State education officials call for new academic standards, testing system

The Next Era in Kentucky Educational Progress

A rumored position paper from KDE surfaced today fuelled by a growing push for changes to CATS, the state accountability system. And, more rumors persist of backroom bargaining where the chips include more adequate funding in exchange for changes to the testing system.

This from the Herald-Leader:

The state's top education officials released a position paper Monday calling for new academic standards and a revamped statewide testing system to measure how well students and schools meet them.

The document, released by the Kentucky Department of Education and Kentucky Board of Education, comes as the Kentucky General Assembly is contemplating dramatic changes to the state's education system, including a Republican-led push for an overhaul of math standards and the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) in the current legislative session.

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear also requested a thorough review of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act in his State of the Commonwealth Message last week.

Department of Education spokeswoman Lisa Gross said Monday that education officials began working on their position paper well before current legislative discussions...

I'm not sure the rumor has been around all that long, but clearly, former Commissioner Jon Draud and current Interim Commissioner Elaine Farris have been meeting with legislative leaders for months now in an effort to map out a new system.

The document includes a call for higher, clearer, fewer and narrower academic standards, which will lead to the development of tests that provide valuable data for teachers and other stakeholders. The paper is a collaborative effort that contains input from many sources, including state associations and groups.

It is also refreshing that KDE calls for the development of interim assessments to accompany the new system. The standards - formative - summative approach is the right way to go.

To comply with state and federal mandates, Kentucky’s public schools participate in the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS), which includes:

• Kentucky Core Content Tests, standards-based assessments in seven content areas
• Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS), the ACT, EXPLORE and PLAN tests
• nonacademic data (dropout, graduation, retention, attendance and transition to adult life rates)
• alternate assessments for highly disabled students

CATS provides data used to determine school and district progress in meeting unique goals. Information from CATS also is used to comply with the mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

The position paper is designed to provide guidance as the state moves to the next generation of assessment and accountability. Five key principles guided the development of this document:

1. Development of standards must happen before the selection or creation of the assessment.
2. The annual state assessment system must provide diagnostic, longitudinal growth data and overall proficiency levels at the individual student level.
3. The annual state assessment must measure both the knowledge and higher-level thinking required by the standards.
4. The annual state assessment should be built to support interim and classroom assessments.
5. Accountability is necessary for ongoing educational improvement.

The complete Position Paper, The Next Era in Kentucky Educational Progress, follows:

The Next Era in Kentucky Educational Progress

A position paper from the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Board of Education

Executive Summary

Kentucky’s educational progress depends on a strong, valid and reliable system of assessment and accountability. The development of higher, clearer, fewer and narrower academic standards is just the first step in a process that will lead to a system that provides valuable, usable data for many stakeholders.

A robust, viable system will maintain Kentucky’s work to lead students to proficiency and beyond.

This position paper outlines the state’s plan and vision for the next generation of assessment and accountability. It is a collaborative effort among many groups and individuals, and it contains input from many sources.

Five key principles guided the development of this document:

1. Development of standards must happen before the selection or creation of the assessment.
2. The annual state assessment system must provide diagnostic, longitudinal growth data and overall proficiency levels at the individual student level.
3. The annual state assessment must measure both the knowledge and higher-level thinking required by the standards.
4. The annual state assessment should be built to support interim and classroom assessments.
5. Accountability is necessary for ongoing educational improvement.
6. The goal of this document is to provide a framework upon which Kentucky’s student, school and district assessment and accountability system can be designed.

The goal of this document is to provide a framework upon which Kentucky’s student, school and district assessment and accountability system can be designed.

A Call to Action

The world Kentucky students face when they leave our classrooms today is drastically different from the one high school graduates encountered nearly two decades ago when the state’s 20th-century educational reforms were first enacted. It is time to make significant changes to the educational system to ensure that every Kentucky student acquires the skills required in the 21st century to be successful in the global economy.

A comprehensive and well-balanced assessment system that assures concrete knowledge, critical thinking, creativity, adaptability and initiative – skills that are crucial to today’s success – can serve as the engine that drives progress into the next era. This assessment system must meet the many requirements outlined by state and federal law -- specifically, the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, on which at least $214 million in federal funding hinges -- and provide balanced assessment and accountability. The work begins with a well-planned standards revision process followed immediately by teacher training and, ultimately, the revision of curriculum and instructional practices.

To that end, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) stands ready to meet these new challenges and design the next generation of standards, assessment and accountability.

Streamlined Educational Standards, Beginning with Mathematics

At the heart of the needed changes is a hard look at the curriculum standards that are currently in place.

While these content standards were revised as recently as 2006, recent developments and research, especially in mathematics, call for immediate action.

The Kentucky Department of Education has been involved in various initiatives through several national organizations that have all led to the same definitive conclusion: Focus and improvement is needed in mathematics standards and assessments to better enable students to succeed in the international economy of the 21st century.

KDE agrees with the assertion from recent publications, such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ (NCTM) Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics, that “lacking clear, consistent priorities and focus, teachers stretch to find the time to present important mathematical topics effectively and in depth.” KDE contends that this is the case across all content areas, but agrees that mathematics is the area of most urgent concern and the place to begin standards revision.

KDE is working with a 15-state consortium facilitated by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) to complete a fast-track revision process that will bring truly internationally benchmarked mathematics and language arts (reading and writing) standards to every Kentucky classroom. This provides Kentucky with the opportunity to have national and international comparisons of students’ progress toward common standards.

This work will answer the call from Kentucky legislators and policymakers, the Kentucky Committee on Mathematics Achievement, the Commissioner’s Task Force on Assessment and Accountability, Achieve, Inc., the American Diploma Project, NCTM, the National Mathematics Advisory Panel and others for more streamlined mathematics and language arts standards that can, in turn, be assessed authentically within a balanced assessment system.

This process will ensure that all content standards taught in Kentucky classrooms are:

Higher

• articulating what students need to know to be successful in college and career (beyond four years of college)
• using national and international benchmarks so that citizens can compete in the global
  economy and educators can compare Kentucky students’ performance to the world
• including an analysis of the challenges and development of student thought processes during learning

Clearer

• communicating in a format teachers, students, families and citizens can understand
• including learning targets and progressions, enabling teachers to know when students
  have achieved standards

Fewer/Narrower

• focusing main standards through a judicious process using research-based evidence
• fitting within the instructional timeframe of Kentucky’s school calendar and reducing
  testing time

The process will begin immediately with mathematics and language arts. Within 24 months, the necessary instructional resources and resulting assessments will be in place.

The Next Era in Kentucky Assessment and Accountability

In addition to the need for higher, clearer and fewer curriculum standards, KDE also understands that lessons learned in the area of testing clearly call upon Kentucky to rethink the state’s assessment and accountability system. The Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS), and the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS) before it, met the needs for school accountability during their times. It’s now time for Kentucky to move toward a system that more clearly impacts daily classroom instruction, motivates students for individual success, provides longitudinal measures that give clear feedback to educators and families and also can supply the accountability measures taxpayers deserve and citizens expect.
Kentucky’s opportunity to build the next generation of assessment must rely on five guiding principles.

1. Development of standards must happen before the selection or creation of the assessment.

A fundamental step in designing a state assessment system is to first develop the standards that need to be taught and mastered in each grade level and in each content area. In order to have a coherent statewide system, it is imperative that standards drive the choices made about testing and not vice versa. After standards are set, test questions specifically tied to those can be developed. The standards should be vertically aligned and developmental in nature to provide high-quality longitudinal growth data.

By developing standards first, the state clearly articulates the expectations that each student must meet. Once the standards are in place, the assessment system then measures how well students perform against its state standards. The main type of test used to measure standards must be a standards-based or criterion-referenced assessment. This type of assessment provides specific details about how students meet specific standards. A criterion-referenced/ standards-based test is designed ultimately to allow all students to meet the criteria, unlike a norm-referenced assessment that is designed primarily to rank-order students.

2. The annual state assessment system must provide diagnostic, longitudinal growth data and overall proficiency levels at the individual student level, as well as school and district accountability.

