More Pending Fayette County Litigation

It's been a while now since a few KSN&C readers asked me to look into other cases pending against the Fayette County schools. My apologies for just now getting around to it....but it's been a very productive year for academic writing.  : )

First, there is still no final action from the Kentucky Court of Appeals on Rosalind Hurley-Richards. Scheduled in April, appeals typically come back in 60 - 90 days, so we ought to be very close to a decision now.

Another case pending before the Kentucky Court of Appeals is,

Florence v LaFeesha Patton 

as next friend of Jane Doe (08-CI-02053).

According to the brief for the appellant, Florence is appealing the denial of immunity.

Case arises out of bullying incidents alleged to have occurred between January 2008 and April 2008 at Crawford Middle School where the minor child Jane Doe was a student. The case was brought by her mother, LaFeesha Patton. Defendants named in the suit includes Superintendent Stu Silberman, Principal Joyce Florence, Associate Principal Michael Bayless, Director of Middle Schools Michael Ernst, School Administration Manager Perry Stevenson and Guidance Counselor Rosemary Cheek.

The first incident between Doe and any other students occurred on January 14, 2008. Doe says she and KG were in the gym when KG threatened to fight Doe. She responded by threatening to pull KG’s “weave out of her head” if she touch her. Doe admits that the altercation was investigated by Bayless and the students were punished. Doe and KG were suspended for one day.

On January 28, 2008 posting was made on a MySpace.com page belonging to JM. SK viewed the picture and entered a comment. There is no evidence the MySpace page was created at school, or utilize school resources, or that it was ever viewed at school by JM, SK, Doe, or any other student, or that any discussion of the contents of the page ever caused disruption to the educational process at Crawford. Doe alleges she discussed the posting with defendant Bayless.

On February 1 Doe alleges SK pushed her in the hallway when no other students were around. Doe told him not to do it again, but he did. They continued hitting and kicking each other to the point that SK was on the ground and Doe was standing. This was the first physical altercation. Bayless gave SK five days of suspension and Doe was given three.

The MySpace posting was not discovered by Doe and Patton until sometime in early February 2008 and was reported to school personnel by e-mail on February 4. Florence met with SK and he did not deny making the comment online. Florence informed SK of the inappropriateness of the behavior but said she could not take disciplinary action because the conduct did not cause any disruption of school day.

Doe also alleges comments toward her by SK continued all through the month of February and March and that she reported this to her teachers.

Another incident occurred between JM and Doe, when Doe made insensitive comments in class suggesting that an adult should be embarrassed to have to rely on food stamps. Because JM’s family relies on food stamps, the two students exchanged words and were removed from class.

On April 8, Doe alleges SK bumped her with his shoulder in the hallway and said "excuse you" as though she had bumped into him. Doe alleges that SK continued to make comments to her on a regular basis. On April 14, Doe met with defendant Cheek and shared feelings with her that she found to be of sufficient concern to contact Patton while Doe was still in Cheek’s office. She recommended to Patton that Doe be evaluated and seek counseling. Doe was soon withdrawn from school.

The Verified complaint filed by Patton alleged numerous incidents of physical bullying and cyber bullying, that Doe was subjected to numerous "beatings," assault, that Doe and SK were intentionally placed in class together and that Florence and the other defendants refused to punish the other students. Patton alleges these events led to anxiety attacks in Doe. Patton claims negligence (including negligent supervision of subordinates and students) and violations of state constitutional rights.r case2010-CA-000840010-CA-000840 2010-CA-000840

Atlanta cheating scandal: Should educators face jail for 'robbing' kids?

In February 2009, Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall was named 2009 Superintendent of the Year in San Francisco. Stu Silberman was among three runners up. Perhaps he did not try as hard as Ms Hall to raise test scores.

Ms. Hall stepped down from her post on June 30, days before the release of a report that documented widespread cheating by teachers and administrators in the 55,000-student Atlanta Public School District.

This from the Christian Science Monitor:

An 800-page report says at least 178 Atlanta teachers and principals cheated to raise student test scores. Some may face jail time, putting a new spin on the phrase 'high-stakes testing.'

With Atlanta in the middle of an unprecedented teacher cheating scandal where at least 178 teachers and principals in more than half the city's elementary schools changed test answers in order to make themselves and the district look good, the looming question now is whether those educators could, or should, face jail time.

Three county prosecutors are now perusing an 800-page report released Tuesday by Gov. Nathan Deal's office which describes how educators altered government documents and lied to investigators – crimes punishable by as many as 10 years in prison – in order to get bonuses, raise the district's profile, and pad the résumés of top administrators.

Dozens of other states have seen teacher cheating scandals in the last few years. But none has plumbed allegations as deeply as Georgia. The investigation began last year when then-Gov. Sonny Perdue threw out an internal school district investigation that downplayed allegations. Instead, he appointed special investigators to look into whether teachers and principals systematically changed test answers.

