In this opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun, Kalman R. Hettleman describes the creation in Maryland of a new state agency that has the same functions as the Maryland State Department of Education and the power to override local control. This agency is supposed to guarantee “accountability,” but it’s limitless power leaves many unanswered questions.
A bombshell, with uncertain force, is about to land on school reform in Maryland. It’s the startup in the next several weeks of the Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB) created under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. More than any other part of the blueprint, the AIB is a radical experiment in school governance — untested anywhere in the U.S. — with virtually limitless authority to make or break school reform for generations to come.
The AIB’s super-muscle comes from its unambiguous power to fully govern public schools. This means it can usurp the functions of the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) and control local school policies.
As a member of the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (known as the Kirwan Commission) that drafted the blueprint, I favored the concept of the AIB. I still do. But I recognized that opponents, though some were overwrought, had a point. The seven-member board, to be appointed by the governor from a list of nine persons just selected by the AIB nominating committee, could actually cause more bureaucracy and less accountability, unless it acts wisely.
Predictably, formidable political groups opposed such a drastic departure from current law and practice. The MSDE board, state superintendent and local school district boards and superintendents argued that they would be micromanaged; in the process, they said, local control — so sacrosanct for so long — would be emasculated.
In addition, Maryland just appointed a State Superintendent with impeccable reform credentials.
Read the article. If you understand why the state is creating a powerful new agency to run its schools, please let me know.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Does this mean the so called “local control” in
Maryland hasn’t been emasculated or usurped by
the dictates of the fed dept of ed?
How does a state created “AIB super-muscle”
negate fed dictates?
As to a
“Superintendent with impeccable reform credentials”,
is “impeccable” defined by words or actions?
IOW, what has the “super” done towards cultivating
individuals with “true vision”, the NEGATOR of
propaganda?
Impeccable reform credentials. n. phrase. Receives funding from the Gates Foundation for Procrustean Education Deformation
Snyder did the same thing in Michigan to both the Dept of Education and the Dept of Natural Resources.
What could go wrong … went horribly wrong …
ofc
I am the author of the opinion article and appreciate recognition of the issues posed in the Blog. In answer to the Blog question, “why is the state creating a powerful new agency to run its schools,” there are two basic reasons. One, the state education agency (MSDE) had a dismal record on achievement, transparency and accountability: it was not trusted to ensure that a large new infusion of funding would be well spent. Two, along the same lines, it was created prior to the appointment of a new state superintendent; had he been in office the agency would not have been created, in my view. In part the creation of the agency was intended to send a wake-up call to MSDE, and it worked to the extent that the state board, to the surprise of all, appointed a strong, bold, reform-minded superintendent.
Now, as the opinion article makes clear, the new agency can and should pull back and be relegated to oversight and support, while MSDE builds its capacity and raises its game.
KBH,
Do you have a response to my questions, or are
they unworthy of your consideration?
NoBrick
achievement . . . and accountability
Kalman “Buzzy” Hettleman,
Maybe I misunderstand your comment here.
Are you saying that since the new state superintendent is strongly pro-ed reform, you are now advocating for this new agency to only be advisory and want to strip it of any oversight power?
Are you saying that you did want this new agency to have oversight when the state superintendent was pro-public schools and but now that you know that new state superintendent will be very friendly to folks who want to privatize public schools, you don’t want this other agency having any real power of oversight?
My apologies if I have misread your comment. Hopefully you will clarify.
Thank you. As a practical matter, I hope that it would serve mainly to
conduct evaluations that would be advisory but serve to inform
educators, legislators, parents, etc. I think this is independent of
whatever positions the superintendent takes on privatization.
Kalman R. Hettleman
2901 Boston Street, Unit 216
Baltimore, MD 21224
Phone: 410-367-5439/443-286-0854
Fax: 410-367-8477
Kalman “Buzzy” Hettleman,
I hope you agree with me that if anyone needs oversight and accountability, it is the ed reformers who are cheerleaders for charters that seem to run according to their own rules and who tell parents who complain to leave.
Any ed reform superintendent who embraces the ed reform definition of accountability and transparency is most in need of the very strongest independent oversight.
