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Good News! Oklahoma Eliminates VAM!

By dianeravitch
May 25, 2016 //
11

The Oklahoma legislature passed a law eliminating student test scores as part of teacher evaluation. Hawaii did the same last week. Bit by bit, the most ill-advised, costly, and demoralizing part of Race to the Top is being rejected by the states. It has no research base. Researchers find that measuring teachers by their student scores is unreliable, unstable, and varies by the composition of the class. Its biggest contribution to American education has been to drive out good teachers and create s teacher shortage.

 

House leaders unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that eliminates the requirement to use student academic growth in Oklahoma’s teacher evaluation system.

 

House Bill 2957, which is estimated to save Oklahoma school districts millions of dollars and the Oklahoma State Department of Education more than $500,000, has been sent to the governor’s desk for signature.

 

“Amid this difficult budget year when public education has faced a variety of challenges, House Bill 2957 is a true bright spot of this year’s legislative session,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister said. “By giving districts the option of removing the quantitative portion of teacher evaluations, we not only increase local control but lift outcomes by supporting our teachers while strengthening their professional development and growth in the classroom.”

 

Also praising the bill for its return to local decision-making was Rep. Michael Rogers,R-Broken Arrow, HB 2957’s House author.

 

“This legislation will return flexibility back to the districts on their evaluations while developing an individualized professional development program that will help all of our teachers and administrators,” he said.

 

HB 2957 removes the controversial and mandated Value-Added Measures – which tie a teacher’s performance rating to student test scores — from OSDE’s Teacher and Leader Effectiveness evaluation system and effectively eliminates the requirement that evaluation scores be used to terminate teachers. These quantitative evaluation tools will become optional for districts upon the governor’s signature.

 

Sen. John Ford, R-Bartlesville, who co-authored the bill, said the legislation has been long overdue.

 

“After gathering input from a variety of stakeholders through a lengthy and thoughtful review process, we feel that HB 2957 promotes increased reflection and professional growth for teachers and leaders,” Ford said. “Now is the time to support the teachers in Oklahoma’s public education system by focusing on an evaluation system that places professional development first.”

 

Farewell and good riddance!

 

 

– See more at: http://m.examiner-enterprise.com/news/local-news/lawmakers-pass-teacher-evaluation-changes#sthash.xJo33ldE.dpuf

 

 

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Oklahoma, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, Testing, VAM (value-added modeling)

Jeb Bush Resumes His Fight Against Public Schools

By dianeravitch
May 24, 2016 //
29

The Foundation for Excellence in Education announced the return of its founder, ready to fight for privatization, high-stakes testing, and the end of the teaching profession.

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 24, 2016 Contact: Press Office
850-391-4090
PressShop@excelined.org

 

JEB BUSH TO SERVE AS CHAIRMAN OF THE FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION

 

 
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd) today announced the election of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush as Chairman and President of its Board of Directors. Governor Bush replaces Dr. Condoleezza Rice, who has served as Chair since January 2015 and remains a member of the Board of Directors.

 

 

“One of the greatest challenges and opportunities we have in America today is to create a 21st century education system that ensures all students have the skills, teachers and educational options they need to succeed in life,” said Governor Bush. “Too many children right now are failed by a deeply flawed bureaucratic system, but I’m optimistic about the future because I’ve seen the great results produced by states across the country. It is an honor to rejoin ExcelinEd as we continue to support states in bringing choice, innovation and accountability to the classroom. I am thankful to Dr. Rice and this exceptional board for their leadership over the past year.”

 

 

Since 2008, ExcelinEd has worked in 48 states across the country to champion state-driven, proven transformational education reform policies that lead to rising student achievement. Because of these reforms and hard work by state leaders and educators, students have achieved remarkable academic success. Last year, as a result of active engagement by ExcelinEd and ExcelinEd in Action, 43 education laws were adopted in 15 states to improve or enact new reform policies.