Following on reports of other cheating scandals in states nationwide, the scope and depth of the Atlanta cheating scandal has rocked the nation's educational community. It has renewed questions about the extent to which America's focus on high-stakes testing is causing educators to breach basic ethics to get ahead or even keep their jobs.

But a report that paints a picture of a school district that systematically cheated students, parents and taxpayers also leaves many unanswered questions about what really happened. The only way to answer some of those questions is through criminal or civil legal proceedings, experts say.

"Going this far with an investigation is unprecedented in the United States," says Benjamin Scafidi, an economics professor at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville. "We are in uncharted waters."

Educators driven to 'cross ethical lines'

The report details a "culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation" that pushed teachers to cross ethical lines and cover up their involvement when confronted. Allegations about cheating go as far back as 2005, when the district began receiving national plaudits for what many saw as an amazing turnaround for thousands of poor, mostly African-American students. Superintendent Beverly Hall, who left the district last week, received the 2009 US Superintendent of the Year award in large part because of the district's improving test scores.

But there was allegedly a dark side to the city's educational turnaround. As newspapers have documented in many other school districts across the country, statistical anomalies began appearing, where student achievement scores spiked in one grade, only to fall dramatically in the next. One USA Today report, for example, found that trend in six states and the District of Columbia. In many cases, anomalies were outside of statistical probability, even possibility, according to testing experts.

Testing Scandal in Atlanta: The Sum of All Fears

Superintendent Insulated from Teachers

General Counsel's "main duty" - Provide Supt deniability

"A culture of fear and a conspiracy of silence"
infected schools and intimidated teachers

Top Administrators Refuse Responsibility
for anything but success

Criminal charges against educators are possible

District Punished Whistleblower while Guilty went Free

Teacher with low scores forced to crawl under table at faculty meeting
District Violated Open Records, Illegally Altered documents

Test Erasures 3 Standard Deviations above Norm

This from Atlanta 11 Alive:

ATLANTA -- A state investigation into allegations of cheating by Atlanta Public Schools officials on standardized tests finds nearly 80 percent of schools examined cheated on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT).

An outline of the findings of the investigation from the governor's office:

* Thousands of children were harmed by the 2009 CRCT cheating by being denied remedial education because of their inflated CRCT scores.

* We found cheating in 44 of the 56 schools we examined (78.6%). There were 38 principals of those 56 schools (67.9%) found to be responsible for, or directly involved in, cheating.

* We determined that 178 teachers and principals in the Atlanta Public Schools System cheated. Of the 178, 82 confessed to this misconduct. Six principals refused to answer our questions, and pled the Fifth Amendment, which, under civil law is an implied admission of wrongdoing. These principals, and 32 more, either were involved with, or should have known that, there was test cheating in their schools.

* We empathize with those educators who felt they were pressured to cheat and commend those who were willing to tell us the truth regarding their misconduct. However, this report is not meant to excuse their ethical failings, or exonerate them from their wrongdoings.

* The 2009 CRCT statistics are overwhelming and allow for no conclusion other than widespread cheating in APS. The BRC expert, Dr. John Fremer, wrote an op-ed article for the AJC in which he said there was widespread, organized cheating in APS.

* The drop in 2010 CRCT erasures confirm the conclusion above.

* Cheating occurred as early as 2001.

* There were warnings of cheating on CRCT as early as December 2005/January 2006. The warnings were significant and clear and were ignored.

* Cheating was caused by a number of factors but primarily by the pressure to meet targets in the data-driven environment.

* There was a major failure of leadership throughout APS with regard to the ethical administration of the 2009 CRCT.

* A culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation existed in APS, which created a conspiracy of silence and deniability with respect to standardized test misconduct.

* In addition to the 2009 CRCT cheating, we found other improper conduct: several open record act violations; instances of false statements; and instances of document destruction.  

(Full Report)
"We found cheating in 44 of the 56 schools," Gov. Nathan Deal said as he read from the CRCT report summary during a news conference at the State Capitol Tuesday morning.

"There were 38 principals found to be responsible for or directly involved in cheating," Deal said. In all, he said investigators found 178 teachers and principals were involved with the cheating. Among them, 82 confessed to misconduct and 6 principals refused to participate in the investigation by pleading the 5th Amendment, according to the report.

Recently retired APS Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall released a statement late Tuesday afternoon denying that she or her staff knew or "should have known" there was widespread cheating.

Hall's statement read as follows:

Having left the Atlanta Public Schools in the very capable hands of Interim Superintendent Erroll Davis, Dr. Beverly Hall has not been given an opportunity to review the Investigators' report to Governor Deal on alleged cheating on the 2009 CRCT. Nor has she been briefed on the contents of the report. Whatever the report may say, Dr. Hall steadfastly denies that she, her staff, or the vast majority of APS teaching and administrative professionals knew or should have known of any allegedly widespread cheating on APS CRCTs in 2009 or any other year. She further denies any other allegations of knowing and deliberate wrongdoing on her part or on the part of her senior staff, whether during the course of the Investigation or before the Investigation began.

