extending the terms to six years and staggering appointments every two years would create more continuity. A governor could leave an imprint on the board without the body being overhauled every time a new governor takes office.

With the Kentucky Education Reform Act, the state made the education commissioner position an appointed instead of elected position to help remove politics from the process. Lengthening the terms for members could accomplish the same goal for the board.

Kentucky could welcome its next education commissioner when the Board of Education meets next week. But the end of this selection process should begin an examination of how to avoid these types of conflicts in the future.

Charter Schools: A Tale of Two States

This from WFPL:

The U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan has been making noise lately about charter schools — and he’s announced he wants to see more of them. Duncan’s enthusiasm is encouraging those in the charter school movement nationwide, but the appeal of these schools in this region is mixed...

Indiana Democrats have proposed halting charters for new schools. It’s part of the debate on the state budget now being drafted in Indianapolis. Critics supporting that move are citing last week’s study from a Stanford University research center that found students at charters didn’t perform any better than those at public schools.

But there are really no heated debates about charters in Kentucky, which is one of 10 states with no charter schools...

Even in Indiana’s most of the 50 charter schools are in Indianapolis and Gary, while the charter school movement has never taken hold in Kentucky. But people in Frankfort were listening to Arne Duncan’s speech this week, including Education Cabinet Secretary Helen Mountjoy. Ask her about charter schools, and she lists Kentucky’s efforts on education reform.

“We certainly feel that we have an alternative that is meeting many of the same things,” Mountjoy says, “particularly in the areas of autonomy and being able to make decisions at the school level, in managing a budget, in hiring staff, in choosing instructional materials, and on and on.”

Those facets of the state’s education system grew after the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act, or KERA, was enacted to reduce economic disparity between schools.

But it’s not clear if those and recent efforts to improve education will be enough to satisfy Arne Duncan to give any of the $5 billion in federal grants to Kentucky — even though Gov. Steve Beshear met with him earlier this month to extol Kentucky efforts.

Snapshots of Fiscal Equity

KERA has led to a significant decline in differences in educational spending across the Commonwealth.

According to a recent UK study the gap in current expenditures per student between metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts fell from $600 in 1987 to $10 in 2006. Equitable funding is KERA's clearest success. Adequacy remains.

But what does equity look like in a funding system that mixes state and local resources? For that we turn to the Prichard blog where Susan Weston has posted some figures.

...the twelve districts with the most taxable property per student put in more local money and receive less state money than state average, yet all have total base funding within $400 of the average.

...the twelve districts with the least taxable property put in less local money and receive more state funds, yet all end up with base resources within $615 of the average.

Beshear calls for school reform

This from Pat Crowley at the Enquirer, photo by Patrick Reddy:

ERLANGER - Gov. Steve Beshear told a group of educators and business people Monday that Kentucky's 19-year-old education reform act needs a complete
overhaul.

The Kentucky Education Reform Act, commonly known as KERA, "was never meant to be a one-time fix," Beshear said Monday during a speech at the Boone County Education Foundation annual lunch.

"Instead, it was the start of a new commitment to education," Beshear said. "I'm determined, as we look toward the next two decades, that we seize the opportunity ... to take a top to bottom look at KERA both to see what is working and to see what needs improving.

"And I don't mean merely tinkering around the edges, but a frank and open evaluation of the fundamentals of our system," he said. "And I plan to create a task force to do just that. I want a vision for the future. I do not want a dissertation on the past."...

...Beshear said that graduation rates, content standards, college and university teacher preparation programs and remediation for college students who struggle as freshman must be evaluated...

Gov. Beshear appoints David Karem to the Kentucky Board of Education

FRANKFORT, Ky.—Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear today announced he has named David Karem, former state senator and current president of the Waterfront Development Corporation, as the newest member of the Kentucky Board of Education.

Karem, of Louisville, was a member of the Kentucky General Assembly from 1972 until 2004. During his 28 years in the state senate, he served as majority caucus chairman, majority floor leader and democratic floor leader.

Widely recognized as a chief author of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), during his legislative career, Karem also served as a member the Senate Education Committee, the Education Reform Task Force and chair of the Legislative Advisory Council of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). He also served as treasurer of the SREB and is a member of the Partnership for Kentucky Schools. Karem was also instrumental in passing legislation that reformed the statewide school accountability tests.

“David will be a great Kentucky Board of Education member because his heart is in public education and his eyes are still firmly focused on the future,” Gov. Beshear said. “David has never been wedded to the past. He has always looked for better ways to do things. Kentucky students are very lucky that David will once again be working on their behalf.”

“In 1990, David was looking to the future as a Senate leader when KERA was passed,” said Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Sec. Helen Mountjoy. “In 1997-1998, he again looked to the future as he helped lead the General Assembly's review of school reform and helped craft major revisions to school laws. His expertise and vision will be a great asset to the board.”

A graduate of St. Xavier High School in Louisville, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Louisville School of Law, Karem currently serves numerous boards and commissions, including the Spalding University Board of Trustees; Board of Directors of the Louisville Fund for the Arts; and chairman of the education advisory committee for the Louisville Science Center.

