The Office of Education Accountability, a Brief History

...wherein Bill Ellis and I are

taken to the woodshed

by our buddy

for forgetting her,

and her agency.

Oops.

Guilty.

By Penney Sanders

I am delighted that Dr. Bill Ellis has undertaken the task of writing
a history of education in KY. There is much to note, remember and
hopefully, learn from.

However, my invitation to the History of KY Education symposium
based on his new book was somehow lost in the mail. So too, is there
no mention made of the Office of Education Accountability anywhere
in this history, not even in the appendix.

Since the OEA is not represented at the conference, I will tell the story
of the agency, albeit briefly.

The Office of Education Accountability is a child of KERA. Its creation
was both forward-thinking and controversial. The agency was
conceived as an enforcement agency within the legislative branch
which made it immediately unique and provocative. Remember,
the legislative branch simply writes legislation; it is the executive
branch that enforces the law. However, the OEA was the legislature’s
collective statement that this time they were serious about changing
KY education.

The genesis for an accountability agency arose from KY’s history
of systemic corruption and operational mismanagement in school
districts. Many school systems were more like feudal fiefdoms.
Misappropriation of funds, failure to provide adequate resources,
rampant nepotism and decrepit buildings were the order of the day in
many places (and these abuses weren’t solely in eastern KY). Politics,
not teaching, was the norm. Some school districts looked more
like “mom and pop” stores rather than centers of education: dad was
the superintendent, mom and daughters were teachers, the sons held
various administrative positions, cousins manned the bus barns and
there was always a place for the aunts and uncles in central office.

Judge Bert Combs and Chief Justice Bob Stephens, whom I refer to
as the godfathers of reform, were determined to have both equitable
funding for schools and quality instruction. Judge Combs, as a son
of the Eastern KY hills, was particularly adamant that the historic
corruption in schools would once and for all be dealt with.

The OEA, as codified in Chapter 7 of the KY Revised Statutes, is
housed in the Legislative Research Commission (LRC). KRS 7.410(4)
reads in part” The Office of Education Accountability…Investigate
allegations… of waste, duplication, mismanagement, political
influence and illegal activity at the state, regional or school district
The Agency, in its early years conducted investigations in numerous
school districts. In its first two years of operation at least three
superintendents and numerous school board members were brought
before the State Board of Education and removed from office based on
the investigations conducted by the OEA.

The message was clear, not only was there to be programmatic
reform but mismanagement, corruption and nepotism were to be a
thing of the past. There was a method of accountability; there were
consequences for the failure to act appropriately.

The first members of the investigative division were retired FBI agents
who obviously knew a thing or two about conducting investigations.
The first general counsel for the agency was a criminal attorney.
The OEA was also responsible for preparing an annual evaluation of
the program components of the Reform Act. That reporting obligation
continues today. In the early years, the annual report was the only
assessment of the programmatic impact of KERA. In fact, much of the
benchmark performance data was collected by the OEA.

Accountability was a fundamental component of the KY Education
Reform Act. Today, the term is used largely to describe assessment
and holding schools responsible for improving student performance.
However, in the first days of reform, KY sought to be accountable in all
aspects of school operations. The historic Education Reform Act was
designed to shake up the system and it did indeed. At its inception
KERA was opposed by nearly all in the educational establishment:
teachers, principals, superintendents and school board members.
Those were tumultuous times.

Other states have Accountability Offices or Inspectors General,
usually housed in the Department of Education. However, to my
knowledge, no state has created an agency with the spectrum of
authority that KY’s OEA has. It still stands as a most unusual creation
of the legislature.

The OEA mandate remains the same, to ensure that the children of the
Commonwealth receive an equitable, quality education. The Agency
continues to deal with abuses of the system in its many forms.

_____________________________________________________
I hope Dr. Ellis will include a brief passage about the OEA and its
contributions to school reform in the second edition. As one of Bill’s
students from his early days as a US History teacher at Harrodsburg
High School, perhaps I will be inspired to write the full history of the
Office of Education Accountability. If I don’t, a lot of great stories will
go the grave with me.

Monday Musings

By Penney Sanders

I cannot remember a time when both Fayette and Jefferson County School Districts had superintendent openings at the same time. It portends a unique opportunity for Kentucky.

Let’s start with Louisville/JCPS. Could the situation have become more ludicrous - and more importantly, is it salvageable????

A bit of history. When Dr. Berman was hired 4 years ago, he was the “last man” standing candidate. The other two finalists dropped out and rather than reopen the search, for whatever reason, the JCPS Board chose to hire Berman.

Furthermore, Berman came from a small district in New England. He had no experience with the immense infrastructure that constitutes JCPS and was a novice at Kentucky hardball school politics. He was behind before he began. (So, how/ why did the headhunters put him on the list for Louisville??)

In a part of organizational analysis called, succession theory, Berman was an outside-outsider. Furthermore, his predecessor (Daeschner) had been in the position for 14 years. Succession theory and common sense indicate that Berman was not destined to stay long in the position: too many accumulated problems and too many people in place who could not be removed or motivated to change.

Couple the bussing morass with the announcement that JCPS had 12 high schools on the state’s lowest performing list (6 per yr. for 2 years =12), it should come as no surprise that Berman’s contract was not renewed. Based on the performance of the schools and the lack of overall progress in the district, the Board took appropriate action to not renew.

Urban superintendents have a short life-span under the best of circumstances. In this case, the circumstances were full of conflict. Berman had been selected by default and his Board flipped on him. It was a bad fit that only got worse. The only logical outcome was don’t renew and move on - It is happening all over the country.