Cheating on the CRCT can never be condoned. But whatever cheating may have occurred in the past, test scores in 2010 and 2011 show that APS rests on a firm educational foundation. Tests in those years were conducted under the most stringent security protocols, with State monitors employed in many schools. To be sure, some grades showed declines in 2010. But others showed advances.

Systemwide, scores followed the same upward trend that began in the early 2000s. Scores on this year's CRCT confirmed that trend, with gains over 2010 results in 20 of the 30 grade and subject areas tested. APS students continue to narrow the gap with State averages.

Dr. Hall wishes Interim Superintendent Davis all success in transitioning APS to its next phase. Great progress has been made since 1999. With continued hard work and dedication, even greater progress can be made in the future.

Like the rest of the public, Dr. Hall awaits the disclosure of the report.

An outline of the report released by Gov. Deal's office includes the following:

• Cheating occurred as early as 2001
• Cheating was caused by a number of factors but primarily by the pressure to meet targets in the data-driven environment
• A culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation existed in APS, which created a conspiracy of silence and deniability with respect to standardized test misconduct
• There were clear and significant warnings of cheating on CRCT as early as December 2005/January 2006, but they were ignored
• The statistics are overwhelming and allow for no conclusion other than widespread cheating in APS

Recently retired APS Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall says that she "steadfastly denies" that she and her staff, along with the "vast majority of APS teaching and administrative professionals knew or should have known" of widespread cheating during 2009 or any other year.

APS Chair Brenda Muhammad called the findings "devastating" after being briefed on the report early Tuesday.

Members of the Atlanta Public Schools Board, interim APS Superintendent Erroll Davis and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed were also briefed on the findings.

Gov. Deal's office is expected to post the full report online some time Tuesday after consulting the State Attorney General to determine if names of educators will have to be removed.

The CRCT report was compiled by two special prosecutors appointed by former Gov. Sonny Perdue to look into allegations of cheating by Atlanta Public Schools on the 2009 CRCT state exams. The appointments were made after a locally-appointed Blue Ribbon Commission failed to determine what happened.

11 Alive interviewed several APS parents who expressed everything from shock to a glimmer of hope.

"It is very disappointing that so many educators felt that this is what they had to do," said Mary Palmer.

"We know that we have done a disservice to our children for years in Atlanta Public Schools and they will be the product of this environment of this community as a result of that failure," said Shawnna Hayes-Tavares.

"It's my hope as a parent and a public school advocate that we can use what we find in this report to move forward and to assure that children won't be cheated ever again," added Julie Davis Salisbury.

Early on, Dr. Beverly Hall, who retired as school superintendent last month, denied that educators were involved in changing student answer sheets to inflate test scores.
But right before she retired, Dr. Hall changed her tune in a video message she e-mailed to employees.

"I expect the investigation to draw some troubling, no alarming, conclusions," Dr. Hall said in late May. "It's become clear that a segment of our staff chose to violate the trust that was placed in them. Let me be clear, there is simply no excuse for unethical behavior and no room in this district for unethical conduct."

"Most educators in this state and most educators in the Atlanta Public Schools are committed, ethical professionals with a passion for educating students," Deal stressed Tuesday. "We owe them a debt of gratitude for their service."

"However, when educators fail to uphold the public trust and students are harmed in the process, there will be consequences," Deal added. "The state has a duty to ensure that students' test results reflect real learning. We cannot allow adult behavior to compromise the very tools which we use statewide to gauge a child's proficiency."

Deal said criminal charges against educators are possible. He plans to send the full report to district attorneys in Fulton, DeKalb and Douglas Counties.

He said the Georgia Professional Standards Commission will also review the findings to determine if there are any violations that could jeopardize teacher certifications.

NEA Shifts Position on Teacher Evaluations

"Thank God for your unyielding belief that
in the toughest of circumstances

every child, every child, deserves a chance.

I just wish those folks who are attacking you now,

I wish those folks who are trying to ascribe the blame

for the worst recession America has had since the Great Depression

knew you a little better."

--- Vice President Joe Biden

This from the New York Times:

Catching up to the reality already faced by many of its members, the nation’s largest teachers’ union on Monday affirmed for the first time that evidence of student learning must be considered in the evaluations of school teachers around the country.

In passing the new policy at its assembly here, the 3.2 million-member union, the National Education Association, hopes to take a leadership role in the growing national movement to hold teachers accountable for what students learn — an effort from which it has so far conspicuously stood apart.


But blunting the policy’s potential impact, the union also made clear that it continued to oppose the use of existing standardized test scores to judge teachers, a core part of the federally backed teacher evaluation overhauls already under way in at least 15 states.

