Will NCLB Waivers Reverse Narrowing of the Curriculum?

This from Curriculum Matters:

The waiver plans some states have developed to gain relief from core provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act contain a dimension that may be of keen interest to those who worry that the federal law has narrowed the curriculum.

Seven of the 11 states propose to include tests in subjects beyond reading and mathematics as part of their reconfigured accountability systems, with the most popular being science assessments, but social studies and writing also are included in some cases.

These waiver plans are a very big deal, as they essentially rewrite the map for accountability in the No Child Left Behind era. Most readers are only too well aware that the federal law currently relies mainly on test scores in reading and mathematics to drive accountability.

For the big picture on the state waiver plans, check out this recent EdWeek story. In it, my colleague Michele McNeil explains that states seeking waivers from the U.S. Department of Education would "replace what is widely considered an outdated, but consistent, school accountability regime with a hodgepodge of complex school grading systems that are as diverse as the states themselves."

The very idea that states who win waivers will be permitted far greater leeway in how they approach school accountability could well have important implications for the curriculum. (In fact, they would have a lot of flexibility in both how they identify school as low performing and what consequences would kick in.) As we reported here just recently, most educators believe the strong emphasis on improving reading and math scores since the enactment of NCLB has meant less time and attention to science, social studies, the arts, and a variety of other subjects.

Seven of the 11 states who so far have applied for waivers (many more are expected to do so soon) say they would include assessments in one or more additional subjects as part of their revamped accountability systems. Of those, three states, Georgia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma would include assessments in writing, science, and social studies. (It's important to say here that in certain cases, these states may well have parallel state accountability systems in which such tests already are factored into making judgments on schools. I haven't done that analysis, but it would be interesting to see.)

Here's a rundown for all 11 states highlighting which, if any, additional assessments they will include in their accountability systems, as described in their waiver proposals. (This is based on an EdWeek analysis of those plans.)

• Colorado: Writing, Science, English language proficiency
• Florida: Writing, Science
• Georgia: Writing, Science, Social Studies, high school end-of-course exams
• Indiana: No additional subjects
• Kentucky: Writing, Science Social Studies
• Massachusetts: Science
• Minnesota: No additional subjects
• New Jersey: No additional subjects
• New Mexico: No additional subjects
• Oklahoma: Writing, Science, Social Studies
• Tennessee: Science

Of course, some key questions remain. First, will these states win the waivers? Second, if they do, to what extent will the use of these tests reflect a change from current practice under the state accountability system?...

House Republicans Take On NCLB

This from Politics K-12:

A partisan ESEA bill in the House would be a big deal, because it would dim the chances that reauthorization would get done before the end of President Barack Obama's first term.

For one thing, further Senate action may depend on the House. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate education committee, which passed its own version of the ESEA renewal earlier this year with some Republican support, has said he won't seek to advance the bill until the House approves a bipartisan product.

In fact, here's what Harkin had to say about the House's inclination to do a GOP bill:

Given that the HELP Committee was able to come to bipartisan agreement on a strong bill to reauthorize ESEA, I sincerely hope Chairman Kline will reconsider his decision to not pursue a bipartisan bill. There is widespread agreement that No Child Left Behind needs to be fixed for the sake of our nation's children, and I hope we will not abandon the longstanding tradition of bipartisanship when it comes to the education of our kids. Without a bipartisan bill coming out of the House, I believe it would be difficult to find a path forward that will draw the support we need from both sides of the aisle to be able to send a final bill to the President that advances education for America's students.

For another thing, at least until after the election, the finished ESEA product will need to get through the Republican House, the Democratic Senate, and be signed by President Obama to become law.

If Congress can't get its act together, the administration's waivers will become the main vehicle for fixing the controversial law. And the waivers themselves have faced a lot of pushback on Capitol Hill...