Therefore, I do not understand why there has been such weeping and wailing from the Courier Journal about Berman’s departure. A 5-2 vote to not renew is compelling. Even if the Board had changed its vote in public, in private, Berman would have lacked the support and confidence of the Board. That, as we all know, is a killer for a superintendent.

Now, the Board has an opportunity to get it right. They must conduct a search that will yield them a strong group of candidates. Additionally, they should not rush to hire someone. In fact, an interim superintendent may be a good idea for the district at this time.

An interim, no doubt someone from within, could, with the full support of the Board, do much of the necessary program and personnel adjustments - i.e. clean house and continue instituting the changes necessary to get the poor performing high schools back on track.

This is a strategy that is often employed in the private sector-the transitional person does the dirty work and the new person arrives with the opportunity to install his/her personnel and programs. The messy stuff is over and done with.

Regardless, the JCPS Board must be committed to improved schools for ALL students. This continued whining that because students are poor or from disengaged families simply cannot be allowed to continue as the excuses for poor school performance. There are too many urban districts in this country that are demonstrating positive student achievement to allow JCPS to continue this category of caterwauling.

Finally, the Board must realize that it is the assessment of student performance which is the basis for the way we judge schools in Kentucky and in the US. The presentations at the recent League of Women Voters Forum that sought to deemphasize assessment were at best disingenuous if not delusional.

Kentucky was first on board to adopt the Common Core Standards and will, I assume, quickly adopt the assessments that will accompany those standards. The result will be higher standards and much more rigorous measurements/assessments. Competition will be more intense and the stakes for Kentucky students will be higher. JCPS must be ready.

This is a critical juncture in the history of JCPS. With 12 high schools on the state’s low performing list and concerns about student performance overall, the Board must select and SUPPORT a strong, instructionally-focused candidate who has a history of turning schools around and who will be committed to the tough work of transforming low performing, low expectation schools into schools of excellence based on successful student outcomes. Think: Michelle Rhee or Arne Duncan.

The Board must share with the candidates the problems the district faces. NOTHING can be sugar-coated; all the uglies out in the open. A new superintendent must understand the issues related to the failure to intervene in low performing schools until they were hemorrhaging, the frustration with bussing and the need to adopt a “no more excuses” approach to instruction.
It will be a difficult position but there are men and women in schools and districts throughout the country who could lead a JCPS turnaround. The trick will be to identify them; these types of “in the trenches” leaders are not often in the stable of the hired headhunters. The Board may have to do some serious searching on their own. In fact, to do less and not hire the best, subjects the Louisville community to more failing schools. That is not an option.

The Rest of Kentucky's Story

Life has tossed me several curveballs during the last three months. As a result, I have not been as attentive to my KSN&C musings. My new year’s resolution is to remedy that by writing more.

So blog readers, I wish you a Happy New Year and hopefully I can provide you some thought-provoking commentary.

The “Rest of the Story”

By Penney Sanders

I was always fascinated by the late Paul Harvey’s legendary radio program which provided the story behind the story to news headlines.

As a result, I have looked for what is happening behind the scenes in education to determine what may happen next-reading the tea leaves, so to speak. The tea leaves have been most interesting recently.

It will come as no surprise that I am a fan of Michelle Rhee, the recently deposed chancellor of the DC school system. The headline story was that she resigned prior to a new mayor being elected in Washington. The focus was on how controversial she was in her efforts to reform one of the lowest performing urban school districts in the country.

Rhee showed extraordinary vision and courage in her effort to advocate for the many poorly served students in DC. She exemplified the “no sacred cows” approach to changing schools. It was to be expected that she would run afoul of the educational establishment when she made administrative changes and sought to modify teacher contracts so that poor performing teachers could be more easily dismissed.

She was amazingly determined with a spine of steel. Her efforts produced positive change for children but it certainly irritated a lot of people.

Therefore, her leaving came as no surprise. But where did she go. Ah, that is the rest of the story.

Dr. Rhee has started her own foundation/advocacy group called “Students First”. In that role she intends to continue her work to change poor performing schools with a focus on student outcomes. Additionally, she has joined Florida’s governor-elect Rick Scott as a member of his transition team. In that role, she will help him develop education policy.

Florida’s two previous governors were committed to education transformation: Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist. It is good to see that Rick Scott will continue that strong commitment to educational improvement. Certainly, including Rhee on his transition team indicates he will continue a reform agenda, if not expand it.

This story would be interesting just by itself. However, buried in the education news was the announcement of a new group called “Chiefs for Change.” Five state chiefs: Tony Bennett/ Indiana, Debra Gist/ Rhode Island, Paul Pastorek /Louisiana, Gerard Robinson/Virginia and Eric Smith/Florida.

In the press release, the five indicated they will still work with the education establishment Chief State School Officers Organization(CCSO) on important policy issues, but will “push a subset of policies through the separate group”(Ed Week 12/8/10).

What does this “Gang of 5” bring to the education discussion? Each of these chiefs has exhibited the kind of thinking and leadership that Rhee demonstrated in DC. They are not establishment types. Their focus is on improving student achievement not on maintaining the status quo.

Pastorek is particularly notable because of his work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. As spokesperson for the group, he stated that Chiefs for Change seeks to “set ourselves apart and pursue a more aggressive path toward success…at the top of their agenda: value added evaluations for teachers and principals, more rigorous accountability systems based not on inputs but results; raising academic standards, and expanding school choice.”(Ed Week12/8/10).

Chiefs for Change will be based in the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a group headed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Do you see a convergence here??? No screaming headlines, just several scattered news stories about an exciting and energized effort around school reform.

These players are poised to dramatically influence public policy on education over the next several years. Each of these six education leaders has battled the “establishment” in their states and now they seek to influence the national agenda.