As you certainly know, when “accountability” is measured only by the performance of the students who are allowed to stay in charters, charters have been incentivized to act in the most reprehensible ways. Ed reformers are far too enamored of charters who have high passing rates on state tests, and ed reformers don’t care whether those charters have extraordinarily high suspension rates of kindergarten children and unexplainable high attrition rates (except by invoking implicitly racist nonsense about how there is nothing unusual about parents who sought out a charter because it was high-performing then leaving that high performing charter in high numbers.) I find it astonishing when ed reformers overpraise charters that graduate barely half of their incoming 9th graders in 4 years, because ed reformers don’t care how many students disappear, but do measure “accountability” by whether a charter can brag that “100%” of their graduating seniors were admitted to college.
Accountability is not PR. It isn’t about bragging. It is about making sure that those schools bragging about their supposed excellence are not incentivized by the ed reform definition of “accountability” to act in ways that should be unacceptable to all people with integrity. I hope you are one of those people with integrity who understands what is wrong when the ed reformers confuse accountability with public relations. That’s why an ed reformer superintendent would need the very strongest oversight by independent boards, because far too often charters have been overseen by billionaires and their hand chosen minions.
The state dept must work collaboratively with the new agency which should basically provide oversight through independent evaluations. There is no reason to think the new state suptd will promote “privatization.”
“The state dept must work collaboratively with the new agency which should basically provide oversight through independent evaluations.” Mr. Kelman, do you honestly think there is such a thing as “independent ” evaluation? I was educated in an era where we had evaluation from such as Michael Scriven, Henry Levin (he is stil writing) , Malcolm Provus, and some good guys at Boston College locally — since that time it has become “public relations” and “press release” with very little evaluation — I could hardly call it “independent. So you may be sincere in your intentions but perhaps naive as to what is going on in each state. In MA we have a Republican governor, we have mass infiltration of Pearson, and we have Board members all with their own conflict of interest. We have one woman who got her “sweetheart deal” and is no longer on the Board (called BESE — should be beauty) and we have various and sundry others such as Marty West who studies “grit” and says the kids in public school need more grit and he has a direct pipeline to David Driscoll at NAEP… I think you are naive in believing there can be any board or group that can conduct anything like an independent evaluation. Of course we also have Harvard (an investment bank pretending to be a university) — so much for that. I’m glad you gave us your phone number. I have a great desire to call you but I won’t …. I will think about the good quality education I received from people like Malcolm Provus, MichaelScriven (he was the coordinator for my doctoral program). Henry Levin did one of the last real evaluations in my neck of the woods (on technology in education — he was hired to do the study by a former president of MASBO (MA Association of Business Officials in schools. — but that guy is j10 yearss deceased )
Yes I believe that generally independent evaluations are conducted with integrity
can you identify them? Would you like to read about the “Independent Evaluation” that Governor Baker of MA had written to free him from responsibility of the deaths of patients at the Soldier’s Home (covid-19) mismanagement of the Soldier’s Home. I would be glad to forward it.
Mr. Kalman. the Globe article from July 6 is behind a paywall. but here is the reference anyway. I do not have faith that “research” is independent the way that things are conducted today …… MA has claimed how great their schools are and yet we know that the Governor will never address that we are only #28 when it comes to equity. And, all kinds of press releases and “evaluations ” are produced. https://bakerknew.com
Education deformers totally missed the moral of the twentieth century revolution in industrial management practice–that the way you get continuous improvement is not through micromanagement but through increased autonomy and empowerment among workers and bottom-up quality circles. The utterly failed “accountability movement” was and is “the whippings will continue until morale and scores improve.”
The Education Deformers are like the execs at Xerox who passed on the graphical user interface, Postscript fonts, the laser printer, the computer mouse, and much else delivered by their own research and development outfit because they were wedded to a really bad idea: the way to make money was through maintenance contracts on big, dinosaurlike copy machines. Trillions of dollars in future profits they let go because they could not give up their one really bad idea. Well, the Deformers refuse to give up on their key really bad idea, intuitively sensible but dreadfully, disastrously, demonstrably wrong: that standardized testing provides actionable “data” that will bring about improvement. After years of the utter failure of this terrible idea, their response is, “We need more of this.”
As the folk song has it, “When will they ever learn?”
Drucker actually had some worthwhile advice from management theory — it is how things get distorted along the way each different group will try to “mediate” their own interpretation of the original ideas from Drucker and they really $@#% things up.
