A Conversation With Arne Duncan

This from Politics K-12: 

Michele McNeil sat down with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently for a wide-ranging interview on the hot education topics of the day: waivers, Race to the Top, reauthorization, and the election. If you want more than just the highlights, check out the full transcript.

On Waivers
Q. The first waiver announcement is expected soon from your department. You've talked about how this is not a competition, and so you want all states that want to, and can commit to certain things, to get a waiver under No Child Left Behind. But you also say you want to keep a high bar. How do you do both?


A. I think the first goal is clearly more important, to have a high bar. The goal is not to just give a waiver to everyone. ... We're going to go back and forth with states and say this looks great, you've got a challenge here, think about it in different ways. Again, no hard deadlines. This creates an opportunity for those who want it.

Q. People have been clamoring for the ability to measure growth. In reading the first 11 waiver applications, it's clear growth is a huge part of these new accountability systems. Are you worried that there will be so much emphasis on growth that you lose this desire to still get kids to a certain level of proficiency?

A. I think all of these are false choices. The only way you ever hit a high bar is by better growth. So it's growth to what? ... I think some of these accountability systems will be more complex, there will be more factors, but I think it will be such a more fine-tuned system. And not that it's going to be perfect. ... So, yeah, the growth is important to me. But look at graduation rates. Look at dropout rates. Look at our kids going to college. ... And so I think you're going to see a level of sophistication that just didn't exist 10 years ago, and we want to look at a range of factors. ...

Duncan Tosses Kentucky a Bone

7 Runners-Up Finally Share (a Much Smaller) Race to Top Prize

Unfunded by the State
Holliday Gets a Pittance Toward SB 1 Implementation 
from the Feds

Kentucky has been positioning itself as the nation's first and foremost supporter of "school reform." Education Commissioner Terry Holliday has stood with Education Secretary Arne Duncan to tout the Obama administration's approach to education. But while Kentucky was the first to sign up for national standards (and the national testing that will follow), the federal government has done little to return the love. Some KSN&C readers wonder if the toxic relationship between Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell and the White House has cost the state the recognition it deserved, and might have otherwise received. Others wonder if Kentucky's application was really all the department of education would have us believe. Still others wonder if Senate Bill 1 and the whole Race to the Top thing is even a good idea and worth the effort. Go figure.

This from Politics K-12:

Seven states that were runners-up in last year's $4 billion Race to the Top competition will share a $200 million consolation prize that will fund small pieces of their original plans, with many choosing to focus on implementing common standards and improving teacher evaluation systems.

The seven winners are: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Their grants range in size, based on each state's student population, from $17 million for Colorado, Kentucky, and Louisiana to nearly $43 million for Illinois.

"These states are absolutely ready to do great things," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a conference call with reporters yesterday evening.

The announcement comes as the U.S. Department of Education has begun to raise the pressure on the 12 winners of last year's competition...

The announcement of the latest, $200 million in awards was surrounded by little suspense. The department made all nine runners-up from last year eligible to win this time around so long as they agreed to stick to the reform agenda they pitched last year, and demonstrated how the piece of their plan that they chose to highlight also benefited the STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and math, subjects...

With just $200 million to be split this time around—far less than the $4 billion up for grabs last year—the fact that two states did not participate bumped up everyone else's prize.

The department has now awarded all of its fiscal 2011 Race to the Top money, and can turn to figuring out what to do with the nearly $550 million Congress set aside to extend the brand during fiscal 2012. Duncan has said no decisions have been made on how that money will be awarded. However, during last night's call, he made clear that he does want to use at least some of the money for districts, saying that Congress' decision to open up Race to the Top to the local level was a "great opportunity." He also said the money is an opportunity to focus more on early learning and STEM...

And this KDE press release:

KENTUCKY AWARDED 

RACE TO THE TOP ROUND 3 FUNDING

Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced that Kentucky will receive a Race to the Top grant of $17 million to advance targeted K-12 reforms aimed at improving student achievement.

Kentucky and six other states -- Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania -- will each receive a share of the $200 million in Race to the Top Round 3 (RTT3) fund.

“While the grant amount is significantly less than the original $175 million request, we are very excited about being able to gain funds to implement Senate Bill 1 initiatives and expand AdvanceKentucky sites,” said Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday. “Within the budget of $17 million, we will use state and district allocations to implement professional development and resources for Senate Bill 1.”

Senate Bill 1, passed in the 2009 session of the General Assembly, calls for a new assessment and accountability system for the state’s public schools, along with more rigorous academic standards, intensive teacher and administrator training, and strengthened collaboration among higher education, teacher/administrator certification and P-12 education sectors.

AdvanceKentucky is a statewide math-science initiative and partnership between Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC) and the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI). AdvanceKentucky expands access to, preparation for and participation in academically rigorous coursework, specifically the Advanced Placement (AP) Program.

As runners-up in the last year’s Race to the Top competitions, Kentucky and eight other states were eligible for Round Three awards to invest in a portion of their Round Two plans. However, South Carolina opted out, and California submitted an incomplete application.

RTT3 focuses on supporting efforts to leverage comprehensive statewide reform, while also improving science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

Ky Fails to Win Another RTTT Grant: early childhood

9 States Win Race to Top Early Learning Grants 

This from Politics K-12:

Nine states will share $500 million in Race to the Top early learning grants, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed this morning.

They are: California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Washington. They will get grants ranging from $50 million to $100 million, based on the state's student population, to significantly improve early-education programs in their states. North Carolina was ranked No. 1 by the outside peer reviewers who judged the competition. California, by at least one account, was the surprise dark-horse winner. A must-read New America Foundation blog post also agrees that California—and even North Carolina—were surprises.

"Investing in early learning is one of the smartest things we can do," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said during the White House announcement of the winners this morning. "I'm confident these nine states will lead the transformation."

Duncan added that there were far more stellar applications than he could fund, and he and others in the Obama administration indicated they would like to fund more states if they can. And indeed, it seems the Education Department will get another $550 million in Race to the Top money in fiscal 2012, according to a budget deal just reached by congressional negotiators. However, later in a conference call with reporters, Duncan would not commit to using that money for early learning, saying he didn't know yet what the focus of future competitions would be....

Is Gingrich an Edu-Flip-Flopper?

This from Politics K-12:

The GOP's presidential frontrunner, Newt Gingrich, has one of the longest records on K-12 policy in the Republican field. His views on education have gotten a lot of attention lately. But they have been—and seem to still be—all over the map.

For instance, Gingrich said in a recent debate that he likes Race to the Top, the grant competition run by the feds that rewards states for embracing certain reform priorities, including the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

But he's also said he'd like to "shrink" the Education Department. And in 1995, as Speaker of the House, he backed an effort to scrap the department altogether.

Back in 2008, Gingrich, and then GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona,endorsed the mission statement of the Education Equality Project, which calls for strong accountability at all levels, including the school and district level.

Gingrich even appeared with Rev. Al Sharpton—and then-incoming Secretary of Education Arne Duncan—at a school in Washington, D.C., during President Barack Obama's inauguration to push the Education Equality Project's mission...

...which frames education as a civil right, supports charter schools, promotes accountability and professional pay for teachers...