 

 

Governor Bush also has been elected to the Board of Directors of Excellence in Education in Action (ExcelinEd in Action). The sister 501(c)(4) organization to the Foundation for Excellence in Education, ExcelinEd in Action helps advance legislation at the state level to improve the quality of education for every child. Governor Bush launched ExcelinEd in Action in 2014 and will serve as the organization’s Chairman and President.

 

 

*****

 

 

BIOGRAPHY: Governor Jeb Bush

 

 

Jeb Bush was elected the 43rd governor of the state of Florida on November 3, 1998, and was re-elected by a wide margin in 2002. His second term as governor ended in January 2007.

 

 

Jeb earned a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and moved to Florida in 1981. With partner Armando Codina, he started a small real estate development company, which grew to become the largest, full-service commercial real estate company in South Florida.

 

 

Jeb served as Florida’s Secretary of Commerce under Bob Martinez, Florida’s 40th governor. As Secretary of Commerce, he promoted Florida’s business climate worldwide. Following an unsuccessful bid for governor in 1994, Jeb founded the nonprofit Foundation for Florida’s Future, which joined forces with the Urban League of Greater Miami to establish one of the state’s first charter schools. He also co-authored Profiles in Character, a book profiling 14 of Florida’s civic heroes–people making a difference without claiming a single news headline.

 

 

After his election in 1998, Governor Bush focused on reforming education. Florida students have made the greatest gains in achievement, and Florida is one of a handful of states that have narrowed the achievement gap. In addition, he cut taxes every year during his tenure as governor, and Florida led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. Governor Bush put Florida on the forefront of consumer healthcare advances by signing Medicaid reform legislation “Empowered Care” in June 2006.

 

 

Before launching a run for the Republican presidential nomination in June of 2015, Governor Bush led his own successful consulting business, Jeb Bush and Associates, whose clients ranged from small technology start-ups to well-known Fortune 500 companies. He also served as the chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education; co-chairman of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy; and chair of the National Constitution Center.

 

 

He is the co-author of Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution (2013) and author of Reply All (2015).

 

 

Governor Bush is the son of former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush. He lives in Miami with his wife, Columba. They have three children and four grandchildren.

 

 

For more on the ExcelinEd Board of Directors, visit: http://www.ExcelinEd.org/board-corner/board-of-directors/. For more on ExcelinEd in Action, visit http://www.ExcelinEdInAction.org.

 

 

###
The Foundation for Excellence in Education is igniting a movement of reform, state by state, to transform education for the 21st century economy by working with lawmakers, policymakers, educators and parents to advance education reform across America. Learn more at ExcelinEd.org.
 

CONTACT US
P.O. Box 10691
Tallahassee, Florida
32302-2691
850.391.4090
info@excelined.org

Copyright © 2015
Foundation For Excellence in Education

Categories Accountability, Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Testing

PARCC’s Vendetta: What the New York Times Left Out

By dianeravitch
May 24, 2016 //
8

 

The New York Times published a story today about PARCC’s efforts to remove all blogs and tweets that referred to items from their test. Leonie Haimson says the story is incomplete, and she fills in the gaps in her account. 

 

 

A friend in the education field told me that he was puzzled by PARCC’s actions. He said, “Why don’t they just release those three contested items?”

 

Maybe they are afraid of setting a precedent.

 

It is astounding that a test that has such weighty consequences (yes, Mike Petrilli, the tests are still used in many states for teacher evaluations and school closings) should be immune from review and discussion. How many hidden Pineapples are there behind the veil of secrecy?

 

Oh, well, PARCC has seen a dramatic decline in usage. The number of states has dropped from 24 to 7. If the trend continues, bye-bye PARCC.

 

By the way, I never got an explanation or even notice of the deletion of one of my posts I the middle of the night on May 13. Not so much as a “by your leave.”

Categories Education Industry, Testing

Carol Burris Tries to Correct Campbell Brown, Without Success

By dianeravitch
May 24, 2016 //
26

Carol Burris wrote a post for Valerie Strauss’s “Answer Sheet” blog at the Washington Post, in which she reported the numerous Twitter exchanges among herself, Tom Loveless, and Campbell Brown. Burris and Loveless fruitlessly tried to persuade Brown to retract her inaccurate statement that 2/3 of America’s eighth graders score below grade level.