The annual state assessment will provide scores that answer two questions:

1. How well does the student perform overall in a content area?
2. How well does the student perform on selected standards/objectives?

The proficiency-level score helps meet federal guidelines and provides information about how students perform on state goals. The diagnostic information is more useful at the classroom level to help teachers identify general areas of weakness and strength in their curricula. Also, it provides information for the student and family about areas of strength or weakness. Diagnostic information provides as many details as possible. For instance, diagnostic information may be able to provide summaries of the misconceptions students exhibit when they choose certain answers on the test. This type of information is useful to help teachers make instructional change in the classroom. Ideally, a significant number of items must be released to teachers and administrators each year so that they can use in-depth item analysis methodologies to further refine instruction and address the individual learning needs of students.

In order to provide both proficiency level and diagnostic scores, the state assessment system would need to be linked to a clear set of fewer and focused standards that could be measured in an end-of-year test. In addition, the test would need to use the same items for all students in order to determine the individual student level diagnostics. A single test for all students, rather than multiple forms, would be required.

3. The annual state assessment must measure both the knowledge and higher-level thinking required by the standards.

The state annual assessment must span the spectrum of thinking skills from knowledge retrieval to solving complex problems. The test must incorporate both multiple choice questions and constructed response items (short answer, extended answer, open response). Multiple choice questions are valuable for their ability to judge knowledge and comprehension. Constructed response items provide a way to measure higher levels of thinking.

KDE and KBE will investigate appropriate means of assessing content-area knowledge:

• using programmatic assessments for arts & humanities
• reviewing the practical living/vocational studies assessment
• reviewing assessments for children with disabilities (while meeting requirements of NCLB and IDEA)
• reconsidering the 4th-grade portfolio to determine if it is the best approach to measure writing instruction at the elementary level

4. The annual state assessment should be built to support interim and classroom assessments.

By creating an annual state assessment based on fewer, narrower and focused standards, the state system will help support the development of interim and classroom measures, resulting in a balanced assessment system that provides ongoing instructional information to teachers, principals, students and families.

An annual state assessment alone cannot provide the type of ongoing information needed by teachers to help students learn. Once-a-year results are important, but the most valuable assessments are those that occur more frequently. Two general types of assessment are needed:

• Interim assessments are formal tests, aligned with the defined standards, given throughout the year (two to four times) and help predict performance on the state’s annual assessment and provide diagnostic information.
• Classroom assessments gather ongoing data and provide the frequent feedback critical to improving instruction and improving student achievement.

Interim and classroom assessments must be clearly linked to the state’s educational standards and the annual assessment. By creating a balanced assessment system, classroom, district and state assessments are aligned and support each other. The interim and classroom assessments must be supported by the state through the creation of standards and resources to bolster instruction around those standards.

5. Accountability is necessary for ongoing educational improvement.

Accountability is an evolving experience that is aimed at improving learning and accelerating academic progress. Accountability has improved Kentucky’s national educational standings. Prior to the accountability system in the 1990s, Kentucky was frequently cited as near last in academic achievement nationwide. During this 18-year effort to improve Kentucky’s educational system, Kentucky has moved from last to middle of the pack. There is still a long way to go and much work to be done, but accountability did ignite change.

The next generation of assessment in Kentucky must include accountability to improve the achievement levels of every student. The fundamental principle of accountability is to motivate students, educators and the public to continually improve Kentucky’s educational system. The accountability model should include both academic and nonacademic indicators (graduation, retention, dropout and other rates) and focus on school and student growth.

With the creation of more narrow and concise standards aligned across years, it will be possible to move Kentucky to a longitudinal growth model that looks at how much academic growth occurs for each student and then factors that growth into the accountability system. In this method, there is an incentive to improve every student’s achievement level. A successful longitudinal system calls for the creation of a sound set of subject matter standards aligned vertically and running through courses from elementary to high school. By aligning the tests across years, student performance can be tracked over time.

Moving to the Next Generation

As we move to the next generation of standards and the resulting state assessment package, we must consider many dimensions. Decisions must take into account the need to meet federal guidelines concerning state assessments. Those guidelines require federal approval prior to a state receiving its Title I allocation, and the guidelines are not trivial.

The next generation of assessment and accountability must be a coherent, time-saving system that provides quick turnaround and balances:

• reading, mathematics tested once a year in grades 3–8 and once in high school (as required by NCLB)
• science, writing and social studies tested at least once each at elementary, middle and high school
• EXPLORE, PLAN and ACT in grades 8, 10 and 11 for college readiness and national comparison information

In addition, a realistic timeline is necessary to ensure success. KDE calls for work to begin immediately on mathematics standards that could be ready by January 2010 and a mathematics test ready for use by spring 2011. Other content areas could begin work for phase-in beginning spring 2012. By phasing in different content areas, it may be possible to maintain the accountability trend line to meet the current requirements of NCLB by 2014.

Improvement in instruction does not happen through the revision to standards and assessment alone; it requires professional resources and training. An investment in teacher knowledge and expertise will produce positive change in student learning. The Kentucky Department of Education, in collaboration with educational cooperatives, postsecondary institutions and other networks, will make this investment through professional growth opportunities. Priority needs in the areas of assessment literacy and high quality instruction will be addressed that enable Kentucky educators to effectively utilize Kentucky’s new standards within a balanced assessment system.

Achieving the next era in Kentucky’s educational progress will call for new funding allocations. Initially, the collaborative revision of mathematics and language arts standards will require KDE staff to attend the Council of Chief State School Officers’ national meetings and to visit partnering states. Implementing the research that is necessary to evaluate instructional progress in Kentucky will require measures beyond state and national assessments; therefore, tools such as the national Survey of Enacted Curriculum will need to be implemented throughout the state in order to better measure the instructional progress that Kentucky teachers are making as they implement the new standards. Additional standards development in content areas beyond mathematics and language arts will require partnerships that extend beyond the CCSSO network. KDE must collaborate with other state departments of education and with international experts in standards development in the effort to focus instruction and balanced assessment on international standards.

The assessment development will be dependent on the standards and the ultimate test design. Some of the early work of a developer, if needed, will overlap the work of the current system of assessment, thus calling for temporary, additional money to fund the simultaneous efforts.

Conclusion

To ensure that Kentucky’s assessment and accountability system provides valuable instructional information and reliable data, it must be refocused. The development of higher, clearer, fewer and narrower academic standards, starting with mathematics, will be the starting point.

Five principles should guide this process:

1. Development of standards must happen before the selection or creation of the assessment.
2. The annual state assessment system must provide diagnostic, longitudinal growth data and overall proficiency levels at the individual student level.
3. The annual state assessment must measure both the knowledge and higher-level thinking required by the standards.
4. The annual state assessment should be built to support interim and classroom assessments.
5. Accountability is necessary for ongoing educational improvement.

Kentucky is poised to move forward in the area of standards revision, particularly in the area of mathematics. This work must have one overriding goal – to ensure that the state’s standards, assessment and accountability all focus on what is best for every child in the public school setting.

A New Concensus to Improve Schools?

Two sets of prominent educators and policy leaders released statements last June emphasizing different answers to the fundamental question facing school reform in America:

Should schools be held primarily responsible for improving student achievement, or do they need help from health and social programs to ensure their students’ success?

The first group in a statement titled “A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education,” asserted that schools can’t do it alone. “We need to work on these other fronts as well,” said Helen F. Ladd, a professor of public-policy studies and economics at Duke University and one of the three co-chairs of the group, referring to the call for better health services for children and high-quality preschool, after-school, and summer programs.

The group, whose stetement was signed by Richard Day of KSN&C, is made up primarily of researchers and former federal officials, and is trying to focus debates on the difficulty schools have raising achievement if students don’t have access to health care, early education, and other services.

A day later, a second group launched.

The Education Equality Project, formally launched New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist, argues that “public education today remains mired in the status quo” and “shows little prospect of meaningful improvement” without significant changes in the ways schools are structured, its statement said.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is the only person I'm aware of who signed on with both groups. And now an effort is being made to bring the two groups together.