Signatories of the EEP's manifesto, including Gingrich must,

Insist that our elected officials confront and address head-on crucial issues that created this crisis: teachers' contracts and state policies that keep ineffective teachers in classrooms and too often make it nearly impossible to get our best teachers paired up with the students who most need them; school funding mechanisms that ignore the reality that students are supposed to be the primary focus of schools; and enrollment policies that consign poor, minority students to our lowest-performing schools.

That sounds like a tall order, particularly the part about confronting "state policies." It doesn't seem to be in line with where many Republicans on Capitol Hill are today when it comes to K-12. So, do these ideas square with a significantly slimmed-down Education Department? And does Gingrich's record on K-12 make him an education-flip-flopper...or someone with nuanced, evolving positions?

 

This from the Daily Koz:

Reforming NCLB Requires Flexibility and Accountability

This from Arne Duncan at the Ed.gov blog:

Fixing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is four years overdue. In March of 2010, the Administration unveiled its Blueprint for Reform. Since then we’ve worked on a bipartisan basis to craft a comprehensive reform bill that would help give our children the world-class education they need and deserve. Today marks an important step forward.

Senator Tom Harkin and Senator Mike Enzi — Chairman and Ranking Member respectively of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — introduced a bipartisan bill to officially overhaul NCLB. I deeply appreciate the efforts of Senators Harkin and Enzi to build in more flexibility for states and districts, and focus on the goal of building a world-class education system that prepares all students for college and careers. Increased flexibility at the state and local level is consistent with the administration’s policy on waivers and our Blueprint for Reform.

However, it is equally important that we maintain a strong commitment to accountability for the success of all students, and I am concerned that the Senate bill does not go far enough. Parents, teachers, and state leaders across the country understand that in order to prepare all of our young people to compete in the global economy, we must hold ourselves and each other accountable at every level of the education system– from the classroom to the school district, from the states to the federal government. In addition, I am concerned the Senate bill lacks a comprehensive evaluation and support system to guide teachers and principals in continuing to improve their practice.

America cannot retreat from reform. We must ensure that every classroom in every school is a place of high expectations and high performance. The fact that we have a bipartisan bill in the Senate is an important and positive development, but it’s only a beginning. I look forward to working with Congress in the weeks and months ahead to advance this bipartisan effort, address these and other concerns and build a world-class education system that strengthens America’s economy and secures America’s future.

Duncan's Teacher-Training Reform Announcement

This from Teacher Beat: 

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan [Friday] morning formally announced a series of proposals to overhaul teacher education practices in the United States.

In brief, it seeks changes through three major pieces: Revisions to the teacher-college accountability requirements in the Title II of the Higher Education Act to make them outcomes-based; the creation a new grant program that would give scholarships to candidates at programs identified as being excellent; and the funding of an initiative for minority-serving teachers' colleges.

You can read the basics of all of this in a short Education Week story. Of course, if you're a nerd like me, what you really want are all the juicy, little-noticed details. And here they are, presented with a touch of Teacher Beat snark:

• You've got to hand it to the Education Department for getting headlines out of proposals that are six months old. Nearly everything in this proposal comes straight out of its FY 2012 budget proposal and justifications, which I wrote about way back then here and here and here.

• Ok, to be fair to the Education Department, they've gotten some high-profile supporters of this initiative since February. Groups like NCATE, NEA, TFA are all on board.

• What's the likelihood that these proposals are going anywhere? It's pretty good for the overhaul to the Title II reporting requirements for education schools, which the Department will pursue through a negotiated rulemaking process. This process involves appointing negotiators charged with drafting the rules, holding hearings, releasing a rule for comment, and then revising it based on public feedback. It can take six months or more to complete. Still, an Education Department official said it wants to begin the process of finding the panelists within the next week or two. Bottom line: Within a year or so, expect the federal government to require outcomes-based data, including "value-added" information on program candidates, in all of the states.

• The prognosis is somewhat less favorable for the other two key components. Congressional appropriators must agree to support the Hawkins Centers of Excellence (created in the Higher Education Act rewrite but never funded). The Presidential Teaching Fellows is an even longer shot: It needs both an authorization and an appropriation.

• Of all of the pieces of the program, schools of education seem to be least happy with the Presidential Teaching Fellows, which would replace the TEACH grants program that they fought hard to get in a budget-reconciliation bill back in 2007. TEACH was supposed to support only high-quality programs, but department officials say that a good number of programs deemed "low performing" under the current HEA rules offer them.

Meanwhile, Sharon Robinson, the president of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, generally approved of the focus on teacher education, but she was less sanguine about the PTF program proposal. "We can perfect that with the Congress," she told me. (See AACTE's full statement on the propsals at its website. There's lots of important detail to chew on, including its recommendations for making TEACH more quality-oriented.)

• Another little-noticed tweak: The current HEA and scholarship requirements apply only to education schools that receive federal student-financial aid. The department wants to extend this aid, through the PTF program, to alternative route providers. This helps explain why Wendy Kopp, the founder of TFA, had such a big presence at this morning's announcement. Kopp, for her part, told reporters that she feels her organization and other alt-routes should be covered under the Title II reporting requirements, so that all training regimes are held to the same standard. Kopp said she thinks a level playing field will help do away with the "alternate v. traditional" route arguments in teacher preparation.

• It must be Freaky Friday in the education community, because the two national teachers' unions have switched places on a key issue. Read on:

The National Education Association appears to be pretty supportive of the administration's efforts, despite the focus on value-added assessment data (something it's not a big fan of). When I pressed NEA President Dennis Van Roekel about this, he said value-added still gives him pause, and he doesn't support its use for evaluating individual teachers. But he added that, used in the aggregate, it might be appropriate for helping to improve education schools: "I think there's potential there," he said.

On the other hand, the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten—who endorsed the use of test-score data in limited instances long before the NEA—criticized the focus on value-added. "At the same time that the validity of using standardized tests as the ultimate measure of performance is being widely questioned, the U.S. Department of Education appears to be putting its foot on the accelerator by calling for yet another use for tests—and one for which they were not designed," she said.

Race to Top Runners-Up: Favorites and Underdogs

This from Politics K-12:

When the scores came in for last year's $3.4 billion Race to the Top competition, Education Secretary Arne Duncan was "surprised and upset" that Colorado and Louisiana had been left out of the winners' circle.

Now, with a smaller $200 million in hand, this is Duncan's chance to make it up to those two states.

Proposed rules released last week spell out how the nine finalists can get a piece of that smaller jackpot. And unlike the first two rounds of the competition, there will be no outside judges determining winners and losers. This time, it's up to the department to pick.

That means there are clear favorites, and not-so-favorites. If you remember, the finalists that did not win were: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

In addition to Colorado and Louisiana, it seems sensible to add Illinois to the favorites category. After all, Duncan praised the state in May for doing "something truly remarkable, and every state committed to education reform should take notice." That was after the legislature passed a sweeping education bill to alter how teachers in the state are hired, evaluated, and granted tenure...

White House announces waivers for No Child Left Behind law

Duncan: Get This Law Off of People's Backs

Will Announce Final Waiver Decisions After Labor Day

This from CNN:

About half the schools in Tennessee didn't meet the annual yearly progress requirements of the No Child Left Behind law last year. Tennessee is not alone.

Saying schools are struggling to meet the student progress requirements of the No Child Left Behind law, the White House announced Monday it would be signing waivers that will relieve schools of some of the key provisions of the law.