 

Given an opportunity to respond by Valerie Strauss, Brown made an incomprehensible statement about how she should have referred to grade-level proficiency instead of grade level. Then everything would be okay. Instead of correcting her error, Brown insisted she was under personal attack.

 

Please read the last two sentences of her comments, which are hilarious. Especially the reference to “the age of Donald Trump and Diane Ravitch” (Sic)!! And then there is her laughable claim that those who disagree with her negative comments are profiting from school failure. I wish she–who received $4 million to start her website–would provide evidence for that statement!

 

 

Categories Accountability, Corporate Reform, Education Reform, NAEP, Testing

Tennessee: Testing is a Mess; Where Are the Grown-Ups?

By dianeravitch
May 23, 2016 //
17

TC Weber is a parent blogger in Nashville. He writes here about the testing chaos in Tennessee.

 

When the contractor didn’t deliver the tests in time, testing was canceled. Then came part two, the tests were delayed again, but eventually many kids took the tests. Tennessee fired the contractor, forced students to take the tests, then gave Pearson a contract for $18.5 million just to score the tests.

 

 

Just for scoring tests! How great is that! Way to go, Pearson!

 

Maybe some of the details are wrong. Read TC’s post.

 

Bottom line: Tennessee is squandering millions of dollars for useless tests. Wake up! End the nightmare!

Categories Education Reform, Tennessee, Testing

Education Writers Association Reviews Opt Out, Nationally

By dianeravitch
May 23, 2016 //
28

The Education Writers Association reviews the state of the opt out movement, nationally, presenting a variety of perspectives.  M

 

Once again, we hear the complaint that opt outs endanger the validity of the tests, but that’s nonsense if your concern is for individual living children, rather than data. No matter how many opt out, those who take the test will still get s score. The only thing that gets compromised is the ability to rank schools and districts on a bell curve. Tough.

 

 

Once again, we hear the complaint that opt out is concentrated among white families. So what? If families hate the over testing of their children, they should act on their concerns, whatever their race.

 

 

The article does not mention the reasons for lower rates of black and Hispanic participation in opt outs: fear that their school might be closed; fear of punishment; lack of information, which is spread through social media; and the Gates-funded disinformation campaign against opting out, which has misled some civil rights groups to support high-stakes testing that labels and stigmatizes children of color.

Categories Opt Out, Parents, Testing

Kentucky: First to Adopt Common Core, Achievement Gap Widens

By dianeravitch
May 23, 2016 //
26

The Hechinger Report reviews what has happened in Kentucky, the first state to adopt the Common Core standards.

 

In the first year, test scores plummeted. They have started to inch up, but the achievement gap between white and black students has grown larger.

 

“Kentucky stepped into the national spotlight in 2010 when it became the first state to adopt the standards after the Obama administration offered federal money to help pay the costs. (Over 40 other states and the District of Columbia eventually adopted the Common Core.) On Kentucky’s previous state tests, tied to its old standards, over 70 percent of elementary school students scored at a level of “proficiency” or better in both reading and math. Once the state introduced the Common Core-aligned tests in the spring of 2012, that percentage dropped 28 points in reading (to 48 percent) and 33 points in math (to 40 percent), according to the Kentucky Department of Education. Middle and high school students’ scores also dropped.

 

“Of course, we knew that the tougher standards had to be followed up with extra attention to students who were behind,” said Sonja Brookins Santelises, vice president of K-12 policy at the Education Trust.

 

“Scores have been edging up ever since. By spring 2015, 54 percent of Kentucky elementary school students were proficient in the English language arts and 49 percent were proficient in math.

 

“Despite that improvement, within those numbers are hidden divisions that have existed for decades. Breaking the scores down shows that African-American students fare much worse than their white peers.