Politics K-12 is reporting that a new concensus may be emerging.

At a two-day summit in Washington, a group of 14 education policy leaders, including Linda Darling-Hammond, the NEA’s John I. Wilson, and two former governors, pieced together a set of six recommendations to President Obama.

1. Assure Readiness: Success in the classroom requires that children arrive ready to learn – cognitively, physically, and psychologically.
2. Provide Rich Learning Environments for All Students: All young people in America deserve rich learning environments that challenge their thinking, promote learning by doing and focus on higher-order thinking skills that encourage life-long learning and prepare young people to be engaged, collaborative citizens.
3. Improve Overall Standards, Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment: Standards should be more common, more rigorous, and benchmarked against the top international standards. Curriculum, instruction, and assessment must be aligned with each other and with those international benchmarked standards.
4. Improve Overall Teacher Quality: Policies and systems must be in place to promote best practices in teaching, reward high performers, and provide opportunities for feedback and development for those in need of improvement.
5. Ensure the Development of 21st Century School Leaders: School leadership should be focused on a combination of student learning, progress, and culture-building, while enhancing the quality of teaching.
6. Generate and Use Research Effectively: Ensure the use of existing research and advance new research topics that address issues specific to 21st Century challenges.

The consensus paper doesn't wade very far into the thornier issues facing K-12, such as how to get rid of ineffective teachers, or what common standards would look like. The group also debated, and decided against, using the words "charter schools" in the consensus document.

Former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, now leads the Alliance for Excellent Education. Other members include:
--Former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, chairman, Strong American Schools
--Felicia Y. Blasingame, president/CEO of South Central Community Services, Inc.
--Alan M. Blankstein, president and founder of the HOPE Foundation
--Anne L. Bryant, executive director, National School Boards Association
--Linda Darling-Hammond, professor, Stanford University
--Dan Domenech, executive director, American Assoc. of School Administrators
--Sharon Lynn Kagan, professor, Yale University
--Debby Kasak, executive director, National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform
--Michael L. Lomax, president, United Negro College Fund
--Pedro A. Noguera, professor, New York University
--Karen Pittman, executive director, Forum for Youth Investment
--Joe Williams, executive director, Democrats for Education Reform
--John I. Wilson, executive director, National Education Association

Kentucky Students Improve on A.P. Tests

This from Ryan Alessi at the Herald-Leader:

But trail the national average

Kentucky is tied for 31st in the percentage of students who passed at least one advance-placement exam in high school last year, according to the College Board's annual report.

Ten percent of public high school students in Kentucky and Indiana scored at least a 3 on an A.P. exam in 2008, which was below the national average of 15.2 percent. But that's steady improvement for Kentucky since 2003, when 7 percent of students passed at least one A.P. exam...

C-J: JCTA on the Path to Extremism

This from the Courier-Journal:

Drop the bullhorn

It's not surprising that a state review of Jefferson County Public Schools finds a non-cooperative relationship between the district and the Jefferson County Teachers Association. The questions are, who's responsible for the bad blood and what can be done about it?

There's seldom a governmental standoff in which all fault lies on one side. And that's not the situation here. But the non-renewal of 18 teacher contracts for alleged disciplinary and performance problems -- which were necessary to protect kids' educational opportunities -- seems to have put JCTA on the path to extremism...

KSN&C Backstory.

Now that D's and R's are Talking, Let's Slow Down and Redo Assessment Right

Since Governor Steve Beshear has signalled Republicans that KERA is on the table for discussion - and that sentiment has been echoed by no less than Harry Moberley, who single-handedly killed Senate Bill 1 the last time around - it's no longer reasonable for KERA fans to assume that education reform in Kentucky will remain the same after the current legislative session. It's probably a good idea to think seriously about what those changes might bring.

It is also important to look at the interaction of several simultaneous efforts. For example, everyone is focused on budget cutting and further reductions to KDE are in the cross hairs of some legislators. At the same time SB 1 intends to replace assessment in several areas with "program evaluations."

Now, the last time I talked to Elaine Farris about her already decimated KDE staff, I think she indicated the curriculum department was down to one or two language arts consultants. Further reductions to KDE could leave ...what? ... none? Nobody in their right mind expects a program evaluation to have the same motivating power as an assessment. The department's ability to drive the program evaluation at the local level is something close to zero. So it will fall to each district to police themselves.

Sweet.

If SB 1's intention is to take the pressure off schools to perform for all students, it's on the right track. But, I think we can predict weaker student performance as a result.

Here are some random musings on the new, but not necessarily improved, Senate Bill 1. Each bullet is a proposed change followed by my questions or comments.

• "add an expectation relating to performing arts" OK. Fine. Objectives that help students become better public speakers would be particularly welcome. But apparently these objectives won't be assessed, so principals across Kentucky will know that any efforts to meet the requirement will only have to be superficial to pass muster.


• "restate the purposes and components of a balanced assessment program including both formative and summative assessments" This could be good. In fact, if the original KERA deliberations had been given time to build an accountability system properly, it would have started with curriculum standards; formative assessment; adjusted instruction; summative assessment; and the accountability system on top of that. Instead it was implemented in a top-down fashion, which contributed to its unpopularity.


• "eliminate the open-response questions requirement" This is a wrong idea. Proponents of SB 1 have elevated legitimate concerns over reliability to heights that may ultimately hurt students. Students must be strongly encouraged to think and write. Open response items, however imperfect, require higher-order thinking on the part of students. Any retreat from that goal is problematic.


• "require writing portfolios be maintained for each student in grade 5 to 12 but eliminate from the state assessment" Neutering the writing portfolios will cripple writing instruction in many places. Whatever remains in the assessment will draw the focus of teachers and principals.


• "limit rewrites of the writing portfolio" I don't even know what this means? Limit rewrites? What constitutes a rewrite? And who's going to monitor this...and how? If a student corrects a capitalization error, is that a rewrite? What if she changes two words? ...or a paragraph?


• "require an on-demand assessment of student writing one time within the elementary, middle, and high school grades, respectively" More of less.


• "require writing assessments consisting of multiple-choice items emphasizing mechanics and editing one time within the elementary, middle, and high school, respectively" Arguably the dumbest part of the bill; SB 1 seeks to test student writing without the students actually having to write. A more reliable but less valid test is not progress.


• "require each school council to develop policies relating to the school's writing program" So what?


• "eliminate practical living and vocational studies from the assessment program but require a program evaluation of practical living and career studies annually" Death to that part of the curriculum. The program evaluation is a waste of time and money.


• "eliminate arts and humanities student testing from the assessment program but require a program evaluation of arts and humanities annually" See above.


• "require that accelerated learning be provided any student whose scores on any of the assessments indicate skill deficiencies" and "require each school to devise an accelerated learning plan" As if teachers are not already tearing their hair out trying to get some students up to proficiency.


• "require individual reports to parents on the achievement of their children compared to school, state, and national results" This is the heart of SB 1. The most difficult part of KERA for many parents was its refocusing of student assessment from individual performance to school performance. There was a good reason to do it, but it was never well-accepted by many parents. Parents want to know how their children's performance stacks up against other kids the same age. Better, is to keep standards high while building a value-added system that includes as much data as we have; but which resists the temptation to use that data inappropriately and punitively against teachers.


• "limit state core content testing to the last seven days of a local district's school calendar and limit number of days of testing to no more than five during that period" Limiting the time required for formal assessment may be a good idea. You don't fatten a calf by weighing it. But if I had a magic wand, Kentucky would conduct three days of normative test in the fall of the year and keep a week of state assessment in the spring.


• "provide that a local board of education may adopt the use of commercial assessments for making formative judgments" Sure.


• "require the Kentucky Department of Education to assist districts in selection of commercial products that address Kentucky core content" Sure, if KDE has any assessment folks left after budget cuts.


• "require the Kentucky Board of Education to recommend at least three companies or products to the state board for approval" OK.


• "require the School Curriculum, Assessment, and Accountability Council to provide recommendations relating to the identification of academic skills and deficiencies of individual students" OK.