"The law -- No Child Left Behind -- as it currently stands is four years overdue for being rewritten. It is far too punitive, it is far too prescriptive, lead to a dummying down of standards, lead to a narrowing of the curriculum," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said at a White House press briefing on Monday. "We can't afford to have the law of the land be one that has so many perverse incentives or disincentives to the kind of progress that we want to see."

The law requires that all students meet reading and math adequacy by 2014. If they don't, the schools are subject to reforms. As the standards have increased annually, schools are finding it increasingly difficult to meet them.

"We hope that this is simply a transition or bridge to fixing the law," Duncan said of the waiver plans...

Duncan to Hold #AskArne Twitter Town Hall

The Department of Education announced today that Secretary Arne Duncan will participate in the first-ever #AskArne Twitter Town Hall on August 24, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. EDT. Veteran education journalist John Merrow will moderate the town hall that will also be broadcast live on ED’s ustream channel.

Beginning today, Twitter users can submit questions to the Secretary using the hashtag #AskArne.

The Department of Education uses several Twitter accounts to share information and converse with the education community and the American people. For general news and information about ED, follow @usedgov. To keep up-to-date with Secretary Duncan, follow @ArneDuncan. Justin Hamilton, ED’s Press Secretary, can can be found at @EDPressSec, and Massie Ritsch, Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs and Outreach, shares information and converses with stakeholders, teachers and parents at @ED_Outreach.

Click here for a complete list of ED’s Twitter accounts.

Questions for Duncan have already started pouring in. Here are a couple of samples:

Mr. Duncan,

Your approach to education is no different from the many administrators who I have dealt with in my 18 years in the education profession. There is no disagreement with the end goal of the DOE, however the means to get there has not changed one iota since I entered the profession. Administrators have discussed numerous ways to improve student achievement, such as providing remedial classes during the school day to help students who are “falling through the cracks.” (in essence two math courses for students who are struggling in math, or a and English course and a reading literacy course for students who are not up to grade level However, despite all the talk of these reforms within the school, not a single one has lasted for more than two years and were eventually cut in favor of more AP courses. (which I do not have a problem with). But you can’t cut one to save another. There should be curriculum in place that meets the needs of “ALL” students and I’m just not seeing it. I would rather see an emphasis on helping schools to provide these types of courses (through funds supplied by the DOE/federal grants), then to reward schools who have already achieved significant gains. These are not the schools or the students that need the help. Your Race to the Top looks more like a Race To The Bottom, when only a few states are helped where others are left behind. This approach is no different then what I have seen in all my years of education.

and...

Abundant, accessible evidence proves that America’s schools are not failing or failed. This nation and this administration should be combating the ongoing culture war that allows misinformation but more important, poverty, hunger, and homelessness to oppress our future and impede learning. Strip away impoverished students from the testing pool and discover that U. S. students run neck and neck with students from other parts of the world. The problem with U. S. schools is a nation without a will to nurture all citizens and a nation willing to be deaf and blind to the increasing numbers of children living in homes with incomes below the poverty line. This is also a racist nation with few to fight for those oppressed. Finally, this nation is also guilty of opportunism: employers who look for cheaper labor pools, wealthy individuals selling products that suit online learning, companies trolling for big pots of money to tap for investment. The DOE should lead the fight against the class and race war with teachers as the bull’s eye on the target. What, Mr. Duncan, will you stand for? Teachers or billionaires? The future or power plays? Public schools or insulated schools? Equal opportunities for excellence or unequal opportunities for the status quo?

Why states should refuse Duncan’s NCLB waivers

This from Monty Neill of FairTest in The Answer Sheet:

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said he will grant waivers from some “No Child Left Behind” test score requirements to states which agree to adopt policies that he favors. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais - AP) Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, backed by the White House, just confirmed that he will grant waivers from some “No Child Left Behind” test score requirements to states which agree to adopt policies that he favors. This rewriting of federal law by the administration, not Congress may well be illegal. If Duncan gets away with it, states will be tempted to replace one set of bad policies (sanctions on most schools) with another (sanctions on teachers). The alternative is for states, districts, teachers, administrators, students, unions, civic groups and others to stand up and say, “No more.”

Federal education law most certainly needs a complete overhaul. Ending escalating, test-based sanctions on most schools is a good first step. But, based on his track-record with “Race to the Top” and School Improvement Grants, Duncan probably will replace these sanctions with a requirement to use student test scores to judge teachers.

Meanwhile, the lowest scoring schools most likely will be forced to adopt RTTT-style changes, such as firing the staff or privatizing control over the schools, actions for which there is no evidence that they will improve education. Many of the changes, such as closing schools, badly disrupt communities, as a coalition of civil rights groups pointed out last summer.

The most logical response to the cheating scandals in Atlanta, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and elsewhere is to dial back the emphasis on testing. Unfortunately, Duncan will almost certainly not do so...

Duncan offers states relief from NCLB

This from US ED Sec Arne Duncan:

When I was superintendent in Chicago, I never looked forward to a call from Washington telling me what I have to do. Now that I’m in Washington, I try not to make those calls.

Our job is to support reform that is good for students at the state and local level. We need to get out of the way wherever we can. We need to be tight on the goals but loose on the means of achieving them — providing as much flexibility as possible, while maintaining meaningful accountability for improving student outcomes and closing achievement gaps.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) got it backwards — it was loose on the goals but tight on the means — and today it’s forcing states into one-size-fits-all solutions that just don’t work.

The President understands this and he has directed the Department of Education to move ahead in providing relief in return for reform.

With the new school year fast approaching and still no bill to reform NCLB, it’s time to create a process for states to gain flexibility from key provisions of the law, provided that they are willing to embrace education reform.

We will not be giving states a pass on accountability. There will be a high bar for states seeking flexibility within the law, working off a framework that the states themselves have put together with the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Over the past few days, I have talked with more than half of the nation’s governors, and they are pushing us to provide the relief they desperately need and want.

There is no magic bullet for fixing education, and the best ideas will always come from the local level, where hardworking men and women in our schools are doing the hard work every day to educate our children.

We’re still hopeful that Congress can continue its work this fall because a strong bipartisan reauthorization continues to be essential. In the meantime, states and districts have an opportunity to move forward and receive relief from NCLB’s mandates.

Deja Vu All Over Again...Redux

We seem to be at another point in time where state-wide accountability systems have a chance for improvement. Maybe. 

This is an old story now, and I hate to say I told you so, but the foreseeable problems associated with piling NCLB's inflexible standards on top of the CATS assessment ultimately over-emphasized the test and killed the cat.

Is it possible that Ed Secretary Arne Duncan will allow states the flexibility he recently signaled?  Or was that simply political-speak meant to spur reluctant members of Congress toward reauthorization of NCLB?

I worried that we would get to this mess about a decade ago when President George W Bush was first comtemplating NCLB. The federal measure layered one accountability system on top of another, confusing its purposes and ultimately, its methodology. It was a correct idea, implemented punitively, and 180 degrees backward, as states were allowed to determine their own proficiency. States gamed the system, moved the bar and did some amount of damage to the classroom environment in the process.