“N.E.A. is and always will be opposed to high-stakes, test-driven evaluations,” said Becky Pringle, the secretary-treasurer of the union, addressing the banner-strung convention hall filled with the 8,200-member assembly that votes on union policy.

The union’s desire both to join and to stand apart from a White House-led effort to improve teacher performance represents the delicate situation it finds itself in as it confronts what Dennis Van Roekel, the union president, called “the worst environment for teachers I’ve ever seen.” Amid deep budget cuts and layoffs, the union has lost more than 30,000 members this year, and is fighting back against legislative efforts to curtail its collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, Tennessee, Arizona and other states.

In response, union leaders, who spent last year’s Fourth of July weekend challenging the Obama administration’s promotion of charter schools and high-stakes standardized testing, spent this year’s trying to close ranks and encouraging even those union members who are furious at those policies to embrace calls for change — if on their own terms.

On Monday, the assembly voted by secret ballot to give Mr. Obama an early endorsement for his 2012 presidential run, a move that will allow the union to begin channeling its considerable political resources to the campaign. The strong showing in favor — 72 percent — was foreshadowed by the standing ovations that greeted Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who gave an impassioned pro-union speech here Sunday.

“There is an organized effort to place the blame for the budget shortfall squarely on the shoulders of teachers and other public workers, and it is one of the biggest scams in modern American history,” Mr. Biden told the educators. In contrast to that threat, the differences between the White House and the union, he said, were like disputes within the same family...

C-J's on Berman's legacy

This from C-J:

Sheldon Berman has completed his four-year tenure as superintendent of the Jefferson County Public Schools.

Just as the arrival of Donna Hargens to replace him should be a time for all in the community to welcome her and wish her well, Mr. Berman's departure should occasion gratitude for his substantial good work here, even from those who agreed with the school board's decision not to renew his contract.

This is a time when public school administrators, principals and teachers often are treated as political ping-pong balls, batted around mercilessly both by those who have understandable frustrations about the contemporary challenges in educating children, as well as by those eager to exploit ideological divides by superimposing on schools broader debates that range from government spending to race.

It is tempting to say that theirs is a thankless job, except that remarkably so many of them don't find it so. They instead take deep satisfaction every time a child excels, becomes excited by learning or overcomes an obstacle.

In such an environment, Mr. Berman's special talent was to see the need for deep systemic change in the JCPS system, to define a clear vision for long-term improvement (as opposed to obsessing about the next round of standardized test scores) and to emphasize teachers' professional growth. He found strong partners in this venture, achieving the most productive relationship in memory with the teachers' union and attracting teachers and staff to persistently low-achieving schools with the strongest commitments to quick turn-arounds.

Mr. Berman's tenure was cut short for all the wrong reasons. A largely dysfunctional school board — motivated in some cases by personal grudges and agendas, spooked by a noisy minority opposed to transporting students to achieve diversity and equal opportunity, and rattled by the low achievement scores that bedevil every urban district in the nation — seemed incapable of working with the superintendent on a common strategic plan. That will have to change for Ms. Hargens to have a chance.

Deep change in the direction and culture of an entire district takes time. Mr. Berman wasn't given time, but he leaves behind a strong platform — a new framework for teachers to design lessons with rigor and meaning, sophisticated methods to measure performance, reduced class sizes and dropout rates, freshman academies, new magnet schools and career-themed high schools, and much else.

It is unfortunate that Mr. Berman must move on to Oregon. But the loss will be greatly magnified if the school board and the new administration reflexively dismantle a structure for progress that has been so thoughtfully constructed and that holds such promise.

Williams calls NCLB request a "farce,"

This pure horse hockey from David Williams on CN/2's Pure Politics:

Republican Senate President David Williams rarely misses a chance to criticize Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, especially on education issues.

The two are facing off in the fall governor’s race.

Williams latest criticism of Beshear is for a request he made for an exemption to the federal No Child Left Behind law.

In his request [supported by KSBA and KASS] with Kentucky’s Education Commissioner Terry Holliday, Beshear asked the U.S. Department of Education to exempt the state from the testing accountability portions of the federal law. Instead, Beshear wants Kentucky’s own system to be used when the state is graded under NCLB standards.

But Williams called the request a “farce,” because the state has yet to fully develop it’s own accountability system after scrapping the previous system. Because a system is not yet in place, Williams accused Beshear of playing politics with education.

Williams did not mention that a quickly growing number of states are following Beshear's leadership on the issue: Idaho, South Dakota, now Tennessee and more to come....stay tuned.

But Williams claims, "Gov Beshear is attempting to cover up his very dismal record..." 