Overlaying Rhee’s Student First initiative with Chiefs for Change and the announced agenda of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, you can see similar themes which have to do with increased accountability, measureable yearly progress and alternatives for children in failing schools.

As the Kentucky General Assembly begins its deliberations this session, it will be interesting to see how KY’s education policy aligns with the above identified aggressive, student success agenda. What will be the “rest of the KY Education Reform story”?

What we have learned, what we can learn-hopefully

By Penney Sanders

Let us all take a very deep breath and use Kentucky’s failure to win the Race-to-the-Top funds as a lesson for our future education politics and policies.

What have we learned is that ignoring the hand writing on the wall as to what needs to be in a proposal is probably a bad idea. The Obama administration has been abundantly clear that “School Turnaround” is priority. Regrettably, Kentucky lacked an effective plan for turning low performing schools. Interestingly, the state has spent millions of dollars on school improvement. However, the persistent low performers remain because the interventions were ineffective.

Looking at the “winning” states, one can identify a common pattern of using dramatic, high accountability interventions for turn around. While such programs have been highly controversial, notably Washington, DC and New York City, the districts are beginning to achieve results.

In several of the successful states, their assessment/accountability programs are particularly effective. The hall marks of these programs include comprehensive and integrated instructional, assessment and accountailibility programs. In other words what is taught is measured and the schools are held accountable for student results.

Going forward, Kentucky should look at these successful states for guidance as we develop a new assessment program through SB1. Tennessee, Florida and Georgia have implemented comprehensive programs in the last several years. Furthermore, these states have identified a number of “school turn around” strategies for their lowest performing schools.

Kentucky policy makers need to decide how they will incorporate longitudinal analysis into the assessment system. One of the most significant measures of student achievement is to measure student gain every year. It is not unreasonable to expect that every student will make some academic gain every year.

Since Kentucky has been one of the first states to adopt the Core Standards with many others on board, there should be sufficient support for Kentucky’s effort to craft assessments that measure the attainment of these common standards.

No discussion of Kentucky’s RTTT effort would be complete without noting the omission of Charter Schools. In my mind, there is really nothing to discuss. Absent charter school inclusion, Kentucky lost 32 points on the submitted proposal. This is the second time we have been removed from contention because we do not have viable alternatives for students to leave persistently low performing schools.

The excuses for continuing Kentucky’s no charter school policy ring hollow now. School-based Decision Making is not a charter school. In fact SBDM has failed to live up to its full potential for improving schools (more about that in a later blog).

In this RTTT competition, the winning states have charter programs. Progressive communities like Jacksonville and Nashville have embraced charters as one of several alternatives for those students assigned to persistently failing schools. We continue to deny charters at our own peril.

Kentucky has failed to finish “in the money” in a national competition. Instead of excuses, we should be critically analyzing our shortcomings.

This should be a period of rigorous examination of our K-12 educational system. We did it in 1990 and as a result, for a period of time, stood as a leader in educational reform. It is apparent we are no longer at the forefront. We should recognize and accept the challenges of restructuring our educational system so that it better reflects the current best practices and anticipates future developments. It is incumbent that our leaders develop the political courage and conviction that it will take to make the changes to SB1 and to enact other legislation necessary to ensure a quality education for all our children.

We should be embarrassed by a last place finish, candidly examine the reasons why and vow that we will not let this happen again.

Charter Schools for Freedom and Liberty

Lurking in the back of the Capital Annex hearing room yesterday was David Adams, Campaign Manager for a Tea Party gubernatorial candidate who tea partiers don't even know - Phil Moffett. Moffett, like Adams, was associated with the Bluegrass Institute and apparently favors giving public dollars to private groups under the guise of school choice. It was Moffett who funded Rep Brad Montell's legislative field trip to an Indianapolis charter shcool in April.

Adams sat in for about a half an hour during the Joint Interim Committee on Education.

Adams, Waters, Moffett and their co-conspirators at the Bluegrass Institute love freedom and liberty. They want to be free to take liberties with public dollars. They prefer vouchers. But they'll settle for charter schools, for now.

You may recall Adams was recently the Campaign Manager for the Rand Paul campaign - which I believe it is safe to say is THE most prominent senatorial race in the nation. Adams deserves credit for Paul's very successful primary campaign. But much of the attention on Paul is also owed to the rise of the Tea Party movement and Paul's father Ron, who was once a presidential candidate.

Paul has also helped himself garner press by sharing several thoughts out loud that he had to immediately retract, or at least try to explain away. Much of the campaign so far has involved Paul making statements and his opponent Attorney General Jack Conway saying "no take backs." Last time I looked, Paul was up by 8 in some poll.

Immediately following one such gaff - when Adams allowed Paul to do the Rachel Maddow Show - Adams was "promoted" to Campaign Chairman, where he was clearly no longer in charge.

Adams was since demoted, one supposes, to Campaign Manager for Moffett. In any case, it was good to see him on the education beat yesterday. He always makes for good copy.

Other reflections on yesterday's meeting:

It was delightful to see KASA's Wayne Young, as always. And he was extra gracious when he introduced me to Robert Lewis. He didn't call me an agitator, or claim that all college professors do is invite practitioners to teach their classes, or anything.

I wonder how big the number is. How many comittee meetings/hearings/seminars/etc... has Cindy Heine sat through in the past twenty years? Three meetings a week? Five? More? I'm tthinkin' thousands. ...and that's a lot of briefings.