• "modify language relating to successful school and delete references to rewards" Rewards, like other free-market ideas have lost their luster.


• "modify title of the assessment and accountability system, by adding reference to "academic achievement" CATS is seen as a bad brand, so fine, rename it.


• "change the high school readiness exam from grade 8 to grade 9" If there's a reason to support or oppose this, I don't know what it is.


• "change dates for reporting student data to each school council and change dates for actions by school councils" OK.

So what does all of this mean? It means that when Bob Sexton says, "It's more important to do it right than to do it fast," he's not just dragging his feet - he's right. Changes to KERA need to be considered holistically, carefully and without inviting unanticipated consequences due to a rush to "do something."

Ramsey Appoints Ombudsperson

Apparently UofL President James Ramsey doesn't want to hear it.

Plus, in partial response to the administration's lack of fidelity to its own policies - a faculty committee recently recomended the addition of a university ombudsperson.

Ramsey wasted no time attending to the committee's recommendation.

This from Nancy Rodriguez at the Courier Journal:

U of L appoints ombudsman

The University of Louisville has appointed a longtime faculty member to provide ombudsman services to faculty and staff.

Dennis Hall, professor of English, will serve as interim ombudsman. He will hold the post until the appointment of a university ombudsman, who will be selected by the provost from a slate recommended by the faculty and staff senates, according to university officials...

The office's creation is a response to concerns raised over the handling of grievances and complaints involving former U of L education Dean Robert Felner, who a federal grand jury indicted in October on 10 counts of mail fraud, money-laundering, conspiracy and income-tax evasion.

Felner and former associate Thomas Schroeder face charges of fraudulently obtaining nearly $2.3 million in grant and contract money from the universities of Louisville and Rhode Island. Both have both pleaded not guilty and have been released on unsecured bonds.

The Ombuds website is under development.

(Hey C-J! Why the switch in gender reference? I didn't find it in my AP Style Manual. UofL labeled the position "ombudsperson" but C-J changed it to "ombudsman." True, a man was selected for the position. But unless men are also referred to "person" doesn't that create a situation where man = man; but woman = person. That reduces "person" to a euphemism, doesn't it?)

True Heresy

This from the San Jose Mercury News:

Superintendent takes

controversial stance on achievement gap

Educators alone cannot hope to overcome achievement gaps no matter how hard they work to increase the academics of disadvantaged students, says Kevin Skelly, superintendent of California's Palo Alto schools.

When it comes to closing the achievement gap, Palo Alto schools Superintendent Kevin Skelly says educators are deluding themselves. And he dares to say what's become almost unspeakable publicly:

"It's just not possible for the average kid who comes to this country in seventh or eighth grade, or even third grade, without a word of English and parents with little formal education, to match the achievement levels of kids whose mom has a Ph.D. in English from Stanford and can afford to stay home and spend time supplementing the education of her kids," he said...

Such comments have been seen by many reform-minded educators as cancerous. The fear is that taking the pressure off teachers will cause many to quit. Not quit the profession - but quit taking personal responsibility for the achievement of their students - the crux of high-stakes assessment.

Make no mistake, Skelly said, his schools should — and do — try to bring up the achievement of Latino and African-American students. But idealistic rhetoric creates high public expectations for schools, while letting families, politicians and society in general off the hook, Skelly believes. By themselves, schools can't overcome the influence of parents, friends and communities, he said.

He believes preschool deserves more funding to better prepare more students to learn, and schools should ensure all students are prepared for college — so they don't end up taking remedial classes at community colleges...

Legislators differ on how CATS should be revamped

This from C-J:

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Kentucky's current system of school testing may be on the way out, though House Democrats aren't sure that Senate Republicans have the answer for replacing it.

Senate Republicans have long favored abolishing the state's Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, known as CATS. They contend that it's costly and time-consuming and doesn't provide students with information about their academic progress.

Others are now joining them, saying that the system should be scrapped or at least changed.

"If I were going to paraphrase our members' feelings, it would be that CATS testing needs a complete overhaul," Sharron Oxendine, president of the Kentucky Education Association, said in an interview.

A Senate bill sponsored by Education Committee Chairman Ken Winters would replace the current test with a national test such as the ACT and would supplement it with a locally created multiple-choice test that matches Kentucky's curriculum. It also would de-emphasize writing portfolios required under state law.

"It's time for a change," Winters, R-Murray, told the committee yesterday. "It's time we begin to adjust."

The committee didn't vote on the bill, but Winters said he expects it to win approval next week...

...House Education Committee Chairman Carl Rollins said in an interview yesterday that there is widespread agreement that changes are needed in the test. But he said he doesn't like the Senate solution.

"I think the bill needs work," said Rollins, D-Versailles.

He also said an overhaul of the test may need to be done as part of a broader attempt to revisit KERA.

"The Senate plan tries to do this in short order, and I don't think it can be done in short order," he said...

Blacks Less Likely to Take A.P. Exam

This form the New York Times:

More than 15 percent of the three million students who graduated from public high schools last year passed at least one Advanced Placement exam, the College Board said Wednesday, but African-American students were still far less likely to have passed, or to even have taken, an A.P. exam than white, Hispanic or Asian students.

In its fifth annual report on its A.P. program, the College Board said the program was growing steadily. More than 460,000 students, or 15.2 percent, passed an A.P. exam last year, compared with 14.1 percent in 2007 and 12.2 percent five years ago.

But the program is not spreading evenly across the nation. In Mississippi and Louisiana, fewer than 4 percent of high school graduates passed an A.P. exam last year, and in 17 other states, fewer than 10 percent passed one...

Upper Elementary Grades Bear the Brunt of Accountability

This from the Phi Delta Kappan:

Educators claim that accountability forces them to narrow the curriculum. But a comparison of teachers' schedules before and after NCLB shows that little has changed.

Upper elementary teachers won't be surprised to learn that in every state, students enrolled in grades 3 through 8 bear the brunt of educational accountability.

All states test all students at these grade levels in English/language arts and mathematics (Toye et al. 2006). Furthermore, an increasing number of states are testing students at selected elementary and middle school grade levels in science and, to a lesser extent, in social studies.

Although all states test high school students, testing is done less uniformly; states vary on the grades and subjects tested. Finally, only six states test students at grade levels lower than grade 3 (California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi) (Toye et al. 2006). Although the burden of educational accountability in the United States rests with children ages 8 through 12, not much research has evaluated the impact of educational accountability on schools, teachers, and students.

Teachers provide the bulk of the evidence of the impact of accountability on teaching. Not surprisingly, teachers report that accountability has adversely affected how they teach, impacting curriculum, quality of instruction, and instructional time...

Teachers report that the major effect of educational accountability on the curriculum has been "narrowing" the curriculum. Hutton, Curtis, and Burstein, for example, conclude that the emphasis on high-stakes testing "is impacting how the core subjects are being taught, with the social studies curriculum being relegated to the background and only taught when there is time" (2006, p. 18). Similarly, M. Gail Jones and her colleagues (1999) state that, as a result of the ABC program in North Carolina, the teachers they interviewed spent most of the school day preparing students in the basics, that is, reading, writing, and arithmetic.

It's true that different subjects in the elementary school receive different emphasis in terms of allocated time. But it's not true that educational accountability legislation has caused this...

Western's Ransdell Welcomes KERA Review

This from KSBA:

Governor Steve Beshear has

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Senate Bills 1 & 3

Over at the Prichard Blog Susan Weston has posted summary information on Senate Bills 1 & 3.

Check out her take on SB1 here, and SB 3 here.

Don't miss her handy-dandy chart on SB1 here.

Beshear calls for KERA & Early Childhood Task Forces

Beshear urges shared unity,

purpose to resolve budget crisis

FRANKFORT, Ky. – In the wake of massive, statewide recovery efforts from the devastation of last week’s winter storm, Governor Steve Beshear [Wednesday] called for unity and a sense of shared purpose in tackling the state’s $456 million budget shortfall in his second State of the Commonwealth address.