A superintendent calls school reformers’ bluff

This from John Kuhn, (the superintendent of a small public school district in Texas) The Answer Sheet:

As a public school administrator, I have been a steadfast critic of the legacy of No Child Left Behind. But I’ve recently figured out a way that school reformers can get me on their side. It’s very simple.

My concern has long been that the test-based focus of NCLB and the insistence on assigning labels to struggling schools has really been about convincing Americans that public schools are failing in order to justify privatizing the system — to the benefit, of course, of investors, not children. Why think anything else, when “higher standards” are accompanied by slashed education budgets, continuing inequities in school funding, and continued efforts to roll back public sector employee rights?

But reformers such as former Washington D.C. Schools chancellor Michelle Rhee and Sandy Kress — a lawyer who was a principal architect of the school accountability system in Texas (during the administration of then gov. George W. Bush) which served as the basis for NCLB — assure us that all their reforms are really about the children.

They repeatedly call on get teachers and administrators to quit making excuses and hold themselves accountable for the educational outcomes of poor and minority students. Who could be against that?

Well, I’m calling their bluff. Let’s see if it really is all about the children.

NCLB has done one important thing: By disaggregating data, it has forced teachers and administrators like me to agonize over the outcomes of our neediest students.

But after 10 years, it is clear that NCLB’s reforms haven’t spurred miracles, and it is time that the profound problem of inequality is addressed. The deck is stacked against kids who live in poverty not just because their schools are on average worse than others, but also because of the circumstances of their lives when they leave campus.

Itt’s time that we admit that it isn’t just teachers holding back poor and minority students back. The problems are societal.

So I’m calling on reformers — Kress and Rhee included — to lend support for a new kind of reform, one that steps outside the schoolhouse and shares the onus for achievement with more than just teachers.

I’m calling for data-driven equality, modeled on Kress’s work, expanding it to force greater societal changes that will help teachers bridge the achievement gap.

Let the 50 states disaggregate equality-related data by ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status, and let us rank the states and reward them for closing all the societal inequalities that are truly at the heart of our achievement gap. There should be an incentive for voters to elect lawmakers who will craft policies that minimize inequalities.

Let’s have national benchmarks for equality in incarceration, equality in college enrollment, equality in health coverage, equality in income levels, employment rates, rates of drug addiction and child abuse.

Let the states figure out how to close their gaps, but reward results. Citizens in states whose data shows progress toward equality benchmarks should be rewarded with a lower federal income tax rate.

Note that the states can figure out how to get there, so no one can accuse me of urging socialist fixes to inequality. I don’t care how you fix it, just fix it. As a teacher I am calling on society to do its part to save these kids! The kind of plan I am describing leaves mechanisms to the states — it merely incentivizes equality.

We should all insist that our leaders build a system that guarantees the demise of inequity on these shores. Let’s move together toward a broader social accountability, driven by data and gauged by progress toward statistical, measurable, social equality.

Here’s an incentive: As a state moves closer to demonstrable equality according to data, then Washington could reduce the federal income tax rates charged to citizens in that state. Let citizens who opt for equality in so doing opt for lower taxes and more individual liberties. Incentivize equality, and see if kids don’t do better in school.

Let’s publish the data in newspapers. Let’s label all 50 states once a year. Let the states stand on their records and compare their progress. Let’s ensure that no more American Dreams get deferred because of unequal opportunity.

Today some 22 percent of American children live in poverty. Are we going to pretend forever that it is acceptable to ignore the needs of children outside the schoolhouse and blame teachers and principals for everything that happens inside?

As soon as the data shows that the average black student has the same opportunity to live and learn and hope and dream in America as the average white student, and as soon as the data shows that the average poor kid drinks water just as clean and breathes air just as pure as the average rich kid, then educators like me will no longer cry foul when this society sends us children and says: Get them all over the same hurdle.

And so I as an educator now say to a nation exactly what it has said to me for years: No excuses! Just get results.

Disaggregating data forced me to pay attention to minority students. Let’s force society to agonize over equality like teachers now agonize over test scores!