I introduced myself to CHNI's Ronnie Ellis, and sat next to him and Greg Stotlmyer in the press section. I told Ellis I appreciated his work on Comment on Kentucky and am a regular reader of his work. Later, I overheard a brief exchange between him and Jim Waters of the Bluegrass Institute. Apparently Waters was trying to tell Ellis what to write when Ellis responded, "I'm not going to debate with you guys."

But you've got to give it to the BIPPS boys. Despite being called ideologs by one legislator, they keep on plugging away. What a great country.

In his comments to the panel, Rev Stephenson said he would be calling on a higher authority for his remarks. So it was particularly gratifying that he chose to quote extensively from Kentucky School News and Commentary's Penney Sanders. In her article, "Unfinished Business," Penney writes,

A cursory analysis of the 2008 -2009 list of low performing school reveals that the majority of the seriously low performing schools (Tier 5) are in Jefferson County. The remaining schools on this list are scattered around the state with no region dominating...

After 20 years, if the full promise of the Kentucky’s school reform is to be met, these failing (seriously low performing) schools must, once and for all be dealt with...

Interestingly, KERA envisioned such provisions. The KERA framers believed that schools, after 3 or 4 years of poor performance, would be closed or the children given the option to go elsewhere. Sadly, we have not seen those sanctions-the ultimate hammers ever used.

The question is WHY NOT???

I'm going to have to start treating Penney with more respect...so I don't get struck by lightening.

For the Right Reasons

By Penney Sanders

Having been on the road for several weeks (unfortunately I don’t have pictures), I am just catching up with happenings in KY.

The news regarding Kentucky’s Race to the Top (RTTT) effort was not a surprise.

While Kentucky has made significant strides in education, other states have also made dramatic changes. Therefore, in a national competition, Kentucky is not a quaranteed winner.

While Kentucky did well in several categories, receiving a “0” in a category in such a high stakes completion proved deadly. As Kentucky prepares for the second round that will include more states and more competition, a serious review of the proposal’s shortcomings must be undertaken.

The obvious omission was Kentucky’s lack of charter schools. Going into the competition, many knowledgeable insiders, including Commissioner Holliday, knew that the lack of charters could be a problem. It is, was, and will continue to be one.

Now charters are back in the political meat grinder (the Kentucky legislature). Even Governor Beshear has weighed in. Regrettably, we are discussing charters for all the wrong reasons.

Creating charter schools should not be about competing for Phase 2 of Race to the Top funds, it should be about creating real options for students in low performing schools

Over 40 states have charter legislation. In each state, charters were created to offer alternatives to children relegated to failing schools. Currently four or five more states are discussing the feasibility of enacting charter legislation. In fact, Kentucky is very late to the discussion.

Based on various media, there seems to be a lot of misinformation about charters.

Simply, charter schools ARE public schools. Parents actually choose either to enroll their child in a charter or to participate in a lottery that allows their child to be considered for a charter. There is very little elite about a charter. In fact, a number of the charters I have visited have had limited facilities and cater to low income families.

I find it interesting that so many who are currently opposed to charters were quick to embrace magnet schools. There is little difference; both entities select their students through a variety of methods. Yet, magnets are great and charters a threat?????

In other states, oversight for a charter school may be held by entities other than the school board. For example, in Indianapolis, a number of charters are held by the Mayor‘s office. In a number of states, colleges and universities hold charters. The options are quite varied.

Sadly, it seems that Kentucky wants to constrain the creation of charters as much as possible. Keeping charters under local school board control is an option it is not and should not be the only option.

While legislating that staff at a charter should be credentialed (certified) seems to be a political “compromise”; staff should not be bound by union contracts. The purpose of charters is to allow as much flexibility as possible in both the hiring and dismissal of staff. Negotiated/union contracts do not give charter administrators the necessary flexibility to deal with poor performing staff.

One of the most successful charter programs in the country, Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) hires teachers on an annual contract based on their classroom performance. The results in the KIPP schools have been most impressive.

Finally, I am amused as to the concerns expressed about the “quality” of charters. Because a charter can be altered or closed if they fail to meet their goals, these schools are very responsive and accountable. Why not hold “regular” public schools to the to the same standards as charters.

Yes, there are poor performing charters and surprise, there are poor performing public schools. So why not close any school that fails to ensure that every student makes academic progress every year

Why the desire to constrain one (charters) and not the other (publics)?

Kentucky should enact charter legislation, but only for the right reasons and with the proper legislative underpinnings. The Kentucky legislature should conduct a free and open discussion of both the promise and perils of charter schools.

The House and Senate must define the terms of the discussion not the educational establishment.

_________________________________

On a related note, my travel reading has included Paul Tough’s “Whatever It Takes” a description of Promise Academy and the development of the Harlem Children’s Zone. The book describes the work of Geoffrey Canada who began reclaiming the children and families of Harlem one block at a time. It is about the belief in possibilities.

The book details the creation of Promise Academy, a charter school, as one of the foundations for improving the academic performance of some of our country’s poorest children.

It should be required reading for everyone involved in Kentucky’s current discussion of charters.

Unfinished Business

By Penney Sanders

When the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) was enacted in 1990, a founding principle was that “no child shall remain in a failing school…”.

At that time the public perception was that Kentucky was full of failing schools. While there was little data to quantify that belief; it was, nonetheless, one of the widely held assumptions about Kentucky schools.

Twenty years of assessment, professional development and accountability have brought us to today’s reality that we still do have some poor performing schools in Kentucky. Rather than based on perception, these schools are now identified based on data. We have quantified “low-performing”...

Though some would argue that the federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has many problems, it is the recognized standard for indentifying failing schools.

[It is interesting that Kentucky is aggressively seeking “Race to the Top” funds but wants to quibble about how low-performing schools are designated.]