To combat that shortfall, Gov. Beshear urged support for a plan that includes a significant increase in the tax on tobacco products as well as another $150 million in additional spending cuts. The governor pointed out that Kentucky’s tax on cigarettes is currently the fourth lowest in the nation, while the state also ranks first in the number of smoking related deaths each year, which adds hundreds of millions of dollars in health-care costs.

“There comes a point—if we slash too deep and without regard to the devastating impacts of those reductions—when we jeopardize state government’s ability to expand our intellect and capacity to reach out to the needy,” said Gov. Beshear. “This is why my proposal, even while cutting spending further, clearly articulates priorities for investment.”

Since taking office, Beshear has already reduced spending by more than $430 million dollars, shrinking the state workforce by 2,000 employees and using cost-effectiveness and efficiency efforts to reduce day-to-day spending within the Executive Branch.

Additionally, the Governor introduced several initiatives ... including:

Education: bringing together leaders from both the public and private sector, along with key legislators, to review the Kentucky Education Reform Act. The governor also announced his intention to announce a task force on early childhood education next week.

...“We cannot control the global economy, we cannot choose the economic conditions in which we serve, but we can define the manner in which we lead,” said Gov. Beshear. “We can’t pick the moment, but we can help to shape and define it. Our state motto says it succinctly: ‘United we stand, divided we fall.’”

SOURCE: Governor's press release

KERA reform gains momentum

This from H-L:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Avoid shortening the school year

This from the Herald-Leader:

The natural disaster that has left hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians stranded in the cold and dark, often without water, for more than a week is a disaster of another kind for kids.

Some districts have already missed weeks of school because of inclement weather and impassable roads. It's impossible to say when some schools will reopen, especially those without electricity.

As policy-makers look to help, the priority should be on providing as many hours of high-quality teaching as possible.Kentucky already requires too little school: 177 days compared with the national average of 180.

Kids won't learn when they're not being taught. And many kids are safer and better fed when they're in school.Waiving days of instruction should be a last-ditch option...

Drip, drip, drip

This from the Courier-Journal:

The thaw that matters most has occurred in Frankfort, where Senate President David Williams now agrees that state government needs more revenue.

This is a welcome development, because Mr. Williams controls the legislative agenda. His support will be crucial if the General Assembly is to do its job, which is funding the programs and services that Kentuckians need and financing the educational system our future demands.

It is clear, beyond the ability of anti-tax zealots to dispute, that the state budget problem is real. Mr. Williams continues to talk about the need for cutting, and he's right that an honest effort to find operating efficiencies and justifiable reductions is always wise. But it's not possible for lawmakers to responsibly cut -- or tax -- their way out of this dilemma.

The tension is between (1) cutting mercilessly and raising only enough new revenue to balance the books, or, (2) persuading Kentuckians to accept a little extra sacrifice, to position the state for real progress when economic recovery eventually comes.

What's needed is a courageous and forward-thinking choice...

From Qualifications to Results

Promoting Teacher Effectiveness Through Federal Policy

This from Education Week:

Federal lawmakers should shift their teacher-quality focus from front-end qualifications to supporting state and district efforts to measure and identify effective teachers based on student-performance outcomes, a paper from the Washington-based Center for American Progress argues.

According to the report,

Federal law should stop focusing on “quality,” as measured by front-end qualifications, and start focusing on “effectiveness,” as measuredby whether teachers have actually helped students learn. Research now shows that most qualifications only weakly predict whether teachers will succeed in the classroom, and oneof the best predictors of future performance is past performance.

This means that increasing the share of teachers who are high performers will be a straighter path to improving student achievement than focusing on credentials. What is not so clear is how the transition to a performance focus can work on the ground.

The paper defends its focus on effectiveness and how it might work, and it describes current federal policy related to teacher quality. It then provides some new ideas about how federal policy can stimulate change at the state and local level to help states and districts move from a qualifications focus to an effectiveness focus: That is, a focus on a teacher’s ability to improve student learning as measured by both value-added measures and other measures.

If an effectiveness approach is going to succeed, three things must be in place:

• State and district capacity to collect and use high-quality data
• Knowledge about how to use these data to inform human capital policies
• The political will to focus on teacher effectiveness

The paper proposes federal investments in the following:

The infrastructure (data, assessment, and evaluation s • ystems) needed to evaluate teachers and their ability to improve student performance

• A state and district grant program to incentivize reforms that focus on teacher effectiveness

• An alternative certification grant program to expand the pool of talented teachers,
particularly for high-poverty schools

• A pilot state grant program to explore a pathway toward teacher certification that
focuses on teacher effectiveness

Retain New Teachers? ...or Drive Them Away?

This from Education Week:

Teacher Retention

“2008 State Teacher Policy Yearbook:

What States Can Do to Retain Effective New Teachers”

Most states set teacher-quality policies that hinder districts’ ability to identify and retain high-caliber teachers, according to a report from the Washington-based National Council on Teacher Quality.

“The third through fifth years of teaching represent an opportunity lost for the health of the teaching profession,” NCTQ President Kate Walsh says in the introduction. “Many new teachers leave at this juncture, just at the time that they are becoming consistently effective.”

So, how's Kentucky doing? D+

Bill Gates Praises Charter Models

This from Education Week (subscription):

In his first “annual letter” discussing his foundation’s work, Bill Gates last week elaborated on some of its priorities for education grantmaking.

The Jan. 26 letter from the former chairman of the Microsoft Corp. says the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s nearly $2 billion investment over nine years in creating smaller high schools “fell short” of reaching its goal of raising college-ready graduation rates.

“Many of the small schools that we invested in did not improve students’ achievement in any significant way,” Mr. Gates, the co-chairman of the Seattle-based philanthropy, writes. “These tended to be the schools that did not take radical steps to change the culture, such as allowing the principal to pick the team of teachers or change the curriculum. We had less success trying to change an existing school than helping to create a new school.”

Mr. Gates pledged to continue to support school models that seem to be effective, praising the Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP, network of schools and High Tech High in San Diego. States should revise policies capping the number of charter schools, he says...

The Buck Stops....Somewhere Else

PageOneKentucky reports that UofL President James Ramsey has refused to make good on his promise to meet with any faculty members who may have been aggrieved by former Dean Robert Felner.

Instead, he is dumping the problem on new Dean Blake Heselton - "if he deems necessary, any follow-up.“

Less CATS = More Budget. Is there a Deal?

Apparently Mark Hebert and I are thinking along the same lines.


His question is: "What is David Williams getting in return for supporting tax hikes to balance the state budget?"


My question is: "Do you think that, if there was adequate funding, that the notion of measuring school performance might give way to the notion of measuring individual performance?"


In other words, is there a middle ground being forged out of tough economic times where wholesale changes to the CATS assessment has become a bargaining chip in exchange for increased revenue to maintain essential funding?


Mark asked his question of Governor Steve Beshear. I asked Kentucky Board of Education member Dorie Combs.


The governor said, 'No.' "...his call for a review of KERA is not linked to any potential budget and taxes deal with legislators."


Combs wouldn't even go there.


But the governor said something else. Beshear said flatly "we don't have a deal yet."


Yet.


So for today, Mark and I are wrong. But I'll bet a nickel that we'll be right soon enough.

Taking the reins in difficult times

The State Journal interviewed Interim Education Commissioner Elaine Farris recently. Here's the scoop.

Bio: Elaine Farris

Age: 53

Resides in: Shelbyville

Education: Bachelor's degree and master's degree

from Eastern Kentucky University;

holds Rank I certification

and elementary physical education endorsement;

working toward a doctorate degree at EKU

State Journal: What will your priorities be during your term?

Farris: One of the things that the board has asked to continue to do is to be visible in our schools and districts, so we will continue our focus on improving our low-performing schools and districts. With the budget issues that we're facing, I will continue to have that on our radar screen to see what we need to do to ensure that we are keeping our districts and schools informed of what the budget challenges are for us. Of course, as you well know, we have the challenge of the CATS discussion that's out there, so we will continue to discuss that within the agency and with our
constituency.

