In Context: Stephen Pruitt and School Reform

And how does Achieve, Inc. fit in?

This from Chapter 2 of Combs & Fair (eds.) Meet Me at the Commons, New Forums (2015). Whose Standards Are These?: A Brief Historical Timeline of the Development of the Common Core State Standards with References to Next General Science Standards, and the C3 Framework for Social Studies by Richard Day

1989: The National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) published their highly influential report, America’s choice: High skills or low wages! which called for new set of national educational performance standards to be bench­marked to the highest educational standards in the world and met by American students by age 16. Many states began enacting policies recommended by NCEE (National Center on Education and the Economy, 1990). 

• 1989: President George H. W. Bush invited the nation’s governors to an education summit, where influential AFT President Albert Shanker urged them to begin creating a national system of high standards and rigorous assessments with real consequences. Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton took charge of the governors’ effort to draft national goals for the year 2000, a major policy shift away from keeping students in school without any real standards of achievement. 

• 1989: Kentucky drew national attention when its Supreme Court declared the entire system of schools to be unconstitu­tional in Rose v Council for Better Education, 790 S. W. 2d 186, (1989). The Rose court accepted a standards-based rationale for determining whether the state had met its constitutional obliga­tion, and that launched another wave of school reform litigation based on both equity and adequacy claims as expressed in state constitutions (Day, 2011). 

• 1990: In response to the Rose decision, the Kentucky General Assembly passed the nation’s most ambitious statewide school reform package, the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA) (Day, 2011; Guskey & Oldham, 1997). Arguably, KERA’s most powerful feature was the advent of a new kind of high-stakes accountability system based on student achieve­ment outcomes (test scores). The old method of reporting only school-wide means concealed the substandard performance of as much as a third or more of the student population. The new data, disaggregated into subgroup performance, revealed those short-comings and changed the way educators talked about student success. The public reporting of student test score data by subgroups, along with the ranking of schools – a contribution of the news media - proved to be a powerful tool for driving change in this new era of high-stakes assessment. The promise of equality of educational opportunity that had guided American schools for a century was effectively replaced by a new goal – equity of student achievement outcomes (Day & Ewalt, 2014). 

• 1993: Separately, the National Research Council issued a set of national science standards, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science published its Benchmarks for Science Literacy (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Institute for Advanced Study publish The Opportunity Equation calling for a common set of science standards (National Research Council, 2012). 

• 1994: President Bill Clinton’s effort to create voluntary national standards fell apart when history standards, which included social justice issues, were attacked by conservative groups as the epitome of left-wing political correctness (in Ravitch, 2010, pp. 16-22). Clinton backed away from national standards and provided funding under his Goals 2000 program for states to write their own standards, pick their own tests, and be account­able for achievement (Ravitch, 2010). 

• 1996: The National Governor’s Association, in concert with corporate leaders, created Achieve, Inc., an independent, bipartisan, nonprofit education reform organization based in Washington D. C. that focused its efforts on helping states raise academic standards and graduation requirements, and strengthen accountability (American Diploma Project, 2011). 

• 2001: Achieve sponsored a National Education Summit and joined with the Education Trust, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and the National Alliance of Business to launch the American Diploma Project (ADP) to identify the must-have knowledge and skills most demanded by higher education and employers. 

• 2001: When President George W. Bush signed the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act into law, a new definition of school reform became nationalized, one characterized by accountabil­ity (Ravitch, 2010). The Act required states to test every child annually in Grades 3 – 8 in reading and math and report disag­gregated test scores. This reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was built upon a standards-based reform whose roots were found in policy responses to A Na­tion at Risk (Kaestle, 2006). Nationally, there was concern over the “vast differences in educational expectations [that] existed across the states” (Conley, 2014, p. 1). 

• 2004: The American Diploma Project (ADP) published, Ready or not: Creating a high school diploma that counts which described “specific content and skills in English and mathemat­ics graduates must master by the time they leave high school if they expect to succeed in postsecondary education or high-performance, high-growth jobs.” The standards were said to be “considerably more rigorous than [the existing] high school standards” (American Diploma Project, 2007, p. 7). 

In 2004, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher’s (R-Lexington) education agenda featured the idea of getting high schoolers ready for college and the workplace, including year-end assessments and better curriculum alignment across all core content areas. Fletcher’s plan was developed based on research conducted through the state's participation in the American Diploma Project, a joint effort of three Washington-based education reform groups: Achieve Inc., the Education Trust, and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation – which are not coincidentally, also the groups behind the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).[1]

When Fletcher’s Education Secretary Virginia Fox met with the National Governor’s Association in February 2005, she reported that Kentucky already had a pre- K-16 council working to forge stronger ties between high schools and higher education. "We've been working very hard on the issue of alignment," added Ms. Fox. "That's a track we're on, and we'll continue aggressively - and, in fact, probably accelerate."[2]

  

• 2005: At the National Education Summit on high schools that year, governors from 45 states joined with business leaders and education officials to address a critical problem in American education – that too few students were graduating from high school prepared to meet the demands of college and careers in an increasingly competitive global economy. The result was ADP’s creation of a set of benchmarks that were proposed as anchors for other states’ high school standards-based assess­ments and graduation requirements. ADP identified an impor­tant convergence around the core knowledge and skills that both colleges and employers – within and beyond ADP states – require (American Diploma Project, 2004). The American Diploma Project set five goals and the criteria against which participating states were measured to determine if the goal had been met:  

Common Standards – The criteria are met if the standards’ writing process is guided by the expectations of the state’s postsecondary and business communities, if those com­munities verify that the resulting standards articulate the knowledge and skills required for success in college and the workplace, and if an external organization verifies the standards’ alignment to college- and career-ready expecta­tions (American Diploma Project, 2011).  

Graduation Requirements – High school graduates need to complete a challenging course of study in mathematics that includes the content typically taught through an Algebra II course (or its equivalent) and four years of grade-level English aligned with college- and career-ready standards (American Diploma Project, 2011).  