I see that their is an oversight of teacher preparation component to the new board’s duties. My input, for what it’s worth:
Yikes! Correction: THERE is an oversight of teacher preparation component
Suggestions for improvement of reading instruction:
don’t worry about the cx…. this is informal and “off the cuff” — you are always at the highest standards in your writing and comments
Thanks, Jean. I spent most of my life working as an editor, so these faux pas of mine really rankle me.
Buzzy, thank you for writing in. I’m not sure I see the link between “achievement” and the inner workings of the State Education Department. I expect that the test scores are aligned with affluence and poverty, as they usually are.
Thanks a lot for the blog and the reply to my comment. The link between achievement and the inner workings of the state department is that state departments in general can play a much more potent role than they do in supporting and, though we may disagree on this, requiring local districts to use evidence-based best instructional practices and monitoring implementation. A lot of laws on the books mandate such a state role but the “politics of local control” gets in the way. A big subject but in short, local districts (and schools) should have flexibility in how they manage many things as long as they follow the evidence, particularly as to instruction. I am optimistic about our new state superintendent because he accepts the challenge; local districts will welcome state support and even requirements if they are realistic and aligned with resources. Again thanks for the exchange.
Buzzy, ” requiring local districts to use evidence-based best instructional practices and monitoring implementation.” we have been working on that for a decade or more. I would like you to read the MA State Auditors’ report on how the state department of education “missed the boat” on charter schools. The State had no way that “innovation ” could be measured; no operational mea Resures. We need more work like that in the State Auditor department. Even outright corruption and fraud are not managed in my state; the Attorney General sits with boxes and boxes of details and yet the corruption goes unpunished; when I ask them questions the response is “that was before my tenure”. …. or from the Commissioner of Ed “that was an egregious thing I heard about before I came to this state.”… So if teachers are held accountable, I would like to have governmental structures audited and held accountable. In particular, the inter-state arrangements to “give the money to Pearson” that has occurred in MA. Even the former Commissioner Reveille says. it was wrong to place charter schools in direct competition with pubic schools for the funding… but that is the GOP way — fierce competition to the death. MA had an excellent track record of using federal funds appropriately (in the past)… today’s hype is like the nuclear wars between Kruschev and the U.S. if you “hype the arms gap” you can build the military industrial complex.
Why does a separate agency need to be in place to override school board decisions? In what way does a parallel agency to the DoEd ensure accountability, transparency & achievement? What are the structures in place in the separate agency that are different from the state agency?
It looks suspiciously like a backdoor way to promote privatized education systems. The argument that it’s a waste to provide an infusion of funding for public agencies is bogus. That’s been an ed reform mantra for years to justify siphoning public money to charter & voucher scams.
MD parent here!!! So many of us have left public education for private schools. We are tired of the over testing, tired of Common Core garbage. Our children are being fed a daily diet of test prep in lieu of an authentic education. The intrusive surveys and SEL “curriculum in a can” is absolutely immoral. We don’t need any more “reform”!!! We need teachers to have the autonomy to really teach our students and to differentiate their learning. We are tired of top down management of our children by people who know nothing about our children. Until things change, MD public schools will continue to bleed students.
So it’s working …
@Jon…..we pay a lot of taxes in this state for education….A LOT! The money is never spent on student needs or new school construction for overcrowding/maintenance. Layers of administration are created to suck up the money and then they need data (test scores) to keep the machine running. So, maybe it is “working” the way you think it’s working, but some of us (unfortunately, only those who can afford to) choose to walk away because fighting this has become too much of an effort. MD does have a small voucher program that has been capped, but most of the better private schools won’t accept the vouchers because it would invite intrusion by the state (Data via testing). I won’t apologize for paying for an actual education for my child and I don’t expect nor want anyone else to pay for his private education. MD public education is the reformer’s wet dream come true.
Lisa – what proof do you have that it’s not spent on buildings or student needs? Also let’s clarify – it’s mainly property taxes (district) and not state that cover education costs. I find it interesting you didn’t answer the question of where you live in MD – avoiding the question i see
Mission accomplished.
LisaM– When you say “private schools,” you don’t mean charter schools, correct?