During his nearly three decades in the General Assembly, Karem was twice selected outstanding State Senator in Public Interest by the Capitol Press Corps.

Karem and his wife, Anne, reside in Louisville and are the parents of two children, both of whom attended the Jefferson County Public Schools from grade school through graduation.

SOURCE: The Gov

CATS- Episode 2009

By Penney Sanders

Now that the KY General Assembly has adjourned, it may be safe to venture a few observations about what happened to the CATS assessment.

SB 1/HB508 reflected much needed updating and modifications to KY’s assessment system-CATS. It was not the end of school reform as we know it, contrary to the comments of some. Most school people, especially classroom teachers, have known for several years that there needed to be revisions to the test. It was cumbersome, took too much instructional time, did not provide useful data, etc, etc.

However, up until March 2009, the voices calling for changes to CATS had been effectively rebuffed no matter how reasonable the concerns expressed. In the 2008 Session, a previous iteration of SB1 was introduced. In some ways it was quite similar to the bill filed in this session. However, the 2008 version was met with tremendous opposition and the bill did not move forward. It was politicized, polarized and ultimately pulverized

What was the difference this year??? The changes in CATS legislation are an excellent example of the “Tipping Point”. As described in Malcolm Glidewell’s bestseller of the same name, there is a point at which an issue (legislation), despite previous resistance, changes; there becomes significant support for or opposition to that which was once thought unchangeable and suddenly it “tips.” There are other examples of tipping points-popularity, elections or public issues.

Criticism of CATS began in 1995 with the publication of the OEA’s report from their national panel of testing experts who identified problems with the assessment, then called KIRIS. Many of those problems could have been anticipated because testing for accountability was in its infancy and Kentucky was at the forefront of attempting such a broad-based test.

Over the years the changes to KIRIS/CATS at best, were band aids and at worst, exacerbated the weaknesses. The needed revisions and updates did not occur because of the prevailing and pervasive belief that changing the assessment somehow undermined school reform.

Now there is the opportunity to create a Kentucky test that reflects the best current thinking in psychometrics, revisit Kentucky’s instructional standards and implement a useful assessment.

Transforming the test to one based on individual student accountability and improvement from year to year reflects the current thinking in assessment and may prove to be a more accurate measurement of a school’s progress.

If significant numbers of students fail to make progress each year, then it is obvious something is wrong. On-demand writing may prove to be less cumbersome and time-consuming than portfolios.

Such a “Value Added” approach will encourage significant focus on what is occurring in the classroom and less on peripheral issues.

A second phenomenon was also present in the history of SB1/HB538 –the “argumentum ad homenum”-loosley translated it means attacking the man, not the argument. It is the lowest form of disputation. However, we have seen years of attacking the messenger rather than focusing on the merits of the message.

Throughout the 2009 session, until its last days, the voices that have been critical of CATS for several years were once again subjected to the attacks on their person. In my mind the low point, was the continued criticism and allegations from some that revising CATS was part of a right-wing attack on education led by those “rascal” Republicans. With the House vote of 93-0 and support from KEA to abolish CATS in its current form and to develop a new assessment, it is ridiculous to continue to pretend that somehow any opposition to testing must be rooted in ideology or political partisanship.

Kentucky has a wonderful opportunity over the next three years to create an assessment that reflects Kentucky’s academic standards. Additionally, it can be an assessment that is a useful diagnostic and instructional tool.

Furthermore, as we move forward to discuss and legislate other important issues, let us remember some of the lessons learned from KIRIS/CATS-that voices of criticism are not necessarily those of opposition but rather of different perspectives. As we undertake the comprehensive KERA review, the focus must be on the merits of the arguments rather than attributing motives and motivation to personalities and politics.

The Governor has created a unique opportunity to bring diverse voices and perspectives to this important discussion so that we can create the best possible education system. It is, hopefully, a new day and an opportunity that cannot be missed or misused.

Bill signals retreat from KERA goals

This from the Messenger-Inquirer:

Fourteen years ago, in early 1995, the mood was celebratory at Cravens Elementary School on Owensboro's west end. The little school that had failed to break 30 on the initial KIRIS accountability tests three years before, a score that reduced teachers to tears, was in line to receive the maximum financial reward for dramatic improvement on the battery of tests.

Cravens' score on the 1991-92 baseline test was 29.5. The next year the school improved to 35.6 on the test. The following year, fourth-graders recorded a score of 52.5, far exceeding the school's goal. Cravens, transformed by the gritty perseverance of its staff, was off and running.

Now we wonder if the days of that kind of success story, and many others like it, are over. While we would never doubt that many of our local educators will teach with every bit as much integrity as before, it's a fact that Kentucky is now in full retreat from the lofty goals set out by KERA in 1990. House and Senate members celebrated in Frankfort last week when the CATS tests were scrapped, and with it public school accountability. What was to have been a review of KERA and CATS, with adjustments being made where necessary, turned into a rout. Senate Bill 1, which Gov. Steve Beshear has indicated he'll sign, passed the Senate 38-0 and the House 93-0.