Give me equal children, and I guarantee you that my fellow public school teachers and I will produce graduates who will create a brighter future for this nation than you or I ever dreamed possible.

NCLB Waiver Plans Offer Hodgepodge of Grading Systems

This from Education Week:

States seeking waivers under the No Child Left Behind Act are hoping to replace what is widely considered an outdated, but consistent, school accountability regime with a hodgepodge of complex school grading systems that are as diverse as the states themselves.

That’s the picture that emerged from an Education Week analysis of waiver proposals submitted last month to the U.S. Department of Education by 11 states, whose proposals offer insight into what the next generation of state-led accountability looks like.

 Interactive Map    

The applications for federal flexibility under the NCLB law, the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, show 11 states aiming for vastly different student-achievement goals, with a jumble of strategies to improve low-performing schools. Even the factors that make up a school’s rating will vary greatly by state, rendering it virtually impossible to compare student performance from one state to another.

But one area most of the 11 states seem to agree on: a hallmark of the law—the emphasis on traditional subgroups of at-risk students, such as minority children, those with special needs, and English-language learners—should be scaled back....

Outlines Detailed

Eleven states are seeking flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Details of each proposal are found here.

Read the Applications

Download the plans of the 11 states that applied for NCLB waivers (in PDF format).

• Colorado
• Florida
• Georgia
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee

Kentucky's NCLB Waiver Application Posted for Comment

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has posted the state’s application for flexibility under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, which was reauthorized in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

KDE welcomes public comment on the state’s application, which is posted on KDE’s Unbridled Learning page, here. Comments and feedback may be sent to eseawaiverrequest@education.ky.gov. Comments will be accepted until Tuesday, November 8.

To help states move forward with education reforms designed to improve academic achievement and increase the quality of instruction for all students, in September, President Barack Obama and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan outlined how states can get relief from provisions of NCLB in exchange for serious state-led efforts to close achievement gaps, promote rigorous accountability and ensure that all students are on track to graduate college- and career-ready.

Since the passage of NCLB, Kentucky has used a two-tiered accountability model for its public schools and districts that provides both state- and federal-level designations. If the state’s application for flexibility is accepted, the Unbridled Learning Accountability Model would provide a single designation for both state and federal purposes.
The proposed accountability model also may be seen on the Unbridled Learning page.

The deadline for submission of the flexibility request is November 14, and the U.S. Department of Education will review applications in December. As of October 20, 42 states have indicated that they will request flexibility.

States can request waivers of 10 provisions of NCLB, including determining Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), implementing school improvement requirements, allocation of federal improvement funding and more. States must address four principles in their requests for flexibility:

· college- and career-ready expectations for all students

· recognition, accountability and support for schools and districts

· support for effective instruction and leadership

· reduction of duplication and unnecessary reporting requirements

See more details on the flexibility opportunity here.

SOURCE: KDE Press release

Harkin's No Child Left Behind Bill No Longer Mandates Teacher Evaluations

This from the Huffington Post:

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) shifted a major teacher evaluation requirement out of his rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act -- known as No Child Left Behind -- over the weekend, shifting the dynamics of the debate over the bill's passage.

The initial sweeping education law called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was enacted in 1965, and a 2001 reauthorization under George W. Bush took on the name, "No Child Left Behind." The law has been up for reauthorization since 2007. Harkin's rewrite, the first comprehensive reform to the legislation, came out of negotiations with Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions committee that Harkin chairs.

Harkin released a draft of the bill last week that required school districts and states which receive educator development funding to create teacher evaluation systems that would take student performance into account. But changes over the weekend through a manager's amendment removed the requirement from the bill, instead shifting the teacher evaluation component to a competitive grant program called the Teacher Incentive Fund.

A Harkin staffer told The Huffington Post that the changes resulted from conversations with teachers, teachers' unions, and HELP committee members. Harkin reluctantly shifted the language in search of a bipartisan path forward, the staffer explained on background because she wasn't authorized to speak on the record about the issue.

