EduShyster takes a hilarious look at the complicated landscape of Common Core testing in Massachusetts. The state is soon to make a decision about whether to stick with its MCAS exams or switch to the Common Core PARCC exams.
Is it a conflict of interest when the State Commissioner Mitchell Chester also happens to be chair of the governing board of PARCC?
She writes (with marvelous illustrations):
You see, Commissioner Chester wears more than one hat, as they say. Sporting his fedora of excellence, he has just presided over the start of an ambitious two-year effort to test drive the PARCC tests in more than 1,000 Massachusetts schools so that the state Board of Education, which Chester also advises, can vote in 2015 on whether to replace the old, outdated and outmoded MCAS tests with the cool new computerized PARCC edition. Still with me? But in his second hat—let’s call it his readiness beret—Chester serves as chairman of the governing board for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers otherwise known as PARCC: the *multi-state consortium* tasked both with developing the new tests and relentlessly flogging them until all *multi-states* adopt them. Did I say two hats? Make that three. Chester is also a director as well as the president of PARCC, Inc., a nonprofit that’s been created to make the development and implementation of the new PARCC assessments *more effective and efficient.* (See exhibit A). Got it? Good. Because it’s test time.
Now, exercising the career-and-college-readiness skills of observation, deduction, and proper use and evaluation of evidence would you say that Commissioner Chester’s dueling headgear as described above constitutes a. a conflict of interest b. a breach of trust c. just good common cents or d. time for more scotch? If you are a member of the Peabody School Committee [note to out-of-towners, correct pronunciation is Pea-buh-dee], the answer to this high-stakes question couldn’t be clearer. *It’s an outrageous conflict of interest and a breach of public trust,* says School Committee member Dave McGeney. The Committee recently voted unanimously to ask state officials to investigate the matter. McGeney says that Chester needs to pick a hat, any hat, but he can’t wear them all. *How can he be chairman of PARCC and also entering into agreements with PARCC on behalf of Massachusetts? It defies logic,* says McGeney.
Except that we’re in PARCC Place, where the old fusty logic about things like breaches of public trust and conflicts of the interest variety no longer apply. Someone has to get these kids college and career ready and apparently it’s not going to be you (hater.) Besides, Commissioner Chester took it upon himself to seek advice from the State Ethics Commission about a possible conflict of interest. In 2013. Three years after Chester signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to join PARCC and became chair of its governing board. And just to be extra, extra sure, Chester also checked his hats with Secretary of Education Matt Malone and the Chairwoman of the Board of Education, Maura Banta, who was also signatory to the MOU and who will eventually vote on whether the state should adopt the new PARCC assessments.
Meanwhile, some 80,000 Massachusetts students in grades 3-11 recently wrapped up the first round of PARCC piloting; they’ll resume test driving in May. Which brings us to the only question that really matters: how great are the PARCC assessments at measuring readiness, college and career style? Really great, reader. You see, drop the pesky *A,* which stands for Achieve, and the *CC*, which stands for Common Core, and you’re left with *PR,* as displayed in this handy informational assemblage of quotes, purporting to be from educators, parents and students, like Massachusetts Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester, *responding positively to their early experiences with the assessments.*
What do you think Commissioner Chester will decide?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“It’s a cozy, clubby place where everyone is, well, connected,”
This aspect of ed reform is really under-explored. I think you have to ask why Chester and the others feel they are somehow above the ordinary norms and understanding of what constitutes a conflict. This “conflict” concept is not new, and it came out of hard lessons because bad things happen when there is no actual objective analysis or criticism of public policy because everyone is in the same club.
Why do they assume they don’t have to follow these generally understood ethical norms? They won’t be captured or irrationally biased….why? Because they’re just better people?
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If the public can’t rely on ethical norms where people make an attempt to avoid conflicts, what are we supposed to be relying on?
These individuals? Their inherent “goodness”? The whole point of ethical norms was so we WOULDN’T have to rely on that- it didn’t matter whether the individuals were “good” or “bad”- they would ALL avoid conflicts and therefore we wouldn’t have to go to an analysis of their motives or character.
That’s the “public trust” – we all follow the same rules.
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The dice are loaded.
The cards are marked.
The game is rigged.
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We have a new governor, new Secretary of Ed., and a LOT of parents speaking up. We also have Barbara Madeloni-MA Teachers Assn. president who is causing a stir. I’d say it’s up in the air.
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http://www.doe.mass.edu/boe/docs/2015-04/item1.html
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Massachusetts is half pregnant with PARCC.
On the insurgent side, a lot of time has been invested energizing some of the more conservative parts of the state against common core. They feel common core is Federal overreach. PARCC is common core here in Mass.
People know Gates bought approval from every influential group under the sun from CAP to NEA to AFT, and so don’t trust the pitched about how much better PARCC will be for our kids than MCAS.
Some parents oppose common core, others don’t like spending so much of the school budget on PARCC tests and teaching materials. More still are concerned that the approach is turning teachers and teaching into a clerical position, and that kids are over tested and learning to hate school.
Mass is the state whose students score well enough on tests that we’re identified as top or top 2 in the US So why should we punt MCAS for PARCC? Public schools in Mass send kids to the Ivies and NESCAC. They are quite apparently college ready. What does Gates and his undemocratic cohort know that we don’t?
We have a lot of poverty in what we call gateway cities such as Lawrence, Haverill, Fitchburg, Fall River, New Bedford, Holyoke, Springfield and Boston, too. Teaching in these places presents very different challenged than teaching in Longmeadow, Weston, Wellesley or Lincoln-Sudbury. It’s hard to imagine that higher standards are the secret sauce for either.
The Board of Ed got an earful of opposition today at a hearing for PARCC..
High-stakes testing whether its MCAS and PARCC, implemented as part of race to the top, is widely derided as complete failure, and call VAM junk science. Yet Superintendents still implement programs to get rid of “bad teachers.” I don;t know which outside influence(s) is pushing this, I think it’s Boston Foundation.
There’s some cross aisles discontent for where federal and state government has taken public education, which we like to think we invented, because we did.
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