MD does seem to have more in privates (and fewer in charters) than the national average. Some of the figures I see online are out of date, but it looks like 3% charters [half the national rate] and 15% privates [half again the national rate] (They have a voucher for low-incomes but seems small, less than 1/2% of school-age kids)
bethree5…..We have Charter schools in MD but they are located in Baltimore City and PG County (the poorest/urban sections of the state). The Charter schools here are fine. They have certified teachers and are unionized….it’s a very strange arrangement.
We have many private schools and it’s sad to say that they are filled with students leaving public schools and many of the teachers are from the public school systems. The former public school teachers were tired of the lack of autonomy, the over testing/test prep curriculum, the mandates etc. Yes, they will admit that they are paid less in dollars, but they are happy and mentally healthy and are allotted free periods and small class sizes that allow them to have a decent family life out of school. Trade offs!
There is a small voucher program for low income students to attend mostly K-8 religious/parochial schools. Right now there is a court case winding through the system because one of the “evangelical” schools violated the voucher rules. I haven’t heard a lot about it lately.
It really is sad that for a state that has such a high tax rate, high county taxes and has high per pupil spending that public school is so dreadful for students and teachers. Over crowding is a big issue as well as rat infested/run down buildings with mold/HVAC/ plumbing issues. Lots of money for testing, CBL and high end administration, but not for what really matters to make a difference for students and teachers. I won’t apologize for paying for my 2nd child to receive the education that he deserves. I got tired of fighting the madness of it all.
@jlsteach….not avoiding your question at all. I live in Howard Co and I don’t live in the wealthy area either. My kids attended very overcrowded schools K-8 with many children who lived in trailer parks or in seedy hotel rooms. Moldy portables were a staple at each school. My 1st child graduated from HCPSS and there was a quad of portables that were poorly heated/AC’d on top of reeking of mildew. It was so overcrowded that students didn’t use their lockers because it would clog up the hallways. School admin had to decrease class time by 3 minutes per class to give students time to get through the crowded hallways. Students carried their belongings all day and wore their coats all day. Years later and they are still just talking about building a new HS. When a new ES was built, it opened overcrowded and my children’s ES remained overcrowded. Watching 5,6,7 yr olds (many of them FARMS) throw away food because they only had 7 mins. to eat is disgusting and a waste of $$$$….I volunteered when my kids were in ES.
10-15 yrs ago there was no need for parents to leave HCPSS. The public schools here were great. As the county attracted more people with children (b/c of education) it did not allot more money for the education of those children. RttT was the eyeopener for many folks here. The “great” education system in this county is based on test scores of the affluent and you know how that goes. It has been “smoke and mirrors” and outright lies for a while now. Nothing great happening in education here. I could write for hours about the lies and untruths that the school system has tried to cover up. But woohoo! US News gives our school system great ratings (SMH)!
Yes, the private HS’s in the surrounding counties are filled up with parents tired of fighting the public system in MD. The open houses are jammed packed and are happening now if you would like to attend to see for yourself. 6-7 yrs ago anyone could apply and get accepted and now the private HS’s are having to turn away students. If you can remember, the Archdiocese was closing schools (K-12) due to under enrollment and now they are rebuilding. Covid pushed the enrollment up in K-8 parochial schools since they remained open with precautions while the county systems remained closed. Many families decided to stay instead of going back to the test and punish/CC test prep curriculum of the public schools.
MSDE is top heavy. Always has been! When more $$$ is allotted, there will always be a layer of administration to suck away the funds before they are able to make it to the teachers and students. And let’s not even talk about the disrepair/lack of maintenance of the City schools because that is just deplorable.
My Orwellian gobbledygook sensor is going crazy. “A strong, bold, reform-minded superintendent“? You mean like Arne Duncan, Destroyer of Public Education? He was bold, alright! The word ‘reform’ is being misused here. In the era of neoliberal test and punish profiteering, reform means the opposite of improvement. It means the decimation of public services. Welfare reform was the demolition of welfare. Social Security reform would mean the end of retirement security. Education reform has been the ruination of public schools. You want accountability to make sure your tax dollars are being spent wisely on education? Great! Easy way to do it is to send your children to school and support your local school board during election seasons.
And guess who is running for Governor here in MD? The illustrious John King. Is it all lining up now?