Just like that, with five years to go for schools to reach the goal of scoring 100 on the CATS test (several schools in this area are already there), the state will devise a new test and a new accountability system. Writing portfolios will no longer be part of the test. The testing period will be shortened. Multiple-choice questions will prevail, and open-response questions, which require students to actually write an answer to questions, will be downplayed. Arts and humanities and vocational studies will no longer be tested.

Schools that were in danger of not making their 2014 accountability goals can look forward to a new accountability system, bailed out, as it were by the legislature's drive to pull back from KERA's tough but fair demands...

...Cravens' faculty dug in deep. Principal Beverly McEnroe said teachers looked at every single thing they did and took everything apart. Every teacher was assigned to a committee to push for improvement in a different part of the Kentucky Education Reform Act. Teachers even started making home visits.

It is not our intention to single out Cravens, except to hold it up as an example of what was and remains possible in public education. Cravens' success was repeated in school after school in this area; it was indicative of what KERA accountability and the mantra that every student can learn and learn at a high level wrought. Better yet, these many years later, the success has continued.

Many of our local and area schools are performing wonderfully. The effort put forth, the expertise gained, the determination demonstrated during nearly two decades of the education reform and accountability movement in Kentucky in so many of our schools has been exemplary and often amazing.

We say this because we are immensely proud of principals, teachers and support personnel and everyone who embraced KERA and its monumental challenges. The good fight was fought, and a generation of students are better for it. In light of what happened last week, we worry about the next generation.

Little Marty Cothran's Magic Dragon

Over at the Prichard Blog, Susan Weston goes all literary on Martin Cothran, spinning a tale of magic elixirs and a dragon that ate teachers, set fire to an entire Kentucky village and lived forever.

By living in the real world, Weston just doesn't see imaginary dragons; but not so little boys. To Cothran, the dragon is real.

In simply doing her best to "build up the public schools of our beloved commonwealth," Weston is totally lacking in an evil enemy to slay.

In Martin’s looking-glass commonwealth, the KERA-dragon cast educational spells far beyond the skills of the left-wing sorcerers of Berkeley, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In our real state, our elected leaders (from places like Richmond, Prestonsburg, Liberty, Burkesville, and Danville) voted in the Kentucky Education Reform Act. KERA delivered stronger and fairer school funding, reduced political corruption, and vastly improved facilities and technology. It nurtured more focused teachers, better instructional leaders, and a big step up in justified pride in public education.

Review KERA, but don't throw it out

This from the Messenger-Inquirer (subscription):

The drive to review the Kentucky Education Reform Act is picking up steam since Gov. Steve Beshear called for a "thorough review" of KERA during his State of the State speech in Frankfort last week.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo called KERA a 20-year plan, and now is the time to see what changes should be made or new initiatives begun.Rep. Brent Yonts, a Greenville Democrat, said the CATS testing program is directing teaching and leaving many students unprepared when leaving school. He said it is hated in this area.

Even Rep. Harry Moberly, the Richmond Democrat who has championed KERA in Kentucky since its inception, agreed that a consensus has formed to take a "fresh look" at KERA, although he said he is hoping reform principles are not abandoned.

And Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, a Louisville Democrat who has resisted frequent Senate attempts to alter or eliminate the CATS tests, now says CATS needs to sunset because it has run it course.

This newspaper has been a staunch support of KERA and the CATS tests. KERA is all about setting high expectations for learning for all students, rigorous accountability and adequate and equitable funding. A year ago, when Senate Bill 1 sought to deep-six CATS in favor of fill-in-the-circle, machine graded standardized tests, we argued that answering a series of multiple-choice questions was far less revealing about a student's knowledge and reasoning ability compared to requiring that student to write an answer.

Moreover, we stressed that learning to be good writers would be wonderfully advantageous for students throughout their lives. We haven't changed our minds about the standards and accountability aspects of education reform.

As for this new push to review KERA, we don't object, but like Moberly we sincerely hope it doesn't turn into a drive to scrap a movement that has moved Kentucky elementary and secondary education farther in two decades than anything before it.

And we definitely do not want reform of reform to derail or make irrelevant the 2014 goals that schools and school districts are pursuing to score 100 on the 140-point CATS tests.

Many schools are already at the proficient level of 100, and many others are closing in. If the main tenants of KERA, including the CATS test, are tossed aside, the efforts of tens of thousands of students and teachers are suddenly not as meaningful.

KERA isn't perfect. It wasn't the day it began in 1990. It has been reviewed and tweaked many times. Whatever is done now should be done without haste and with great care to protect what is good about education reform in Kentucky and with an eye toward making it better.For a poor state like Kentucky, its only real hope rests with a better-educated work force and more dynamic leaders exiting its colleges, universities and technical schools.

Twenty years ago, Kentucky made a bargain with itself to rise from the near-bottom of national education rankings. That has been accomplished, but much more must be done.