Assessments – States must have a component of their high school assessment system that measures students’ mastery of college- and career-ready content in English and mathematics. The assessment must have credibility with postsecondary institutions and employers such that a certain score indicates readiness (American Diploma Project, 2011).  

P-20 Data Systems – States must have unique student iden­tifiers to track each student through and beyond the K-12 system and must have “overcome all barriers to matching” and have “the capacity to match longitudinal student-level records between K-12 and postsecondary, and matches these records at least annually” (American Diploma Project, 2011, p. 18).  

Accountability Systems – States must value and reward the number of students who earn a college- and career-ready diploma, score college-ready on high school assessments, and enter college without the need for remediation (Ameri­can Diploma Project, 2011). 

•   2006: ACT’s report, Reading between the lines argued that there are high costs ($16 billion per year in lost productivity and remediation) associated with students not being ready for col­lege level reading and suggested that students were actually losing momentum during high school, that poor readers struggle, are frequently blocked from advanced work, that low literacy levels prevent mastery of other subjects, and is commonly cited as a reason for dropping out (ACT, 2006). NAEP reading results from 1971-2004 showed average reading scores for 9-year-olds were the highest on record but scores for 13-year-olds had risen only slightly since 1975. Reading scores for 17-year-olds, however, had actually dropped five points between 1992-2004 (Perie, Moran, & Lutkus, 2005). 

• 2007: The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) issued a report that established the lack of any continuity among the various state accountability systems. Under the provisions of the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), states were re­quired to report annually the percentages of students achieving proficiency in reading and mathematics for grades 3 through 8. But the law allowed each state to select the tests and set the pro­ficiency standards by which it determines whether the state has met its adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals. The NCES report revealed that proficiency standards varied so much from state to state that comparisons were impossible. Students in states where cut scores for proficiency had been set low appeared to be achieving at remarkable rates. But when the performance in these states was mapped against the estimate of students achieving a “proficient” rating on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), there were substantial differ­ences found. The variations could be explained by differences in both content standards and student academic achievement from state to state, as well as from differences in the stringency of the standards adopted by the states. As a result, there was no way to directly compare state proficiency standards in an environment where different tests and standards were used (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2007, p. 482).

• November 2007: The Chief Council of State School Officers (CCSSO) policy forum discussed the need for one set of shared academic standards. 

• 2008: Achieve report Benchmarking for success: Ensuring U.S. students receive a world-class education recommended states upgrade state standards by adopting a common core of internationally benchmarked standards in math and language arts for grades K-12 to ensure that students are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to be globally competitive (National Governors Association, Council of Chief State School Officers, & Achieve Inc., 2008). 

• July 2008: With the release of Out of many one: Toward rigorous Common Core Standards from the ground up, CC­SSO Executive Director, Gene Wilhoit, argued that all students should graduate from high school prepared for the demands of postsecondary education, meaningful careers, and effective citizenship, and that a state-led effort is the fastest, most ef­fective way to ensure that more students graduate from high school ready for college and career, a universally accepted goal. “ADP Core has become the common core as a byproduct of the alignment work in each of the states.” (Achieve, Inc., Press Release, July31, 2008). 

• Summer 2008: CCSSO’s Executive Director Gene Wilhoit and Student Achievement Partners Co-founder David Coleman convinced philanthropist Bill Gates to spend more than $200 million advancing Common Core. Over the next two years, Gates would fund groups across the political spectrum and by June 2009, CCSS would be adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia (Layton, 2014).

• April 2009: NGA & CCSSO Summit in Chicago called for states to support shared standards. 

In April 2009, Stephen Pruitt was selected as Chief of Staff for the colorful Kathy Cox, in the Georgia Department of Education. He had been with the department in various capacities since 2003. He had previously been a high school AP Chemistry teacher.

 

• May 2009: The CCSS Initiative development began on the college and career ready standards (National Governors Asso­ciation Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, 2014). 

In 2009, the Kentucky legislature passed Senate Bill 1 which was sponsored by a host of Republicans including former Senate President David Williams (R-Burkesville) along with Sens. Katie Stine (R-Southgate) and Damon Thayer (R-Georgetown) who have recently had second thoughts. SB1 directed the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and the Council of Postsecondary Education (CPE) to plan and imple­ment a comprehensive process for re­vising the core standards so they are fewer in number, more focused and in-depth, evidenced-based, incorpo­rate international benchmarks where possible, and are common from high school to postsecondary introduc­tory courses.

 

• July 2009: Based on positive responses from the states Com­mon Core State Standards Writing Panels began their work. 

• July 2009: President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced $4.35 billion in competitive Race to the Top (RTTT) grants. To be eligible, states had to adopt “internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the work place” (U. S. Department of Education, 2009, para 4). But the support of the Obama administration for this hitherto voluntary national

effort would create confusion as to whether CCSS was a national effort or a federal effort. When viewed as a federal effort, CCSS became ripe for politicization. 

Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday had been on the job less than a week, in August 2009, when he sat before the Interim Joint Committee on Education to talk about the implementation of Senate Bill 1. Listening were many of the key crafters of the bill including Rep Katie Stine (R-Southgate) .

“Kentucky has long been known for national leadership in education reform,” said Holliday. “Your insight and preparation in Senate Bill 1 will lead us into the next generation of education reform.” He made it clear that he was ready and able to follow their game plan.

A key provision of the bill seeks to ensure high school graduates are prepared for college or jobs eliminating the need for zero-credit developmental classes in the process. Holliday and CPE President Bob King confirmed to the SB1 sponsors that they understood the legislators’ desire for a Kentucky high school diploma to truly indicate the student has completed work which is synchronized with the course requirements needed for college success.