On January 27 2001, in the Herald-Leader, former Prichard Committee Executive Director Bob Sexton expressed his concern, and I expressed my fears, this way:

"The focus on academic achievement, measurable results and no excuses for poor performance is right on target and very similar to what we've been working on in Kentucky," Sexton said. "What we have to avoid is having two different sets of accountability. Kentucky's going to have to fight to be able to use its own testing system."

Richard Day, principal of Cassidy Elementary School in Fayette County, fears another test will create a "crazy quilt of assessment."

"I would like to see a seamless, comprehensive testing system that flows from local to state [to] federal levels; that doesn't interfere with each other," Day said. "I'm afraid that what we're going to get instead is just another test layered on top of what we already have."

In Fayette County, the district has implemented math and reading tests three times a year in addition to the state assessments already required." Another test on top of what we are presently doing would be a brick on the load that we just don't need," Day said. "We'll have gone too far and begin hurting children."

And more tests did come along. We implemented tests to show how we were going to do on other tests. So MAP is seen as a predictor of CATS.  The EXPLORE predicts, to some degree, how sudents will fare on the PLAN which predicts, to some degree, how sudents will fare on the ACT which predicts, to some degree, how students will fare in college.

This from Brad Hughes at KSBA:

Holliday to Duncan:
AYP waiver request seeks new state role,

not new federal direction

Follow-up letter provides additional details

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday said Friday that Kentucky’s request to replace No Child Left Behind school progress targets with state-developed goals is no appeal for more Washington, D.C. guidance, but rather part of a broader proposal for new state roles under the federal statute.

In a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Holliday provided support materials for Gov. Steve Beshear’s June 20 letter, asking Duncan to waive the existing Adequate Yearly Progress for the 2011-12 school year, and allow school improvement to be measured using the yardsticks of the accountability model that is being finalized. A copy of the letter was included in the commissioner’s regular Fast Five on Friday e-mail to state education leaders.

“Kentucky would prefer to dispense with the use of two parallel, sometimes conflicting systems – as we have done since the implementation of NCLB,” Holliday wrote. “Kentucky’s accountability model…provides clear disaggregation of data to address achievement gaps between subgroups and to provide analysis and support for each school.

“Kentucky’s plan has added another element to disaggregation, which will include a review of individual subgroups and potential school supports/interventions where there is significant underperformance in that regard (beyond the substantial inclusion of ‘gap’ analysis for each school and full reporting of disaggregated data),” the commissioner said. “After running existing data through its model, Kentucky found that schools with significant achievement gaps are not “masked” by being part of a broader, compensatory scoring system.”

A significant portion of Holliday’s letter emphasized that Kentucky wants to go its own way in measuring school progress, not just get a new set of road rules from the federal government.

“This request is NOT about seeking federal ‘regulatory relief’ or federally driven flexibility,” he said. “NCLB includes express authority for states, not the federal government, to propose improved, innovative strategies for carrying out the core reforms included in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It is in that context that Kentucky advances this proposal.” ...

Duncan has a powerful motivator in his possession - his ability to withhold federal dollars from any state that refuses to toe the federal line. Perhaps it's not fair of the Secretary to use our greed against us, but we apparently don't want to raise state taxes, or have our children hurt for not having done so. We'd rather blame the federal government. We don't know those folks.

Each state has given away some portion of its autonomy. What are the chances Duncan will simply abandon his leverage and give back to the states the authority each has given away when they accepted the federal funds in the first place? 

Many Kentuckians have complained about NCLB and some have called its insistance on certain testing strictures as a conservative plot to hurt the public schools and provide incentives to re-privatize schooling in America. In fact, the feds stranglehold on money for states as a means of forcing compliance began as a liberal plot - one intended to desegregate the schools.

Ten years after Brown v Board of Education II (yes, there was a second Brown case) the south was still deeply committed to incrementalism - an intentional and illegal foot-dragging - that was announced in 1955 when 101 of 128 southern legislators signed the Southern Manifesto and declared they would not follow the Supreme court ruling.


Not unlike George W. Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson, another of America's Texas presidents, used the political capital he possessed following the assassination of John F Kennedy to drive the political agenda as far to the left as he could. After 911, W used the same political capital but headed right.

Part of Johnson's effort was to put some meaning into the Supreme Court's words - "all deliberate speed." To accomplish desegregation in the muleish south, Johnson thought it was necessary to use a two-pronged attack; a "carrot and stick."

The "stick" was already in place with the signing of the Civil Rights Acts in 1964.

His "carrot" was the $4 billion Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

With the Supreme Court's confirmation in Green v County Board of Education, for the first time it became possible for the federal government to punish school districts that were still refusing to desegregate. Do what the feds say or lose your funds. In 1963-64, barely 1% of black students were attending school with whites. By 1972 that number had grown to 75%.

The approach that did not escape President Bush. The No Child Left Behind Act—the latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965—is central to many education policy debates today.

CCSSO Releases Roadmap for Accountability

This from Politics K-12:

Right on the heels of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's announcement that it might be time to consider, maybe, possibly offering a package of waivers to states on aspects of the No Child Left Behind Act, 40 states and the District of Columbia have announced a new "accountability road map."

The roadmap has been in the works for a year and a half, long before the department's announcement. It is basically a list of principles and parameters that state schools chiefs think should be included in accountabilty systems, ideally through the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.

These "next-generation" accountability systems would include the establishment of college-and-career-ready standards, the measurement of graduation rates, and a requirement that states help build district and school capacity to turnaround the lowest-performing schools. Schools would be given more detailed feedback than just making or not making progress under the law.

And if Congress doesn't act, the Council of Chief State School Officers says that states will begin proposing their own, new accountability models based on the roadmap.

The idea is basically to flood the department with a host of waiver requests that all fall along similar lines.

Right now, state waiver requests are "coming from different perspectives", said Gene Wilhoit, the executive director of CCSSO. "We're going to come to the department with a set of waviers that will come en masse ... under a [similar] set of principles." ...

Kentucky was first away from the gate.

Wilhoit said that folks should disabuse themselves of the idea that this is an attempt by states to wiggle out of accountability. He said the roadmap would "maintain strong accountability," which would actually be "at a higher level" than under NCLB.

"There's tremendous frustration in this field that we've about ridden this horse as much as we can ride it," he said of the current law.

Duncan Issues "Dear Colleague Letter" on Sexually-based Harassment and GSAs

This from the US Department of Education:

June 14, 2011

Dear Colleagues:

Harassment and bullying are serious problems in our schools, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students are the targets of disproportionate shares of these problems. Thirty-two percent of students aged 12-18 experienced verbal or physical bullying during the 2007-2008 school year;1 and, according to a recent survey, more than 90 percent of LGBT students in grades 6 through 12 reported being verbally harassed — and almost half reported being physically harassed — during the 2008-2009 school year.2 High levels of harassment and bullying correlate with poorer educational outcomes, lower future aspirations, frequent school absenteeism, and lower grade-point averages.3 Recent tragedies involving LGBT students and students perceived to be LGBT only underscore the need for safer schools.

Gay-straight alliances (GSAs) and similar student-initiated groups addressing LGBT issues can play an important role in promoting safer schools and creating more welcoming learning environments. Nationwide, students are forming these groups in part to combat bullying and harassment of LGBT students and to promote understanding and respect in the school community. Although the efforts of these groups focus primarily on the needs of LGBT students, students who have LGBT family members and friends, and students who are perceived to be LGBT, messages of respect, tolerance, and inclusion benefit all our students. By encouraging dialogue and providing supportive resources, these groups can help make schools safe and affirming environments for everyone.