John King is running for MD gov and Obama has been out there campaigning for him. The Democrats don’t seem to give a damn about keeping education public, inclusive and free. It’s ironic that Obama’s ACA was set up to fix the disaster of privatized health care. Yet, here he is working hard to maintain the legacy of his misguided education policies.
Arne Duncan was as bad for public education as Betsy DeVos. He made her to hollow out public ed job much easier.
Oh, hey, the new top-down, appointed (and so nondemocratic) micromanagement organization has plenty of funding for consultants, so everything will be just peachy.
–Martin A. Ratso, Education Reformer and Meretrician Sine Par, B.A. Stanford, M.A. and PhD. Harvard.
And graduate Grand Poobah from the Broad Academy for “Data”-mining from Obviously Invalid Standardized Testing
Full name: The Broad Academy for Authoritarian Micromanagement via “Data”-mining from Obviously Invalid Standardized Testing
where we pay the biggest price: big funding for consultants (more and more popular every year) does not at all guarantee finding consultants who have a clue about education—it just means big money spent and people hired
Imagine them turning to someone like Diane who actually has a clue.
In my experience in business, when the young consultants show up with their clipboards, it’s because a lot of layoffs are coming to make up for the costs associated with an acquisition. It’s quite the racket, consulting. My take on the biz:
Bob (and others) – I am curious about this tangent concerning consultants. If you’re referring to the AIB then I recommend you read the credentials of those on the AIB along with its purpose
Is the https://www.marylandblueprint.org site? It would not load on my computer. However, the bill itself is available online. There’s much to like in it, but it’s based on utterly failed accountability measures–“data” from standardized testing, aka numerology–that has done quite literally nothing to improve educational outcomes or to decrease racial gaps.
Years ago, I had an office on a marsh in New England. One day, I heard a loud pounding. I went to our reception area, and there, on the porch overlooking the marsh, was a large seagull, repeatedly smashing his beak into his own reflection in the plate glass, apparently defending his territory. He would slam into the reflection, stagger backward, then slam into it again. Over and over. I had to chase him away to keep him from killing himself.
Well, after decades of standardized-testing-based “accountability” educational improvement schemes, we have seen precisely ZERO improvement by the “reformers'” own measure–scores on their demonstrably invalid tests based on the puerile Gates/Coleman “standards” and the state “standards” spawned by those.
It is the height of insanity to look at an utterly failed policy and say, “Oh yeah. We need a lot more of that.”
Correction: Is the https://www.marylandblueprint.org site down?
In my email today from deform propaganda rag Education Week:
Take our quiz and see how informed you are. Review your results and get resources you can share with your network.
___ is an approach that leverages both digital tools and face-to-face instruction to offer a more personalized learning experience for each student.
a. blended learning
b. virtual learning
c. in-person learning
d. none of the above
This reminds me of the Pear$on teacher certification exams. A test of deforminess. It’s like a quiz from a junk food marketer that says,
Take our quiz to see how knowledgeable you are about child nutrition. Review your results and get the resources you and your children need!
The earlier you start ___ with your children, the better for them.
a. Coca-cola
b. High-sugar-content (50 percent or more) cereal in new, fun shapes!
c. High-fructose corn syrup
d. All of the above
This looks to be part of a marketing campaign by Class, an online learning provider, abetted by that bastion of oh-so-impartial, science-based journalism, Education Week.
Okay, I wish I had chimed in earlier. First, LisaM, I’d be curious to know what county you reside in and your decision to leave schools for private schools (just a note – there are very few charter schools in Maryland in general). You may not be happy with Common Core, or other components, but that doesn’t mean WAVES of students are leaving education. Stop with the hyperbole. Second. Bob – here is a website that has plenty of information on the Bill (http://dls.maryland.gov/policy-areas/commission-on-innovation-and-excellence-in-education). Just because one googles Maryland blueprint doesn’t mean the site does what it says it does. Perhaps a little more searching would help.
Full disclose – my children attend Maryland public schools and I work for a district in Maryland public schools. Could things be improved, of course they can. Perhaps instead of making bogus claims and jumping to conclusions about education in Maryland based on one column people should look into more detail about what the Blueprint is accomplishing – first of all – it’s about MORE money going into education – for things such as universal Pre-K, increasing teacher leadership opportunities and career ladders. Yes, accountability is included – when one is spending so much money on something, one would hope that districts would be held accountable in how they are using it. If not, why not just give money to anyone and everyone and not care what happens?