KDE staff handed out detailed time lines for implementing the deadlines imposed by the bill – which was to be fully implemented by 2011. College Readiness Workgroups had already been established to review the common core standards. After reviewing the time lines Stine encouraged Holliday and King saying, “It’s a tall task but it looks like you’re well on your way.”[3]

 

• September 2009: 48 states (not Texas or Alaska), Washing­ton, D. C., the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico were counted as participating in the CCSS effort (National Governors Associa­tion, 2009). 

• January, 2010: Responding to fears that Common Core might squeeze social studies out of the curriculum, an alliance of social studies organizations, including a state collaborative working under the CCSSO called the Social Studies Assessment, Curricu­lum and Instruction (SSACI), the National Council for the Social Studies, and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools (CMS) began an initiative to focus on the four state standards identified in the No Child Left Behind Act: Civics, Economics, Geography and History. The group expanded to include 15 organizations and formed the Task Force of Professional Organizations to work with SSACI (Swann & Griffin, 2013). 

• February 11, 2010: Kentucky adopted CCSS, the first state to do so. 

• March 2010: First draft of CCSS was officially released. 

• June 2, 2010: The standards-development process was com­pleted in approximately one year by Achieve, Inc. (Mathis, 2010). The Common Core State Standards (English Language Arts and Math) were finalized on June 2, 2010 (Porter, McMaken, Hwang, & Yang, 2010). 

• July 2010: Kentucky launched Leadership Networks for teacher, school, and district leaders around the implementa­tion of the Common Core State Standards within the context of highly effective teaching, learning, and assessment practices. 

• September 2. 2010: Education Secretary Arne Duncan awarded $360 million to two multi-state consortia to develop standardized tests: The Partnership for Assessment of Readi­ness for College and Careers (PARCC) and The Smarter Bal­anced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) (U. S. Department of Education, 2010) 

• July 1, 2011: The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Institute for Advanced Study published A Framework for K-12 Science Education Standards: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas, the guiding document for Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). 

• 2011: Achieve began managing the state-led development of the K-12 Next Generation Science Standards. 

At this point, Stephen Pruitt was in his first year at Achieve, serving as Vice President for Content, Research, and Development and developing instructional materials, including rubrics to assess the quality of instructional material. 

• Spring 2012: Kentucky assessed CCSS in a new accountability system. 

In May 2013, Stephen Pruitt was promoted to Senior Vice President and coordinated the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Network and led the development of science materials. 

• 2013: Nationally, with bipartisan support for a conservative proposal, and much evidence-based rationale, CCSS seemed to be on track for a relatively easy adoption among the 45 states that remained committed. The thornier issue appeared to be whether a set of national exams based on the CCSS could be agreed to and would be affordable. But backlash against CCSS was surfacing in state legislatures in Alabama, Indiana, Michi­gan, Missouri, Pennsylvania Missouri, Georgia, South Dakota, and Kansas (Ujifusa, 2013).

• April 9, 2013: The final Next Generation Science Standards were released. The standards required evidence of three-di­mensional learning (including practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas) and learning progressions outlined with stan­dards at all grade levels, including engineering, and connections with common core standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013). 

• April 2013: The Republican National Committee surprised many educators when it passed a resolution bashing the standards. In a letter to colleagues on the appropriations subcommittee that handles education funding, Sen. Charles Grassley (R, Iowa) calls CCSS an “inappropriate overreach to standardize and control the education of our children” (Strauss, 2013, para. 3). Grassley asked Congress to cut off all future funds for CCSS and its assessments, and “restore state decision-mak­ing and accountability with respect to state academic content standards.” The letter said in part:

While the Common Core State Standards Initiative was initially billed as a voluntary effort between states, federal incentives have clouded the picture. Current federal law makes clear that the U.S. Department of Education may not be involved in setting specific content standards or determining the content of state assessments. Nevertheless, the selection criteria designed by the U.S. Department of Education for the Race to the Top Program provided that for a state to have any chance to compete for funding, it must commit to adopting a ‘common set of K-12 standards’ matching the description of the Common Core. The U.S. Department of Education also made adoption of ‘college- and career-ready standards’ meet­ing the description of the Common Core a condition to receive a state waiver under the Elementary and Secondary Educa­tion Act. Race to the Top funds were also used to fund two consortiums to develop assessments aligned to the Common Core and the Department is now in the process of evaluating these assessments. (Grassley, 2013, para. 2) 

Once a public policy issue becomes politicized, it is dif­ficult to accurately predict its future. But a report from the Center on Education Policy (CEP) found that, while concern over funding for CCSS implementation was high, state education leaders said that the effort would go forward. In their report, Year 3 of Implementing the Common Core State Standards: State Education Agencies Views on the Federal Role, CEP found that the majority of the 40 states responding to the survey, said that it is unlikely that their state would reverse, limit, or change its decision to adopt CCSS this year or next. Few state education leaders said that overcoming resistance to CCSS was a major challenge in their state (Renter, 2013).

Breaking: Koch Out. Achieve's Stephen Pruitt "likely" New Ky Ed Commish

This from Toni Konz at WDBR:

The Kentucky Board of Education announced late Friday that Stephen Pruitt will "likely" be named the next Education Commissioner, pending the outcome of a background check.

Stephen Pruitt

Pruitt is currently senior vice president at Achieve, Inc., an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit education reform organization, where he has served since 2010. Pruitt’s prior experience includes chief of staff, associate state superintendent, director of academic standards, and science and mathematics program manager with the Georgia Department of Education.

“Dr. Pruitt is very excited for the opportunity and has indicated to the board that, if offered the job, he would accept,” Kentucky Board of Education Chair Roger Marcum said. “He brings a wealth of educational experience from the classroom, the state and the national levels. He is personable and a good communicator. The board feels very fortunate to have someone of his caliber and we are confident that Dr. Pruitt will continue to strengthen the tradition of excellence in Kentucky public education.”  

Pruitt was announced as one of two finalists for the position last week.   

The other finalist Christopher Koch, withdrew from consideration Friday afternoon.

