Review KERA, but don't throw it out

This from the Messenger-Inquirer (subscription):

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

State board must deal with Erwin flap

This from the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer (subscription) 5 May 2007:

The Kentucky board of education has a big problem, not entirely of its own making, but a big problem nevertheless. And it is a problem that must be resolved. Barbara Erwin, the woman selected by the board to be Kentucky's next commissioner of education, has been hit with harsh criticism by parents and board members in districts she has headed in the past 13 years.

Erwin, who now leads the 15,000-student Community Unit District 303 in St. Charles, Ill., previously served as superintendent of school systems in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Allen, Texas; and the Tipton Community School Corp. in Tipton, Ind.

A St. Charles parent accused Erwin of coming into districts, creating turmoil and leaving things in disarray. "You don't come in and explode the place and leave the place in rubble," Bill Page said. A former Scottsdale school board member said some of Erwin's moves deepened divisions within the district. Another former member of that board said morale in the district "went in the sewer" and called Erwin dictatorial.In Texas, according to newspaper reports, critics said teachers and staff members quit their jobs in the Allen district because the atmosphere was intimidating, with Erwin to blame.

This comes at the same time a mistake was found in the resume Erwin provided Kentucky officials. It stated she was named Texas Superintendent of the Year in consecutive years. It was true for the first year but not the second. She said it was simply a mistake by someone who typed her resume.

As for the criticisms hurled at her by parents and former board members, Erwin defended herself by saying she made difficult decisions that didn't please everyone.We don't know if Erwin is a strong, change-agent leader unafraid of making tough decisions for the betterment of student learning or a heavy-handed administrator who insists on having her way to the detriment of learning. We know she is credited for improved test scores and higher achievement in Illinois and Texas, and she's also noted for introducing innovative uses of technology.

We also wonder if gender bias is playing a part. Men are often hailed as strong leaders when they shake things up to get desired results. When women do the same thing, they sometimes hit a wall of resistance.

The state school board is correct to say that Erwin's accomplishments should not be overlooked amid criticisms. But we question the so-called thorough research into Erwin's background performed by the search firm the board hired. This information came as a surprise, and it should not have.

We couldn't agree more with Bob Sexton, director of the Prichard Committee on Education, who said Thursday that the poor job done by the search firm put the state board in a bad spot.It is now up to the school board to step back and evaluate everything that has happened and determine the truth, with Erwin given every opportunity to respond to the criticism. To simply rely on the previous report of the search firm will not suffice for a decision of this importance.