A cursory analysis of the 2008 -2009 list of low performing school reveals that
the majority of the seriously low performing schools (Tier 5) are in .Jefferson County. The remaining schools on this list are scattered around the state with no region dominating. Only one district outside Jefferson has more than one school on the list.

After 20 years, if the full promise of the Kentucky’s school reform is to be met, these failing(seriously low performing) schools must, once and for all be dealt with.

NCLB states that children in failing schools are eligible for additional tutoring and assignment to other schools. The ultimate penalty is the closing or reconstituting of the school: new leadership, new faculty.

Interestingly, KERA envisioned such provisions. The KERA framers believed that schools, after 3 or 4 years of poor performance, would be closed or the children given the option to go elsewhere. Sadly, we have not seen those sanctions-the ultimate hammers ever used.

The question is WHY NOT???

How long should students have to attend failing schools?? Why have KY legislators not demanded that students be removed from persistently failing schools??? Why have we not been more serious about turning around Tier 5 schools????

It seems that school boards, administrators and yes, legislators have escaped accountability through a myriad of excuses. My favorite is;” there is no room in other schools, so we can’t move too many of the students out of failing schools.”

The answer is simple, MAKE ROOM!!!! The response should be one of how do we make this happen not the whine of why we can’t do it.

Where is community outrage when students spend years in poor schools?? Why does tax money continue to support failing schools.

Looking at the list of failing schools, students can move from a failing elementary to a failing middle school and culminate their educational experience in a failing high school. What about this pattern is insane?? If such a pattern exists for one child in a district, it exists for too many.

This is not what the framers of KERA envisioned.

Patterns of failure can and must be altered. Such “Turnaround” is what Education Secretary Arne Duncan talks about in every speech he has made since assuming office. He is a powerful advocate for changing the culture of failure.

Since the majority of Tier 5 schools are in Jefferson County (3 elementary, 10 middle and 8 high schools), this would allow all the political and educational entities to focus energy and resources into this district

Models of change abound. However, one has to get beyond excuse-making - “parents are not supportive, kids don’t want to learn, they don’t come to us with the necessary skills, and they are poor” - to begin turning schools around.

Many Kentuxcky schools have moved beyond excuse-making, it is time everyone did.

A number of cities: Chicago, New York, Boston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and others; have aggressively embraced radically transforming failing schools. Superintendents have been replaced, mayors have assumed control of schools, and new management/leadership models have been implemented.

Apparently this journey in Kentucky must begin, as KERA did, with the political will to recognize there is a problem. The General Assembly should reaffirm its accountability and responsibility for the schools of the Commonwealth.

Turning Tier 5 schools around should become a legislative priority. This time a primary focus should be guaranteeing parents the right to remove their child from a failing school. ALL options should be on the table for legislative consideration.

Because many of the Tier 5 failing schools are in Jefferson County, the JCPS Board must be specific about their commitment to changing failing schools.

Board members have an obligation to explain to parents why their children have no options other than a failing school. An example of the insidiousness of the problem was evident on one of the failing school’s websites-the school, despite being Tier 5, notes it is a “Nationally-Recognized School of Excellence.” At one time maybe, but not now.

JCPS must develop options. It must allow students to transfer out of persistently failing schools. Room must be found to save children. Successful alternatives must be created.

Excuses and good intentions are no longer good enough. Measureable progress is the only evidence that the Board can be comfortable with.

The Board must hold the Superintendent accountable for real change. Both the Board and central office leadership must adopt a sense of urgency.

Perhaps it is time for failing schools and educational attainment to become an issue in the mayoral campaign. Other big city mayors have made educational improvement an integral part of their administration. Why not Metro-Louisville. Eighteen failing middle and high schools should be discussed by every candidate.

Finally, if after two years of local effort, there is still no progress, the Commissioner of Education and the State Board must exert the authority that is available to them to takeover failing schools. In fact, continued failure mandates their action.

The ultimate promise of KERA-no child in a failing school-must finally be fulfilled.

Kentucky Should Consider Small, Nimble Charters

By Penney Sanders

The lazy days of summer have started early for me. I have been in vacation mode for several weeks-so now I am catching up and there are some surprises!

Last week I noted that some of KY’s political leaders had finally discovered Charter schools. After years of refusing to discuss charters and excoriating any person or group who dared suggest that such a discussion might be appropriate, Charters are now on the state’s education policy agenda. KY is coming to the party late and only because the Feds are probably going to require that any state receiving Stimulus or other federal funding must have, at the very least, charter legislation.

Once again, the motivation is the money, not that it might be the right thing to do or that it could be beneficial for students.

Charter Schools are neither a panacea for all educational ills nor the undoing of public schools. In fact, they are simply a public school operated under a different accountability structure. Some entity other than the school district holds the “Charter” and thus, the responsibility and accountability for the school’s performance. Think of them as a “hybrid.”

In most instances, employees in a Charter work without tenure. The Principal reports to the entity that holds the Charter as well as to the State and the school district. However, his/her ultimate accountability rests with the chartering authority.

Charters may adopt a longer school day or year. Some Charters offer a Saturday program as part of their regular curriculum. They may adopt discipline codes and academic expectations which could be more stringent than those of the school district.

Additionally, Charter schools select their students. As a result, significant and meaningful parent participation is generally a requirement.

My introduction to Charter Schools was several years ago when I did some consulting work in Indianapolis. At that time the Mayor of Indy, Bart Peterson, was very concerned about persistently low performing schools that served minority populations.

As a result of his concern and those of the business community, he created 10 Charter schools for the purpose of serving areas of the city that had low performing schools. Each of the Charter principals reported directly to the Mayor’s office.