The changes resulted in Enzi's first public showing of enthusiastic support for the bill. "This is not a perfect bill, nor does it solve every education issue," Enzi said Monday in a statement. "But it will make a huge, positive difference to our nation's young people."

The move led to increased support from teachers' unions, but the withdrawal of support from data-driven education reform groups. It also led to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's criticism of Harkin's capitulation...

NCLB Waivers: Part of Obama's Re-Election Strategy

This from Politics K-12:

With President Obama's jobs plan stalled in Congress and his re-election campaign saddled by low approval numbers and high unemployment, his administration plans to roll out a series of policy initiatives that show action in the face of deadlock.

This week, he plans to announce efforts to help underwater mortgage holders and struggling student-loan borrowers, according to the New York Times and Politico's Playbook.

And an important part of this "we can't wait" narrative: Since Congress couldn't get the job done on rewriting No Child Left Behind, his administration took action to give states and districts relief.

Mike Allen, in today's Playbook, quotes a White House official who was explaining the new message: "[W]e decided to stop waiting for Congress to fix No Child Left Behind, and decided to give states the flexibility they need to help our children meet higher standards."

And the Times writes as an example of several steps Obama officials have already undertaken: "[The administration] announced waivers for states with schools falling short of the proficiency standards of the 2002 No Child Left Behind education law—a move that prompted some senators to compromise on an alternative rewrite of the law." ...

At Long Last?

HELP Committee to Move Forward

on Bill to Reauthorize the

Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Next week’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee mark up of legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) will begin on WEDNESDAY at 10 A.M. The comprehensive bill will reflect 10 months of bipartisan negotiations between Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-WY), and will address many of the problems created by ESEA’s most recent reauthorization, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), while advancing America’s commitment to helping all children succeed.

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Legislation to Reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

DATE: Wednesday, October 19th

TIME: 10:00 A.M.

PLACE:106 Dirksen Senate Office Building

SOURCE: Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Press Release

This from Eduflack:

The day has finally come. This afternoon, Senate HELP Chairman Tom Harkin (IA) officially unveiled his draft of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The bill offers the sexy title "Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act of 2011."

The highlights: Adequate Yearly Progress is history. Race to the Top and i3 are woven into the tapestry of ESEA. HQT is gone, replaced by a plan to better evaluate teachers.

Alyson Klein over at EdWeek's Politics K-12 has a great summary of the bill and why we were offered what was released today.

Even in advance of the release, civil rights organizations expressed concern about the ESEA draft, worried that the death of AYP provides the potential for turning back recent accountability measures and expanding some already dreadful achievement gaps. You can see the full letter sent by six civil rights orgs today to Senator Harkin here. That drumbeat is likely only going to get louder as the language is further sliced and diced.

One big question remains — Is it necessary? At this stage of the game, NCLB is known mostly for its testing provisions, and most of those remain in the draft. Replacing AYP with another tool and funding RttT and i3 on an annual basis are steps the EdSec can take, with or without a new ESEA (as long as he has a congressional checkbook to support the latter). And we won't even raise the issue of how this fits with House Education Chairman John Kline (MN)'s piecemeal approach to reauth.

So while this finally puts a flag in the edu-ground for Harkin and Senate Democrats, no one should be rushing to schedule a bill signing any time soon. And if we truly want to get it on the calendar now, there are probably some lovely openings in the spring of 2013 just waiting to be booked. That sounds about right for an ESEA reauth signing.

But we have to start somewhere, don't we?

This from Sherman Dorn:

The fundamental dilemma with...hard targets is that while they may be necessary in the short term, they are very difficult to sustain politically in the long term. Scold fatigue sets in after a few years of suburban schools’ being told most of them suck. The reality is that while this year’s high school sophomores might not be learning everything you or I might like, many suburban parents are happy with the schools their children are attending.

That fact does not mean suburban schools are doing well by all their students, but rather that we’re in a particularly bad policy place if a “you mostly suck” strategy is the best we can do. It also happens to be a particularly bad political place (see Carter, James).

