KDE Opts Out of EXPLORE & PLAN exams

Accountability could be affected, Concerns over Test Security

This from Brad Hughes at KSBA:

In what one official calls a “win-win situation,” the Kentucky Department of Education has decided there will be no EXPLORE tests for eighth-graders next school year and no PLAN exams for 10th graders. The assessments were used to gauge students’ readiness to do college level work and have been part of the state’s Unbridled Learning school and student accountability system.

When ACT Inc. announced in 2013 that EXPLORE and PLAN would be phased out, KDE issued a request for proposals in hopes of finding a test that could be used starting this fall. However, in [a] Monday Superintendent E-mail [earlier this month], state officials announced the decision to cancel the scheduled tests this September.

“No new test forms are available (and) the 2015 test form will repeat the 2014 form,” KDE said in the communication. “Test security for the form and specific items is questionable and raises concerns about using of the test results from a 2015 administration.”

Rhonda Sims, associate commissioner of the Office of Assessment and Accountability, told [KSBA's] eNews in an email interview that ACT’s reuse of the 2014 test form led to the decision by Education Commissioner Terry Holiday.

“EXPLORE and PLAN forms change annually. After testing, forms remain in the district to be redistributed to students after are scores are returned,” Sims said. “Test security depends strongly on new forms annually. If data is contributing to the accountability system, we need to be confident it is not influenced by overexposure to test items.”

Sims sees both the upside and downside of PLAN and EXPLORE going away this fall.

“I think we can all agree that it is a win-win situation if you can have student-level data that meets needs without additional testing,” she said, adding she remains confident that other data on eighth- and 10th-graders’ academics will contribute to the accountability system’s results for 2015-16.

A potential downside is the resulting change in student scores minus EXPLORE and PLAN test questions.

“KDE will need to see what pieces of information from existing tests can be generated,” Sims said.

With concerns in Kentucky and elsewhere about student and teacher “testing fatigue,” there is no guarantee that a replacement for EXPLORE and PLAN tests will be implemented after next year.

“I think this will be a conversation with stakeholders and policy makers this year,” Sims said.

In the June 29 email to district and state leaders, KDE said the decision also includes cancellation of the Transition Attainment Record for alternative school students in grades 8 and 10.

Although ACT Inc. is also phasing out the Compass exam (for students who have not met benchmark scores on the national ACT exam), Compass assessments still will be available in Kentucky high schools for the 2015-16 year.

Why We Fail to Address the Achievement Gap

This from Paul Reville in Education Week:

It's a typical night: My wife gets off the phone, having just talked with a neighbor about helping her son find a summer job in the major medical center where she works. I'm on my computer writing a college-recommendation letter for the daughter of some other friends. I interrupt to ask my wife to call a doctor acquaintance to get some advice for my daughter, who's suffering from a relatively minor medical problem.

After that, we have dinner, during which we discuss how to help another young friend, a recent college graduate, either find a job or gain admission to a local graduate school program. Before we go to bed, we go online to order some accessories for my daughter's horseback-riding program. We review her summer-camp schedule to make sure all her open weeks are filled with camp, vacation, or horseback riding.

This is social capital at work, and in the cases described above, the benefits of this working capital are typically and regularly accruing to other advantaged youngsters who, like my daughter, profit not only from the assets of affluence (camp, lessons, summer travel, and so forth), but from the contacts and influence of their parents and their parents' friends. As is the case with financial capital, the rich get richer. If we were providing such services to disadvantaged youngsters, we would dub this activity "wraparound services." It would be thought of as "an extra," not an essential part of a child's education or development.

 

However, this kind of constant attention and support for children is what enables the upper classes to consistently advantage their children in the competition for school and college success, good jobs, and wealth. We know how to get kids college- and career-ready.

The upper classes have long known how to replicate success and thereby reinforce the existing social order. We provide our children with wraparound services and support from the prenatal period often until they are well into their 30s. And for the most part, this works. They become successful.

With poor kids, we apparently figure we can save a lot of money by taking shortcuts, poverty bypasses to success. Who are we kidding? Give them two years of Head Start, and hope the effect persists for a lifetime. Find them a top-performing charter school, send them there for four years, hoping that this intervention is enough to prepare them for success in all the subsequent years of their education. In their seven years of elementary school, give them a scholarship to summer camp for just one summer.

Not surprisingly, this "inoculation theory" of child rearing isn't that successful, even though there are always a few individuals who defy the odds. The effects of caring attention, enrichment, health and mental-health care, and informed guidance will persist if this care and support are maintained. But if not, the positive effects diminish.

