The importance of protecting education funding

As we near the start of Maryland's legislative session, we are reminded of the importance of properly funded schools. Today, NPR ran a story chronicling the school budget struggles in Texas where $4 billion has been cut from education this year and there has been over 12,000 educators and support employees laid off.

This is new for Texas. It's the first time in over 60 year that the state has not come through with it's funding promises. Schools are charging for more than lunches:

"In many school districts across Texas, though, parents are footing the bill for things like bus transportation, field trips, athletics and uniforms."

The Governor, Rick Perry, refuses to use money from the states $5 billion "rainy day fund" to help close the spending gaps. This is having a greater impact on the poor:

"Already, the $4.3 billion in school funding cuts seems to have made the disparity between poor and wealthy school districts worse. A poor district now gets $800 less per student from the state than a wealthy district.More than 300 school districts are now suing. They're hoping the courts will declare the cuts and the school funding formula in Texas unconstitutional."

When we look at situations like this, we see all to well the importance of ensuring full funding for our schools at the state and  county levels. That's why we have a Maintenance of Effort law. To ensure that funding does not decrease and force schools to then cut programs and charge for things they shouldn't have to. 

MCEA Presents: Understanding Your Retirement Workshop

Tom Henry from Integrated Financial Solutions will be presenting this seminar for all MCEA members, especially those considering retiring in the next five years. The seminar will focus on:

• Pension and payout options in retirement
• Social Security retirement benefits
• Income from you investments

The seminar will be held at the MCEA Conference Center on Thursday January 12, 2012 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and refreshments will be provided.

RSVP: Jackie Thompson at 301-294-6232 or jthompson@mceanea.org

Taking student's poverty head on

There's a story making the rounds about Justin Bieber donating $100,000 to a high needs school in Las Vegas. Valerie Strauss digs a little deeper into the story, looking the work of the teachers and principal at the school. Even though 85% of the school's students qualify for free and reduced meals, there have been academic gains at the school over the years because the school actively tries to help the students and parents address their unmet basic needs at home.

So rather than ignore poverty like the "reformers" like to, this school (while an exceptional example) is taking it on. Not that we're suggesting that you have to subject the schools to more Bieber, but being innovative in how to address poverty and the problems it causes goes a long way to helping students be successful. 

Nothing unusual about a teachers union leading reforms

Today's Washington Post has an article about the AFT's efforts to rebuild an impoverished school district in West Virginia. The AFT has found several partners to help address the myriad of social issues that afflict the community.

Ed "reformers" say that ineffective teachers and unions like to use poverty as an excuse for under performing students. Take a look at McDowell County and try to ignore the impact of social factors.

"The poverty, broken homes and isolation mean that most McDowell students start school behind. By 3, the average child in this country has a vocabulary of 12,000 words. In McDowell, that child knows 5,000."

There is a high rate of unemployment in the county. Drug use is a such a problem that the two major employers in the county, a coal mine and  a federal prison can't attract enough employees due to the inability of many applicants to pass drug tests. 80% of students are defined as poor by the state. The drop out rate is triple the national average. How could these not affect a child's ability to learn and succeed? But Bill Gates or Michelle Rhee would likely say that the unions are making up excuses to cover for the teachers who weren't working hard enough.

While this may be an extreme case, these same issues impact students all over the country and even here in Montgomery County.

Teachers unions have been helping to improve teaching and learning for decades. There is nothing unusual about it. 

Time to take a quiz

Recently we posted about the school board member who decided to take Florida's standardized test for high schoolers. Valerie Strauss followed up on that story today with some quizzes based on the Florida tests.

You can take the math quiz,by clicking here and you can take the reading quiz, by clicking here.

If you're interested in Maryland's tests, you can click here for released items from the Maryland School Assessment.

See how you stack up against the standards our students are held to!

Calling the reformer's bluff

We've written in this space about the trappings of NCLB and how the proposed changes in Congress may not really be significant anyway. But John Kuhn, a superintendent in Texas wants the reformers to put their money where their mouth is.  He wants to see more work done to address the bigger issue: poverty. Says Kuhn:

“I’m calling for data-driven equality, modeled on Kress’s work, expanding it to force greater societal changes that will help teachers bridge the achievement gap."

While teacher quality may be the top in-school factor for student success, the larger issue is socioeconomic status. A recent article in the Washington Post highlights this in looking at the growing achievement gap between white and minority students in D.C. Public Schools.

The "reformers" want to focus on more tests and fewer teachers because that helps their bottom line. But what about addressing the root causes of these students problems? 

Don't let revenue slip away

We often hear from our elected officials that more revenue is needed to maintain the exceptional level of services our residents enjoy. In these tough economic times it would be ill-advised for a county to let nearly $110 million dollars go away, with no other revenues to replace it, which would lead to further cuts and surely impact county services.