Kentucky needs to ask itself if it is still interested in providing its young citizens the best, most rigorous education available.If the answer is yes, then the seemingly irresistible urge to review KERA upon its 20th birthday will be done in an evenhanded way, with the only goal being to improve it.

Clear Thinking from the Daily Independent

This from the Daily Independent:

Revisiting KERA

Changing the 1990 education law

not the same as gutting it

Gov. Steve Beshear is right: After almost 20 years, it is time for a thorough review of the landmark Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990.

But taking another look at the law is not the same as gutting it.

In their rush to change things they don’t like about the law, legislators must be careful not to scrap the many good things KERA has done for public education in Kentucky.While far from being the perfect law, the positives of KERA outweigh the negatives.

KERA needs to be fixed, not abolished.

While his comments about KERA during last week’s State of the Commonwealth address were brief, Beshear’s call for the “thorough review” of the 1990 law have generated much interest from both KERA’s supporters and its opponents. The former see the governor’s comment as an opportunity to improve the law; the
latter see it as a chance to scrap the law.

But the governor has the right idea on KERA when he said, “Let us now bring education, business and legislative leaders to not only check our course and see if any corrective steering is necessary, but just as important to renew and re-energize our commitment to education.”

KERA came about because of a landmark Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional the state’s system of funding public education. The
state’s highest court rightly ruled that education cannot be equal in the state when the amount of money spent per student in poor counties is a fraction of what wealthier counties spend per student. Thus, the justices ruled, those born in poor counties are destined to receiving an education that is inferior to children born in wealthier counties.

However, in response to the ruling, the Kentucky General Assembly went far beyond simply addressing the problem of unequal funding. They used the ruling to revolutionize education in the state.

During its almost 19 years of existence, KERA has not been a stagnant law. It has been adjusted to meet changing needs.

It originally mandated ungraded primary classrooms, with all students in grades one, two and three bunched together. The only real requirement was that they would be ready for the fourth grade after three years.Well, we don’t know of any school in this part of the states that still has ungraded primaries. It was an experiment that didn’t work and was wisely abandoned — or at least made optional instead of mandatory.

Republicans in the state Senate now want to scrap the CATS tests, in favor of standardized multiple choice tests that would be taken in the final week of each school year. At least some senators believe that once the CATS tests have been completed in April, education largely ceases for the year. If that’s true, then that’s a problem with individual teachers and administrators, not CATS.

Just because tests have been completed doesn’t mean learning has to stop. Teachers should fully use every day of instruction. Those who don’t show a lack of commitment to education.

The CATS test is not the first statewide exam of the KERA era. It replaced KIRIS. In fact, Kentucky has been constantly adjusting its tests in an effort to more fairly evaluate what students are learning and to get the results to schools as quickly as possible.

If Senate Bill 1 is approved by the 2009 General Assembly, it will essentially return testing in Kentucky to the pre-KERA days — and that, in our book, would be a giant step backwards.

Remember the “Lake Wobegone Effect”? That was the name critics gave standardized tests where all the children — like those in Garrison Keillor’s fictional Lake Wobegone — were deemed to be “above average.”Standardized tests have the advantage of being easy to grade and of accurately and consistently presenting children’s scores. However, multiple choice tests reward guessing and tell us nothing about whether students can apply their knowledge in practical ways.

That’s what CATS tries to do, and while grading takes longer and is somewhat arbitrary, the results tell us a lot more about what students are actually learning than the standardized tests.

Former Gov. Wallace Wilkinson and legislative leaders actively sought the advice of business executives — including then Ashland Inc. Chairman John Hall — and received their private support of KERA. That same sort of input should be sought this time around. After all, employers should know as well as anyone how well Kentucky’s public schools are preparing young people for the workplace and they have a vested interest in quality schools.

An entire generation of young Kentuckians have been educated under the edicts of KERA. That makes it an ideal time to take a closer look at both the strengths and shortcomings of the law.But it need not be done before the end of this legislative session. Instead, the governor and legislators should create a task force of educators, business leaders and legislators to review the law and recommend changes to be considered by the 2010 General Assembly.

That’s the right approach.

Western's Ransdell Welcomes KERA Review

This from KSBA:

Governor Steve Beshear has

suggested it “is time for a thorough review of the Kentucky Education Reform Act,” and said that next week he will launch a task force on early childhood services to better coordinate and have more consistent services.

“It’s critical that our children enter the K-12 system with minds prepared to work,” Beshear said.

He also wants more dialog between education, business and legislative leaders.

Western Kentucky University President Gary Ransdell was pleased to hear of the interest in reviewing KERA and seeing where improvements can be made.

“We (at universities) are spending a lot of money on developmental education for underprepared students,” Ransdell said. “I just don’t know how much longer we can do that. Our primary focus has to be on capable, prepared students if we are to drive Kentucky’s economy.

“I agree wholeheartedly that public education has to prepare students,” he said. “A university has to focus on ‘higher’ education, and not offering a repetition of what a student should already have when they get to us. And if that is to be done, then we need to partner with community and technical colleges to do most of that remediation.”

Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green, said he was both surprised and pleased with the governor’s line that it was time for a review of KERA.

“Hopefully, we will be able to get something done with changes in the (Kentucky Accountability Testing System) and portfolios, like I have been working on all along,” DeCesare said.

...Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said he’s not sure if the governor plans to form a task force to study KERA or whether he expects changes to be made through legislation already proposed during this session.

“The House will certainly look at those changes,” Richards said. “The main thing is the testing, which is so influenced by whether or not (the federal) No Child Left Behind will be retained. To me, that is a big culprit. (NCLB) doesn’t help the Kentucky educational process – and it really harms it – because it’s another layer of assessment on what we already had.

“There may be a chance that Congress will repeal that, and it would be the best thing that could happen to us.” ...

KERA reform gains momentum

This from H-L:

FRANKFORT — A major revision of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act that could overhaul both curriculum standards and student testing is gaining bipartisan momentum, key lawmakers say.

"I think there is consensus that we should take a fresh look," said Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, a staunch supporter of the KERA reforms. "But I'm hoping we can make sure we don't abandon any of our reform principles."

Senate Republicans have offered several pieces of legislation addressing both the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System — the state's main assessment of school performance — and curriculum.

On Tuesday the Senate unanimously approved a measure that directs the Kentucky Department of Education to make mathematics standards more rigorous. And Thursday, legislation that would drastically revamp the CATS test had its first vetting of 2009 in a committee.

Instead of being met with fervent opposition from certain Democrats who have balked at working over the CATS test in the past, a willingness to compromise emerged.

"I think there's consensus that CATS needs to be sunset. It has run its course," Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, D-Louisville, told the Senate Education Committee.

It was the first time Shaughnessy has said so....

Did Williams Signal Footdragging Strategy?

This from H-L:

Williams calls for school changes
Wants to dump CATS, change math teaching

FRANKFORT — As Kentucky lawmakers return to Frankfort at noon Tuesday facing state budget woes, Senate President David Williams is calling for cost-saving measures before raising taxes.

Williams, R-Burkesville, said Monday that the state should consider changing how math is taught in public schools and scrapping the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System

He said the changes could save millions of dollars...

...Advocates of ending CATS say it does not adequately track individual student programs and that it has not prepared Kentucky students for higher studies or to compete with peers from other states.

The 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act, or KERA, established much of the testing system.

Bob Sexton, executive director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, said elimination of CATS "isn't a prudent step."

Millions of federal dollars to the state could be at risk if Kentucky abolishes the testing system, he said.

Asked whether eliminating CATS would save money this fiscal year, Williams said the Senate wants to consider the entire two-year budget.

He said the Senate wants to work with the governor but it is "not going to be rushed into anything." ...

CATS and KERA

This from C-J:

Ho, hum. Another year, another set of ambiguous results from CATS, the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System.

CATS is the battery of tests, given starting in the third grade, to gauge student performance in seven subject areas -- reading, math, science, social studies, writing, arts and humanities and practical living/vocation studies. Since schools are the units of accountability in Kentucky, they are judged on the progress they make (or lack of progress) toward reaching proficiency for all their students.

Recent changes necessitated by the lamentable federal No Child Left Behind law have clouded public understanding of the progress made since the state's own accountability system was put in place, with passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990. The short version of the truth is that there's been enormous progress, but not enough. Many schools have been meeting or even surpassing their goals, but not enough.

As we come ever nearer 2014, when all schools are supposed to score at least 100 on CATS tests, it becomes more and more obvious that we won't reach that goal. The question is, what do we do about that? Scrap KERA altogether? Abandon CATS in favor of a narrow, less demanding, nationally normed test?

A review of KERA is in order. Any such reform effort can be improved, based on 15 years of experience.

What is not advisable -- indeed, what would be tragic -- is replacing CATS with testing that effectively narrows the curriculum now being pushed in the classroom and de-emphasizes both (a) the building of critical thinking skills and (b) the development of writing skills.

The original opponents of KERA -- especially those whose unspoken and unadmitted agenda is the undermining of public education, in favor of private schools supported with taxpayer-financed vouchers -- believe their time has come. They will try to turn a sensible 15-year review into proof that they were right all along -- into evidence that they were right to oppose Kentucky's historic, pioneering effort at school uplift and rigorous accountability.

There's no honest way to torture the actual KERA experience into a story of failure. In truth, the reform set Kentucky on the path toward a deeper, broader educational experience for its children.

Now is not the time to move in the other direction.

Engaged citizens make a difference

This from David Jones in the Courier-Journal:

The Prichard Committee at 25

This year marks an important milestone in Kentucky's struggle to create world-class schools -- one that reminds me of the critical role that engaged citizens must play if our state is to move forward.

Twenty-five years ago, a group of concerned business leaders, parents and advocates came together to form the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. Their purpose was to wage a war for the improvement of an educational system that had languished for years in the nation's cellar.