Associated Commissioner and General Counsel Kevin Brown is serving as interim commissioner until someone is officially hired.

No start date has been announced for the next commissioner.

Once the background check is complete, Marcum will call a special meeting within the next few weeks.

Confucius deal fuels questions at WKU

Inside Higher Education reported last fall that the University of Chicago suspended its agreement to host a Confucius Institute following an unflattering article that appeared in the Chinese press. The decision was supported by a petition, signed by more than 100 faculty members, calling for the closure of the institute. The petition raised concerns that in hosting the Chinese government-funded center for research and language teaching, Chicago was ceding control over faculty hiring, course content, and programming to Confucius Institute headquarters in Beijing, which is also known as Hanban.

In June, the American Association of University Professors called on universities to cancel their agreements with Confucius Institutes unless they can renegotiate them to ensure certain terms can be met. The AAUP statement asserted that “North American universities permit Confucius Institutes to advance a state agenda in the recruitment and control of academic staff, in the choice of curriculum, and in the restriction of debate.” 

This fall, the faculty and students at Western Kentucky University are objecting.


This from the Bowling Green Daily News:

Western Kentucky University faculty and students are expressing concern over a contract signed by President Gary Ransdell for a new Confucius Institute building.

Faculty Regent Barbara Burch said some are bothered that the building would be solely for the use of Hanban – an institution affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education – and that WKU would have to return a prorated amount of money if the university wants to repurpose the building over a 50-year obligation with Hanban.

“We do not need a building for which the purpose of it is singularly controlled by Chinese Hanban for 50 years,” she said.

Senate Chair Kate Hudepohl

During an Aug. 27 meeting of the University Senate, the body unanimously endorsed a motion put forward by the Senate Executive Committee urging the contract be revisited, according to a digitally signed document from University Senate Chair Kate Hudepohl.

“The WKU Senate Executive Committee strongly believes that the Confucius Institute building contract signed by President Gary Ransdell is not in the best interest of Western Kentucky University,” the motion reads. “For that reason, the WKU Senate Executive Committee asks that Faculty Regent Barbara Burch suggest to President Ransdell, and to the Board of Regents if needed, that the contract be revisited and no contractual obligations be undertaken until that time.”

That motion was echoed by Student Government Association President Jay Todd Richey and Executive Vice President Nolan Miles, who introduced a concurring resolution at a meeting of the SGA Senate on Tuesday.

“The Confucius Teacher Training Institute is a project President Ransdell made with Hanban ... to construct a new building on (the) WKU main campus for training Chinese teachers on American educational procedure,” the resolution reads.

When the project was approved by WKU’s Board of Regents in January, Burch voted no while Regent John Ridley abstained. At the time, Burch told the Daily News the contract was unavailable. Burch said the contract was signed by Ransdell in December.

“And, therefore, the board approved it without actually having the contract in hand,” she said.

Hanban provided the university $1.5 million, Burch said, with the understanding that WKU would match that amount to construct a separate building for the institute, which currently operates on the ground floor of the Helm Library. Part of that is $800,000 cash and the rest comes in kind, she said.

Ransdell described during the January regents meeting how the university received funding for the building.

“Over the course of the past year, it was announced that they were going to approve 10 of these and two were going to be in the United States,” Ransdell said, according to an online transcript of the meeting. “So, we were in a pretty heated competition with the other 99 CIs across America to get one of these buildings.”

Burch said the time for revisiting the contract is now because the money hasn’t been spent and ground hasn’t been broken.

“The current contract as it stands is a bad deal for WKU,” Richey said in an interview with the Daily News.

Richey, who interned in China over the summer, said he’s invested in Chinese-U.S. relations and the Confucius Institute could expose students to a culture different from their own. However, Richey believes the contract gives the university too little say in how it makes decisions.

“We have to always ensure that contracts we sign and deals we make are in the best interest of WKU,” he said.

SGA resolution 1-15-F describes additional details of the contract for the building.

“The entire contract is non-negotiable and not only obligates the university to pay the entire cost of maintenance and operation ... but it also takes away the ability for the university to decide the court location if a legal dispute arises,” the resolution reads.

The resolution, Richey said, doesn’t represent SGA until the body has a chance to vote on it, which is expected Tuesday.

Ransdell told the Daily News that reversing the process now is not practical.

WKU President Gary Ransdell

“There’s a lot at stake here that I’m not at all willing to forego,” he said.

Ransdell said the building would dramatically strengthen WKU’s international reach. Although the university doesn’t condone everything about Chinese culture, he said, it’s still important “that we study and understand it in order for our students to be responsible global citizens.”

As for the obligation to cover maintenance and operation costs, Ransdell said such details are yet to be determined. Ransdell said the name of the building will be the Confucius Institute and not the “Confucius Teacher Training Institute” referenced in the SGA resolution.

The presence of Confucius Institutes at some American universities has generated opposition.

In 2014, both Pennsylvania State University and the University of Chicago cut ties with Confucius Institutes, according to Reuters. Professors at both universities complained that the institutes were too closely tied to the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, the American Association of University Professors has recommended universities cease their involvement in Confucius Institutes unless agreements are renegotiated to promote academic freedom.

“Allowing any third-party control of academic matters is inconsistent with principles of academic freedom, shared governance and the institutional autonomy of colleges and universities,” the AAUP said.

Two finalists for Kentucky Education Commissioner are strong leaders, excellent communicators

This from WDRB:

The two finalists who remain in Kentucky's search for a new education commissioner are both former teachers who are "strong leaders" and "excellent communicators."

WDRB News has been able to independently confirm that Stephen Pruitt, a former Georgia Department of Education official who is now the senior vice president at Achieve, Inc., an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit education reform organization in Washington, D.C., and Christopher Koch, the former State Superintendent of Education in Illinois who is now the interim president of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) in Washington, D.C., are the two finalists who remain in the search.