That record not only includes repeated efforts (nine) to spare Kentucky education from the kinds of deep cuts that other state's children have had to endure, but netted Beshear the title "America’s Greatest Education Governor" from the NEA Sunday. The annual award recognizes governors who have made “major, state-level strides” to improve public schools. NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said Beshear has shown unwavering support for students and educators.

But Williams is going to criticize Beshear no matter what he does. Williams knows very well [wasn't he the sponsor of Senate Bill 1?] that the state's new assessment system is still in development. Many of the national standards are set and more are in development. But there's no particular problem assoicated with figuring out how one's accountability system will work, before the actual test is complete. Beshear is seeking the kind of state control Republicans say they support, unless of course, it's an election year.

Williams also claims that Beshear is against "the sort of interventions we know are necessary to improve education in the state." He included two examples: Beshear's opposition to Williams's neighborhood school bill which would resegregate schools in Louisville, much as is occurring in Wake County, NC, and voluntary charter schools. I support limited use of charter schools but would never go so far as to claim they are a cure for anything beyond a few site-specific cases where long-term efforts have not produced results. Citing charters as a broad solution for Kentucky schools is simply not supported by evidence. But Williams knows that in politics, one need not always be correct if what one says confirms a constituency's biases.

Holliday deferred when asked about Williams comments, saying he wasn’t a politician. But the commissioner said he doesn’t believe Kentucky is at any disadvantage in its request, despite not having its own standards set in stone yet.

Instead, Holliday said Kentucky’s push is similar to other states who want standards set at the state level.

Blackboard Gets Bought

This from Inside Higher Ed:

Blackboard, maker of the dominant online learning platform among nonprofit colleges, has been sold to Providence Equity Partners, the company announced on Friday. The announcement prompted hand-wringing from campus technology officials and reassurances from Blackboard that there are no significant changes in the offing.

“We have some concerns,” says Sam Segran, chief technology officer at Texas Tech University. “Any time somebody goes into private equity, one of the concerns we have is profit motivation and less motivation in terms of meeting educational needs.”

Blackboard’s transition from publicly traded company (its status since 2004) to private equity holding could indeed mean a greater emphasis on earnings, says Trace Urdan, a senior analyst at the investment firm Signal Hill. The new owners will not have to worry about feverishly acquiring other companies in order to make the company’s stock price go up, Urdan says. More likely, Providence will treat its new investment like a cash cow, focusing on the Blackboard products that reliably make money and possibly unloading the ones that do not.

Still, the sale of Blackboard might have a greater impact on Wall Street than on Campus Drive, experts say. The "losers" in this case may be confined to small software companies hoping to be bought out and short-sellers who bet against Blackboard.

As for college and university customers, “I don’t think life changes very much,” says Urdan. For Blackboard to continue to be reliably profitable, it cannot afford to drive clients into the arms of its competitors by jacking up prices, Urdan says. Hence a greater focus on earnings would not necessarily mean a bigger squeeze on customers.

More than half of nonprofit colleges and universities use Blackboard Learn, the company’s learning-management system, which serves as an online environment where professors and students can upload and download course materials, chat with each other, and hold class sessions. Learning management systems are often considered “mission critical,” especially in the fast-growing area of online education. Thus any major shakeup at Blackboard necessarily has a ripple effect across its thousands of higher ed clients...

Can Creativity Be Taught?

This from August Turak in Forbes:

Every great leader is a creative leader.

If creativity can be taught how is it done?

...In 1956 my mentor, Louis R. Mobley, realized that IBM’s success depended on teaching executives to think creatively rather than teaching them how to read financial reports. As a result the IBM Executive School was built around these six insights.


First, traditional teaching methodologies like reading, lecturing, testing, and memorization are worse than useless. They are actually the counter-productive way in which boxes get built. Most education focuses on providing answers in a linear step by step way. Mobley realized that asking radically different questions in a non-linear way is the key to creativity.

Mobley’s second discovery is that becoming creative is an unlearning rather than a learning process. The goal of the IBM Executive School was not to add more assumptions but to upend existing assumptions. Designed as a “mind blowing experience,” IBM executives were pummeled out of their comfort zone often in embarrassing, frustrating, even infuriating ways. Providing a humbling experience for hot shot executives with egos to match had its risks, but Mobley ran those risks to get that “Wow, I never thought of it that way before!” reaction that is the birth pang of creativity.

Third, Mobley realized that we don’t learn to be creative. We must become creative people. A Marine recruit doesn’t learn to be a Marine by reading a manual. He becomes a Marine by undergoing the rigors of boot camp. Like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, he is transformed into a Marine. Mobley’s Executive School was a twelve week experiential boot camp. Classes, lectures, and books, were exchanged for riddles, simulations, and games. Like psychologists, Mobley and his staff were always dreaming up experiments where the “obvious” answer was never adequate. Shock and awe was used to open up his students to alternative modes of thinking.