“With poor kids, we apparently figure we can save a lot of money by taking shortcuts, poverty bypasses to success. Who are we kidding?”

 

Would any of us with privilege think of providing an intensive, comprehensive education and care program for our children for two years, then neglect them for 10 years, and eventually expect them to be just fine at the end of the dozen-year period?

The answer is that it would never occur to us to try this in the first place. Why do we think it will work for other people's kids, but not ours? Without the services and supports that enable young people to come to school ready to learn, poor children are a lot less likely to be successful. We know this. It's in the data. Yet, we persist in convenient, strategic illusions.

For example, we school reformers insist that all we need to do to improve children's learning is strengthen schools in performing their traditional instructional roles. Of course, school reform, strengthening teaching and learning, is necessary, but it will not be sufficient—as 22 years of education reform in Massachusetts (and elsewhere) has shown—in closing deep, persistent achievement gaps associated with poverty. While we have made some admirable progress, we are moving way too slowly to achieve our original school reform goal of "all means all"—all children ready for success.

And even if optimized schools alone were the answer, they wouldn't be enough, as typical schools consume only about 20 percent of a child's waking hours between kindergarten and high school graduation. This leaves the remaining 80 percent of their lives, in which the reality is vastly unequal access to support and learning opportunities. This access maters. We know this from research that regularly documents "summer learning loss" for those who are deprived of constructive, stimulating summer activity.
Year after year, the effects add up. And this cumulative process starts in early childhood.

To close persistent gaps, a comprehensive system of child and youth development and education will be needed. All children will need social capital and basic health and mental-health support. All children will need early-childhood education and access to after-school and summer-enrichment activities. All children will need consistent support and guidance as they face the challenges of learning in school, succeeding in college, and finding meaningful, remunerative work. Schools, as currently constituted, are not set up to do all this work, but those of us who enjoy privilege know that this is what it takes for our children to succeed.

So if we are determined to see all children succeed, we will have to build systems of support and enrichment that allow all our children to thrive. It won't be easy or cheap, but if we want a thriving economy and an informed citizenry, we have no choice but to invent 21st-century systems of education and child development that finish the job of preparing all our children to be successful.

Paul Reville is the Francis Keppel professor of practice of policy and administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he also leads the Education Redesign Lab, an initiative designed to re-envision 21st-century education. He is a former Massachusetts secretary of education.

As Confederate Flag Debate Rages, Schools Weigh Mascot, Name Changes

Walt Handlesman

Updated:

While southern states grapple with the presence of various forms of Confederate imagery on public grounds - and what those symbols really mean in the wake of the racist terrorism at Charleston's Emmanuel Methodist Episcopal Church last month - the battle flag of the Army of the Potomac (known in its day as the Southern Cross, and more recently, the Confederate flag) has been lowered at the South Carolina State Capitol. The Confederate flag, as a symbol of racism, was thrust (yet again) into the American psyche by a disturbing photo of the Charleston murderer, Dylan Roof. 

Schools are not immune to the power of symbolism. Schools in Arkansas, Alabama, New Mexico, California, Texas, California, and more, are reassessing, and at center stage is the Rebel mascot and the school fight song "Dixie." 

But somewhere off stage, so far, is the Colonel.

Branding research shared with the EKU Board of Regents last month, found that EKU’s Colonel mascot is a significant brand symbol. It was also found to be capable of evoking strong feelings on campus - both positive and negative. 

Talks are underway to rebrand the mascot, but it is unclear what path the institution will follow. Will the Colonel be retired like the Ole Miss Colonel Reb (which, like the EKU Colonel, looks suspiciously more akin to a plantation owner than a member of the military)? 

Or, will the Colonel become a freshly modernized military symbol? Female even!? (I can't even imagine what the reaction might be if latent racism is forced to compete with latent sexism in the minds of men.)

Contemporary attempts to draw associations with a military Colonel are easy for people to understand, but are historically dubious. The antebellum practice of bestowing the title Colonel upon certain members of the landed gentry, who agreed to finance a local militia without any expectation of taking command, traces its roots to the English renaissance.  

The Colonel, as a literary character, became widely romanticized (rebranded, if you will) in early 20^th century southern American literature and was reinforced through icons like Colonel Sanders and Elvis’s famous manager Colonel Tom Parker. The EKU Colonel apparently got a make over as well, but I am not up-to-speed on that bit of history. At left, are the older and newer Colonels. 