41 Applicants Lining Up for NCLB Waivers

This from Politics K-12:

[This week] was the deadline for states to give the U.S. Department of Education a heads-up that they want to apply for a waiver under the No Child Left Behind Act, and 37 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico say they plan to go ahead.

These notices of "intent" to apply aren't binding—and would-be applicants can change their minds and decide to apply, or not to apply. But the list, which the department released this morning, gives an early indication of the status of waiver interest across the country.

The waivers would offer added flexibility under the law, in exchange for adopting certain education-reform conditions. The rest of the states didn't file a notice of intent, which is merely a courtesy for the department.

In addition to saying if they plan to apply, those filing a notice also indicated when they plan to apply: by the first-round Nov. 14 deadline, in mid-February, or some other time.

These are the 17 early-birds that say they plan to apply by Nov. 14: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Assessment Date to be Released

On Tuesday, September 27, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) will release data related to student assessment scores. The data in the reports are embargoed until 12:01 a.m. ET on September 27, meaning that media outlets may report on the data at any time that day.
            Three report sections will be made publicly available on that day, posted in the KDE Open House section of the agency’s website.
            The three report sections are:

• Achievement

o    No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Reports

o    Interim Performance Reports

o    Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) Combined Reading and Mathematics Proficient/Distinguished Report

o    Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) Combined Reading and Mathematics Proficient/Distinguished Trend Report

• Readiness for College/Career

o    High School Graduates College/Career Readiness

• Gap

o    2011 Combined Reading and Mathematics Gap-to-Goal Comparison Report

            Senate Bill 1, passed in the 2009 session of the Kentucky General Assembly, requires a new system of assessment and accountability for the state’s public schools, beginning in the 2011-12 school year. For the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years, schools and districts are held publicly accountable through their federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) status, and student test performance data is reported annually.
            For details on the new assessment and accountability model, visit the Unbridled Learning page of the KDE website.

SOURCE: KDE Press release

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...

Two GOP Candidates Criticize NCLB in Debate

This from Politics K-12:

Last night, the Republicans held a debate in Iowa, sponsored by Fox News and the Washington Examiner. Education came up five minutes from the end of the two-hour debate. Two candidates were asked if—as president— they would continue to enforce the No Child Left Behind Act.

The answer was an emphatic "no", at least from Jon Huntsman, a businessman and former governor of Utah, and Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza. (Other candidates didn't get a crack at the question.)

"No Child Left Behind hasn't worked for this country," Huntsman said. He'd like to see more school choice and expanded use of technology in classrooms.

Cain said he believed that education is a local issue. "The federal government should get out of the business of trying to micromanage the education of our children," he said.

Absent from the debate was recently-announced candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry who has said the federal government needs to stop "dictating" school policy and limit spending in his speech to the National Conference of State Legislatures last week. Perry outlined a sharply contrasting vision from that of the Bush and Obama administrations on the federal role in creating jobs and spurring innovation during a bleak economic period. "Government doesn't create jobs, otherwise the last two and a half years of stimulus would have worked," Perry told lawmakers, adding that "no government program, however well-intentioned," can put a sufficient charge into a lagging economy.

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.

Idaho Threatens To Defy 'No Child Left Behind'

I love these little rebellions. They work right up to the minute the feds threaten to keep their money.

This from NPR:

A rebellion over "No Child Left Behind" has begun, and the starting point is Idaho. Many states say they need emergency relief from the controversial education law's requirements, or a huge number of decent schools will face sanctions. Idaho says it will just ignore the law this year.

Under No Child Left Behind, Idaho is supposed to identify a growing number of schools as failing because they can't get enough students to pass a state test.

Idaho schools superintendent Tom Luna says he just won't do it.

"We're not going to identify more schools as 'needs improvement,' because that is not the correct way to identify them," Luna says.