First, here's a snapshot of the reality of the early 1980s. Kentucky's failing education system was ensuring a future of poverty, unemployment and low achievement for many children. Frustrated parents battled political power structures that ran the schools in many communities. State leaders were unwilling or unable to make any improvements, particularly those that cost more tax dollars. Compared to the nation, we were 46th in per pupil spending; we were equally behind in most other measures of educational accomplishment.

Just at the same time, however, the nation was becoming more aware of the relationship between education and a strong economic future. Kentucky's Council on Higher Education created a commission to make recommendations for the future of higher education in the state. The commission's report was widely praised by business leaders, educators and the media, but also widely ignored by elected leaders.

This prompted the members of the group, in 1983, to reorganize themselves as an independent, nonpartisan citizens committee that assumed the name of its first chairman, attorney Edward F. Prichard Jr.. The group decided to focus on improving elementary and secondary education for all Kentuckians, and to encourage other concerned citizens to voice their hopes for first rate public education.

The nonpartisan, independent nature of the committee remains unchanged today. Fortunately, however, other aspects of Kentucky education have changed -- and largely for the better.

The landmark state Supreme Court ruling in 1989 and the subsequent passage in 1990 of the Kentucky Education Reform Act are considered among the most significant events in the history of our state and its schools. But there have been many opportunities for KERA's changes to run into a ditch. It has been the tenacious, focused efforts of committed Kentuckians -- particularly the hundreds who have volunteered their time with the Prichard Committee -- that have kept school improvement on course.

That course has moved Kentucky up from the cellar and is pointing us toward the higher echelons of the nation. In just one generation, the state has moved from a 43rd place ranking among the 50 states to 34th on an index of indicators developed by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center. The index shows that national test scores, dropout rates and the number of high school and college graduates show improvement across the board.

In addition, state tests of student achievement are up for every group of students in every subject. College enrollment has increased dramatically, and thousands more 3- and 4-year-old children have access to preschool.

Kentucky is, at long last and after much hard work, moving steadily in the right direction.

Yes, much remains to be done. The work will continue to demand the time and attention of dedicated Kentuckians who refuse to accept the status quo of mediocrity and worse -- an apt description of the members of the Prichard Committee.

I hope all Kentuckians will join me in commending and congratulating the committee on its 25th anniversary and in supporting its continuing campaign to ensure another 25 years of progress for Kentucky's schools.

Stumbo wants Kentucky Education Reform Act studied

This from Big Sandy News by way of KSBA:

PRESTONSBURG — State Rep. Greg Stumbo said Wednesday that he would ask that Kentucky's Education Reform Act be graded and hinted that he might seek higher office.

During a ceremony at Floyd County schools central office, Stumbo and state Sen. Johnny Ray Turner, D-Drift, were given plaques of appreciation for funding secured for the district during this year's legislative session.Floyd County schools will receive $400,000 from coal severance funds in the next two years, which can be used for academic and athletic activities.

During his remarks to school officials, Stumbo said he intends to ask Gov Steve Beshear to appoint a state task force to look at the education reform act, which will be 20 years old next year.

"In the education reform act in 1989, we looked at education from top to bottom to give equity and education to every child," Stumbo said. "I'm going to ask the governor to do the same thing….Let's give KERA a grade. It's not a perfect program…Let's give it the look it deserves. I think we'll find, by and large, that rural districts like ours have benefited. "Let's take a look at the shortfalls of KERA," Stumbo said. "I think we'll find the legislature did not live up to its obligation to fund KERA."

After receiving his plaque from the district, Stumbo said he now has a "small" office in Frankfort but added that maybe he will have a "bigger room later on."Stumbo's statement prompted long-time Floyd County educator Pete Grigsby Jr. to shout, "Governor?" and the lawmaker only grinned but did not elaborate on his comments...

...Stumbo also said in his remarks to the group that Kentucky's tax system is "antiquated" and that companies receiving tax breaks 20 years ago are still getting them."They might have needed them then, but they don't need them now after being in business for 20 years," Stumbo said. "We need to look at our revenue streams. I'm not for raising people's taxes. Taxes should be two things: understandable and fair."

The representative said that it wasn't fair that some farmers in the state receive tax breaks from the state when "coal miners don't."Floyd County superintendent Henry Webb thanked the lawmakers for their efforts and funds for the school system and that it will help the children and their parents during the current financial "tough times."Webb said he is already receiving calls throughout the district about projected "shortfalls in finances" and that the state monies should help ease some of those conditions...

Beshear Comes Out Against CATS Overhaul

This from KyPost.com:

Gov. Steve Beshear Gov. Steve Beshear today came out strongly against a proposal led by Senate President David Williams to overhaul Kentucky's CATS testing program.


The governor said the proposal has multiple flaws, and called on lawmakers to reject it."Although we've made measurable progress in student achievement over the last decade and a half, public education in Kentucky is not yet where it needs to be,'' Beshear said in a statement released Wednesday. "This bill will not help us get there,'' he asserted.

