Just when you think that state legislatures have run out of bad ideas, some state takes teacher abuse to the next level.
The Ohio Legislature wants to make sure that every third grade student is a proficient reader. They think they know how to do that: They passed a new law.
It’s called the “Third Grade Reading Guarantee.”
That should do the trick. Just like No Child Left Behind left no child behind.
More testing. And better yet, the law requires every teacher of students in the early grades to take additional courses that might cost as much as $17,000 over seven courses.
Expect every student in Ohio to be a proficient reader as soon as all those tests are given and the teachers have taken all those courses.
That is, if you believe in the Tooth Fairy, who lives on the same planet as the Testing Fairy.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The real title of the legislation should be “The Virtual Charter Guarantee”. Again, the pattern on the rug is clear–Impossible standards, coupled now with unaffordable training requirements, will make it easy to fail public schools. Then it’s on to K12 and TFA, all questions about quality and teacher training thereafter will be soon forgotten.
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Maybe the Tooth and Testing fairies can hook up and produce little TT fairyettes.
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Two funny videos posted on Jersey Jazzman:
The charter school fairy:
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-charter-school-fairy.html
About halfway down…what if students don’t give a sh__?
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-newark-teachers-contract-my-final.html
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I assume it’s ALEC boilerplate. We have IRead-3 here in Indiana. Glenda Ritz, candidate for state Superintendent of Public Instruction, has had a lot to say about this – including how it sets up some of our children for near certain failure down the line.
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Hi, I am a teacher in Queensland, Australia, and have followed the course of the discussions on standardised testing in the USA on your blog and in other media with growing horror. As you posted recently, Australia is heading right down the same track. Recently, the government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard released a report by business man David Gonski on the future of education in Australia. I thought you might be interested in this critique of its limitations published in the “The Age”, Melbourne’s leading newspaper recently:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/why-its-time-for-a-class-revolt-20121012-27hw1.html#ixzz2AkcFBKsN
I hope you find it of interest (and relevance).
Ian Fraser
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I live in Ohio. My neighbor’s daughter started kindergarten this year and sometime in the first few weeks was identified as behind in reading (!). She’s getting semi-private tutoring in school everyday for 20 minutes. Clearly our top-rated suburban district is petrified of losing its status and is making sure to get a jump on things.
My neighbor is both a little concerned that her kid’s behind (yes, she believes the test scores) and very pleased at the extra attention her kid’s getting. And this is why I don’t hold any hope for suburban parents to rise up against all this marlarky.
In other Cincinnati-area news, another day, another charter school scandal, http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20121031/NEWS0102/310310067/Ex-charter-treasurergets-2-years-prison
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There’s nothing wrong with encouraging parent involvement.
There’s nothing wrong with assessing students (authentic assessment, please).
There’s nothing wrong with giving extra attention to students who are struggling.
There’s nothing wrong with providing professional development for teachers.
However, a few things stand out about the Ohio law (as well as the Indiana IREAD-3) which change the statements above from “there’s nothing wrong with…” to, “why are they doing this?”
1. Have the parents already been involved? Are there reasons why parents aren’t involved? Are schools going to be punished if parents don’t become involved in ways the law states? Encouraging parent involvement is great…writing it into law? This sounds like a local issue.
2. What and where are the assessments coming from and who decides what’s appropriate for young children? Pearson? The Ohio Legislature? Someone who has a vested interest in making money from selling tests?
2a. Don’t local schools (and school districts) have the ability to choose their own assessments? Don’t they have professionals in place who have had experience with authentic assessment (assuming that all the experienced educators haven’t been “counseled out”). Another local issue, imho.
3 and 4. Where’s the money going to come from for more help for students who are struggling? Where are the people to teach them going to come from? The blogger in the article linked to by Diane did a good job of showing how getting a specialization in Reading in Ohio will cost a teacher $17 thousand +. Is the state going to provide grants to the school system to help train their teachers? Is the state going to provide grants to the school system to hire more staff? Who is going to decide what courses to require?
Why don’t legislatures pass laws telling doctors how they have to treat their patients? Can you imagine a law defining the procedure for treating respiratory infections?
Why is it that these legislators consider themselves experts in education? I’d like to see their credentials, please.
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Where’s the money going to come from…
Alternatively: Why won’t $400M in RttT spending address grade-level literacy needs.
… why are they doing this … Why is it that these legislators consider themselves experts…
The Ohio Supreme Court directed the General Assembly to ensure accountability. Lesson: Think before you sue.
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I have never replied to any of these discussions before, however, I felt the need to reply at this point. I actually work in the district that sued the state of Ohio for unfair funding practices. At the time of the law suit students in my building had to cross State Route 204 every day, rain or shine, in order to eat lunch and to play on the play ground. We then had to cross that same high way again after lunch to return to our classroom on the top floor of a building with only one boys restroom, located in the basement. So, did we think before we sued….yeah, we did.
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…did we think before we sued…
Sorry about the throw-away line–Ohio facilities were a disgrace. Ohio hasn’t seen the improvement in student achievement that Massachusetts has, and does not appear serious about learning from their good example.
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So where is model legislation supported by teachers’ unions that enables educators to fulfill accountability expectations of state courts?
ESEA, NCLB, SIG, ARRA, and RttT–spending that should help third graders read. Where are the results demanded by our courts?
So teachers deserve an apology from our President for RttT (aka NCLB on steroids). No apology comes. What about the apology due schoolchildren, parents, taxpayers, and the judicial branch?
Instead of constructive participation in school governance, we have unions playing rope-a-dope and lawyers “getting on the train” to “poison the water.” The entire discussion is so warped and toxic that even Dr. Ravitch leaves sound advice on the table (for her readers) while espousing “fewer billionaires” from the podium.
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… and when ALEC fills the policy vacuum, “pro education” politicians cite a vast right wing conspiracy. So inspiring. So original.
The public education doomsday clock advances toward midnight…
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There is no policy vacuum. The boilerplate merely replaces sane student student assessment standards with policies which impede true learning (and the desire to learn), discourage the professionals, and enrich private industry, Exactly as intended.
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In Hartford, CT we have the third grade promise too. The supt, Christina Kishimoto has promised parents that every child will read at or above grade level by the end of third grade.
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The insanity is that people who know NOTHING about children are making these “promises”. I can only push them so far before they start to burn out. I just had a conversation with a colleague (in school, on a Sunday, writing report cards). We are seeing more social and behavioral issues with our elementary school children. Can all this pressure to perform be affecting them? I know I have very little time to even just talk to them and get to know them better: “Time up, now for a new task”.They are seven year-olds, for crying out loud!
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This just in…
“Poor reading skills in early grades are difficult to overcome and may increase the risk that children will later drop out of school, the researchers noted. ‘It is quite possible that adolescent girls who experience a daily sense of rejection in the classroom might feel as though they have little chance of achievement later on in life,’ study author Rosemary Frasso said in a news release from the American Public Health Association. ‘Our findings underscore the role of literacy as its own social risk factor throughout the life course.'”
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