But in spite of the positive effect these groups can have in schools, some such groups have been unlawfully excluded from school grounds, prevented from forming, or denied access to school resources. These same barriers have sometimes been used to target religious and other student groups, leading Congress to pass the Equal Access Act.

In 1984, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Equal Access Act, requiring public secondary schools to provide equal access for extracurricular clubs. Rooted in principles of equal treatment and freedom of expression, the Act protects student-initiated groups of all types. As one of my predecessors, Secretary Richard W. Riley, pointed out in guidance concerning the Equal Access Act and religious clubs more than a decade ago, we “protect our own freedoms by respecting the freedom of others who differ from us.”4 By allowing students to discuss difficult issues openly and honestly, in a civil manner, our schools become forums for combating ignorance, bigotry, hatred, and discrimination.

The Act requires public secondary schools to treat all student-initiated groups equally, regardless of the religious, political, philosophical, or other subject matters discussed at their meetings. Its protections apply to groups that address issues relating to LGBT students and matters involving sexual orientation and gender identity, just as they apply to religious and other student groups.

Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s General Counsel, Charles P. Rose, is issuing a set of legal guidelines affirming the principles that prevent unlawful discrimination against any student-initiated groups. We intend for these guidelines to provide schools with the information and resources they need to help ensure that all students, including LGBT and gender nonconforming students, have a safe place to learn, meet, share experiences, and discuss matters that are important to them.

Although specific implementation of the Equal Access Act depends upon contextual circumstances, these guidelines reflect basic obligations imposed on public school officials by the Act and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The general rule, approved by the U.S. Supreme Court, is that a public high school that allows at least one noncurricular student group to meet on school grounds during noninstructional time (e.g., lunch, recess, or before or after school) may not deny similar access to other noncurricular student groups, regardless of the religious, political, philosophical, or other subject matters that the groups address.

I encourage every school district to make sure that its administrators, faculty members, staff, students, and parents are familiar with these principles in order to protect the rights of all students — regardless of religion, political or philosophical views, sexual orientation, or gender identity. I also urge school districts to use the guidelines to develop or improve district policies. In doing so, school officials may find it helpful to explain to the school community that the Equal Access Act requires public schools to afford equal treatment to all noncurricular student organizations, including GSAs and other groups that focus on issues related to LGBT students, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Officials need not endorse any particular student organization, but federal law requires that they afford all student groups the same opportunities to form, to convene on school grounds, and to have access to the same resources available to other student groups.

The process of revising or developing an equal-access policy offers an opportunity for school officials to engage their community in an open dialogue on the equal treatment of all noncurricular student organizations. It is important to remember, therefore, that the Equal Access Act’s requirements are a bare legal minimum. I invite and encourage you to go beyond what the law requires in order to increase students’ sense of belonging in the school and to help students, teachers, and parents recognize the core values behind our principles of free speech. As noted in our October 2010 Dear Colleague Letter and December 2010 guidance regarding anti-bullying policies, I applaud such policies as positive steps toward ensuring equal access to education for all students.

Thank you for your work on behalf of our nation’s children.

Sincerely,

/s/

Arne Duncan



1Dinkes, R., Kemp, J., and Baum, K. (2010). Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2010. (NCES 2010-012/NCJ 228478). 42 National Center for Education Statistics: Washington, DC.

2Kosciw, J. G., Greytak, E. A., Diaz, E. M., and Bartkiewicz, M. J. (2010). The 2009 National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation’s schools, 26, New York: GLSEN.

3GLSEN, at 46-8.

4U.S. Department of Education, “Secretary’s Guidelines on Religious Expression in Public Schools,” August 1995, http://www2.ed.gov/Speeches/08-1995/religion.html.

Duncan: Rural America Must Create College-Going Culture

This from Politics K-12:

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who certainly isn't known for crafting policies aimed at rural America, issued this challenge today to a group of rural advocates: "Make a commitment to ensure rural students complete college at higher rates."

For his part, Duncan said his department—and others across the Obama administration—will help.

He spoke alongside Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Washington at the National Summit on the Role of Education in Economic Development in Rural America, sponsored by the Education Commission of the States.

Duncan used his speech as another opportunity to tout President Obama's challenge that the U.S. lead the world in producing college graduates by 2020. Rural America "hasn't created a college-going culture," Duncan said.

He also used the speech as an opportunity to talk about how he thinks his agenda helps rural schools—from his ESEA reauthorization draft to the 300 rural schools that are using School Improvement Grant money to turn themselves around. He pointed to the administration's Promise Neighborhoods program (targeted at poor, urban areas) as money that can be tapped to help impoverished, rural America...

Arne Duncan’s useful exaggeration

This from Jay Mathews at WaPo's Class Struggle:

As my colleague Nick Anderson reported recently, Education Secretary Arne Duncan estimates that 82 percent of U.S. public schools will miss their academic targets this year as the federal No Child Left Behind law raises the bar higher than most schools can jump.

This was predicted by many experts when the law took effect in 2002. Its demand that nearly all students be proficient in math and reading by 2014 was hopeless, but unavoidable. Members of Congress knew they would be ridiculed if they passed a law saying that 15 percent, 30 percent, 50 percent---pick your favorite number—of children would not learn.

What is most interesting about Duncan’s estimate, however, is not that so many schools are unable to meet the law’s standards, but that so many experts insisted Duncan’s expected 82 percent failure rate for 2011 was wildly exaggerated. Only 37 percent of schools missed their targets last year. This year’s percentage will be more than that, experts said, but nowhere near that much.

What is going on is an old clash of statistics and politics.

Kentucky to Share as Two State Consortia Win $330 for National Test Development

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education awarded $330 million to two coalitions of 44 states and the District of Columbia for the design of new assessment systems aligned to the recently developed common-core standards. The tests are intended to measure whether students are on track for post-graduate success.

The grant money will be divided almost equally between the two applicants in the competition, which is part of the federal Race to the Top program spawned by the federal economic-stimulus law.

Kentucky is a member of both groups.

At least 12 states—Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina—participated in both the SMARTER Balanced and PARCC consortia. “My assumption is that they’ll have to choose one,” said Gary W. Phillips, a vice president and chief scientist at the American Institutes of Research in Washington.

A third group of 12 states that applied for a smaller, $30 million pot under a separate but related competition to support specific exams at the high school level, failed to win an award. That group intended to adapt the kind of board-examination systems that other countries use and align them to the common-core standards. Federal reviewers said that approach did not merit an award at this time. Kentucky was a member of that group too.

Those three were the only applicants that the department deemed eligible for the competition.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan told Education week,

“As I travel around the country, the number-one complaint I hear from teachers is that state bubble tests pressure teachers to teach to a test that doesn’t measure what really matters,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a press release. “Both of these winning applicants are planning to develop assessments that will move us far beyond this and measure real student knowledge and skills.”

The highest rating by a panel of peer reviewers went to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, which consists of 26 states. It was awarded $170 million. Meanwhile, the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, which includes 31 states, will receive $160 million.

Some observers caution that plenty of questions, and challenges, remain as the winning consortia move from getting awards to designing and implementing new assessment systems.