Williams and other proponents of the overhaul say the existing CATS program is too subjective, takes too much time to administer and gives parents and
educators too little in the way of useful information about how students are progressing relative to their peers across the country. The bill's sponsors asserted - and an initial analysis by the Kentucky Department of Education confirmed - that their proposal to eliminate certain categories from the test and drop the written portions of the CATS tests in favor of a nationally-normed, multiple choice series of assessments would cut testing time in half and save the state at least $6 million annually.

Beshear, however, called CATS the "heart'' of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act, which said has helped bring students in the commonwealth to the middle of the pack nationally in terms of achievement.

He said in a statement that he doesn't regard either KERA or CATS as "sacred cows,'' and noted that the testing program has been through "at least a dozen major alterations in the last five years alone.''

The first-term Democratic governor criticized the Williams bill, Senate Bill 1, for not giving the most recent change to the CATS regime, made two years ago, "an opportunity to prove its worth yet.''

Beshear also said SB1 has not yet undergone a rigorous public analysis, but asserted that such a review would reveal multiple flaws. In his view, they include:

* Abandonment of the priniciple inherent in KERA that all students can and should become proficient. By their very nature, he noted, nationally normed tests rank students along an achievement curve.

* Eliminating test questions that require students to explain what they know.

* Jeoparding Kentucky's compliance with federal No Child Left Behind Act. (SB1 proponents have noted, however, that many states with nationally normed multiple choice assessment programs comply with the federal law, which is currently up for reauthorization by Congress.)

* Ignoring the professional judgement of Kentucky educators who developed the CATS testing system.

Beshear's release quoted Kentucky Education Secretary Helen Mountjoy as joining him in opposition to SB1.

"Although we have not moved as fast or as far as we would have liked, the fault does not lie with CATS,'' she stated in the release. "It gives us a valid and reliable assessment of where students are today.''

Meanwhile, Kentucky Education Commissioner Jon Draud was quoted in published reports as expressing an interest in convening a blue ribbon task force to investigate changes in Kentucky's student testing system.

Overhauling Education Reform in Kentucky

This from Pat Crowley at the Cincinnati Enquirer:

School reform on tap

Draud plans task force

on overhaul of testing

FRANKFORT - Kentucky Education Commissioner Jon Draud said Tuesday that he plans to form a task force to study overhauling public school testing and might expand the effort to include the state's landmark education reform act.

Draud, a former state lawmaker from Edgewood, made the comments after appearing before the Senate Education Committee. The panel is considering but failed to act on legislation that would replace the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, or CATS, the testing component of the 18-year-old Kentucky Education Reform Act known as KERA.

Draud said it appears that the bill is stalled and will not come up for a vote because of strong disagreements among committee members.

"The plans are for the Kentucky Department of Education to create a task force to look at all the issues with assessment and accountability, and maybe look at the total issue of school reform," Draud said.

"It's obvious with Senate Bill 1 that there is still a lot of disagreement among Republicans and Democrats on the assessment and accountability, and there is a lot of disagreement in the field with teachers and administrators that aren't comfortable with certain parts of our CATS system," he said.

Draud said his goal is to "look at those issues and get the interested parties involved." "Teachers, administrators, key legislators, people like that," he said.

"We don't want to have any new assessment system without having, particularly, teachers and administrators involved in the process."

Draud said he will likely form the task force "after the General Assembly gets out of town" in mid-April. The panel would study the testing system and make recommendations to legislators and the Department of Education. It could also take a look at potential changes to KERA, which was last changed in 1997.

"I think something needs to be done," Draud said, adding that many educators are unhappy with the writing portfolios that are part of the reform package.

But, knowing how Frankfort operates from his decade as a legislator, Draud also realizes that winning support in the legislature for change will be difficult.

"We still don't have consensus from Republicans and Democrats on a lot of issues," he said. "I tried to point out (to the Senate Education Committee) that this should be a nonpartisan issue, trying to move education forward in this state.

"If there isn't common ground," Draud warned, "it is going to be detrimental to the state. That's the reason to create this task force; to try to find that common ground."

And from Raviya Ismail at the Herald-Leader:

Testy exchange marks hearing on CATS change

FRANKFORT --Sen. David Williams, R-Burkesville, admonished the state secretary
of education Tuesday for telling a committee that she would come to testify about important legislation only if invited to do so.

Then, Williams apparently tried to pick a fight.

"I respect the prerogative of this body to set its own agenda and to invite the people that it would care to have participate in the process," Mountjoy began. She said she has spoken before the legislature for 15 years "and I don't think I've ever come without a specific invitation to present to you."

Williams interrupted the testimony: "Are you taking a slam at the committee?"

Huh?

Gutting KERA

This from the Ashland Daily Independent:

Senate Bill 1 would abandon the high standards

of 1990 law

Make no mistake about it: Senate Bill 1 would be a major retreat from the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990.

The bill would abandon two of KERA’s greatest strengths: Its insistence on holding schools and teachers accountable for how well their students perform on tests, and its demand that students not only prove that they can recite certain facts but also can apply that knowledge in practical ways.