State Journal: ...How confident do you feel that they will accept Gov. Steve Beshear's plan to not cut SEEK (Support Education Excellence in Kentucky) funding and to keep the cuts at KDE to a minimum?

Farris: To be real honest with you, I'm optimistic in that they will continue to exclude SEEK. I'm hoping that they will continue to listen to the superintendents and the community stakeholders that if they decide to reduce SEEK that it would have a devastating blow to public education across the state of Kentucky.

State Journal: How devastating would it be?

Farris: Number one, districts will have to cut personnel and (there will be) fewer teachers in the classroom. That means increased class size. Teachers will not be able to have that intense focus on student learning for every student, and with the challenges that we have with trying to improve student achievement across our state, I think that it would have a very direct impact on us moving all students to proficiency by 2014.

State Journal: If that doesn't happen and SEEK is cut, what can the Department of Education do to make that situation more bearable for school districts?

Farris: We will probably have to try to provide a different kind of assistance and support, and what that would look like at this time, I can't give you the details. But we would have to try to provide some support to stop the bleeding...

State Journal: There's the mention of doing away with CATS completely, and there's always talk about No Child Left Behind. What kind of reforms do you think will be beneficial to students?

Farris: One of the things we would like to communicate is that we're not tied to CATS in the way that it is now. However, we would like to keep the premise of the (Kentucky Education) Reform Act, which is performance-based assessment and some type of uniform system assessing our schools and our students.

We understand that accountability is important, and we believe that our parents and our teachers and our school leaders feel the same way - that we have to have some accountability.

Now, how that will look if CATS went away, I am not actually sure. We are having some discussion here at the department that - if this happens - what is it that we would like to see take its place?

One of the things that we have been talking about a lot across the state and within the department is some type of balanced assessment and accountability. We know we need student accountability, we need school accountability, we need formative assessments, we need summative assessments. So we would like to see a balanced assessment and accountability system and not just one type of testing. So we're going to continue to have those discussions within the department and hopefully with our legislators as well.

We have a great window of opportunity to do something great and to have a very improved assessment system. My hope is that we will give ourselves enough time to have discussion across the state so that we can do what's best for kids...

Well-Connected Parents Take On School Boards

This from the Washington Post:

Web-Savvy Activists Push For Educational Change

For a new generation of well-wired activists in the Washington region, it's not enough to speak at Parent-Teacher Association or late-night school board meetings. They are going head-to-head with superintendents through e-mail blitzes, social networking Web sites, online petitions, partnerships with business and student groups, and research that mines a mountain of electronic data on school performance...

What binds them is impatience with the school establishment and an aptitude for harnessing the power of the Internet to push for change.

"We are not our moms, who were just involved in the PTA," said Catherine Lorenze, a McLean mother who helped organize Fairgrade, the parent-led campaign to change the Fairfax grading scale by lowering the bar for an A from 94 to 90 percent.

"We worked for a number of years before we had kids," she said. "We know how to research and find information and connect the dots. To expect us to show up and just make photos or write checks does not sit well with this generation. If you are going to invite parents in the door . . . it should be more of a partnership." ...

Quick Hits

KEA Campaigns To Avoid Cuts In Public Education: As Kentucky legislators prepare to meet on Tuesday, a media campaign is kicking off by the Kentucky Education Association asking lawmakers not to make deep cuts in public education. (KyPost.com)

First Lady rallies U.S. Education Department: First Lady Michelle Obama visited the U.S. Education Department Monday to thank employees for their work and say there is still more work ahead to turn around many of the country's struggling schools. "The Department of Education is going to be at the forefront of many of the things that we have to do in this administration and we're going to need that energy in these times of economic challenge," Obama said. (The Washington Post)

J. Graham Brown Foundation grant to fund parent leadership institute with a STEM focus: A $275,000 grant from the James Graham Brown Foundation to the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence will fund creation and implementation over two years of the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. (Prichard Committee)

Draud's new job - recovery: Jon Draud was eager to get started as Kentucky's education commissioner when he was hired in November 2007. Having been a school superintendent and state legislator, he felt he brought a unique combination of experience that would help improve public school education. But less than 10 months later, life got in the way....Draud will spend his free time reading and may eventually go back to teaching. He said Thursday that he's considering a run for Kenton County judge-executive. (Enquirer)

Vermont commissioner aims to prepare students for 21st century: Armando Vilaseca, Vermont's new schools commissioner, became interested in education as a high school senior participating in an innovative New Jersey teaching program, and he hopes to create similar opportunities for Vermont's students. "To me what I lived through is exactly what I believe that we as an education community need to be doing ... providing kids with relevancy in their schooling," he said. "America's education system -- including the system in Vermont -- is simply not adapting quickly enough to what has become a knowledge-based economy, nor is it keeping pace with continuing technological advances or the societal shifts of a growing, global economy." (The Times Argus)

Texas parents face fines for children's truancy: The Dallas and Fort Worth school districts together brought more than 1,800 parents to court in 2008 for "contributing to truancy," a misdemeanor that can carry a fine of up to $500 a day, according to district information reported to the Texas education department. "It's critical that the parent is a part of [the process]; otherwise, it makes no impact on the child," said Robyn Winnett, director of Fort Worth's truancy-intervention initiative. "You've got to do more than drop them off at school. Maybe you should walk them into the school." (The Dallas Morning News)

Study examines correlation between SAT scores and lead levels: The rise and fall in average SAT scores from 1953 to 2003 may be tied to the levels of lead found in the blood of U.S. children, according to a study to be published this winter. Some 45% of the variation in the average verbal scores and 65% of the variation in math scores may be due to lead, said researcher Rick Nevin, an economist. Drops in lead levels were also tied to declines in intellectual disabilities, Nevin found. (USA Today)

Teachers engage students by building relationships: More Michigan school districts are placing emphasis on establishing personal connections with students, believing that if students know their teacher cares about them, they will work harder to avoid disappointing their teacher. Educators have been trained in the "Capturing Kids' Hearts" program, which includes signing a social contract, sharing happy news before each class and high-fiving or sharing inspirational messages as students exit the classroom. (The Grand Rapids Press)

Teacher uses water balloons, pizza to prepare students for algebra: A California teacher is showing his students that algebra can be fun by having them use math to compete in water balloon fights, sing songs and divide pizza into triangles. Steve Norton's students say his visual, hands-on methods -- known as a "constructionist" approach -- are helping them learn. (North County Times)

Georgia bill would extend vouchers to all public school students: Georgia parents could get about $5,000 each for private-school tuition under a bill introduced Monday in the state Senate that was decried by some lawmakers. Supporters say the bill would force public schools to improve; critics say vouchers would exacerbate the state's inadequate funding of its public schools. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Perspectives/All Teachers Can Learn: "If teachers aren't raising test scores sufficiently, reformers say they should be weeded out," says ASCD book author Robyn Jackson. "The same people believe that 'All students can learn.' Why don't they start believing that 'all teachers can learn'?" Jackson examines the many ways that educators can improve their practice and refresh their mind-set, starting with the idea of embracing professional learning communities. (Educational Leadership)

Proposed grants would allow Duncan to reward ambitious states: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's plans to improve schools may include a discretionary $15 billion incentive-grant fund that would be used, in part, for states and districts that set high educational standards. "This is absolutely a historic opportunity to reward excellence," Duncan said. "We want to reward rigor and challenge the status quo." (Education Week - subscription)

Former teacher introduces bill to protect students' rights: A judge's ruling last month that permitted school administrators to discipline a student for a non-threatening blog post has inspired a former teacher turned lawmaker to introduce a bill he says would protect students' right to free speech. "This is like saying you can't write on a piece of paper and distribute that piece of paper outside the school," said Connecticut state Sen. Gary LeBeau, who used to teach civics. "I'm really disappointed in the courts." (The Hartford Courant)