One issue, said Scott Marion, the associate director of the Dover, N.H.-based Center for Assessment, is that the states do not fully understand the future uses of the assessments.

“You’re designing an assessment system when you’re not really clear on what the use is yet, and that’s a huge challenge,” he said, noting that Congress is well behind in reauthorizing the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which likely will have a lot to say on the use of tests.

Governor Steve Beshear released a statement on the news:

Governor Steve Beshear joined Education Commissioner Terry Holliday today to announce that Kentucky will benefit from $330 million in grants awarded today from the U.S. Department of Education for efforts to improve education assessments...

“We are pleased to be part of this significant grant, and we will immediately invest these dollars into education, ensuring that our students are ready for life outside of high school, whether that involves college, vocational or technical school, or a full-time job.”

“Kentucky has been deeply involved in developing a student assessment system that is tied to the Common Core Academic Standards,” said Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday. “These funds will enable Kentucky and the other consortium states to move forward in an efficient, cost-effective manner to help students achieve 21st-century skills and become college- and career-ready.”

The work of these consortia also will help Kentucky meet the mandates of 2009’s Senate Bill 1, which calls for a balanced student assessment system and a focus on college and career readiness.

SBAC will utilize using (sic) “open source” technology that will allow all 31 member states to share common, state-of-the-art exams for students. The tests will evaluate how students are progressing and evaluate their readiness for college and career. The online system will track progress on all students, and will make that information available to teachers, who may then use the results to modify their instruction if needed.

PARCC assessments will use multiple tests throughout the year to monitor student progress in reading comprehension, research projects, public speaking and utilization of digital media. These multiple assessments will provide a steady stream of progress updates for teachers.

The assessment systems are closely tied to the Common Core Standards. Kentucky was the first state to adopt these standards in March 2010. These standards are intended to provide a national guideline for K-12 in English language arts and math.

Kerri Richardson, a spokeswoman for Beshear told the Courier-Journal she did not yet know how much money Kentucky would receive from the grants.

High Anxiety

Following his assessment of the federal Race to the Top competition, Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday was very clear. No charters - and the chances of Kentucky winning $175 million would drop like an anchor.

During round one, Kentucky's pitch came up empty. To offset the lack of a charter school law - and the lack of the 32 points that went with it - the Kentucky team argued that our school councils were allowed to ask for waivers of state regulations. But the feds didn't buy it. Perhaps that’s because there are no shining examples to point to. Or if there is such an example among the 20 schools that have been awarded waivers by the state board of education, it's apparently a secret.

But this was a second opportunity, and while waiting for word of the state's effort during phase II, several of us engaged in a little wishful hoping. Expressions of optimism, based on little evidence, revealed the hope that the feds might buy the school council argument the second time around. Or if we didn't really believe that, perhaps other factors like Kentucky's early adoption of common core standards might make Kentucky a sentimental favorite and cause reviewers to fudge Kentucky’s points skyward. But that didn't happen. Others were selected. Kentucky was not.

Holliday explained to KSBA why he had been optimistic, along with his ultimate disappointment - and the target of his disgruntlement was US Education Secretary Arne Duncan. He pulled no punches about the impact a lack of charter schools had on Kentucky’s application and questioned Duncan’s candor about the relative importance of charter schools in the RTTT process.

“We scored 412.4 points (on a 500-point scale) this time. We improved five points (from the initial review); however, losing 32 points on charter schools, I’m certain, kept us out of the funding,” Holliday said.

“I think it speaks highly of our reform agenda that Kentucky got this far in spite of a 32-point handicap.”

Every finalist funded in both rounds of RTTT has charter schools. Asked if the Obama Administration’s bottom line is “No charters, no money,” Holliday said, “The numbers sure indicate that, don’t they?

“I think the secretary…misled states,” the commissioner said. “What the secretary said and what the secretary actually did are two different things.” When he announced the RTTT Round Two finalists last month, Duncan downplayed the importance of charter schools as a critical reform factor.

And during a press conference Tuesday, Duncan said: “There's no one factor that helped make or break a state” in the competition.

Yet, the two states that won in the first round of the competition and the nine states and the District of Columbia that won in round two all have charter schools.

Duncan said the winners were chosen because they outlined the boldest plans for shaking up their public school systems.

A spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday that charter schools “were just one part of the equation.”

“Everyone had multiple opportunities to win points and put their best foot forward,” said Justin Hamilton with the education department. “Winning states were those who put forth the most competitive plan and that took advantage of every point possible.”

Governor Steve Beshear told C-J that while he was disappointed the state did not secure the funding, he's “confident that the steps we are taking in education will significantly improve the education experience for Kentucky's students.”

Kentucky Education Association President Sharron Oxendine said, “Not getting the Race to the Top funds will slow down our ability to implement Senate Bill 1… at a time when the Kentucky General Assembly has not seen fit to provide adequate state funding for our schools — will make it even more difficult for Kentucky teachers to assure that all students reach their potential,” Oxendine said in a statement.

As for charters, Kentucky scored 8 points for "Enabling LEAs to operate other innovative, autonomous public schools" out of 40 points available in the category. -32 for no charter school law = $0. Kentucky's second round score was 412.4.

In their analysis, the Kentucky School Board Association took the position that the lack of charter schools in Kentucky was not the fatal blow.

Kentucky’s lack of charter schools meant the state wasn’t eligible for 32 points on the U.S. Department of Education’s (USED) 500-point Race to the Top scoring rubric. That news led many people to conclude that the charter school issue cost the state $175 million in critical federal funds.

But a KSBA eNews Service analysis of the USED review panel scoring of Kentucky’s application found several other factors that cost the state an additional 55.6 points, almost twice as many points needed to have put Kentucky among the winning states.

Perhaps more importantly, even if the 2010 General Assembly had passed charter school legislation, the federal panel’s scoring of other state Race to the Top applications seriously calls into question claims that having charters would have guaranteed federal funds for Kentucky…

Kentucky’s overall score of 412.4 represented a loss of 87.6 points from the six major scored sections. That included 24.8 points from the “Great Teachers and Leaders” section (138 possible points) and another 17.4 points (125 possible) on the “State Success Factors” section. Other sections of the Race to the Top measurements cost Kentucky a total of 13.4 points. …
Ohio was the last state funded with a total score of 440.8 points, meaning Kentucky needed at least another 28.4 points to match the Buckeye State…

KSBA points out that,

None of the proposals that won funding … received the total possible 32 points for charter schools. Scores ranged from a high of 31.8 for the District of Columbia down to 21.8 points earned by Maryland. All of those states have charter schools, calling into question whether Kentucky could have earned the full 32 points based on having a brand-new law but no actual charter schools.

And

The average charter school-related score of the 10 proposals that won funding was 27.42 points. So even if Kentucky had been able to earn the average score of those other finalists, its overall score still would have fallen short of Ohio’s 440.8 score.

KSBA makes an interesting argument. And I read the reviewers comments in much the same way they did. But the logical extension of that argument is that Kentucky’s application wasn’t as strong in other areas as the state was led to believe – a curious position for KSBA to take – but perhaps it’s true.