The bill co-sponsored by Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, Senate Majority Leader Dan Kelly, R- Springfield, and others would replace the high standards and demanding tests of KERA with national standardized, multiple choice tests that were the norm in the days before KERA.

Unlike the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System — CATS — those standardized tests tell us little about whether students can apply their knowledge and absolutely nothing about their ability to write. But CATS and portfolio writing would be scrapped by Senate Bill 1.

Senate President David Williams said his bill would eliminate arts and humanities testing, open response questions and scoring of student portfolios as part of the accountability testing. But one of the greatest strengths of KERA is that is demands that students display knowledge in a wide-variety of subject areas.

In contrast, the federal No Child Left Behind Act tests students only in reading and math. No Child Left Behind may have helped schools improve in other states, but not in Kentucky, which was already holding schools more accountable than the federal law does.

Senator Kelly — who opposed KERA when it was first enacted and has repeatedly tried to gut the law — says Senate Bill 1 will save the state money now spent on grading CATS. He’s right. It takes time and knowledgeable people to fairly grade the essay and open-ended questions on CATS and to evaluate the portfolios, while a computer can grade the multiple choice answers on standardized tests in a matter of minutes. The answers are either right or wrong; there is no gray area.

Senate Minority Leader Ed Worley, D-Richmond, complains that under KERA “teachers are encouraged to teach the test, as opposed to teaching the kids.” So what? If the tests fairly measure the skills that we want students to acquire, should not teachers be teaching those skills as opposed to something else?

Senator Williams’ sponsorship of this bill — and the high priority the Republican majority has given it by designating it as Senate Bill 1 — is particularly disappointing. As a senator who had no leadership position in 1990, Williams courageously opposed the Republican leadership by voting for KERA. For that vote, he earned the wrath of his GOP colleagues. It took a few years for him to emerge from political exile and rise to become the most influential Republican in Frankfort. Now he is trying to use that power to gut the bill he boldly supported.

Sen. Charlie Borders, R-Grayson, also has been a strong supporter of KERA. Will he now join his GOP colleagues in attempting to weaken the bill? To his credit, he has at least not signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill.

There is another former Republican legislator who should buck the GOP leadership in the Senate by opposing Senate Bill 1: Education Commissioner Jon Draud.

In the final weeks of Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s term, Draud, the former superintendent of the tiny Ludlow School District, resigned from his seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives to become the state’s top educator. At the time, Draud’s supporters insisted he was a educator, not a politician. He now can prove that by opposing this GOP attack on KERA. If he fails to do so, Draud will prove he is more loyal to the Republican Party than he is to quality schools in Kentucky.

Sure, we know that KERA is not perfect and neither is CATS. But since its enactment, the law has undergone constant change and so has the way students are
tested. That was to be expected. Kentucky was breaking new ground by enacting a law that moved away from standardized testing. The development of CATS has been an 18-year work in progress. Kentucky public schools have improved in the last 18 years, mainly because KERA has demanded constant improvement.

Public education in this state still is not where it needs to be, but it is no time to abandon the high standards and accountability of KERA.

C-J attacks Senate Bill 1

This from the Courier-Journal:

Education reform attacked

It has been state Senate Majority Leader Dan Kelly's long-term mission to sabotage the nationally praised education reform program that emerged from the 1990 General Assembly and remains one of the state legislature's historic achievements.

The last great assault came in 1998, and it was beaten back only with furious counterattack and a few tactical concessions.

This year Mr. Kelly is joined by Senate President David Williams in attempting to blunt the thrust of the Kentucky Education Reform Act, by passing Senate Bill 1.

It is difficult to overstate the damage this bill would inflict. Most important, it would undo the accountability that's based on the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System. CATS would be replaced with national tests that are not based on the Kentucky curriculum, would not test higher learning skills, would defy the KERA precept that every student can become proficient and would place Kentucky athwart the No Child Left Behind Act.

Most devastating would be the effective removal of portfolios from the accountability system, because writing is the capstone skill with which students demonstrate their ability to gather, interpret and communicate information and ideas. To ensure that writing gets less emphasis in classrooms across Kentucky would be a real travesty...

...Some of those appearing to join the Kelly-Williams attack should remember that there are political consequences, because many Kentuckians are proud of KERA's successes, and proud of the progress Kentucky students have made. Voters will take note of those like Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, D-Louisville, who embolden the anti-KERA offensive by insisting "there's nothing wrong with revisiting, revising and updating the accountability system." Shame on Mr. Shaughnessy. He knows full well the intent is to subvert.

Education Commissioner Jon Draud can't let SB 1 go unchallenged. Mr. Draud's defenders, at the time of his controversial rushed appointment, said he is a school man, first and foremost. If so, he can't sit on his hands now. A shroud of neutrality won't cover his culpability if he refuses to stand up to SB 1. He's a former superintendent. He knows it was wrong, as Marion County Superintendent Roger Marcum points out, to push "a major change in where we're going without consulting educators."

Sen. Williams, presumably with a straight face, calls the proposed SB1 sabotage of KERA a "natural progression." That must mean be thinks all good things must come to an end.