As for the Accountability Board – Here’s information on what the board is supposed to do (https://www.marylandmatters.org/blog/presiding-officers-appoint-members-to-blueprint-accountability-board-nominating-committee/). It’ oversees the implementation of the law. I’m unclear on how the author of the original column felt that this board would be a shadow state superintendent agency.
As for who is on the board, here is the list (https://education.umd.edu/news/10-05-21-interim-dean-laura-stapleton-selected-governor-hogan-accountability-and-implementation). You have the current Interim Dean of the College of Education – she is only Interim because the Dean prior to her became the Provost of the University of Maryland. Full disclosure – Dean Stapleton was on my dissertation committee and I can assure you she is not an ed reformer. Rather, she knows statistics well. You also have a former elementary school principal and the associate vice president at a local community college. Where are the ed reformers there?
See, all of this hype over concern raised. But when it comes down to it – this is about getting more money into education across the district and doing lots of good work. What’s wrong with that?
Thank you for this information.
Unfortunately, what I think might have happened is that there were a bunch of pro-ed reformers like Kalman “Buzzy” Hettleman who supported the creation of this new oversight board before they realized that an ed reformer would be in power and an oversight board that wasn’t in the pocket of ed reformers might actually force charters to be more transparent and accountable for real, and not by the fake metrics ed reformers pretend are scientific.
If the board is comprised of people who actually understand statistics in education (instead of misuse them to promote charters), then the ed reformers suddenly have second thoughts about independent oversight.
Hettleman did write this article before the ed reform superintendent was appointed, but did the ed reformers get some inkling that the ed reformers might be in charge at the state agency and non-ed reformers would be on this oversight board? I find it odd that someone who helped start this commission is already lobbying to limit its power.
I have heard very few honest supporters of ed reform. Those that speak out asking for more transparency and oversight of charters are almost always marginalized, not listened to.
Deformers will not give up on their BIG IDEA–that standardized test scores provide “accountability.” They are ideologues who will persist–are persisting–in this crazy notion in spite of the now overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This blind belief in the face of evidence to the contrary is indicative of cults. The deformers do not understand that these tests are extraordinarily crude measures and that in ELA, the tests that now exist are quite simply invalid–that the numbers they generate are not data but nonsense and that acting on them amounts to numerology. After DECADES, now, of test-based “accountability,” this supposed accountability movement has failed UTTERLY by its own measures–math scores have barely budged, and ELA scores have improved not at all. And all this micromanagement was sold as a boon to kids of POC, as something that would result in “closing the racial gaps.” Hasn’t happened.
Bob – did you read the bill? Did you look at the list of the accountability board? Did you read any of the information I shared? Or are you simply just repeating the same thing over and over? How is that helpful? As for accountability – that does not have to do with only test scores – perhaps in this case it also has to do with how money is spent around universal Pre-K? Or creating career ladders?
But while we are on the topic of accountability – I’ll bite – should there be NO accountability? Should teachers be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want, even if the instruction or the material being shared doesn’t help them? Yes, I know, I know, you and Dr. Ravitch will say that is where strong administrators should come into play. But here’s the deal – we all know that not every administrator is a good administrator. So then what?
I did read the bill, though hastily. My comment was that “there is much to like in this bill.” And yes, when people are going to be spending a lot of money, they have both a right and a responsibility to make sure that it is well spent. We forget that was a time before the current testing madness, and our schools worked well, arguably better than they do now. The “accountability” movement has brought about precisely ZERO improvement. Before the testing madness, empowered teachers took their jobs all the more seriously because of the autonomy they had. That’s how people work. Remove the autonomy, and you remove the motivation. Again, I’m a great believer in bottom-up continuous improvement strategies. If it were up to me, all this money wasted on standardized testing would go into mounting and maintaining a national wiki of learning progressions, model lessons and assessments, suggestions for curricular and pedagogical innovation, lesson plans, learning goals, vocabulary lists, content-rich teaching materials, and so on., to which researchers, classroom practitioners, subject-matter experts, could freely add and from which teachers could freely take as they saw fit. A mechanism for sharing of innovations. Then, teachers would be freed to make their own decisions about curricula and pedagogical approaches and be given the time in their schedules to work with their colleagues in Japanese-style Lesson Study–continually self assessing and refining what they do, on the model of the bottom-up quality circles introduced to manufacturing in the great quality control revolution of the 20th century.