Federal reviewers lauded Kentucky for its recent history of education reform and the subsequent gains in student achievement. Specifically noted were KERA, SB 168, SB 1, improved dropout rates, postsecondary enrollment and the use of technology to enhance educational opportunities in rural areas of the state. Kentucky was praised for the broad support for the state's plan and particular mention went to the Kentucky Education Association for its overall support of the state plan. Kentucky was commended for the specific support shown by higher education, but concern was expressed that while the state has multiple alternatives to certification, the overall approach to assuring that highly effective teachers reach the school where they are most needed is relatively passive.

Kentucky’s application and scores here:
Application PDF (2.00M)
Appendix PDF (94.3M)
Score sheet PDF (113KB)
Reviewers' comments and scores PDF (5.25M)

Reviewers were concerned that Kentucky might not be able to reach its ambitious improvement goals, particularly in math. The changes made to CATS in 2007 made it difficult for reviewers to confidently gauge more recent progress and the feds complained that Kentucky's team failed to explain how and if the scores are comparable since that time. One Race to the Top judge wrote, "This lack of analysis of the data raises questions as to the depth of the capability to use the data to make important policy decisions."

Moreover, the reviewers were concerned by the persistent achievement gap but were more concerned that the state was unable to articulate what caused Kentucky’s successes and failures, and therefore, the judges wondered whether Kentucky could learn from either.

Senate Bill 1 has already mandated a new test for Spring 2012. The prime motivation of the original Senate Bill 1 was to drive a stake through the heart of CATS, which old-school opponents of public schools have never liked. The version of Senate Bill 1 that passed in 2008 was a different bill. The question now is whether Kentucky can muster the funds to implement the plan.

The state was commended for SEEK’s (the Kentucky funding formula) ability to deliver equitable funding to local school districts, but reviewers complained that, within each district, funding is essentially distributed on a per-pupil basis and was therefore non-responsive to equity issues within districts. This has been true…forever.

Kentucky received praise for its commitment to standards and early progress toward the creation of a longitudinal assessment system which reviewers think will have a high probability of providing the state with the reliable data it needs to improve the concerns mentioned above.

Education Week reported a few common threads among the 10 victorious Round Two applicants. These included their promises to take bold approaches to turning around low-performing schools, and in evaluating teachers.

The New York Times noted that “Of the dozen states that have won major grants to date in the two-part grant contest that is the Obama administration’s signature education initiative, 11 are east of the Mississippi and most hug the East Coast, including Florida and Georgia in the South and New York and Massachusetts in the North. Among the winners, Hawaii is the lone geographic exception.”

Education Week reported that the second-round loss was a serious disappointment for a number of states. That includes Kentucky where the grousing has already begun. Once the news broke, and Holliday's “no charters – no money” warning came true, it was not hard to find politicians and pundits who were willing to point fingers.

For a couple of years now, Republican legislators have been floating bills that would pretty much throw open the doors to anyone wanting a charter school. Those bills met with silence. Republican leaders in the legislature wanted Kentucky’s application to include charter schools. Democratic were slow warming to the idea.

In May, with the clock ticking on RTTT Phase II, Gov. Beshear brought lawmakers to Frankfort for a special session on the budget. Democratic Rep. Harry Moberly of Richmond was among lawmakers urging Beshear to add charter schools to the agenda, “Which would get us about $175 million, not to mention the $300 or $400 million that’s available through private foundations,” Moberly said.

But the governor balked, saying there was no general agreement on the issue.

At the urging of Commissioner Holliday, Rep Harry Moberly filed a bill anyway; one that would have allowed charter school authorization by local school districts. That bill, died on a tie vote in the Senate education committee. Casting the deciding vote against charter schools was Republican Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr of Lexington who told WFPL FM “I just felt like it was time that we didn’t need to be looking into which districts were going to come onboard with this, and which ones were not,” said Kerr.

I have no idea what she meant by that.

Senate President David Williams expressed disappointment with Kentucky’s failed effort, and said he plans to keep fighting for charter schools.

“In extremely difficult economic times that money would have been very useful in implementation of Senate Bill 1 – and in order to make sure that we address some of the pressing education issues that we have in the state,” said Williams.

Williams was more direct is his comments to the Daily Independent. Williams said Beshear should have shown more leadership in persuading House opponents and teachers’ groups to support the measure.

“He’s wasn’t for charter schools, he’s never been for charter schools,” Williams said.

But Sharon Oxendine of the Kentucky Education Association has no regrets over the group’s opposition to charter schools. She says Kentucky schools already include charter school concepts, thanks to the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act. “They’re autonomous,” said Oxendine. “They’re in charge of their own hiring. They’re in charge of their own budgets. Teachers are certified. They are accountable. So, we think site-based council rule, or governing, in the State of Kentucky is far better than charter schools.”

Martin Cothran of the Kentucky Family Foundation declared, That little horned creature with the pitchfork whispering into the left ear of state lawmakers that they should vote against charter schools is the KEA…”

Daviess County Public Schools Superintendent Tom Shelton told the Messenger Inquirer that Kentucky addresses the issue, but not in ways that Race to the Top scorers found adequate.
"Kentucky already has a level of charter schools in the fact that we have site-based decision making at our schools. Therefore, you have parents and teachers who are the policymakers for their schools, decide the curriculum, assign the teachers and are responsible for the scheduling," Shelton said. "It's my opinion that if the state legislature and the federal government would remove the layers of regulation and bureaucracy from public school districts, we could create our own charter schools. We've evidenced that with what most people call alternative schools. That's what it's really about, personalizing education to meet the needs of students."

But again, that argument fell flat in DC.

Oxendine told H-L the loss of Race to the Top funds will make it less likely Kentucky will approve charter schools.

"There's no reason to change the system of public schools we have now," she said. "What we have to do is find the proper funding for our schools, especially to implement Senate Bill 1."

House Speaker Greg Stumbo issued a short statement: “It’s a shame that we lost an opportunity.”

Congressional support for a third round of Race to the Top funding is questionable, and without federal prodding, small, rural states like Kentucky may be less inclined to approve charter schools.

So, is the charter school issue dead in Kentucky? “I don’t think so,” said Beshear. “I think that’s an issue that will be discussed in the future. And as I’ve said, I think if it’s used properly, it can be a useful tool.”

State Rep. Brad Montell, R-Shelbyville, who filed charter schools legislation earlier this year, told the Herald-Leader he will file another proposal next year. "Until we have charter schools in Kentucky, we will continue to fall behind other states who receive funding through 'Race to the Top,' which will have a long-term negative impact on our children and our economy," Montell said.

Phil Moffett has made the drive for charter schools in Kentucky a centerpiece of his Republican gubernatorial campaign.

Robert Sexton, executive director of the Prichard Committee on Academic Excellence, said passing the charter school legislation would have been "pretty much a no-cost way to get $175 million."

Although his group favored the charter school legislation, Sexton said "It's hard to imagine that [charters] alone would drive these decisions on a federal level, and if it did it's just a shame and a serious mistake on the part of the U.S. Department of Education, because it's such a minor part of accomplishing what they're trying to accomplish in Race to the Top," Sexton said.

State Sen. Julian Carroll, D-Frankfort, said the loss makes the challenge of education funding "even greater for the General Assembly in the legislative session next year."

Tom Shelton, who is also the President of the Council for Better Education told the Messenger Inquirer that his own opinion on Race to the Top is less than positive.