WDRB 41 Louisville News

[DOCUMENTS | KENTUCKY EDUCATION COMMISSIONER FINALIST SEARCH]

The other three candidates -- Buddy Berry, superintendent of Eminence Independent Schools in Eminence, Ky., Lloyd Martin, chief executive officer for Universal School Solutions, LLC, in Jacksonville, Fla., and Kathleen Airhart, deputy commissioner and chief operating officer for the Tennessee Department of Education, have indicated they are no longer being considered.

Without naming who the two finalists are, Kentucky Board of Education chairman Roger Marcum told WDRB News on Thursday he believes "both remaining finalists are super strong candidates."

"I think either one would be an excellent commissioner," he said, noting that the board is now having two in-depth background checks done on both finalists. "At this point, we just want to know everything there is to know about them."

According to the application letters and resumes submitted by Pruitt and Koch to the Florida firm charged with helping the state board with its search process, both men talk about their extensive experience in working with students, teachers, parents and other stakeholders. The documents were obtained by WDRB News from the Kentucky Department of Education through an open records request.

"I spent twelve years as a high school science teacher," Pruitt wrote in his letter. "I believe the position of Commissioner of Education needs to have come from a firm foundation of having been a teacher. I am most proud of my time in the classroom."

Pruitt says he is a "strong believer in the power and necessity of communication."

"A quality communicator is able to create a clear message, but also able to listen to stakeholders affected by the issue at hand," he wrote. "I have had the opportunity in my roles in state government and in the private sector to lead large, successful programs or initiatives. They were successful in large part because I know the value of communicating a plan, but also listening to district leaders and teachers."

Koch's application letter states that his eight years as Illinois State Superintendent of Education gave him a "particularly full spectrum of experiences that would easily transfer to Kentucky."

He mentions his "proven record of implementing an innovative vision for education" and "expertise in attracting, mentoring and retaining diverse personnel." He says he also has extensive experience in financial management and fundraising.

During his time as state superintendent, Koch said he is most proud of being able to successfully advocate for more education funding and implementing "student performance assessments that measure the application of knowledge and higher order thinking skills."

Former Kentucky Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit is listed as one of five references on Koch's resume, but Wilhoit also told WDRB News on Thursday he is familiar with Pruitt as well.

"I've known Chris for a number of years, I have observed him in multiple settings" Wilhoit said. "His strengths include a remarkable ability to relate to different groups of people. He is a consensus builder. He was able to navigate extremely difficult and complex education issues in Illinois, including those in Chicago, which is the third largest district in the country."

Koch mentions his department's interventions in both the East St. Louis and North Chicago school districts as among his proudest accomplishments, saying those actions "resulted in improved and continuing to improve student academic performance."

Wilhoit describes Pruitt as an "energetic and innovative educator" who was "supported and well-received" during his time in Georgia and was given the "difficult responsibility -- in the shadow of new math and English standards -- to develop some national science standards."

"I think either Chris or Stephen would be a great commissioner," Wilhoit said.

Pruitt began his career as a high school chemistry teacher in Georgia, where he taught for 12 years. In 2003, he joined the Georgia Department of Education as the program manager for science, later became the director of academic standards, an associate superintendent of assessment and accountability and then chief of staff to then State School Superintendent Kathy Cox.

Pruitt joined Achieve in 2010 and has led the the development of the Next Generation Science Standards -- the new set of academic guidelines that teachers across Kentucky put into practice last year.

Much like the Common Core Standards in math and language arts – which have been adopted by 43 states -- the science standards describe what students need to know before they complete each grade level. To date, 14 other states, as well as Washington, D.C., have implemented the science standards.

"It's a very complex system, and Stephen did it very well -- and he did that fairly independently," Wilhoit said. "He has shown an ability to develop a high quality product and work with people from all different backgrounds. He is an excellent communicator."

Pruitt, who is married with two children, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from North Georgia College and State University, a master’s in science education from the University of West Georgia and a doctorate of philosophy in chemistry education from Auburn University.

Koch's began his career in special education. He taught in four states in various settings including an Outward Bound program, a college preparatory school, a youth detention center and a psychiatric hospital. He also worked with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education where he administered programs in correctional education and School-to-Work transition.

Since May, he has been the interim president of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation -- the only recognized accreditor specialized in accreditation of U.S. educator-preparation programs.

He was tapped to be interim after James Cibulka, a former dean of the college of education at the University of Kentucky, who was unexpectedly removed from the job following what Education Week called "a rocky few months" where CAEP was criticized for a disorganized piloting of the new accreditation standards.

Koch earned his bachelor's degree from Southern Illinois University and his master’s and doctoral degrees in educational policy and leadership from George Washington University.

Terry Holliday was named education commissioner in 2009 and has been in charge of overseeing the education of 675,000 students in Kentucky's public schools. His last official day on the job was Aug. 31.

The state board has appointed Associate Commissioner and General Counsel Kevin Brown to serve as interim commissioner until a new commissioner is appointed.

This from KSBA:

Both commissioner finalists started in the classroom, 

spent years in state education agency leadership posts

While neither of the two remaining candidates to become the state’s sixth commissioner of education are from Kentucky, an eNews review of their resumes show both have connections – in one form or another - to the state’s K-12 education system.

The mystery ended Wednesday on the identities of the two final applicants not named publicly by the Kentucky Board of Education last weekend. The Louisville Courier-Journal, WDRB-TV in Louisville, KSBA eNews and other news media outlets collectively confirmed the status of the five finalists interviewed last weekend by state board, leaving Christopher A. Koch and Stephen L. Pruitt as the remaining candidates after the other three acknowledged they had not been selected to move forward.

The elimination of Eminence Independent Schools Superintendent Buddy Berry from consideration ensured that the next commissioner of education would not be a Kentuckian, as some individuals and organizations had pressed the state board to strongly consider. However, Koch and Pruitt are not without linkages to education in Kentucky.