Every year, the law's targets keep rising, Luna says. Many schools that have made great strides in improving achievement still fall below that bar as it floats upward. Congress was expected to make adjustments, to give schools credit for their progress. But Luna says that in Washington, D.C., the law has become a political football in a gridlocked Congress, "and we're not going to be a pawn in those games."

Now, technically, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan could punish Idaho if the state refuses to obey the law. But Duncan may have encouraged this reaction by announcing recently that he would grant waivers to states that could not meet the law's standards. Duncan said he had no choice because Congress has failed to renew the law.

What Duncan probably had in mind was the reaction from Kentucky: Rather than rebelling, state Education Commissioner Terry Holliday is respectfully asking Duncan to cut him some slack. But he's proposing to give something in return...

Hat tip to the Commish

Holliday seeks local support for state’s request to replace NCLB AYP with new system

Seeks “fresh start” for school progress efforts

with 2011-12 academic year

This from Brad Hughes at KSBA:

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday Wednesday called on school leaders to quickly and strongly back Gov. Steve Beshear’s request to replace federal No Child Left Behind progress standards with those in the state’s new accountability model “or you’ll be telling me that you support dual systems.”

Speaking in Lexington at the opening session of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents summer conference, Holliday said opposition has begun to the waiver request that he and the governor made in a letter sent to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

“I need you all to come out strong that you support our waiver request. The push-back began this morning. Don’t let us get caught in a political issue here,” Holliday said.

“I’ve been telling you all year long I would request a waiver to eliminate AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress – the multiple measurements schools must achieve under NCLB) in Kentucky. Some folks in the General Assembly don’t think I’ve said that, but I’m on record many places.”

Almost since the passage of NCLB nine years ago, educators nationally have criticized the part of the law that requires schools and districts to reach every one of the student subgroups, or be labeled as failing. In Kentucky, the state accountability system, formerly known as CATS, created a second measurement that led to much confusion among parents when schools drew high ratings for progress under CATS, but received a “fails to meet” on the NCLB yardsticks.

“We could keep running two systems (but) I don’t know anybody in this room who was happy with AYP,” Holliday said. “If we continue and you don’t make real significant improvement, 82 percent to 87 percent of your districts won’t make AYP, 65 percent of schools will not make AYP.

“My choice as commissioner was to run two systems, and I didn’t think you wanted that. I thought you wanted me to move forward with one accountability system that was more fair and more balanced and we get a fresh start. That’s what I promised you. This coming school year is a fresh start.

“I need your voice to be unified in your community and in the state that you support our waiver request,” Holliday told the superintendents, adding he would be making the same request to KSBA, the Kentucky Association of School Administrators and other education groups.

KASS President Stu Silberman said he expected the superintendents at the conference would mull over the commissioner’s request, and determine whether to take action on Friday at the conference business meeting.

During his remarks, Holliday also confirmed that Kentucky will be applying for both segments of new federal Race to the Top funds. The Obama administration has allocated $500 million to support early childhood development programs and another $200 million for school innovation efforts – the latter eligible only to Kentucky and eight other states that were unfunded finalists in a much larger Race to the Top program last year.

“Kentucky will definitely compete. Those (early childhood) dollars could become available as early as January to coordinate statewide kindergarten readiness assessments,” Holliday said. “We’ll pull a team together to apply by September and we’ll be on a quick turnaround for feedback from your districts.”

The KASS summer conference continues through Friday morning in Lexington.

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.

Gov. Beshear Seeks Flexibility for No Child Left Behind Act

Governor, Education Commissioner want

Kentucky’s accountability model to be the standard

FRANKFORT,Ky. (June 20, 2011) –Calling state authority and autonomy critical components of educationimprovement, Governor Steve Beshear and Education Commissioner Terry Holliday today called on the U.S. Department of Education for flexibility in public school accountability under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
The Governor sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asking to replace the public school accountability portions of the federal law with Kentucky’s ownmodel. Kentucky is the first state to request the change.