For a long long time jlsteach, we did without top-down micromanagement based on standardized test scores, and we built the most powerful economy in history as a result.
Bob – for a long time now, our education worked well – how well did it work for many students of color across all 50 states. I can tell you the answer – not very well. Our schools worked better than they do now – yes, let’s take us back to the 1960s and 70s , when there were segregated schools – how well did that work out?
As for the mention of Lesson Study = yes, I am all for that – and yes, I would agree that should be in place – but how often really it is in place, even if it’s offered? There HAS to be a balance somewhere. I will concur that all top down doesn’t work, but certainly bottom up hasn’t always worked as well either.
I’m wondering Bob – despite the bill’s flaws, would you toss it all away?
Would I toss it all away. Lord, no! There is much, much to like there. To make Lesson Study happen, you have to make it systemic. There must be time set aside in teachers’ schedules for it (that’s a big one), training in how it’s done, and oversight. How often really is it in place? Almost never, except in some very select private schools. A typical department meeting in a school now consists of a Department Chairperson reading out a list of mandates from administrators: Your Data Chat forms are due to the office on Tuesday. Did you read my essay on the ELA standardized tests? The one on reading instruction? You will learn from these why I am so appalled by the ELA tests, why I think them a dangerous scam. These are quite detailed. Not your usual blithering generalities.
And as for accountability, imagine that someone suggested that add on top of employee evaluations done by managers in individual businesses a whole other layer of state and district evaluation of employees based on “standards” written by some random jerk appointed Decider for the Rest of Us by Bill Gates. Good idea? Uh, no.
We always had accountability. In the past, if a teacher wasn’t doing his or her job, the principal or department chairperson would fire him or her. Accountability.
And the racial gap is real, ofc. And it’s not about new whiz-bang standards and tests not being in place. It’s about poverty.
Wait you fire someone on the spot? Perhaps you worked jn a right to work state – but with unions that’s not how it happens these days. It can take 2 to 3 years to fire a teacher who has done a poor job.
As for some of your points on typical dept meetings – you have some points there. But that’s about a dept chair, and the AP overseeing the dept, and the principal willing to take risks.
It’s about a lot more than that. Yes, teachers should have due process, but let’s not get into that discussion now. It’s a long one. Implementing Lesson Study would require quite a lot of money. A great deal of time would have to be put aside in teachers’ schedules for this–time for study of what they are doing, of what is working and what is not, time for consideration of alternatives. Time for critique by colleagues. That would mean large reductions in teacher load and increases in staff size to accommodate that reduction.
Okay. As for lesson study I concur except…where will you find the teachers to lessen the load – it’s already hard enough to find teachers to fill jobs
Well, who the heck wants to teach under the current conditions of zero autonomy and constant “evaluation”? It’s no longer the attractive profession that it was. Kids are looking at this and saying, uh, no. No thanks.
I recently returned to teaching high-school English after decades of working as a textbook publishing exec. The job was Ionesco-level absurd. I spent almost all my time meeting mandates that had nothing whatsoever to do with doing my job well. I never, in all my time in business, encountered such breathtaking, time-wasting Rube Goldberg absurdity.
Very happy that you recognize the value of Japanese Lesson Study. It’s worth reading up on. Thank you.
The accountability movement has made teaching (and serving as a building-level administrator) extraordinarily unattractive. It’s no wonder at all that kids in college are staying away from that track in droves.
cx: city council
It’s about poverty and systemic racism that has historically perpetuated it.
So on one hand you say education has always been great and let’s just leave it alone. And on the other hand it’s about systemic racism. Which I guess isn’t quite the good old days of education. When teachers could just chose who they focused on in a class or who they chose to ignore. When kids of color didn’t even have the opportunities others did. There are many flaws in laws such as NCLB but isn’t it worth noting the intent of the law – equity in education?
I did not say that everything about it was great. I said that it was arguably better BEFORE the so-called “accountability movement.” That this problem existed and wasn’t addressed was (and still is) enormous. But NCLB, etc., did NOTHING to achieve equity in education. Nothing. It’s as though a city counsel responded to cancers caused by a chemical plant by requiring every citizen to walk backward when in public.