Study: Students must learn scientific-reasoning skills: College freshmen in China know more about science than their U.S. counterparts, but neither group is particularly good at scientific reasoning, according to a new study of more than 6,000 students at seven universities, published in the journal Science. "Even when students are rigorously taught the facts, they don't necessarily develop the reasoning skills they need to succeed," said lead author Lei Bao, an Ohio State University associate physics professor. "Because students need both knowledge and reasoning, we need to explore teaching methods that target both." (ScienceDaily)

Indiana bill could avert frivolous lawsuits questioning teachers' decisions: Special educator Angela Williams' students increasingly threaten to sue when she attempts to control disruptive students. That's sort of issue has prompted some Indiana lawmakers to introduce a bill that would give teachers qualified immunity as long as they act reasonably to keep order in their classrooms. (Chicago Tribune)

Duncan: Education aid could revitalize country's work force: Some $141 billion for schools and colleges presents "an extraordinary opportunity" to dramatically improve U.S. schools by more fully funding Title I and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, said new U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. "This is righting a historical injustice, a historical wrong," he said. "These have been desperately underfunded, in some cases for decades." (USA Today)

Technology alters students' learning: Computers, video games and multitasking may have helped improve people's visual skills, but they also appear to have contributed to an erosion in critical-thinking and analysis skills, according to new research published in the journal Science. Reading, however, develops the imagination as well as deductive, reflection and critical-thinking stills, said researcher and UCLA psychology professor Patricia Greenfield, who also directs the Children's Digital Media Center of Los Angeles. "No one medium is good for everything," she said. "If we want to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet." (ScienceDaily)

Williams says state needs new revenue

This from C-J:

Senator says cuts in budget also likely

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Key legislators said yesterday for the first time that new revenue almost certainly will be needed to balance the state budget in the face of a $459 million deficit this fiscal year.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said the Senate is looking at the possibility of raising taxes on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages, but he declined to specify the amount of new revenue that might be targeted.

"It appears to me, at this juncture, there will be a need for some revenue," Williams said, adding that lawmakers "want to make sure on tobacco and alcohol (that) we don't place ourselves at a disadvantage and hurt our retail operators."

Williams has said in the past that he would keep all options open in devising a plan to balance the budget. But his comments yesterday marked the first time he has said new revenue will be needed along with spending cuts.

Last year it was the Republican-controlled Senate that ignored proposals for higher cigarette taxes by the House and Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat....

Another Storm Victim: School days

This from C-J:

Bill planned to waive missed school days in some districts

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A Western Kentucky legislator plans to file a bill this week that would waive up to 10 missed school days in districts affected by the recent ice storm and last fall's windstorm.

State Rep. Mike Cherry, D-Princeton, said his bill would apply only to this school year and only in areas where a disaster was officially declared.

An emergency because of the ice storm has been declared in 95 of 120 counties.

The bill, however, would give the Department of Education the discretion to apply the waiver to districts in areas where disaster declarations were not granted...

11 Education Groups Support Beshear Budget Plan

Present inadequate funding...
leaves Kentucky schools trailing the nation,
reversing gains, and falling further behind.

The Catholic Conference of Kentucky; Kentucky Chamber of Commerce; Kentucky Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; Kentucky Congress of Parents and Teachers; Kentucky Association of Professional Educators; Kentucky Education Association; Kentucky Association of School Administrators; Kentucky School Boards Association; Kentucky Association of School Councils; Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence; Kentucky Association of School Superintendents confirmed their support for Governor Steve Beshear's plan to resolve Kentucky's budget crisis.

The groups warn that continued educational progress is at risk in Kentucky due to inadequate funding. Kentucky currently ranks 41st in funding, but 34th (or so) in overall student achievement an historic high. The educators fear that failure to continue adequate investment in Kentucky's public schools will put those gains at risk.

Kentucky has been reenacting an historic pattern over time - where the legislature makes a big push to improve schools, increases school finding, and then forget about the schools for asw much as a decade or more.

All Kentuckians, not only those with children, suffer from the effects of inadequate education and education funding. The impact falls most heavily on the most disadvantaged, including those who are least prepared to become productive members of the community. Negative effects include: lost economic opportunities and limited economic growth; diminished quality of life; increased costs for health care and other social expenditures. By failing to invest in education now, we burden ourselves with increasing future costs caused by an under-educated workforce...

...We believe that without renewed commitment to funding that is sufficient to fulfill increased educational expectations, implementation of improvements and continued academic gains are impossible. In the short term, the coalition supports the effort to significantly increase state taxes on tobacco products that will generate immediate additional revenue to support improvements in public health and health care as well as in education.

The groups cite the following evidence:

Kentucky’s education funding investments have made a positive difference.

• A comprehensive education performance index developed by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center ranks Kentucky as 34th among the 50 states, up from 43rd in 1992. www.kltprc.net/policynotes/pn0023_education_index.pdf
• On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Kentucky students’ scores and Kentucky’s rank among the states have improved in fourth grade reading and science and 8th grade science. www.prichardcommittee.org – Top 20 by 2020 information
• Kentucky has increased the number of adults with high school diplomas and those with college degrees as well as the number of students achieving college credit through the Advance Placement program. www.prichardcommittee.org --Top 20 by 2020 information
• Since 2003, the percentage of teens not attending school and not working has significantly declined. www.kidscount.org

Kentucky achieves a good return on its investments in education.

• Kentucky ranks 8th among the states in the 2005 academic return on our P-12 investment according to the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center’s 2008 report. www.kltprc.net/policynotes/pn0026_education_funding.pdf
• A U.S. Chamber of Commerce report card ranks Kentucky 17th among the states in education return on investment. www.uschamber.com/icw/reportcard/default

Inadequate funding leaves Kentucky trailing the nation, reversing gains and falling further behind.

Kentucky school funding trails the nation.

• Public Education Finance 2006 report: Kentucky schools receive an average of $7,827 per student compared to the U.S. average of $9,797. Kentucky ranks 41st among states. www.kltprc.org

Cuts have resulted in losses in services and programs.

• Reductions in state funding for this year have resulted in fewer students being served by safe schools programs, fewer students receiving extra help through extended school services, and fewer teachers receiving high-quality professional development to keep their skills up-to-date. www.kycbe.com
• More students will be using old textbooks because of budget cuts. www.education.ky.gov
• 100 of Kentucky’s 175 school districts have fewer teachers this year than last year, reducing the number of education professionals serving students’ needs. www.education.ky.gov

SOURCE: Education Coalition press release

UofL Easy PhDeasy Followup

Page One Kentucky has some follow up from a Ville insider. Go see.

...The Graduate Schools has looked at all doctorates issued in the last 10 years and checked all of them for any irregularities, such as getting waivers to avoid certain requirements or never having requirements checked. This obviously took a long time. From what I heard over the last 10 years only 6 doctorates have been awarded that did not follow the regulations to the letter. That’s not to say they all weren’t earned. For example, one might have been approved after the deadline to submit your dissertation.

How does that relate to Deasy… well, it sets up the precedent for what was allowed over the last 10 years. Now they only have to focus on why those 6 were granted waivers of certain regulations...

Jake's source says we should expect a few more weeks before anything is revealed by the university, and then, because of FERPA concerns, it's not likely to be a very satisfying report. No specific statements involving students are likely to be made. Therefore, vague statements about sufficient academic rigor but with minor technical difficulties is anticipated.

Since Sonny Bass had not yet been granted a degree, yet reportedly had staffers and graduate students doing his work, it is unclear whether that situation will even be addressed.

CATS Confusion Abounds

The most important issue - by far - facing returning legislators this week is the state budget. But for some legislators, it is the elimination of CATS. Let's hope the big issue does not get lost within the smaller issue.

After reading various comments in the debate over the fate of CATS it seems that the conversation would benefit from a little clarification.

The first thing I think of when I hear someone say, ‘Let’s get rid of CATS,’ is that the speaker is either not fully informed about what CATS really is, or the speaker is assuming everyone understands the real meaning of CATS, and is casually misusing the name on purpose.

I suppose it's no big deal when a lay person makes the mistake. In fact, the media and KDE contribute to that misunderstanding in some ways. And clearly, some teachers, who know better, use CATS as a short-hand reference to the Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT). But it is bothersome when a legislator fails to understand the implications of such a comment.