Koch, currently interim president of an organization that accredits teacher preparation programs, lists former Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit among his references. Wilhoit now runs the National Center for Innovation in Education at the University of Kentucky. He previously was executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), an organization of all of the states’ top K-12 agency leaders. During Wilhoit’s tenure there, Koch served as CCSSO president while he was Illinois’ state superintendent of public education. He also served on the CCSSO board of directors for several years with Terry Holliday, who retired this past Monday as Kentucky’s commissioner of education.

A graduate of Southern Illinois University, Koch also listed among his references current SIU President Randy Dunn, who is a former president of Murray State University.

Pruitt, a senior vice president of a nonprofit organization that works with states on education standards, was a leader in the development of the new science curriculum measures known as Next Generation Science Standards. According to documents on the Kentucky Department of Education website, Pruitt consulted with the KDE staff, Kentucky teachers and others in the crafting of the science standards now being taught in Kentucky classrooms. He began assisting the agency in 2010, leading a group that took a National Academy of Science framework to draft the new standards for Kentucky and at last a dozen other states.

This week, the Kentucky Department of Education and the state board’s search consultant, Greenwood/Asher and Associates, are in the process of hiring an expert in deep background searches to be conducted on Koch and Pruitt. That process is expected to take between two and three weeks.

Here is a deeper look at the resumes of the two finalists for the commissioner’s job:

Christopher Koch

After earning his bachelor’s degree in liberal arts (concentration on English) from SIU in 1984, Koch got his master’s (transitional special education, 1988) and doctoral degrees (educational policy and leadership, 2000) from George Washington University.

He began his education career in 1988 as a special education teacher in a Washington, D.C., psychiatric hospital and day school. He also taught special education in a Maryland vocational ed program, and worked as a youth program director in New Hampshire.

Koch spent more than a decade in the Illinois Department of Education, interrupted by two years when he worked in the U.S. Department of Education’s vocational and adult education unit. In the Illinois agency, he was director of special education, chief education officer and assistant state superintendent before being appointed state superintendent of education. He served in that post from December 2006 through this past May.

Koch served as vice chairman of the board of directors of the Council for the Accreditation of Education Preparation for two years before becoming that organization’s interim president this past May.

More on Koch’s career and work may be seen here http://caepnet.org/about/leadership/christopher-koch.

Stephen Pruitt

Pruitt graduated from North Georgia College in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in science and chemistry. He earned his master’s degree in education in secondary science from the State University of West Georgia in 1996 and his doctorate of philosophy in chemistry education from Auburn University in 2010.

Pruitt started his career in education in 1991 as an AP and college prep chemistry teacher at a high school in Tyrone, Ga. He taught AP chemistry and gifted chemistry while he was department chair at a Fayetteville, Ga. high school until 2003. During those years, he also was a cross country coach and worked as track and field event manager at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

In 2003, Pruitt joined the Georgia Department of Education as a science and program manager. He later served as the agency’s director of academic standards, associate superintendent for assessment and accountability, and chief of staff.

Pruitt went to work in Washington, D.C., in 2010 with Achieve Inc., as vice president for content and research and development where he worked on materials related to the English language and math Common Core State Standards. Since May 2013, he has been a senior vice president for the organization, and has been responsible for working with a number of state departments of education – including Kentucky – on the implementation of the new science standards.

As part of his work for Achieve Inc., Pruitt led grant-writing work that gained the organization $16 million, including $4 million to support the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top push. 

Koch, Pruitt finalists for Ky Ed Commissioner

This from the Courier-Journal:

The Kentucky Board of Education is vetting Christopher Koch and Stephen Pruitt as the two finalists who are still up for consideration to potentially become Kentucky's next education commissioner.

Three of the five candidates who were granted second-round interviews in the hunt for Kentucky's next education commissioner have said they did not make the finalist list, leaving only Pruitt and Koch in the running for the state's top education gig.

Last week, the Kentucky Board of Education posted the names of five candidates it had chosen for second interviews; after conducting those interviews, the board announced Saturday it had whittled the group of five down to two finalists — although it didn't name the two.

On Wednesday, three candidates — Kathleen Airhart, Buddy Berry and Lloyd Martin — told the Courier-Journal that they were not finalists for the job.

That leaves Koch, the former Illinois State Superintendent of Education and current interim president of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, and Pruitt, senior vice president with nonpartisan education reform organization Achieve Inc., as the two finalists.

Neither man returned calls or emails requesting comment Wednesday.

The board has commissioned in-depth background checks on the two finalists, which are likely to take a few weeks and cost about $5,000 per candidate, the Kentucky Department of Education has said.

Once those checks are complete, the board will hold a special meeting to take the next step in the process.

Board chairman Roger Marcum told the Courier-Journal last week that the board didn't plan to publicly name the two finalists, although it was up to candidates if they wanted to self-identify.

Airhart, deputy commissioner and chief operating officer for the Tennessee Department of Education, said she "greatly appreciated" the board's consideration and time, saying she had not sought out the Kentucky education commissioner position but that she thought the board had a "very thorough interview process and I was honored to be a small part of it."

Berry, superintendent of Eminence Independent Schools in Eminence, Ky., and the only candidate from the Bluegrass State to get a second interview, released a statement confirming he is not one of the two remaining in the commissioner search, saying that being selected to go so far in the process "is one of the most humbling honors of my life."

"I feel Kentucky stands poised for unprecedented educational achievements," Berry said in the statement. "While I'm disappointed not to be chosen, Kentucky is, and always will be, my home and I can't thank the Kentucky Board of Education enough for allowing me to be a part of the conversation for its future."

Martin, who is founder and chief executive officer of the consultancy firm Universal School Solutions LLC, said by phone that he was not one of the two finalists; he declined to comment any further on the process.

Interim education commissioner Kevin Brown is heading the Kentucky Department of Education until a new leader is chosen. Former commissioner Terry Holliday, who held the position for about six years, retired at the end of August.