 

“In spring 2015, in the elementary grades, 33 percent of black students were proficient in reading, versus 58 percent of white students; in math, the breakdown was 31 percent to 52 percent, according to Kentucky Department of Education figures.

 

“And those gaps, in many cases, have widened, according to an analysis of state testing data by The Hechinger Report and the Courier-Journal.”

 

Education Trust, which has received many millions from the Gates Foundation, is one of the strongest supporters of the Common Core standards, which were funded by Gates. Since Education Trust has long been the leading exponent of the view that raising standards and making tests more rigorous would close the achievement gap, the situation in Kentucky is a bit awkward for them.

 

There is still no evidence, despite the billions spent on Common Core, that it raises achievement or closes gaps between races. Common sense would suggest that making tests harder would cause the kids who are already scoring low to score even lower. A student who can’t clear a four-foot bar is going to be in big trouble if you raise the bar to six feet.

 

But Common Core was never related to common sense. It was about a theory, which decreed that all students would one day be college-and-career-ready if school work was more rigorous. And this far, the theory is failing.

Categories Common Core, Corporate Reform, Education Reform, Kentucky, Testing

UK: Test Worship is Out of Control

By dianeravitch
May 23, 2016 //
24

Stephanie Northen, teacher and journalist, enjoyed the spectacle of the Education Minister Nick Gibb failing to answer a question taken from the exam for 11-year-old children as he defends the value of the test on air. And she  rightly ridicules the obsession with rigor that emanates from government officials.

 

 

She wrote this article as the students in England were taking the national exam known as SPAG (spelling, punctuation, and grammar). Northen calls it “Rigor SPAG.”

 

 

 

She writes:

 

 

“Amid the gloom of unsavoury Sats and enforced academisation, comes one delicious moment of joy. Schools minister Nick Gibb doesn’t know his subordinating conjunctions from his prepositions. He can’t answer one of the questions he has set children. Despite this woeful (in his eyes) ignorance – though, tellingly, when his mistake is pointed out he says ‘This isn’t about me’ – he has managed to become and to remain a government minister. Need one say any more about the pointlessness of the Spag test?

 

 

“At least by this time next week it will all be over. The country’s 10 and 11-year-olds will be free to enjoy their final few weeks at primary school, liberated from the government’s oh so very rigorous key stage 2 tests. Like them, I am tired of fractions, tired of conjunctions, tired, in fact, of being told of the need for ‘rigour’. The Education Secretary and the Chief Inspector need to wake up to the fact that rigour is a nasty little word, suggestive of starch and thin lips. Its lack of humour and humanity makes parents and teachers recoil. Check out its origins in one of those dictionaries you recommend children use.

 

 

“Hopefully the weight of protest here, echoing many in America, will force some meaningful concessions from the ‘rigour revolutionaries’ in time for next year’s tests. Either that, or everyone with a genuine interest in helping young children learn will stand up and say No. In the words of CPRT Priority 8, Assessment must ‘enhance learning as well as test it’, ‘support rather than distort the curriculum’ and ‘pursue standards and quality in all areas of learning, not just the core subjects’. The opposite is happening at the moment in the name of rigour. It’s not rigour – but it is deadly.

 

 

“Of course, the memory of subordinating conjunctions and five-digit subtraction by decomposition will fade for the current Year 6s – and for Nick Gibb – unless they turn out to have failed the tests. Mrs Morgan [the Conservative Party’s Secretary of State for education] will decide just how rigorous she wants to be in the summer. Politics will determine where she draws the line between happy and sad children. Politics will decide the proportion she brands as failures at age 11, forced to do the tests again at secondary school.

 

 

“But still the children have these few carefree weeks where primary school can go back to doing what primary school does best – encouraging enquiry into and enjoyment of the world around us. Well, no. Teachers still have to assess writing. And if my classroom is anything to go by, writing has been sidelined over the past few weeks in the effort to cram a few more scraps of worthless knowledge into young brains yearning to rule the country.