So let's clarify a couple of things.

First, CATS is a multi-component system designed to produce some measure of school accountability; it is not a test. The Commonwealth Accountability Testing System has many parts that are still going to be with us long after the General Assembly adjourns - particularly the $9 million component required of Kentucky by No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

But CATS is the KCCT, the ACT, the Explore, the Plan, the alternative assessment, writing portfolio…and everything.

Furthermore, some are confused about the relationship between CATS and NCLB. It seems the public is being led to believe these are two separate tests, when in fact, the NCLB scores are produced by the KCCT. It that sense, NCLB is a portion of the Core Content Test.

But this is a case where the public ought to be confused because the data are published in two separate reports. The NCLB report comes out early, in order to meet the federal deadline. The KCCT report comes later. Because they are reported separately, the general public seems to think they are separate tests.

But lately, a new idea has been introduced into the conversation - the idea that CATS should be able to compare the performance of Kentucky students to the performance of students in other states.

KSN&C discussed this idea recently with Kentucky Board of Education member, Dorie Combs, who chairs the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Eastern Kentucky University where I work.

Combs told KSN&C that,

This idea of, ‘Let’s give a test where we can compare ourselves to other states.’ That’s probably the biggest misunderstanding. And it takes a little explanation.

First of all, every state has to come up with a test to measure that state’s standards. So every state has a different test that they use for NCLB.

And they aren’t using off-the-shelf tests to do this. In most cases they’re doing what we used to do. They’re augmenting an off-the-shelf test. So they might have the CTBS, which they have taken and added to; with additional questions. And then adding in, in many cases, an open response questions, which is what we do as well.

This makes state-to-state comparisons inappropriate. Combs says,

There’s really only one test out there that compares the states and that’s the NAEP. [The National Assessment of Educational Progress]

Of course, the concept behind CATS was never to compare Kentucky to other states. It’s a criterion test designed to look at how the schools perform. And any inference that CATS was intended to, designed to, or has done so, is simply wrong.

Combs added,

Even if we used the ACT: Again, the ACT would not yield a fair comparison because not every state takes the ACT. And we’re [testing] juniors, here. Other states test their seniors.

Combs was recently at a meeting with one of the New York Regents (like Kentucky's school board members) and they discussed the long-standing New York Regent's Exam. She learned that,

They know that their high school graduation requirement tests “at about the ninth or tenth grade level. What does that do?

Coincidentally, I have two students in one of my EDF 203 sections both of whom passed their high school proficiency exams, in Ohio, as eighth graders; and to hear them tell it, were never tested again.

Kentucky chose to give the ACT in the fall and the KCCT in the spring. The idea was get some performance data early in the junior year with the hope of lighting a fire under some kids going into the spring KCCT testing, where the schools are held accountable.

KSN&C: You know Dorie, the fundamental thing behind this test that was so revolutionary was the notion of measuring how well schools performed as opposed to how well kids performed. Do you think that, if there was adequate funding, that the notion of measuring school performance might give way to the notion of measuring individual performance?

Combs: There are those who take that view; that the best way to get kids to perform is to hold their feet to the fire. But what we’ve seen happening in other states – it doesn’t work that way. Inevitably, you get into this cycle - where some students don’t perform well enough to move to the next level, or pass, or graduate – yet they have good grades. The families start suing the school districts. Saying, ‘How can you say they can’t graduate when you’ve passed them every year and given them good grades?’

And, then [those states] come back, and they change the test. Or, they start letting them take it over and over and over. So every state that’s used a student accountability model eventually falls into this quicksand. And then going back and saying ‘Well we’ve got too many people not passing. There must be something wrong with the test.

I understand that teachers and some school administrators feel like they should not be put under the stress of the student’s performance.

And some are complaining about how schools use test data to fire young teachers; an idea that probably ought to be challenged in court. Teachers do not control enough of the variables. It’s totally unfair. But if that’s the way the game is going to be played, then let’s put the superintendents under the same stress. Just as superintendents have objected to such plans – on justifiable grounds – so too should the teachers be heard on this issue. What’s good for the lower and middle levels of the organizational chart ought to be true for the top as well.

Combs says,

It concerns me that schools use test score data to fire teachers.

I don’t think you can take that test score and say, ‘It’s your fault.’ Because all the way down the line, you have to say, ‘Well, it’s their fault too.’ We can’t isolate it to teachers. I’m opposed to that approach where all you say is, ‘What does this teacher contribute.’ It can make it difficult for that teacher to work with a child.

So this idea of getting rid of teachers is not coming from [the Kentucky Board of Education].

The idea is to say, ‘What can we do to get better?’ Not to beat everybody up and say, ‘This is your fault.’

And when you look at it, the punishment for the school is usually more money.

...arguably, a disincentive to obtaining a target. Yet the most exalted examples among our superintendents and principals seem to be those who move quickly to get the "right people" on the bus and the "wrong people" off.

Combs contends that,

This idea that beginning teachers are disposable is a shame because it doesn’t give teachers the time to develop into mature, strong teachers because there’s so much you learn in that first year…

At present, the proposal to dump CATS is supported by arguments that it would save the state money.

The Herald-Leader recently opined that Senate President David Williams was being disingenuous when he claimed the state would realize savings by eliminating CATS.

He's just using the budget emergency to get in a little pandering. He's playing to that small segment of Republicans and soreheads who like nothing about the public schools and to a larger segment disenchanted with what they see as an overemphasis on testing.

The Commonwealth Accountability Testing System accounts for about 1 percent of the education budget or about $14 million. Kentucky is facing nearly a $500 million shortfall.

Trying to replace CATS with an off-the-shelf achievement test could end up costing Kentucky millions in federal dollars by putting the state out of compliance with the No Child Left Behind law. There also would be costs and penalties for breaking agreements with current testing contractors.

Killing CATS could dig the state even deeper into the hole.

To put a finer point on the actual dollars, Combs points out that the proposed elimination of CATS,

is not going to help us money-wise, because it doesn’t cost that much... Assessment [in Kentucky] is $15 million all together. We can’t get rid of the whole thing. We’ve still got to address NCLB.

While the Obama administration has been fairly clear that growth models are about to become de rigueur for NCLB, that hasn’t happened yet and it could be a while before it does.

Let’s say they vote to [eliminate CATS]. We still have to keep the components that are required for NCLB. So that means keeping, [grades] 4 through 8, reading, writing; science at elementary [through] high school, and reading and math in high school. So we’ve got to continue that. So now we’re already spending $9 million. Now, we’re only going to save five or six million.

Here’s the likely scenario. There’s not going to be any forethought to - when we take this away - What’s going to be in its place?

So we could well end up having to create one test while paying for another.

But in any case, arguments over how much money could potentially be saved should not exceed $6 million, tops.

In my view, we had an imperfect, but decent enough, assessment until NCLB requirements came in on top of CATS. In fact, NCLB did not benefit Kentucky one bit. We already had Senate Bill 168 which requires the disaggregation of student achievement data. If we wanted to stick sharper “teeth” into SB 168, it would have done everything Kentucky needed.

Combs says she hopes,

that changes might be made [to NCLB] to give us some flexibility. And pull some of this, ‘If you’re not meeting 100% of your goals, you’re failing.

[I just want to] make sure everyone understands that KCCT fills the requirements of NCLB. There’s really no test that is a national test - other than NAEP - and that NAEP does actually make these state comparisons. That’s the best way to compare state-to-state and those data are available.

Has CATS simply become a bad brand? It certainly seems to this observer that the popular sentiment has turned against CATS.

Combs countered,

If I was a teacher – the best thing to make my life easier - it’d be to get rid of that dang test.

Well….duh. That would make everybody glad.

Does that make it the right thing to do?

Not necessarily.

The Council of Chief State School Officers maintains a careful review of state accountability systems. Turns out,

There’s only one state that uses an off-the-shelf achievement test. And, you know who that is?

I’d like to think that if I had a minute, I would have come up with that one. But I forgot - the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Of course.