Pruitt has worked at Achieve Inc. since 2010. He has been senior vice president since 2013. He previously worked in the Georgia Department of Education, serving in a number of roles, including chief of staff and associate state superintendent. He holds a doctorate in chemistry education from Auburn University.

Koch spent more than eight years as the State Superintendent of Education in Illinois, becoming one of the longest-serving state school chiefs in the country. Before that tenure, he worked in other roles for the Illinois education agency, and for a few years in the 1990s worked as an education program specialist with the U.S. Department of Education, according to his resume. He has a doctorate of education from George Washington University.

Two candidates confirm they will not be the next Kentucky Education Commissioner

And as an added bonus, "Barbara Erwin" is back In the News 

 

This from KSN&C back in the day:

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Kentucky Board of Education Reassesses

Wherein, KBE Chair Keith Travis delivers the quotes I'd been waiting for

The Kentucky Board of Education voted 9-0 last night to accept the resignation of Barbara Erwin.

After a 2 1/2 hour closed session, they decided to start an immediate search for an interim education commissioner. Kevin Noland, the head of legal services for KDE, has his other full-time job he wants to get back to.

Board chair Keith Travis told the Herald-Leader that he hopes to have a person in place within two weeks.

Travis also said the board was not under pressure to find a permanent replacement and stressed that board members want a Kentucky educator to apply.

If the overall quality of the field produced by the recent national search was as shallow as it seems, one can understand the board's reluctance. And of course, once burned; twice shy. Board members now say they won't use Ray & Associates, which cost Kentucky $50,000, and aren't sure whether they will use a search firm at all.

Travis had been quoted saying he wouldn't call Erwin's hiring a mistake, but yesterday changed his tune when he said that he did not think Erwin was the best person for the job. He told the Courier-Journal that the board tried to give Erwin the benefit of the doubt.

Travis said that he started to question whether Erwin was right for the job after talking with her about the investigation. "We relied heavily on a search firm to provide us information, and probably relied on them too much."

Travis said neither he nor the board encouraged Erwin to resign but that he did have a conversation with her early Friday morning, questioning her about all of the distractions. "The board was having serious concerns about her ability to provide leadership with all of these other issues going on in her life," he said. "At some point, all of these items become cumulative and certainly the one on Wednesday (the missing personnel file) was the icing on the cake."

This from WDRB (Sept 1, 2015):

Two candidates -- including the lone Kentuckian, as well as the only female -- confirmed to WDRB News on Tuesday that they are not two of the remaining finalists for Kentucky Education Commissioner.

Kentucky Education Commissioner finalists from top left: Kathleen Airhart, Christopher Koch, Buddy Berry; and bottom left, Lloyd Martin and Stephen Pruitt (Photos via Kentucky Board of Education)

Buddy Berry, superintendent of Eminence Independent Schools in Eminence, Ky., says being named one of the five candidates in the search for a new Kentucky Education Commissioner was "one of the most humbling honors of my life."

"There are many Kentuckians that I feel could lead this charge, so to be selected to represent our state in this process was a real blessing," Berry said. "I believe being a finalist has been a testament to all the hard work of our students and staff at Eminence and of our focus on creating the future of what schools can be."

Kathleen Airhart, deputy commissioner and chief operating officer for the Tennessee Department of Education, also confirmed she is not among the finalists.

"It was a privilege to have had the opportunity to meet with the Kentucky board," Airhart said. "I was a 'nominated' candidate and had not sought out the position independently. I greatly appreciated their consideration and their time.  I found it to be a very thorough interview process and I was honored to be a small part of it."

The Kentucky Board of Education interviewed five candidates Friday and Saturday in closed session in Lexington. In open session, the board indicated it wants in-depth background checks done on two of the candidates, but would not name which ones.

Aside from Berry and Airhart, the other three candidates include: Christopher Koch, interim president of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) in Washington, D.C.; Lloyd Martin, chief executive officer for Universal School Solutions, LLC, in Jacksonville, Fla.; and Stephen Pruitt, senior vice president at Achieve, Inc., an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit education reform organization in Washington, D.C.

Roger Marcum, chairman of the Kentucky Board of Education, told WDRB News on Monday the state has no objection if the five named candidates "self-disclose" whether they’ve made it to final vetting.

Koch, Pruitt and Martin have not indicated if they are among the two finalists.

And now, a Moment of Zen...

The board will spend between $10,000 to $12,000 to conduct "extensive background searches" on the two final candidates to prevent any information that may be "embarrassing or disparaging to the state" from being released, Marcum said.

Marcum said the background checks are to avoid repeating the controversy involving Barbara Erwin, the woman who was named education commissioner in 2007, only to resign from the job before her first day after media outlets across the state questioned the integrity of her resume, as well as other concerns.

"We don’t want what happened with Dr. Erwin to happen again," said Marcum, who noted that none of the current board members were on the board that appointed Erwin commissioner. "We are taking this responsibility to properly vet the candidates very seriously."

Terry Holliday was named education commissioner in 2009 and was in charge of overseeing the education of 675,000 students in Kentucky's public schools. His last official day on the job was Monday, Aug. 31.

The state board has appointed Associate Commissioner and General Counsel Kevin Brown to serve as interim commissioner starting Tuesday, Sept. 1, until a new commissioner is installed.

Berry said he feels Kentucky "stands poised for unprecedented educational achievements."

"While I’m disappointed to not be chosen, Kentucky is, and always will be, my home and I can’t thank the Kentucky Board of Education enough for allowing me to be a part of the conversation for its future," he said.

Marcum said he will call a special meeting of the state board once the background checks are complete in two or three weeks.

The principal problem

This from KSBA:

Travis Earlywine, principal of Bourbon County Middle School

When Kentucky Board of Education Chairman Roger Marcum was superintendent of Marion County Schools a decade ago, he began noticing that there were fewer applicants for the job of principal.