Mobley’s fourth insight is that the fastest way to become creative is to hang around with creative people –regardless of how stupid they make us feel. An early experiment in controlled chaos, The IBM Executive School was an unsystematic, unstructured environment where most of the benefits accrued through peer to peer interaction much of it informal and off line.

Fifth, Mobley discovered that creativity is highly correlated with self-knowledge. It is impossible to overcome biases if we don’t know they are there, and Mobley’s school was designed to be one big mirror.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, Mobley gave his students permission to be wrong. Every great idea grows from the potting soil of hundreds of bad ones, and the single biggest reason why most of us never live up to our creative potential is from fear of making a fool out of ourselves. For Mobley there were no bad ideas or wrong ideas only building blocks for even better ideas.

In today’s ever changing marketplace most products do not fail because they don’t add features fast enough. They fail because like WordPerfect and Lotus their product becomes a feature in another company’s bigger and more robust offering. They fail because they are blindsided by a strategic decision that emerges from a completely unanticipated direction. They fail from a lack of creative leadership...

Deja Vu All Over Again...Redux

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This from Brad Hughes at KSBA:

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

not new federal direction

Follow-up letter provides additional details

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

OEA Recommends Removal of Bath Co Board Chair

This from the Kentucky News Group Network:

The Kentucky Office of Educational Accountability has recommended Bath County Board of Education Chairman Bill Boyd be removed from office.

The report states that “Boyd has, by his actions, violated Board policy and statutory provisions of law.”

In its conclusions the reports says that the “OEA is referring this case to the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) for resolution or removal of Mr. Boyd from the Bath County Board of Education.”

The investigation began on April 13 when the OEA paid a visit to theBathCountySchool Districtand interviewed Boyd and the other members of the Board of Education, Supt. Nancy Hutchinson, and other district personnel.

At the time the investigation began, Boyd said that he was aware that the OEA was asking school district employees whether he and other school board members were colluding with one another outside of meetings and without the knowledge of other school board members.

The report lists eight allegations against Boyd:
1) He failed to perform the duty of evaluating the superintendent;
2) he interfered with personnel matters and the day to day operation of the school district;
3) he violated Board Policy regarding the calling of special meetings;
4) he violated the open meeting law by polling Board members through email;
5) he violated the open meeting law by taking action during closed sessions;
6) he violated Board Policy by making Open Records requests and then refusing to pay for copies of the records;
7) he violated Board Policy regarding Board member expense reimbursement; and
8) he violated statute and Board Policy by acting independently of the Board.

Boyd’s actions have already been investigated twice while a member of the Board.

A December 2009 report found that Boyd had both violated his oath as a Board member as well as the Open Meetings Act and directed him to seek training to help him understand his duties and limitations as a Board member.

According to the report, “Mr. Boyd refused to accept the findings of the OEA and refused to attend the required training.”

It further states, “Mr. Boyd refused to even acknowledge that he may have made a mistake.”

A second report was issued in September 2010 regarding Boyd’s efforts to get a water fountain installed at the football field in July 2009.

He was not found in violation because he admitted he was unaware that there was an approval process for installing the water fountain.

This latest investigation is focused largely on Boyd’s actions from December 2010 through April of this year.

Its gives an interesting behind-the-scenes look into the day-to-day politics of the Bath County School Board.

The first allegation states that Boyd refused to participate in any of the required job evaluations for Supt. Hutchinson from the time he took office in January 2009.

Boyd and board member B. A. Franklin have stated on numerous occasions that they felt that their evaluations would be perceived as biased.

Boyd replied to this allegation by stating that “I campaigned on a platform that emphasized making changes for improvement including replacing the superintendent, and believe she should be replaced, and believe she should not have been hired in the first place.”

The second allegation focuses on Boyd’s attempts to “get rid of” Asst. Supt. and Personnel Director Steve Meadows.

The report states that Boyd attempted on numerous occasions to obtain information regarding Meadows’ qualifications and pay increases. It also stated that Boyd made no secret of his desire to replace Meadows.

“The authority to hire and fire personnel is reserved to the superintendent pursuant to KRS 160.380(2)(a),” according to the report, not school board members.

Boyd noted, “Since I do not know of any board action creating the position of personnel director or assistant superintendent I requested proof.”

The third allegation concerns the special called meeting of the Board on March 15.

Boyd provided a notice to a local newspaper that did not contain the place meeting place or the agenda.

To this allegation, Boyd said, “I did tell Chris Bailey that we were going to have a special called meeting. I do not know of any law or procedure that prevents me from telling a friend that we are going to have a meeting. It did not contain any agenda, time or place and was not a formal notice and therefore was not a violation of anything.”

The fourth allegation deals with Boyd’s attempt to obtain approval from Board members through email to assign work to then recently-hired Board attorney David Barber in February.

The report also stated that Boyd regularly conferred with board members B. A. Franklin and Hurschell Rawlings outside of board meetings and did not communicate with Sandy Crouch and Lisa McFarland.