“I believe that federal law should set high expectations for education goals, but grant power and judgment to states and districts with regard to the means of achieving those goals,” said Gov. Beshear.“Kentucky has been a leader in this area, as the first state to adopt the Common Core Academic Standards and in the Kentucky Board of Education’supcoming approval of a rigorous accountability model. I want this state to continue as a leader on the national level.”

Holliday agreed that Kentucky is in a position to provide more rigorous educational experience for its public school students because of its work in testing andaccountability.

“Providing us with the flexibility to use our own accountability model for NCLB purposes will support our focus of college and/or career readiness for all students,” he said.

The main component of Kentucky’s proposed accountability model is incorporated into state regulation (703 KAR 5:200), which was approved by the Kentucky Board of Education in April. The remaining elements will be considered for final approval by the board at its August 3-4 meeting.

The full model is a balanced approach that incorporates all aspects of school and district work and is organized around the Kentucky Board of Education’s four strategic priorities: next-generation learners, next-generation professionals, next-generation support systems and next-generation schools/districts.

Along with 42 other states,Kentucky is part of the Next-Generation State Accountability Systems Taskforce,which is supported by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

The Council of Chief StateSchool Officers established the Next-Generation State Accountability Taskforce in summer 2010 to solidify the commitment of states to building public schoolaccountability systems focused on college and career readiness. Kentucky hasbeen an early participant in this work and is the first to adopt a next-generation accountability model that can serve as a prototype for other states.

This taskforce is focused on furthering states’ leadership in promoting college‐ and career‐readiness for all students by developing and implementing improved accountability systems. Today, CCSSO released a Statement of Principles to which states involved in the taskforce have committed for designing school and district accountability systems:

· Align performance goals for all schools anddistricts to college‐and career‐readystandards.
· Make meaningful annual accountabilitydeterminations for all schools and districts.
· Focus initial determinations on studentoutcomes, including status and growth.
· Continue to disaggregate data by group, forreporting and accountability.
· Report timely, actionable, accessible data toall stakeholders, including outcomes and richer data to drive continuousimprovement.
· Promote deeper diagnostic reviews, asappropriate, to better link accountability determinations to meaningfulsupports and interventions.
· Build district and school capacity for sustained improvement.
· Target specifically lowest-performing schools for significant interventions.
· Promote innovation, evaluation and continuous improvement in accountability systems over time.

While states agree to adhere tothe principles outlined above, each state will design its own accountabilitysystem that is valid, useful and legitimate in each state's individual context.

The taskforce has designed a comprehensive Roadmap on Next‐Generation State Accountability Systems, written by states for states to guide building accountability systems centered on preparing all students for success in college and career. The guide will assist states in building accountability systems that adhere to the principles developed by the taskforce while alsoconforming to each state's unique context.

As NCLB (also known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) nears reauthorization, CCSSO has asked the U.S. Congress to codify the principles of next‐generation accountability systems, while leaving discretion to states to design the details of the systems and to promote continuous improvement over time.

NCLB was passed in 2001 and requires states to test students annually in reading and mathematics.

The results of these tests are reported in terms of the percentages of students performing at proficient orhigher levels, and those percentages (along with other factors) are used to determine whether schools and districts have made adequate yearly progress (AYP). Under NCLB, schools and districts funded by the federal Title I program may be subject to consequences if they do not make AYP.

SOURCE: The Gov's Press Release

K-12 Funding, Policy on Radar for New Congress

This from Politics K-12:

President Obama has a long list of K-12 items on the policy agenda for his next two years in office, but it remains to be seen how his priorities will jibe with those of the new, more conservative Congress that took office last week with many members intent on shrinking the federal government and squeezing spending.

Although renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—whose current version is the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002—is being touted as one area of potential common ground, the task is politically tricky for reasons that go beyond partisan divisions: There are deep disagreements within both parties over the best direction to take K-12 policy...

Mr. Obama’s push for a one-year extension of that program and of the Investing in Innovation program, also a stimulus initiative, could face tough sledding in a Congress...