“Even when I retired in 2009, I was seeing a large turnover in principals, particularly at the high school level,” he said.

And that was well in advance of the state’s Professional Growth and Effectiveness System, which principals say adds more demand on an already demanding position.

“From everything I can tell, it is becoming much more demanding compared to what it was even four or five years ago,” said Dr. Sam Evans, dean of Wes

Dr. Robert Biggin, associate professor and coordinator of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy in Eastern Kentucky University’s College of Education, said he’s not seeing a drop-off in interest in the job, but said, “The longevity of principals and superintendents is a problem.”

Williamstown Elementary School Principal David Poer, who is also president of the Kentucky Association of Elementary School Principals, said he thinks potential candidates for a principal position “are thinking carefully about that, just because there is so much right now – so many things that have moved quickly in the last five, six years.”

A recent training in his district by an outside agency was led by a couple of former principals who had “decided they had enough years and didn’t want to go through that,” said Poer, in his 18th year as principal.

“Those who are close to retiring, they generally go on and do it,” said Bourbon County Middle School Principal Travis Earlywine.

“I think you’re seeing people either moving on up to other avenues, people retiring or people just deciding, ‘Hey, this is just not for me,’” said Lincoln County High School Principal Michael Godbey, who was named 2015 Kentucky High School Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. He said he knows of a couple of principals who have bailed on the job and gone back to the classroom.

“You’re juggling lots of things at one time and it’s just overwhelming,” said Godbey, a 13-year principal who made his comments shortly before taking the Lincoln County position, while he still headed Frankfort High School.

Rosemarie Young, executive director of the Kentucky Association of Elementary School Principals, said while PGES may be an added stressor, the job “is just stressful to begin with.”

“I don’t know too many principals who are not feeling the overwhelmed sense of frustration, a sense of not being in control necessarily of the time they have because they’re so task-oriented to get all these things done,” said Young, who also is the field placement coordinator for Bellarmine University’s College of Education.

Biggin also cited that lack of control. “I would say that the problem for principals that I’ve heard of is decreased autonomy,” he said. “Both KDE and central offices have become more and more prescriptive.”

Professional Growth and Effectiveness System

tern Kentucky University’s College of Education and Behavioral Sciences. “With PGES coming on board and all the demands on top of that that principals are facing, it is becoming – I’m not sure I would say a stressful job – but sufficiently demanding that I think it is going to have an impact on our ability to retain principals over a period of time.”

Principals are the middle of the PGES sandwich: they must use that system to evaluate their teachers and other staff, while collecting data and setting growth goals for their own performance so they in turn can be evaluated by their superintendent.

Earlywine, Godbey and Poer say they support the framework and goals of the PGES, but as Earlywine noted, it has nearly doubled the time it takes him to evaluate a teacher.

“But I don’t want to say that in a negative way because I do also think it has forced us to look at things that maybe we haven’t in the past,” said Earlywine, who has been a principal for 11 years. “It’s just that when you add that to all of the other things we deal with, it is time consuming.”

Marcum acknowledges it’s a complex process and it will take a while for principals to develop skills to carry it out effectively. Whether it’s had an effect on principal turnover, “I don’t know that I’m prepared to answer that yet.”

Dr. John Settle, executive director of the West Kentucky Education Cooperative, said when PGES was first launched, “there was a lot of anxiety that it would cause veteran principals to retire and make it more difficult to recruit new principals.” But he said he has heard less concern in the last year or so.

The state board of education in August delayed incorporating PGES performance ratings for teacher and principals into the accountability formula due to concerns about the system. Marcum said the board also needs to continue to look at ways to make it “more effective and less time intensive.”

What would help

Like many elementary school principals, Poer works solo – an assistant principal’s position was cut six or seven years ago. “Having somebody else to share the load would certainly help,” he said.

“We’ve got to look at how are we structuring and staffing the leadership within the schools so that it does become manageable,” said WKU’s Evans. “If you have a school with a lot of challenging students and you’re it as a single principal – the potential behavioral problems – you just exacerbate the challenges that the principal has in that role.”

Evans also suggested that leadership skills necessary for being a principal need to be developed much earlier, at the undergraduate level.

Earlywine said his district is fortunate in being able to implement a new software program that will be used to upload PGES information during the school year, bypassing the state’s system until time to submit the summative product. The program was designed by a contractor for the district.

“I do think that’s going to expedite the paperwork side of it,” he said.

Some larger districts have teacher or principal effectiveness coaches to work with PGES, but small districts don’t have those resources, Godbey said.

While PGES “is great,” he said, “I think we’ve got to find a way to streamline that into a process that’s not so overwhelming and burdensome that it becomes complicated. And people either burn themselves out doing it with fidelity or it’s not done to fidelity; it’s just done bare minimally just to get by.”

Board View: ‘It’s just juggling things’

Somerset Independent school board member Jeff Perkins knows something about the pressures of being a school principal. He spent three years as assistant principal of Somerset High School and then four years as principal before retiring in 2009.

“Year in and year out it gets more and more demanding,” Perkins said. “I think that has a lot to do with the different mandates, changes from Frankfort usually.”

And there have been a lot of changes since he retired, he noted, including the new evaluation system for teachers and principals that he said has added to the workload. Perkins, who has been a school board member since 2013, is concerned that fewer educators are aspiring to the job.

“They’re thinking, ‘Man, why do I want to do that? I can stay in the classroom and moneywise, maybe it’s a little bit difference but I don’t know that I want to do that,’” he said.

A high school principal’s position, Perkins added, “is probably the toughest job in the district,” especially in a smaller school system. “It’s just juggling things so much every day.”

A high turnover in that job may affect achievement because students need stability and leaders who understand their school, he said.

“It’s kind of like coaching: you get a coach every couple of years and you start all over again. That’s kind of the way it is with principals, I think,” said Perkins, who also was football coach and athletic director at Somerset High School.