While Colonel is not a racial slur in the same way “redskins” is, its attachments to "the lost cause" run deep. 

I point this out with no animosity, having twice been proudly named a Kentucky Colonel myself. (Yeah, I know. One need not leap a tall building to be named a Colonel.) 

But rebranding the Colonel would seem to be a heavy lift at this juncture. So far, EKU’s Colonel is a rare survivor among Division 1 college mascots. 

(Author's Note: As some readers may be aware, I am presently serving as Chair of the Eastern Kentucky University Faculty Senate. Please be reminded, that none of my blog pieces represent official positions of the EKU Faculty Senate or the University. Never. Not once. Like other commenters on KSN&C, I only speak for myself.) 

This from Education Week:

South Carolina isn't the only place grappling with Confederate imagery in recent weeks. A number of schools with Confederate-themed mascots or names are likewise weighing changes in the wake of a church shooting that left nine dead in Charleston, S.C.

Former Ole Miss Mascot Colonel Reb

Last month, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported a school board in Fort Smith, Ark., unanimously voted in favor of a measure to remove the Rebel mascot and "Dixie" fight song from Southside High School. If the board approves the measure again in a July 27 meeting, the fight song would be abolished beginning this coming school year, while the mascot change would go into effect for the 2016-17 school year.

Following the vote, which took place six days after the fatal shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church that left the acclaimed pastor and eight parishioners dead, the district posted a statement on its Facebook page explaining the school board's decision:

Demographically, the school district is 11.4 percent black and more than 50 percent non-white, according to data from the 2013-14 school year. At Southside High School itself, 4.5 percent of the student body is black and more than one-third is non-white, according to data from the same school year.

Southside isn't the only school forced to grapple with such a decision in recent weeks. According to an analysis from the website Vocativ (h/t the Washington Post), nearly 200 public and charter K-12 schools across the nation "are named either explicitly for prominent Confederates or for places named after prominent Confederates."

One such school in San Diego, Robert E. Lee Elementary School, spurred Calif. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez to send a letter to the district asking for it to change the name, NBCSanDiego.com reported. In the letter, Gonzalez wrote the community "deserves a school named after someone we can all admire. Robert E. Lee is not that person. The district responded to NBCSanDiego.com with a statement that read in part, "We see this as a wonderful opportunity to have a larger community dialogue with students, staff and families about the school name and look at the history and research surrounding Lee in order to make a collectively informed decision about changing the name or retaining it."

Meanwhile, in Duncan, S.C., a group is calling for James F. Byrnes High School to rid itself of its "Rebels" mascot, according to WSPA.com. Rhonda Skillern-Jones, the school board president for the Houston Independent school district, reportedly plans on discussing the possibility of "renaming six campuses named after Confederate loyalists," according to the Houston Chronicle, which schools chief Terry Grier is "strongly considering" recommending. Former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro likewise called for community members to band together and support a name change for Robert E. Lee High School in San Antonio, according to 1200 News Radio WOAI.

For any school that decides to pursue such a change, a Little Rock, Ark.-based graphic designer has offered to re-design "the mascot or logo of any school or college that uses Confederate imagery" at no cost, according to the Arkansas Times.

 This from My San Antonio:

Texas high school defends Confederate mascot as coach gets slap for racial remarks

Students and alumni have rallied for a North Texas high school to keep its Rebels mascot days after the Fort Worth Star Telegram obtained records showing school officials reprimanded a softball coach for repeatedly making insensitive remarks about African-Americans.

Brenda Jacobson

The flareup over the mascot came after the Fort Worth Star-Telegram obtained an April letter from Richland High School principal Carla Rix in North Richland Hills concluding that softball coach Brenda Jacobson "may have made inappropriate comments to students based on race or skin."

Several players had accused Jacobson of making racial remarks to players since 2014, according to the Star-Telegram: the coach was accused of calling a black player's hair "nappy and nasty," accusing a black player of refusing to a drill "because there is water on the ground and black people don't like water" and saying to one black player that "the sun is more attracted to you because you are black" among other comments.

Jacobson denied the allegations and was been placed on administrative leave for less than one school day during the investigation, the Star-Telegram reported.

Kenzie Wilson, a former Richland High School student, told WFAA that Jacobson directed several comments at her.

"I felt like it was enough and I shouldn't be treated like that anymore," Wilson told the news station.