"To me, dangling money out there like a carrot to get you to implement policy is in my mind, almost blackmail," Shelton said. "I think real change has to take place when our communities and our public step up and say, 'This is what we expect from our schools.' "Shelton said federal involvement of this sort is counterproductive, considering how little influence the federal government has in education otherwise.

"We have to continue to look to where education should be funded -- the state government, and not the federal government. It's not the federal government's role to fund education, and it never has been. It's always been up to the state," Shelton said. "It's disheartening to me. We only receive 8 percent of our funding from any federal source. It's hard to believe the federal government is trying to drive what education should look like."

Shelton said a large-scale change in education must focus on each student. That is already possible in Kentucky's schools, and charter schools simply for the sake of charter schools will not be a magic bullet, he said.

"Public schools and public education are the base of democracy, one of the basic strengths of who we are as a country. If all we do is privatize education, it might sound like the right thing to do because of the free enterprise system, but the reality is we will have no consistency. Some people will be highly educated, others inadequately educated," Shelton said.

The mandates expressed in Senate Bill 1 were never given the proper funding because of the state's financial problems. The state was counting on Race to the Top funds to make it happen, but that is clearly not happening now, Holliday said.

"The quick scenario I paint is, we're asking every classroom teacher in Kentucky to implement these rigorous standards. We're asking them to do it without any money for textbooks, no additional funds for interventions or additional resources," Holliday said. "Teachers are not going to be able to do this without support. It's now back into the ball court of the General Assembly. You have two choices, take existing dollars and redirect them into Senate Bill 1 or find new dollars."

Over at Prichard, Susan advises us to, “Keep calm and carry on.”

But amid all this local anxiety, one supposes things could be worse. Consider the situation in New Jersey where their 1000+ page application package for a potential $400 million included an error on page 261. State officials used the wrong years in describing funding levels for schools, a mistake that cost the state five points. Turns out that New Jersey scored 437.8, just behind Ohio’s 440.8 - the 10th and final state that qualified for funding.

NJ Republican Gov. Chris Christie, whose office submitted the application, said his administration took responsibility for the mistake. But it didn’t sound like it as he blasted the application reviewers—and the Obama administration directly—for not being willing to overlook what he called a "clerical error" and seek the correct information from the state. "If you are a normal, thinking, breathing human being, you pick up the phone and say, 'Hey, you sent this one wrong paper, can we get the information?' Does anybody in Washington, D.C., have a lick of common sense? Christie asked.

Beshear Finds Success in the RTTT Effort, but No Money

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today that 10 applicants have won grants in the second phase of the Race to the Top competition. Along with Phase 1 winners Delaware and Tennessee, 11 states and the District of Columbia have now been awarded money in the Obama Administration's education reform program that will directly impact 13.6 million students, and 980,000 teachers in 25,000 schools.



The 10 winning Phase 2 applications in alphabetical order are: the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

"These states show what is possible when adults come together to do the right thing for children," said Secretary Arne Duncan. "Every state that applied showed a tremendous amount of leadership and a bold commitment to education reform. The creativity and innovation in each of these applications is breathtaking," Duncan continued. "We set a high bar and these states met the challenge."

Governor Steve Beshear released a statement today on Race to the Top.

“While we are disappointed that Kentucky did not win an award in the second round of Race to the Top funding, we are confident that the steps we are taking in education will significantly improve the education experience for Kentucky’s students. The fact that Kentucky was named a finalist twice for these funds speaks to the success of the combined efforts of my office, the Department of Education (KDE) and the General Assembly.

We will continue to move forward with our vision for education reform through the ongoing efforts of the Governor’s Transforming Education in Kentucky task force, as well as the implementation of Senate Bill 1 of 2009.”

What impact will Kentucky's failure to "win" the race have on the state?

Lacking an on-going financial motivation to adhere to the guidance of the Obama Administration, will Kentucky educators further entrench against charter schools - the single element whose absence from Kentucky's application clearly cost the state?

In any case, unless Congress allocates additional money for a third round of RTTT, that well has dried up.

When asked recently about this possible result, Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday told KSN&C that he remains confident that foundation sources still exist to help the state build the new assessment demanded by Senate Bill 1. But for today, Kentucky is out of the race as once again, other states, including Ohio to our north and Tennessee to our south, press ahead.

As for consolations - there really aren't any - how close Kentucky got will be revealed by the Department of Education tomorrow. Kentucky scored 418 points in round 1. The lowest "winning" state in round 2 scored 440.

UPDATED: Scores for the second round have now been posted and the news is not good. Kentucky dropped to 19th among the states and actually lost points (412.4) over phase one.

While peer reviewers rated the 10 winners as having the highest scoring plans, very few points separated them from the remaining applications. The deciding factor on the number of winners selected hinged on both the quality of the applications and the funds available. New York, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and North Carolina consumed the lion's share of the available funds.

"We had many more competitive applications than money to fund them in this round," Duncan said. "We're very hopeful there will be a Phase 3 of Race to the Top and have requested $1.35 billion dollars in next year's budget. In the meantime, we will partner with each and every state that applied to help them find ways to carry out the bold reforms they've proposed in their applications."

A total of 46 states and the District of Columbia put together comprehensive education reform plans to apply for Race to the Top in Phases 1 and 2. Over the course of the Race to the Top competition, 35 states and the District of Columbia have adopted rigorous common, college- and career-ready standards in reading and math, and 34 states have changed laws or policies to improve education.

Every state that applied has already done the hard work of collaboratively creating a comprehensive education reform agenda. In the coming months, the Department plans to bring all States together to help ensure the success of their work implementing reforms around college- and career-ready standards, data systems, great teachers and leaders, and school turnarounds.

In addition to the reforms supported by Race to the Top, the Department has made unprecedented resources available through reform programs like the Investing in Innovation Fund, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and the School Improvement Grants under Title I.
Through all of these programs, the Department of Education will be distributing almost $10 billion to support reform in states and local communities.

"As we look at the last 18 months, it is absolutely stunning to see how much change has happened at the state and local levels, unleashed in part by these incentive programs," Duncan said.

As with any federal grant program, budgets will be finalized after discussions between the grantees and the Department, and the money will be distributed over time as the grantees meet established benchmarks.

The $4.35 billion Race to the Top Fund is an unprecedented federal investment in reform. The program includes $4 billion for statewide reform grants and $350 million to support states working together to improve the quality of their assessments, which the Department plans to award in September. The Race to the Top state competition is designed to reward states that are leading the way in comprehensive, coherent, statewide education reform across four key areas:

• Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace;
• Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals how to improve instruction;
• Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and
• Turning around their lowest-performing schools.

The 10 winning applicants have adopted rigorous common, college- and career-ready standards in reading and math, created pipelines and incentives to put the most effective teachers in high-need schools, and all have alternative pathways to teacher and principal certification.

In the first round of competition supporting state-based reforms, Delaware and Tennessee won grants based on their comprehensive plans to reform their schools and the statewide support for those plans.

The Department of Education has posted all Phase 2 applications online. Phase 2 peer reviewers' comments, and scores will be available on the website by August 25th; videos of states' presentations will be posted by September 10th. Phase 1 materials are available online.

Letter to governors
Applications
Summary for Phase 2 applicants
Race to the Top website
Video Announcement
Call with reporters