The one thing I would add about NCLB is that it claimed to be about equity but instead deepened and certified inequity. There was no Texas “miracle” in education and GWB knew it. There is no Florida miracle. It’s smoke and mirrors. Kids and teachers are punished and the goals of education are distorted in the pursuit of higher test scores on tests of dubious validity.
cx:
And as for accountability, imagine that someone suggested that add on top of employee evaluations done by managers in individual businesses a whole other layer of state and district evaluation of employees based on scores from standardized tests of employee effectiveness created by a state Department of Business and “standards” written by some random jerk appointed Decider for the Rest of Us by Bill Gates. Good idea? Uh, no.
I believe in accountability, but the idea that test scores are an appropriate way to make teachers “accountable” is ludicrous. Experience matters, and it should be obvious to anyone who looks at the outcomes of the past two decades that test-based accountability doesn’t produce better students or better schools. Teachers may be fairly judged y peer review. But getting rid of teachers whose students have low test scores will not lead to higher test scores. Teachers matter, but home environment matters more.
It appears some people don’t grasp the fact that Public Schools have been pushed into dysfunction for the same reason the Post Office is now being pushed into dysfunction. Cui Bono? much?
I kind of lost the flow of comments above, but I didn’t see an empirical answer to the question posed in the headline. It is simple. It gives the governor more power. Larry Hogan tried to portray himself as a sane Republican because of his response to Covid and tepid and late opposition to the Idiot. But at the core, he is a Republican with all the goes with it. And part of that is to be an enemy to public education. One way to do a better job at that is to create adversarial bureaucracies.
Mike Pence created a rival agency when Democrat Glenda Ritz was elected as State Commissioner in Indiana.
You’re correct about Hogan. Hogan is term limited and has already done his damage to MD public education. John King (no better than Arne Duncan) is the next one trying to take the helm. Given all the extra money and our state’s geographical proximity to DC lobbyists, MD public schools will be doomed for more “reforms” than they already have.
replying to Mr Js Teach. “But while we are on the topic of accountability – I’ll bite – should there be NO accountability? ” that is obviously baiting…. are you trying to set up straw man? From someone who has spent an entire career on how we define improvement and “accountability” (effectiveness/efficacy) , your statement is either naive or full of hubris. R&D has changed over the decades; we have “marketing psychology.” upper most. We have corporate firms that are selling by giving “free apps” to parents and then they take the sign in on the free goodies and call it an electronic signature to do their data gathering and marketing of data. They pick up a superintendent or a Mayor from MA and deliver him to TX to swear to the product’s value and meanwhile there is often no evaluation of substance. Any group can turn out a “public relations report” and call it a “study’. The standards of what is a legitimate “evaluation” and what is “independent” (such as peer review of articles) has totally slipped. It is so sad because it is like the protocols and standards of the movie industry dealing with live ammunition — when you are behind schedule, and you are running on a limited budget, just forget about the protocols and standards of keeping the participants safe …. sad to see our nation deteriorate to the lowest of all possible judgements of standards.
Jean – it was not necessarily bating, but it’s a serious question – there are many in education that believe let teachers just teach…so then my question would be how are teachers held accountable? As you have noted, there is plenty of bias involved in nearly anything we do – including research, and yes, including observations. I recently sat in a meeting where it was discussed that some poor teachers are passed from school to school because administrator’s are not willing to take the time to document the information to remove the teacher. And yes, thanks to some unions, it has taken up to 2-3 years, with LOTS of work, to remove a poor teachers – should that really be the case?
Mr. Kelman; we need a State Attorney General and a State Auditor to keep the governor , the DESE, the BESE on record and keep them honest. Whatever group or board you have in MD I assume should know the same is true. it is very hard to have faith in your “independent evaluation”…. This is only one of many examples I could offer you.https://www.mass.gov/news/auditor-bump-statement-on-new-charter-school-campaign
It was not only mistrust of MSDE. It was also mistrust of the Maryland General Assembly. This was discussed in detail by the Kirwan Commission on 08/15/2018. This link points to a 5-minute clip of the discussion. Note the analogy to a base closure commission.