Rev. Kyev Tatum of the Fort Worth Southern Christian Leadership Conference had asked officials with Richland High School and Birdville Independent School District to change names of the school's mascots from the Rebels, Dixie Belles and Johnny Rebel, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The request comes amid a renewed national debate about the public display of Confederate iconography and imagery following a racially-motivated shooting at a historic black church in Charleston.

"These symbols are having a negative impact on children of color from Haltom City to North Richland Hills," Tatum said in a news release. "Whether it's the Rebels mascot to the Dixie Belles dance team to Johnny the Rebel on campus, it is time for the Confederacy to come down."

At least 3,600 people have signed an online petition to keep the mascot names, according to a Facebook group called Save our Richland Rebels.

"Richland High School...has a rich history and we want to keep it that way! We cannot learn from history if we erase it," the group's page reads.

Dozens of protesters rallied Sunday afternoon in support of the names, CBS DFW reported. At least one Confederate battle flag was visible during the rally.

And of course, New Texas textbooks downplay slavery in the Civil War

IRS: Kentucky must pay FICA for pension funds

This from Ronnie Ellis in the Glasgow Times:

State government faces an unexpected $5 million to $6 million increase in personnel costs in a couple of years but the impact of an Internal Revenue Service ruling could have an even bigger impact on budgets of local governments and school districts.

State officials have been informed by the IRS they must start withholding Social Security and Medicare taxes from employees’ contributions to their pension plans and the state — or local government employer — will have to match those contributions.

The 7.65 percent deductions have always applied to most of state workers’ pay but for many years it wasn’t applied to that portion contributed to their retirement systems.

That was because of an opinion the IRS issued in a private letter in response to questions from the administration of Martha Layne Collins who was governor from 1983 to 1987, according to Mary Lassiter, Secretary of Gov. Steve Beshear’s executive cabinet.

Lassiter said the state for decades relied on that opinion which said contributions to the retirement funds weren’t subject to withholding provisions of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act or FICA to fund Social Security, survivor benefits and Medicare.
Lassiter said the IRS “subsequently changed course and said we could no longer rely on the (previous) ruling. It also affects other states, not just Kentucky.”

It affects employees’ net pay too, because 7.65 percent of the amount contributed to pensions will now be withheld for FICA, an amount the state must match.

Kentucky learned about the change about a year ago and has been negotiating with the IRS on how to comply.

“We’ve not signed any agreement with IRS, but we are in discussions with them,”

Lassiter said. But the direction of the discussions generally have included a start date of January 2017 for withholding and have not included a “look-back” requirement for payment for previous years.

That factors large in considering a challenge to the IRS decision, said J.D. Chaney, deputy director of the Kentucky League of Cities whose members face additional costs to their budgets as well.

“Absent any sound legal foundation, we’re not considering a challenge because of the possibility of past liability,” Chaney said.

He hasn’t calculated the impact to local governments, but Chaney noted cities employ hazardous duty personnel in fire and police departments who receive larger pension contributions so the new withholding amounts are likely greater for cities.

Spokespersons for the Kentucky Department of Education and Kentucky School Boards Association referred questions about the impact on school districts to Beau Barnes, deputy executive secretary and general counsel for the Kentucky Teachers Retirement System.

Barnes estimates the total cost statewide will be about $55 million a year, including schools and local governments.

While most employees won’t like the additional withholding, Lassiter said it will ultimately increase their Social Security benefits, except for teachers. Teachers don’t receive Social Security benefits, although they contribute 1.45 percent of pay to the Medicare portion of FICA, an amount matched by their school board.

Barnes said the withholding won’t affect the financial soundness of state retirement systems or how much the legislature must contribute to them. Kentucky’s retirement plans are among the most troubled nationally and lawmakers continue to struggle with ways to shore them up.

It’s not known how much Beshear’s recent decision to increase the minimum wage for about 780 state employees to $10.10 an hour or recent raises for engineers in the Transportation Cabinet will impact the final FICA withholding cost to the state.

But $5 million to $6 million is a relatively small amount in a $10 billion General Fund. Still, House Budget Chairman Rick Rand, R-Bedford, said it will make lawmakers’ jobs harder.

“It’s nothing we can’t overcome,” Rand said. But much of the budget is tied to fixed costs and lawmakers have discretionary control over only a very small portion of the $10 billion.

“This will just mean it’s that much less and that much harder to do things we need to do in other areas,” Rand said.

Rand and his Senate counterpart, Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill, only recently learned of the problem. McDaniel said he hasn’t “been officially notified” about the likely additional expense, but he has begun to study its potential budget impact.