 

 

“So how do we teachers judge good writing? Sadly, that’s an irrelevant question. Don’t bother drawing up a mental list of, for example, exciting plot, imaginative setting, inventive language, mastery of different genres. No, teachers must assess using Mrs Morgan’s leaden criteria, criteria that would never cross the mind of a Man Booker prize judge. Marlon James, last year’s Booker winner and a teacher of creative writing, was praised for a story that ‘traverses strange landscapes and shady characters, as motivations are examined – and questions asked’. No one commented on James’s ability to ‘use a range of cohesive devices, including adverbials, within and across sentences and paragraphs’.

 

 

“The dead hand of rigour decrees that we judge children’s ability to employ ‘passive and modal verbs mostly appropriately’. We have to check that they use ‘adverbs, preposition phrases and expanded noun phrases effectively to add detail, qualification and precision’. (Never mind thrilling, moving or frightening, I do love a story to be detailed, precise and qualified.) We forget to read what the children have actually written in the hunt for ‘inverted commas, commas for clarity, and punctuation for parenthesis [used] mostly correctly, and some correct use of semi-colons, dashes, colons and hyphens’. Finally, it goes without saying that young children must ‘spell most words correctly’.”

 

 

 

 

Categories International, Testing

New York: Kids as Guinea Pigs for Testing Company

By dianeravitch
May 22, 2016 //
19

So you thought testing season was over!

 

Nope, now it is field test season, when test vendor Questar tries out its questions on a trial basis, to see how they work in practice. Some parents think their children should be paid to do the work. Others say, “Opt out.”

 

More instructional time lost.

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Testing

Florida: Teachers Are Leaving in Droves Due to Low Salaries, Testing, Mandates

By dianeravitch
May 22, 2016 //
53

Wake up, Florida!

 

Years of so-called “reform” are driving out teachers and principals. Can you have good education of you can’t hold on to successful teachers?

 

The Orlando Sentinel reports on the crisis level exodus from teaching:

 

Noah David Lein has always loved teaching.

 

And if you believe the state of Florida, the honors English teacher at Winter Springs High School is precisely the kind of instructor we want in our classrooms.

 

He sparks kids’ curiosity and was among only 4 percent of the region’s teachers to receive the “Best and Brightest” bonus for “highly effective” teachers last year.

 

Lein still loves opening students’ minds and introducing them to complex thoughts.
But not in Florida.

 

Not in a state that continually beats teachers down.

 

So next week, when the school year ends, Lein plans to walk out of the classroom for the last time … and in to a career in sales.

 

It wasn’t an easy decision. To put it bluntly, Lein said: “I kind of threw up in my mouth at the thought of abandoning the profession I always wanted.”

 

But Florida politicians keep pushing good teachers away.

 

With a lack of respect. With obsessing about standardized testing over learning. And with cruddy salaries.

 

Lein, 32, said he started working in 2007 with a salary of $37,000. Nine years later, he makes $40,300 for his family of three — and started working weekends at a catering company to make ends meet.

 

“I’ve spent my last ounce of energy to make a difference to my students, but it isn’t making a difference to me and my family,”he said. “I’m exhausted, I’m bitter, and I’m grasping for something to be hopeful and positive about.”

 

If you care about public education, Lein’s loss should depress you.

 

But it should disturb you even more to know that he’s not alone. Rather, he’s part of a trend — of Florida teachers leaving the profession they once loved.

 

The exodus is so intense that state records show that 40 percent of new teachers leave within five years after they start.

 

Florida’s attrition rate for new teachers is 15-20 percent higher than the national average, depending on the year….

 

Scott Maxwell has an idea for the Florida legislature: Instead of talking to one another, instead of convening work groups and task forces, they should start listening to teachers, “the people who actually teach for a living.” Ask teachers why they are leaving in droves. Ask them what it would take to get them to stay or to return.

 

Good advice. Common sense. Will the Florida legislators listen?

Categories Education Reform, Florida, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Pay, Teacher Shortage, Teachers, Testing
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