“Mr. Franklin, Mr. Rawlings and I have never discussed anything we were going to vote on. I have not had any informational communications with Sandy Crouch and Lisa McFarland because they are hostile towards me,” Boyd said about this allegation.

The fifth allegation states that Boyd asked Attorney Barber during a closed session of the Board in March about investigating the possibility of buying out Supt. Hutchinson’s contract.

This request was not mentioned in the meeting minutes nor approved in open session.

Boyd said that he does not remember this taking place but does not deny it.

The sixth allegation notes that Boyd has on numerous occasions refused to pay for copies from the Board of Education office since becoming a Board member.

To this allegation, Boyd responded, “All of my copy requests since becoming a board member have been for legitimate government purposes and a board members public function, not as a citizen making a request under the open records act. I’m not an attorney, and am no expert on case law, but I believe that a request made by a board member acting as stated above is not subject to charge.”

The seventh allegation states that Boyd attended a Kentucky School Board Association Conference in Louisville in December 2010 with Hurschell Rawlings without prior Board approval for the expenses.

Boyd said in response to this allegation that he had expected the conference to be on the December Board agenda but that it was not, and that the trip was approved at the January meeting.

The final allegation notes several instances in which Boyd acted independently of the Board and without Board authorization.

In February, Supt. Hutchinson was directed by Boyd to place advertising for a new board attorney and was informed by Boyd that “we already have an attorney David Barber.”

Boyd chastised her two days later for not placing the ad and for seeking guidance in hiring a new attorney.

Boyd said that he did not make the statement about attorney Barber to Hutchinson.

On March 22, the Board voted to rescind two contract extensions granted to Supt. Hutchinson, form a search committee, and hire the Kentucky School Board Association to assist in hiring a new superintendent.

Two days later, Boyd emailed the superintendent and other board members informing them that the KSBA would not be participating in the search and that the board would proceed without them.

In the April Board meeting Boyd made two motions related to the search for a new superintendent which failed, including a motion to place an ad soliciting applications. On May 2, Boyd submitted the advertisement to a local newspaper. Boyd also rented a post office box in which to receive applications.

On May 3, Boyd contacted the president of the Bath County Education Association and directed her to hold an election for teachers to be on the superintendent screening committee.

Boyd noted about these instances that he was merely proceeding on the assumption that the search for a superintendent needed to continue.

The report also notes that Boyd met with or contacted the Board attorney privately on at least three occasions in March 2011 and that the content of these conversations was not shared with the Board for their approval or information. Attorney Barber submitted a bill for these services.

“As for my calling the board attorney we are having quite a bit of controversy. If there is something wrong with this please let me know. I want to comply with all laws and procedures,” Boyd said.

When the News Outlook contacted Boyd about the report, he provided a letter which was emailed to Marcia Ford Seiler, OEA Director, following the preliminary investigation of May 16.

In the email, Boyd concluded “I want to point out that this report has been biased. It is worded throughout in a manner which will place me in a bad light. It is written in a manner used by prosecutors and policemen who are trying to build a court case that will result in a conviction. As any educated person knows how you word a report or article will determine the readers’ reaction. It should be fair and unbiased but it is not. The following information makes your point for you if one wants to look at it from your perspective, instead of looking at it as trying to accomplish something positive, and providing leadership that will provide a better education for the children.

“I have tried to bring improvements to this district. I have challenged everyone to move this district from the lower twenty five percent of districts to the upper twenty five percent within ten years. You may call that acting independent of the rest of the board, but I call it leadership. I also have called for a district planning meeting when we get a new superintendent on board, to develop a new educational model that will incorporate the recommendations of the governors task force, and the core content requirements and move us rapidly forward in academic achievement.”

Board attorney David Barber’s office was also contacted about the report, but he had not replied at the time this newspaper went to press.

Quick Hits

South Dakota schools chief: We will not follow NCLB guidelines:  South Dakota schools chief Melody Schopp says the state will not adhere to No Child Left Behind guidelines, risking millions in federal funds and becoming the latest state to defy the law. Schopp said she did not want to label more schools as failing when proficiency targets rise. Idaho officials have said they will defy the law, and Kentucky leaders have asked U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for permission to use their own accountability system. Duncan has said he plans to offer states relief from NCLB sanctions, as an update to the law remains mired in Congress. (Argus Leader)

Troubled charters prompt L.A. school officials to take action:  Some of Los Angeles' 183 charter schools have struggled with problems this year, including cheating on state tests, weak academic performance and poor financial oversight. The school system -- which has more charters than any other district in the country -- has increased its oversight in response to the problems. Some say the problems demonstrate the drawbacks of charters' autonomy. "Flexibility is the tradeoff for accountability," said Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform. (San Jose Mercury News)