Did a focus on teacher evaluations work?

As he winds down his tenure as Kentucky's Education Commissioner, Terry Holliday is posting a few reflective pieces about Kentucky education writ large. This one deals with Kentucky's approach to teacher evaluation.

I suspect that the majority of Holliday's detractors are also opponents of corporate ed reform, or at least, most of its manifestations. But Holliday was hired to implement the legislature's SB 1 and he has done so.  

I have always appreciated that whether I agreed with a particular approach or not, the commissioner was clear about where he was headed. I only wish we could get as much clarity from our political candidates.

This from the Dr. H's Blog:

As I approach my retirement date of August 31, my last few blogs will focus on my thoughts about education initiatives at the state and national levels over the past six years. I caution readers that these blogs will reflect my thoughts and not those of the Kentucky Board of Education or the Kentucky Department of Education. My hope is that these last few blogs will encourage others to reflect and prepare for the future of education in Kentucky and across the nation.

As part of the Race to the Top (RTTT) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waivers, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan promoted improvements in teacher and leader (principals) evaluation programs across the nation. With a little more than one year left in President Obama’s and Secretary Duncan’s terms, there will be a lot of debate as to whether the emphasis on teacher and leader evaluation programs has paid any dividends in improving educator effectiveness and/or improving student learning.

As I reflect on the last six plus years, there were several different approaches that states took to improve teacher and leader evaluation programs. There were states that took a fast track. Overnight, it seemed that several states had a plan for new teacher and leader evaluation programs. Some states, like Kentucky, took a slower approach and asked for delays from the United States Department of Education (USED) until the state had time to review research and make the transition to new standards and assessments.

States took different approaches as to components of teacher and leader evaluation systems. A number of states were quick to develop a weighted model for teacher evaluation. Many states interpreted the federal requirements as requiring student achievement to be weighted at least 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation rating. Other states, including Kentucky, took a matrix approach that did not use weights but relied on principals and teachers to review the evidence from student learning and then using a matrix developed by the state come to agreement on the teacher’s rating for student achievement.

States took different approaches as far as the major purpose for new teacher and leader evaluation systems. Some states felt the new evaluation systems would drive a focus on student achievement and failure to improve student achievement would allow the state and school districts to dismiss ineffective teachers. Other states, like Kentucky, focused on teacher professional growth and effectiveness and did not see the new teacher evaluation system as primarily being an instrument for dismissal of ineffective teachers.

The time is fast approaching where every state will be reporting out the results from teacher and leader evaluation systems. USED has required a focus on distribution of effective teachers across school districts to ensure students in low performing schools have equal access to effective teachers as those in high performing schools.

Teacher preparation programs will be completing accreditation processes that require them to report on how well their graduates are doing on state teacher evaluations and with student achievement.

State tests will soon be reported across the nation. The 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress results will be released this fall.

There will be TONS of articles and opinions about the impact of Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind waivers.

I have a prediction about what we will see from all the data. Those who supported RTTT and NCLB waivers will present data to support the positive impact of these programs. Those who did not support RTTT and NCLB waivers will present data that show these programs did not have a positive impact.

As the results are reported, here are a few things to watch for:

     • Will every state report that they have over 90 percent of their teachers
        rated effective or highly effective? 

     • Will NAEP student achievement results show any improvement? 

     • Will state student learning results show any improvement? 

     • Are there large gaps between state achievement results and NAEP
        results? 

     • How many state evaluation programs will be challenged in court as the
        impact of these programs start to impact teacher assignments? 

     • As Governor’s change and chief state school officers change, will the
        evaluation systems fall away and be replaced by more local control? 

     • Will teacher preparation programs utilize accreditation results to
        improve their programs? 

     • What role will the teacher evaluation debate play in local, state and
        national elections?

I caution educators as they prepare for the bombardment of information this fall. In 43 years of education, I have learned that there will always be someone who thinks they have the latest and greatest answer to the perplexing problem of closing achievement gaps and improving student learning. However, my warning to those who will lead education for the next generation is that there is no silver bullet.

Education issues are very complex. Poverty, unequal opportunities, leadership, inadequate preparation programs, low morale, low teacher pay, community expectations, lack of parental involvement, and many other issues impact student learning. My advice? Education leaders should never focus on just one of these challenges. Instead, they must recognize that the public education system is multifaceted with many interconnections and they must work to improve the entire system in order to realize real progress.