Generally, the schools were staffed by relatively young teachers who were willing to forego their contractual guarantees to teach in these schools. For purposes of pension and other benefits, they remained “in the system”. Furthermore, the school received additional funding based on student achievement/improvement as measured by the ISTEP (Indiana’s annual assessment) and other indicators as identified by the Charter holder.

The major difference I noted between a “regular” public school and the Charter was in the annual accountability review. There were significant consequences for the school if students failed to make annual progress.

Operationally, I found the schools very lean and very focused. Generally, they were small, fewer than 300 students and designed to be responsive to the needs of the students. Because of their small size, they were quick to turn and make needed adjustments i.e. staff changes, moving a student to another grade, adding instructional materials or programs.

There are now 18 Charter schools in Indy including a KIPP school (Knowledge is Power Program) as well as a different mayor who has maintained and expanded city government’s involvement. Each school’s accountability report is on the City website.

Should KY decide to enable Charter schools. I doubt that we will see a Charter in every district. Nonetheless, a mayor, a civic group or a university could undertake creating a school and holding a Charter. This could be particularly effective in districts where there are persistently low performing schools.

Since KY will be one of the last states to adopt Charter legislation, we can benefit from the experience and mistakes of others. Model Charter programs exist in several cities. Perhaps we will choose to learn from the best.

Support for Charters is just one policy direction from the new administration.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, formerly Chancellor of the Chicago Schools, is a strong Charter advocate. The early indicators are that he will link funding to the availability of alternatives, specifically Charters and thus, KY’s sudden interest.

As the summer progresses, a clearer picture of President Obama’s education agenda will emerge. I will be most interested in the administration’s plans for persistently failing schools as well as the accountability measures for all schools and the consequences for leadership in schools that fail to meet standards(to be defined at some point).

Measley $500 K is Real Money to Educators

By Penney Sanders:

This week President Obama proposed capping executive compensation in corporations that took “bail out” money to $500K/annually.

The hue and cry is most interesting to “school people” who have been on fixed and capped salaries our entire careers. To describe a $500K salary as measly is laughable. For me, it sounds like real money.

According to the talking head experts, limiting executive compensation stifles creativity, is counter to entrepreneurial zeal and limits the risk taking so necessary for successful corporate executives. So why did they need a “bail out”??

Fast forward to the discussions surrounding public school teacher/administrator compensation.

Educators, whose salaries come from public moneys, have historically, been on a standardized, fixed salary scale determined by either the state or a local school board (within state parameters).

In a school district everyone is paid the same, regardless of skill, results, creativity, success or failure.

Concurrently with President Obama’s proposing restrictions on executive compensation, the Washington,D.C. schools chief , Michele Rhee, has proposed decoupling educator compensation from a fixed salary schedule. In exchange for significantly higher salaries (upwards of $130,000 annually), teachers will forfeit tenure. This represents a classic “no risk, no reward” approach to compensation.

While many DC teachers support Rhee’s proposal, the opposition, led by the AFT, has been intense. Opponents describe the tenure for salary exchange as unfair, potentially abusive, and teachers don’t like it.

If it can be argued that fixing CEO compensation is “stiffling and restrictive” isn’t fixing educator compensation equally “stifling”? If limits are too restrictive for CEOs, are they too restrictive for educators from whom we expect leadership, creativity and results?

Has the time come to disengage educators from a fixed salary schedule? Should student progress and classroom results be rewarded? Does a fixed salary schedule reward and therefore, encourage mediocrity?

If fixed, predetermined salary schedules are sufficient for those who do the important work of teaching children, than surely salary caps are good enough for those corporations who had to be bailed out with taxpayers’ money.

Public money is public money.

Opus One from Penney Sanders

By Penney Sanders:

Richard has asked me to be an occasional contributor to Kentucky School News and Commentary. I am honored to be included in this “august” group Therefore, in keeping with a career in which I have usually been perceived as provocateur, or simply irritating, it is my hope to continue to do the same on this blog.

After nearly twenty years, education reform efforts are entering their middle age. Educational practices, once considered revolutionary or exploratory, have become part of classroom daily practice. Technology is part of every student’s tool kit. Assessment and accountability have become the standard expectations for every classroom. Educators are doing more, and in most cases, doing it better than we did twenty years ago.

In the world of ideas and influencing learning, one always has to look at issues from many sides. Much of my current perspective has been shaped by my work in high risk, low performing schools in states other than KY, so I now come from a world that is a bit wider than just KY. However, as a daughter of the Commonwealth, my first and enduring passion has been for KY and her school children. As Judge Bert Combs once said, when describing the KY Education Reform Act, “it is about the children and our future”.

Indeed, it is all about the children; that is the eternal premise and promise of education.

Now let us begin, with what, I hope, will be an interesting journey whose itinerary and destination will be determined as we travel along.

Kifer and Sanders join Kentucky School News and Commentary

For the first time in my life, I'm actually trying to keep a New Years Resolution. This year I resolved to add new voices to Kentucky School News and Commentary, and today it begins.

KSN&C is pleased to announce that Skip Kifer and Penney Sanders - a couple of kindred spirits - will be the first new voices on board.

Don't expect us to agree with one another. That's not the deal. It may happen, but just about as often I suspect we will diverge on topics as well.

Kifer and Sanders were recruited - not for their compliance to any ideology - but for their experience and insights informed by years in the field. Both are dedicated to improving Kentucky schools and I respect their professionalism.

Edward "Skip" Kifer's expertise is measurement, evaluation and statistical analysis and I believe you will find his commentary surprising, challenging and refreshing. Following a stint in the army, Kifer was educated at the University of Chicago, was a Fulbright Scholar, taught at UCLA, SUNY Buffalo, the University of Stockholm, UK, UofL and Georgetown College. Professor Kifer was an AERA Senior Research Fellow working with NCES and NSF and has an established reputation as a reliable designer of assessments; one who has served on numerous technical panels including the NAEP Design and Analysis committee.

Dr. Penney Sanders is a retired Kentucky educator who served as a math teacher, school counselor, assistant principal and principal. She was Kentucky's first Director of the Office of Educational Accountability, and as far as I can tell, it's most effective. Under Sanders, adherence to KERA was an expectation enforced with panache. Veteran Kentucky educators still remember the good ole days when Sanders stalked the hills; kicking butt and taking names. In her "retirement" she works as a consultant with a special focus on high-risk, low performing schools. She continues to write and pursue a number of interests in education.

And we're not done.

Invitations to a few other contributors have been, and will be, made. They will fall into two categories, "veterans" and "newbies." Kifer and Sanders are examples of the veterans, but I am also hoping to include a few of my masters/doctoral level students who are themselves practicing teachers in Kentucky - to keep us focused on what is really happening in Kentucky's schools.

If all goes well, Kentucky School News and Commentary will add more value to the public debate while remaining realistic about the implications our decisions have on Kentucky's teachers and students.

Belated Tribute to Tom Gish

Several readers of KSN&C prefer to lurk in the background - not commenting on stories for fear of politicizing certain events - caring deeply about education reform, but reflecting privately. One such valued confidant is former OEA honcho, Penney Sanders, who has been out of town consulting and returned recently to learn of the passing of Mountain Eagle Publisher Tom Gish.

This from Penney Sanders:

The death of Tom Gish marks the passing of one of the legends in KY newspapers.

Furthermore, Tom was one of the champions of education reform in KY. Tom served, with distinction, on the reconstituted state board.

It was Tom's crusading for administrative and systemic reform that helped bring about so much change and reform that was a hallmark of the early years. Tom truly believed that every child deserved the best education, regardless of where that child attended school in KY. He was one of a kind. If only we had more people committed to his vision of quality education for all.

Thanks Penney.

This from NPR: Audio:

He had one of the smallest newspapers in the country, but Tom Gish had big impact. Some people say Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty began with stories in the Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky.

Family and friends gathered Monday in eastern Kentucky to bury Gish. He died Friday at 82 after suffering heart ailments and kidney failure.

Gish and his wife, Pat, turned a pleasant, chatty and inoffensive weekly into a journalistic crusade. When the Gishes bought The Mountain Eagle in 1956, its masthead declared it "A Friendly Non-Partisan Weekly Newspaper." Under the Gishes, the slogan became "The Mountain Eagle. It Screams."

'It Still Screams'

"Later it was 'It Still Screams,' after they burned it down," recalls Steve Cawood, an attorney in Pineville, Ky., who knew Gish for 40 years.

In 1974, a firebombing burned the presses, files, archives and offices of Gish's newspaper. The new slogan was an act of defiance.

"It expresses a determination to scream out from the local level to Frankfort, to Washington, to the people of the country that this is something that needs to be addressed, and this is something we're not going to stop shouting about," Cawood says.

The shouting included investigative stories about poverty, illiteracy, strip-mining damage, unsafe coal mines, unresponsive school boards, corrupt public officials and ineffective federal programs. And boy did those stories tick people off.

"He just stepped on so many toes that some people felt like they needed to get rid of him," says Carroll Smith, a coal miner and former Letcher County, Ky., executive. "They tried burning him out, and I don't think they missed an issue of the paper. They printed it anyway."

The firebombing followed stories about police mistreatment of young people. After other stories, Gish and his reporters were barred from public meetings, businesses withheld advertising and Gish was threatened — many times.

Global Attention

The Gishes started out as reporters sharing a dream of owning a small newspaper. They later wrote that they were surprised by what they discovered.

"We didn't know that one of every two mountain adults couldn't read or write," the Gishes noted in an article quoted by the Lexington Herald-Leader. "We didn't know that tens of thousands of families had been plunged into the extremes of poverty."

The Mountain Eagle's exposes attracted global attention. Reporters from the biggest newspapers and networks made pilgrimages to little Whitesburg to get briefed on Appalachian issues. They followed up on stories The Mountain Eagle published. They also asked Gish why he was so stubborn.

"Too many people in rural journalism have courage, but burn out. Or get caught in some economic circumstance that forces them to sell out or give up," explains Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky. "(The Gishes) persevered. And they set an inspirational standard for everyone in community journalism and journalism as a whole."

Financial Troubles

The perseverance was hard financially. At one point, boycotts kept the paper down to four tabloid pages. Sometimes, the whole family pitched in, five kids and all, to get the paper out.

In 1969, CBS News reporter Charles Kuralt asked Gish why he simply didn't leave the threats and boycotts behind, and get out of Whitesburg. Gish chuckled at the question and said this: "That would amount to a kind of surrendering that I just can't do."

On Monday, with the patriarch gone and Pat retired, the couple's son Ben runs The Mountain Eagle. The Gish name remains on the masthead. And Tom Gish leaves behind a little newspaper that still screams.

This from the Rural Blog:

"The Mountain Eagle’s reach to legislators and the national and international press corps shaped legislation ranging from food stamps, Head Start, Title I of the education act, Black Lung compensation, mine safety legislation, strip-mining legislation, housing assistance, to name only a few – all incubated in a weekly newspaper," wrote former Eagle reporter Jim Brancsome. His remarks were read at today's funeral by David Hawpe, editorial director of The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, who said Tom and Pat Gish "gave me the foundation for much of the work I've done as a journalist." For an Associated Press story on the funeral, click
here.

Another former Eagle reporter, Bill Bishop, wrote on his Daily Yonder yesterday: "Tom and Pat wrote some of the first stories about the poverty that came with the post-war depression in the coalfields. Other reporters followed the Eagle’s reporting. They would read a story in the Whitesburg paper and then trek down to Eastern Kentucky to see things for themselves. Invariably they’d wind up in Whitesburg and following Tom on a personally guided tour of the region. The War on Poverty began with stories coming from Eastern Kentucky. In reality, Lyndon Johnson’s attention to the nation’s poorest people was directed by reporting done by Tom and Pat Gish."

Larry Webster is sweet on Penney Sanders. Who Knew?

At the end of his regular highland rant in today's Herald-Leader, mountain lawyer Larry Webster took a break from his on-going conversation with Tie-Rod to spend a few paragraphs waxing rhapsodic about the good ole days of education when Penney Sanders stalked the hills; kicking butt and taking names.

Democrats return in blaze of mediocrity

Only 23 chopping days left for Gov. Ernie Fletcher, and then the mediocrats ride their newspaper-fueled political machines into Frankfort with plastic banners sticking up from the side windows proclaiming their righteousness.

Mediocrats are the fusion of Democrats and their old ally mediocrity. Mediocrity is demanded by Kentucky voters, and the Democrats have always delivered it, knowing full well that the media will lavish it with praise...

...In the past when the merit system rules weren't necessary because only members of one party got hired, Democrats and their newspapers treated intramural crime in that party like those nuns who stole the distributor cap so the Nazis couldn't catch the Von Trapps, something sort of cute and justified because of the obvious moral superiority of Democrats...

...As the governor ponders yet another career turn in his varied life, he may want to consider newspaper arson, but whatever he does, he is likely to dwell in the high country, and we ain't talking Gatewood Galbraith here, but the uplands of society where doctors and congressmen dwell and where likability is something you buy from an ad agency...

...Those Von Trapps got me to thinking about Penney Sanders. Every day that goes by without her as commissioner of education is a bad day.

The education system of Eastern Kentucky, providing mediocre students for our mediocre colleges, is crookeder than a shepherd's stick. But there was one bright time and that was when Sanders watchdogged the schools.

She made school administrators follow the rules, something amazing and encouraging to the country people up here. School officials had not obeyed the law before her and haven't since she left.

For this recommendation the state Board of Education owes me $50,000, and Sanders can just knit me something.

I think the board ought to pay the search firm that found Barbara Erwin. She was starting to look pretty good to some of us, but then Republicans are known to harbor crooks.

Commish candidates and gubernatorial ramblings

Gentlemen, start your search engines

The boys over at the Bluegrass Institute are apparently ferreting out Commish finalists...or are they semi-finalists...or, do they just want the job?

Hard to tell what's what with this board, but KBE has called a meeting for Sunday when we are supposed to learn who the real finalists are. Then, there's a (way too brief) two-week period for public input - or, if it's anything like last time - perhaps it should be called the discovery period.

Let's hope they don't name their finalists and their favorite in the same breath this time around. That's so disingenuous.

A quick review

Roger Marcum's out.

Jon Draud confirmed he's in the mix and also indicated he was not married to the CATS test, which may be becoming a litmus test for some.

Kentucky Progress reports: "Sen. Ken Winters (R-Murray) confirmed this morning he is interested in the Kentucky Education Commissioner's job."

What about former OEA Honcho Penney Sanders and veteran Super H M Snodgrass? Are they still in play?

Since Doug Whitlock is going to be at Eastern for the next three years, is Harry Moberly lurking? Stay tuned.

Also, in their recent debate, Fletcher disses CATS; Beshear stops short of disagreeing.

"I think our test takes too long. It's not predictive. It doesn't help us identify students that need help. It doesn't help us intervene. And it doesn't really match with the No Child Left Behind and integrate that the way it could to make that easier. It takes a lot of time. It's a lot of work from teachers that could be spent in actually teaching students. So I would like as we did with increasing the curriculum requirements for graduation to align that with what is needed in the workplace. I want tests that are simple, basic, are on the website so parents can have the access and that are predictive."

He's apparently against CATS for reasons that make sense...and reasons that don't. But I'm not really sure I know what he was saying.

"Too long?" Arguably. Especially since NCLB messed it up. And, then KDE added their own DOK mess to that.


"Not predictive?" It's a summative assessment. It's not supposed to be predictive. That's the job of a formative assessment. But it sure would be great if teachers had effective formative instruments that were diagnostic, prescriptive and turned around the data in a hurry.


"Doesn't help us intervene?" Again, a formative assessment should help us intervene before the summative. That's the prescriptive part. But you're not going to get that in a statewwide accountability system.


"Doesn't match NCLB?" Good. Throw out NCLB if you must, but I think I'd try to fix it.


"It takes a lot of time." Said that already.


"It's a lot of work from teachers that could be spent in actually teaching students." OK. You don't fatten a calf by weighing it. But the public wants accountability. Are you going to provide that or not? If so, it's going to take something away from teaching. We need a reasonable and stable system.


"So I would like...to align that with what is needed in the workplace." Now what's he talking about? Which workplace? A vocational test of some kind?

"I want tests that are simple, basic, are on the website so parents can have the access and that are predictive." It's hard to imagine a worse security problem for an assessment system than putting the test on a website so that parents can have access to it. Let's just put the SAT out there while we're at it.


Fletcher's proposal, IF I understand what he's saying, would make a bad situation worse.