Data reveals gaps in educational opportunities for U.S. students:  Students' access to early education, rigorous academics and experienced teachers and counselors varies widely across the country, according to federal data released Thursday on 72,000 schools in 7,000 districts. For example, the study by the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights found that nearly 3,000 high schools in the U.S. do not offer Algebra II courses and fewer than 25% of districts offer free preschool for low-income children. Officials said understanding the findings would be an important step in remedying opportunity gaps for U.S. students. (Education Week)

Do longer school days work?:  Chicago officials are pushing to lengthen the school day and year to raise student achievement even as recent test scores show the effect of more classroom time is unclear. State test scores released this week show that charter schools -- which have extended school days -- achieved nearly the same results as neighborhood schools that do not. "Just extending a school day doesn't mean, by itself, that you're going to have high-performing schools," said Noemi Donoso, chief education officer for Chicago schools. "It's not going to be simple." (Chicago News Cooperative)

Indiana Ends Requirement To Teach Cursive Writing:  In Indiana schools, cursive writing is headed the way of the ink well and the chalkboard. The flowing handwriting, often called "long hand" or "script" will no longer be required learning in Indiana's public schools. Instead, students will focus more on typing. (WKRC)


Ratings, standards among criteria for early-education Race to the Top: States seeking federal Race to the Top aid for early-childhood education programs must create rating systems, develop academic standards and assessments and devise expectations for teacher proficiency, according to proposed rules for the grant program being released today. The latest round of the Race to the Top program will allocate shares of $500 million in aid to winning programs that best meet the Obama administration's criteria. (Politics K-12)

Education leaders seek support for innovation in common core tests:  A group of more than 60 education leaders released an open letter to policymakers and consortia working to develop new common core assessments, imploring them to ensure the new tests reflect and support emerging models of teaching and testing. The letter specifically references blended-learning models that combine online and face-to-face instruction, as well as the movement toward personalized learning and the use of digital materials in schools. (Disrupting Class)

Most low-income families don't get adequate nutrition, study says:  More than 70% of 100 low-income families weren't able to meet sufficient levels of vitamins A and C, protein and other vital nutrients, a study in the Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal found. Researchers noted that 43% of the families gathered for breakfast and lunch two or fewer times weekly. Helping families eat breakfasts together more frequently would help boost their intake of dairy as well as fruits and fruit juices, researchers said. (HealthDay News)

We are on the edge of the "funding cliff":  School district budgets will be crunched from all sides this year and districts are at the very edge of the "funding cliff," writes Jack Jennings, head of the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy. Cutbacks at the state and local level have hurt, as will the loss of federal stimulus funds that have propped districts up during the past two years, Jennings writes. A survey done by the center found 70% of districts had budget cuts this past school year, leading most to reduce staff. Jennings worries this could slow the pace of needed reforms. (The Answer Sheet)

Survey - Students want more online learning:  A survey of roughly 400,000 teachers, students and parents shows that about 40% of students believe online learning is an important part of their education. Schools and districts are continuing to integrate more technology and online learning into the curriculum -- a change that many students are seeking -- but some are still struggling to keep up with student demand, the findings show. The survey, by Project Tomorrow and Blackboard K-12, reflects an update of the group's ongoing Speak Up research project. (Digital Education)

Should math and science teachers earn more money?:  Officials in Georgia hope to recruit and retain more math and science teachers by offering them incentive bonuses ranging from $1,500 to $6,600. The bonuses were approved in 2009, but are being funded for the first time this year. The bonuses will increase the salaries of new teachers to the level of pay earned by teachers in their sixth year. The teachers will earn the pay for the next five years if they continue to teach math and science. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Too much focus on testing limits learning, creativity

This from FayetteABC's Denise Ho in H-L:

The anxiety over school testing is understandable; students, parents and the public worry about our students' futures and what it means for America's future. We worry about America's competitiveness, especially with the rise of countries such as China whose test scores consistently call ours into question.

In this economy, those of us in higher education debate the merit of a college degree because studies have shown that our students are unprepared for college, do not necessarily learn as much as we thought they did, and might face unemployment when they graduate.

It is important to understand that Fayette ABC is not against testing altogether but is asking how much testing is necessary, and at what cost to our students?

What we should remember in this context is that there are some qualities of an American education that are worth keeping, and by this I mean the potential to cultivate independent-minded and creative students.

When we worry about the competition from East Asian students, we should be mindful of the fact that those systems envy American schools for allowing independence and creativity.

These are skills that Chinese schools seek to create, and this is the reason that Asian students come to America for college and graduate school, the one product that people are willing to come across the globe to get.

In our quest to raise the quality of American public schools, we should not lose the core values of creativity and independence — which translate to entrepreneurship and leadership — and distinguish American education.

Creativity and independence, Fayette ABC is right to point out, are neither produced nor evaluated by school tests.

Independence

This message from the TEA Party: