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1. The War Report on Public Education says:

   January 27, 2015 at 11:05 pm

   Thank you so much for sharing this Diane!

   Reply
2. Lee Maes says:

   January 28, 2015 at 12:50 am

   It is essential that a moratorium on all new educational initiatives of any kind. Be implemented now. As. A nation, we. Are not only at risk but also adrift in an ocean of culture lag brought on by the failure of. Reform these past twenty years. We need to attend to questions which challenge the premises and. Polliticization of ed reform.

   Reply
3. L. Evanko says:

   January 28, 2015 at 1:37 am

   I do not agree with using VAM. For example, as a former principal of JHS 125 Henry Hudson one example I will use is a teacher that taught 6th grade math. She was effective and highly effective when we did the norming of the Danielson Framework. Her classes consisted of no less than 32 students and her 6th grade class could have 37. She taught the new curriculum; CMP 3 which came late in November. She also taught the 6th and 8th grade because we were down “3” math teachers for the year and she took on more of a load like my other teachers to fill in the gaps. Another problem was that our students were entering 6th grade unprepared for Common Core, let alone on grade level. More than 75 percent of our students entered our school either 1 or more grades below grade level in reading and math. Students could not do basic math. That is huge. The state test score determination put her a teacher improvement plan. It did not take into account her large classes, the majority of children that could barely add 2 didgets, let alone multiply, and they could barely read. We had a high population of ELL’s also; I have provided some of our data and some of our feeder schools data. They must take into account how the students are entering our school. I was not planning on putting her in the 6th grade this year, because I was concerned about her evaluative status. You can not teach children everything they were supposed to learn in 1 year that they did not in 6 years prior. However, I am no longer principal, and I believe she is still teaching 6th grade.

   Look at this data from the Degrees of Reading Power Comprehension Test:

   6th Grade 2012-2013 Student. These were the findings of the first DRP.Given in September 2012 of the incoming 6th graders.

   89 students are Below Grade Level

   25 students are On Grade Level (Instructional DRP Scores (P=.75) indicate the most difficult text that students can comprehend with assistance from teachers or parents. )
   o 20 students are only on grade level (Instructional) with the help of a teacher. We want to move these students to be on grade level Independently.
   16 students are Above Grade Level (instructional)

   Further Breakdown:
   • 73.0% of the incoming (current) 6th grade students are reading Below Grade Level
   • 17.2% of the incoming (current) 6th grade students are reading On Grade Level/ with the help of a teachers
   • 9.8% of the incoming (current) 6th grade students are reading Above Grade Level

   . The DRP results show a further breakdown of the data.

   Independent Reading Grade Level Breakdown:
   • 20 students are reading on a kindergarten and first grade level.
   • 49 students are reading on a 2nd and 3rd grade level
   • 20 students are reading on a high 3rd grade level
   • 20 students are reading on grade level, with the help of a teacher
   • 16 students are reading above grade level with help from teacher

   Degrees of Reading Power Staircase of Text Complexity by Common Core Grade Bands/DRP Scale; Questar Assessment Inc.

   Now look at our main feeder schools data from PS 119

   • Additional data from the 2012-13, PS 119, Comprehensive Educational Plan (CMP) stated that, PS 119 is progressing far below their peer schools, in may areas, and 85.6 % of students, are not reading on grade level, while 72.9% of students are not performing Math skills on grade level.

   investigation of the Comprehensive Educational Plan, and the New York State School Report Card, for the 2011-2012, and the 2012-2013 school year, indicated that, PS119 students’ with IEP’s, along with African American students, were not making adequate yearly progress (AYP), and approximately half of the students in grades K-5, were not meeting grade level standards

   Look at this;

   Quite a few of our students were retained (held over from the previous grade) more than once. In the 2010-2011 school year, the incoming, 6th grade cohort, contained, 44 students that were over age (held-over) by 1 year, 7 students were over age by 2 years, and 1 student was over age by 4 years. This was a pattern that persisted until I left in 2014.

   VAM does not take any of this into consideration and a whole lot more.

   I must say that my teachers did an amazing job and we moved the school from an F to a B in 8 months for the 2012-2013 school year, and Another big win for JHS 125 on the 2013-14 Quality guide; was in the section, Closing the Achievement Gap. We received an Excellent and outperformed every middle school in our District. In the area of student achievement JHS125, outperformed 9 of the District and Peer schools combined, for ELA, and outperformed 7 for Math.

   There are so many things that go into a school that VAM does not take into account. We had no support from our network. The network and the superintendent wanted the school to close. So we had to deal with challenges that made it harder for everything we did. Its not fair for teachers ratings to be based so highly on students scores. I feel bad for that teacher because we moved the students and we just got a Proficient on our last QR, but even though she made great gains with the children, they were not enough for the evaluative process.

   I have worked in administration at all levels. I was an administrator of a high school, Assistant Principal of an elementary school and Principal of a Middleschool and I can tell you that each teacher is dealing with different children, needs, families, challenges, skills, and support. The way we are grading our educators is a travesty.

   Reply
   • Tracy says:

     January 28, 2015 at 9:20 am

     NO, they shouldn’t be graded by my kids! My 11 year old will never make the extreme progress they are looking for. He’s verbally gifted and reads on an 11.4 grade level. HIs growth will not excel as he has in the past. How much growth do we expect at this point, if they keep testing him and not focusing on the rest of his verbal skills to catch up with his comprehension. 80% proficient 11.4 is absurd to expect him to go much further in a short amount of time.

     My children are not labor variables by which the state may evaluate our teachers. We’re pretty well done. We have nothing to lose. My husband is retired, and we can be “snowbirds”.

     Reply
     • L. Evanko says:

       January 28, 2015 at 10:49 am

       I agree, the higher achievers are much more harder to measure progress. It doesn’t mean that they are not progressing. For example, they may have no further to go on the score scale, so does that mean that their learning is done, no. I have had students who voraciously read every shakespeare book, war and peace, created projects that went deeper than VAM could calculate.

4. ginnyatherton says:

   January 28, 2015 at 2:46 am

   The reasons to avoid VAM are legion and should, by now, carry the weight of informed professional opposition. No. Simply, no!

   Reply
5. m4potw says:

   January 28, 2015 at 3:34 am

   To DOE and all State Governors:

   Simple activities without any cost like track and field, soccer, basket ball, singing and children acting in school play/theatre and all recess breaks should be remained.

   Literature, history of mankind, and languages should be promoted in order to preserve civilization , civility and humanity.

   Once, body and mind are solidly developed and grounded, all other subjects are easily fall into places on its own without enforcing through exchanging, sharing and respecting or admiring for different expertise without any jealousy, discrimination, or bullying.

   Please ask your own conscience that you enjoy a person who can articulate their emotion through music and sport; or you love to watch a person who sits for 9 hours to program all coding symbols without a break? It would be yes and no answer because there will always be a small group of people who are like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs…and 99% of people will be non-technical expertise, but love doing everything else, except computer or coding.

   I am very sure that all of you cannot sit still for 9 hours to go over testing. Also, all of you will need to take a long “business” lunch break, or enjoy watching concert, Opera, and all different sport games.

   Please welcome to watch one in billions of Chinese people who can sing a song in both Italian and Chinese languages. However, I am sure that with a fraction of that billions of Chinese people, in Canada, we have Celine Dion who can sing in Chinese, French, and English.

   Here are 4 links to show you how important it is for you to be aware of Public Education that should offer all children the joy of learning appropriately through all development stages. You do not need to force many testing schemes on children, they will challenge you whenever they are ready (= future hacker expertise!). Back2basic

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK6uR9ORxVA
   Andrea Bocelli & Song Zuying – 康定情歌 (The Love Song of Kang Ding)

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lXwcGLapo4
   Andrea Bocelli & Song Zuying – Time To Say Goodbye

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAoFTQ0kjtk
   Song Zuying, Plácido Domingo: “Love Song of Kangding” with Lang Lang at piano (2009)

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3n-thD_7dM

   Celine Dion and Song Zuying performed ‘Jasmine Flower’ in Chinese language

   Reply
6. dmaxmj says:

   January 28, 2015 at 6:51 am

   How else can we accurately judge the quality/worth/effectiveness of a person? Data has proved it’s effectiveness in the enormous profits it creates for the most wealthy and powerful (growing wealth is data is value…right?). It was exactly because nay-sayers felt that there was something more valuable (Value) than numbers/data (Measures) attached to children and educators that MORE testing and consequences are being pushed (Added). Hopefully that will satisfy the nervous nellies because adding tests/data/consequences adds value. Value Added Measures…how can you deny the logic?

   Wow…I could so go dark side and make it fun.

   Reply
7. Margaret says:

   January 28, 2015 at 6:56 am

   VAM sounds good, but it is very flawed in that it does not take into account all the things that go into a child’s development. I’ve taught in low-needs, high-needs, and middling-needs schools and it is clear to me that we teachers are only a piece of the puzzle. The same thing can be said for special education. Using VAM will simply guarantee that anyone with options will avoid high-needs schools and high-needs students. Teacher-education schools will, for their own survival, discourage their graduates from going anywhere near a high-needs situation. We all know that teaching in high-needs schools is a difficult job and can be very thankless. There is no need to punish people for taking it on. The same thing can be said about special education.

   Reply
   • L. Evanko says:

     January 28, 2015 at 10:43 am

     I agree, we are entering very dangerous territory. See my earlier post about one of my teachers. Poverty, homelessness, gang activity, drug abuse, incarceration have to be taken into account. I know that teachers have and will continue to help students overcome these things but it takes time and that cannot be factored into VAM.

     Reply
8. Chiara says:

   January 28, 2015 at 7:34 am

   Ed reformers have a great opportunity to correct the record on this:

   “Back in 2010, McKinsey & Company issued a report that made a powerful argument: the world’s top performing school systems draw teachers from the best and brightest in their societies, but in the United States, almost half of new teachers come from the bottom third, as measured by SAT scores. It’s been cited by a New York Times columnist and by officials at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to suggest what the United States might do differently to improve its education system.
   But several new research papers suggest that U.S. teacher quality never declined as badly as that report said….”

   Evidence-based! Now that there’s new evidence and they have a national forum with these hearings, they should get the word out to the public, don’t you think?

   “The idea that teachers have consistently come from the lower third is just wrong,” said Susanna Loeb of Stanford University, a co-author of both the New York state paper and the forthcoming national study, in an email exchange.”

   If they’re going to promote rigor for tens of millions of public school children the adults in ed reform really must model that behavior themselves. We can’t have higher standards for 3rd graders than we do for experts and pundits.

   http://hechingerreport.org/debunking-one-myth-about-u-s-teachers/

   Reply
   • Tim says:

     January 28, 2015 at 7:54 am

     While we wait for additional research on teachers’ class rank and SAT/ACT scores, we can start retiring another frequently invoked claim, which is that 50% of all new teachers don’t last five years. It turns out that the real number is more like 30%, and there is surprisingly little variance in the retention rate at schools with high proportions of at-risk kids.

     https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/news/2015/01/08/103421/despite-reports-to-the-contrary-new-teachers-are-staying-in-their-jobs-longer/

     It’s strange how this hugely positive development hasn’t gotten more recognition.

     Reply
     • Chiara says:

       January 28, 2015 at 8:08 am

       It is good news. Experience in teachers is really valued where I live. Parents are upset when their children get brand new teachers. It’s why I never really understood why TFA was sold as something parents want. It’s pretty universal here (whether it’s fair or not) the perception is new teachers are a less desirable placement.

     • Dienne says:

       January 28, 2015 at 8:19 am

       Ironically, the woman pictured in that article was a TFA temp who left to be an account developer after only two years. Peter Greene had more to say about the article itself, but I’m running out the door right now, so I’ll try to look for it later.

     • Dienne says:

       January 28, 2015 at 9:57 am

       Peter Greene’s post that I mentioned: http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2015/01/cap-and-teacher-retention.html

     • Tim says:

       January 28, 2015 at 4:41 pm

       Greene’s objections don’t contain much substance (it’s particularly weak sauce to dismiss and downplay the findings by saying, “They used some federal reports and just sort of crunched those puppies up themselves”), and in the end he agrees that there is some solid evidence to suggest that the old saw about how 50% of all public school teachers don’t last 5 years simply isn’t true.

       While it is certainly the case that we can’t do anything to get around having to wait five years to ascertain five-year retention ratios, there is some strong evidence in the underlying data to suggest that the positive trend is continuing: in 2012-2013, only 7% of teachers with 1-3 years of experience left the profession.

       I don’t dispute Greene’s contention that there might be local variations. In New York State, for example, a very low attrition rate is helping to create an enormous surplus of newly licensed teachers who can’t find jobs, not even as subs: http://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2015/01/23/tough-job-market-teaching-candidates/22235837/.

9. Tom says:

   January 28, 2015 at 7:41 am

   Peter Greene makes some important insights into the current state of resistance on this issue. Seems there are relatively few comments on the federal site. I am afraid to think about what Greene’s findings and comments really say.

   http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/

   Tom

   Reply
   • Linda says:

     January 28, 2015 at 8:27 am

     1800+ comments, almost all negative.

     Reply
10. bigblackdog says:

    January 28, 2015 at 7:48 am

    The excessive testing is ruining education. I taught in Germany, New Jersey, Texas and NM. I’ve taught k-12 and have experience in several areas: German, music, instrumental music, classroom teacher for grades 3 through 6, and high school math.
    The testing mania is ridiculous and using scores to evaluate teachers is madness squared. According to this idea, I was a great teacher when I taught at a great school and now that I am in NM with some of the poorest and lowest functioning kids I’ve ever worked with, I am a mediocre teacher.
    Teachers who work with the most difficult kids should get bonuses. No one who has not spent at least one year in the previous 5 years in the classroom should be allowed to make policy decisions on education.
    Test results are not used to help individual students locate problem areas. They are not used by teachers to adapt instruction. Typically the students receive a score and move on to the next test. My students spent two hours last week practicing for the PARCC. The PARCC is intended to assess end of course achievement. This is January. That means students did a practice test covering material that they had not been exposed to yet. What a waste of time! We should have been in the classroom studying not testing. Also the reality of my school is that the disruption in the school day leads to apathy throughout the remainder of the day as students feel that the test is enough for the day and they will not concentrate in the other classes.
    My students are lacking basic skills and are being forced to move on in spite of the problems. The situation will not improve at this rate. Testing them over and over on content that has not been explained or sufficiently mastered is a waste of time and money and is hurting students. Holding teachers accountable for poverty, apathy, teenage pregnancy, and the ignorance of policy makers will only exacerbate the problems in US education.

    Reply
11. Chiara says:

    January 28, 2015 at 7:57 am

    I think you should comment because Democrats are characterizing this as a choice between using test scores as a “sole” measure and using multiple measures. Two choices.

    Is that even the accurate starting point? No one is advocating using test scores as a sole measure, are they?

    You see how this then goes, right? Democrats make a “concession” and agree not to use test scores as a “sole” measure when that was never what states were doing anyway.

    That’s a fake concession. She’s willing to move from test scores as “sole” factor when no one was using test scores as a “sole” factor, which means she isn’t moving at all.

    This is Senator Murray:

    “On evaluations, I believe we should have ways to measure how educators are doing to make sure students have access to high-quality teachers. But I am wary of using them as the sole factor in setting salaries or using testing as the sole indicator in an evaluation. There’s just so much more that goes into teaching than test scores.”

    http://www.help.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=93982b45-73cf-4217-a454-5669879d7d26&groups=Ranking

    Reply
    • Linda says:

      January 28, 2015 at 9:24 am

      We should ALL comment at Federal Register. The listing provided at the site, doesn’t include “Taxpayer”, as a self-identifying label of interest. However, the site offers the choice of “Parent”.

      As a default position, I selected “Lobbyist”. I lobby for tax dollars to be spent wisely for the betterment of Americans, not test and tech profiteers.
      Future generations of prospective teachers, shouldn’t make career decisions, based on the burden of hostile, unreasonable, baseless measurement, disguised as accountability.

      Reply
      • Chiara says:

        January 28, 2015 at 9:52 am

        I wrote my Senator. The reason I think teachers should comment is because I don’t know how they’re using test scores to evaluate teachers in all these states.

        I don’t agree with the whole premise. I got the elaborate data report from my local public school and the thing appears to show that my son’s 5th grade math teacher created a lot of growth, or whatever. But I don’t know why they grew so much in math in 5th grade. I think there could be a lot of reasons, one of which might be his 4th grade teacher didn’t produce a lot of growth so there was room to grow if we’re going with this growth theory? ? Does that mean his 6th grade teacher gets less credit because the 5th grade teacher picked up more available “growth points”? Beats me.

      • SomeDAM Poet (Devalue Added Model) says:

        January 28, 2015 at 12:58 pm

        “the thing appears to show that my son’s 5th grade math teacher created a lot of growth, or whatever”

        With high probability, it’s “whatever.”

        VAM is essentially random as a teacher rating system (with correlations so low as to be simply dismissed by real scientists), so it’s not even worth trying to “figure out” the results because those results are basically just noise and hence meaningless — as shown by Gary Rubinstein here for example.

        A “measurement’ system that can rank the same teacher both “best” and “worst’ at the same time (same year) for the same subject (just different grade) is not just “poor” but is actually complete garbage.

        No value added there, but lots of devalue added, that’s for DAM sure.

12. Linda says:

    January 28, 2015 at 8:48 am

    Has the Dept. of Education been charged with trying to enrich the data processors (tech companies), by forcing compliance with the mandate?
    How much will Silicon Valley make by selling the software to keep the tallies and the ongoing analytical reports that are required?

    Reply
    • Chiara says:

      January 28, 2015 at 8:55 am

      This is one of the bills that seeks to reduce local testing. The plan is to have states and districts count and report on how much testing they are doing, and also hire consultants to train teachers to use testing more effectively.

      Scroll down and look at how much “state testing and related activities” under this plan will cost: $600,000,000 for 2016.

      https://www.opencongress.org/bill/hr5807-113/text

      Reply
      • Linda says:

        January 28, 2015 at 9:39 am

        Thanks Chiara,
        The opportunity to make $600,000,000, clearly greases policy in state capitols and Wash. D.C.
        And, it buys yachts, jewelry, mansions and power for tech and hedge fund moguls, while American children and their working parents struggle in poverty.
        The ugly face of villainthropy and legal bribery.

13. seldurio says:

    January 28, 2015 at 9:34 am

    Reblogged this on seldurio.

    Reply
14. Teri Wells says:

    January 28, 2015 at 10:26 am

    As a grandparent of a current student why must you now test teachers of teachers…..if one passes the class and receives a passing grade then why all the crap…..you folks make me sick at my stomach…..you need to focus of what will help students to better be preferred for real life and stop with all this bullshit stuff….often more choices to you smaller schools, bring back Prayer that some need so badly and offer more reward systems to encourage the kids…..instead you are on a constant hunt to set everyone involved up for more failure.

    Reply
    • Duane Swacker says:

      January 28, 2015 at 7:25 pm

      “. . . bring back Prayer. . . ”

      Whose?

      I know a Sharia Islamic one, eh!?!?!

      Reply
15. Ann Swisher says:

    January 29, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    Do you walk to school or carry your lunch? Do you eat an egg with a fork or do you drink milk and hop up and down to make a milk shake?

    This is the rationale of this proposal.

    Reply
16. Lacey Painter says:

    January 30, 2015 at 10:38 am

    I do not agree!

    Reply

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