You can read about the letter MCEA President Doug Prouty and other labor leaders sent to the County Council president here:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/maryland/2011/12/unions-push-montco-keep-150-percent-increase-energy-tax/1987706

What are we testing anyway?

Here is a different way of looking at the standardized tests that we force on our students year in and year out; what if adults took them. Valerie Strauss looks at the story on one adult, a school board member in Orange County, Florida, who tried and then speaks to him about it after word. 

Mr. Roach, by all accounts a smart and successful individual, had some issues taking the test. Makes you wonder how we can create such pressure on students to pass these tests and why some people think that connecting these scores to teacher evaluations is the best and only way to rate a teacher's ability.

Lecture halls for grade schoolers?

Education "reformers" love to take their shots at teachers. Sure, they say they respect the profession and how hard it is, but then they turn around and make sound as if anyone can do it from anywhere and with with little training. One of the lead "reformers," NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently claimed he could solve all of our education problems:  

"And I would, if I had the ability - which nobody does really – to just design a system and say, ‘ex cathedra, this is what we’re going to do,’ you would cut the number of teachers in half, but you would double the compensation of them and you would weed out all the bad ones and just have good teachers. And double the class size with a better teacher is a good deal for the students.”

This also goes hand in hand with his comment that teachers come from the bottom 20% of their college classes. Matthew DiCarlo explores this concept here.

And people wonder why it's becoming harder to recruit and retain teachers...

More acclaim for the Professional Growth System

More acclaim for the Professional Growth System: Stan Karp of the Rethinking Schools blog writes about the system in his latest post. Mr. Karp looks at how collaboratively developed educator evaluation plans, like the PGS in Montgomery County, go farther to help improve teacher quality than test score driven schemes do. There are quotes from MCEA President Doug Prouty highlighting the success of the program in looking at our profession using multiple measures and providing support to educators who need it. 

http://rethinkingschoolsblog.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/taking-teacher-quality-seriously-a-collaborative-approach-to-teacher-evaluation/

Mr. Karp's essay about the MCEA/MCPS collaboration on the Professional Growth System will also be featured in the book Pencils Down: Why We Need to Rethink High-Stakes Testing and Accountability, edited by Wayne Au and Melissa Bollow Tempel, which will be released next spring. 

Don't want to learn? Put 'em to work!

Former NEA Executive Director John Wilson has recently launched a blog on the Ed Week website. In his most recent post, he writes about Newt Gingrich's plan to motivate poor children in school; fire the unionized janitors and put the kids to work. Because, as Newt tells us, child labor laws are "...truly stupid..." (see the video below) So let's get rid of the adults who keep our buildings running and clean and get these kids excited about school! It is about time that someone pointed out how unionized janitors and child labor laws are driving down student performance.

Standing up to test based evaluations

Here's something you don't hear often, principals protesting. A group of principals in New York state have signed a letter protesting the use of test scores in teacher and administrator evaluations. They cite a lot of the same concerns everyone has about implementing the "reforms" of Race to the Top; not every course has a test, the tests aren't always reliable when they do and the student tests are not designed to evaluate teachers.
The New York Times has the story here.

Wage freeze hurts more than employees

If anyone thinks a wage freeze does not hurt students, think again. As wages fall, many will look to jobs in the private sector and many talented and dedicated educators will leave their classrooms. Others who may have considered bringing their talents to the classroom will look elsewhere. As schools fail to recruit and retain effective teachers, students are the ones who suffer. 


Julie Rasicot of Bethesda Magazine writes about Donna Thomas, formerly of Sherwood High School, in her story "MCPS loses a bright star." Ms. Thomas, a computer sciences teacher was part of a winning team of educators at the 2011 Global Innovator Educator Awards sponsored by Microsoft. Rasicot chronicles Ms. Thomas' decision to leave teaching because of effects of another year without a raise and a 2% increase in the contribution to her pension, meaning her salary, like all other MCPS teachers' salary, actually decreased this year.


This is becoming a trend for educators. A recent Ed Week story estimates that nearly 20% of teachers nationwide have additional jobs to make ends meet. In Texas, nearly 40% of teachers moonlight to make ends meet and a 2007 study of North Carolina teachers concluded that 72% of teachers hold additional jobs. 
From Ed Week: "While moonlighting isn't unique to teachers, they do tend to have second or third jobs at a higher rate than other professionals. One researcher estimates their moonlighting rates may be four times higher than those of other full-time, college educated salaried workers."

Teachers around the country have seen their wages frozen and many, like here in Maryland, are making less than they did two years ago. This coupled with the constant attacks on teachers and the profession itself is going to continue to drive our dedicated and effective teachers out of the classroom. This hurts our students.


Let's work to stop this. Come to one of our Town Hall Meetings between December 6 and December 15 to talk to your state legislators about protecting education funding. 

MCEA to host Town Hall meetings in December

MCEA will be hosting eight Town Hall meetings between December 6 and December 15 and there’s one near where you live or work. State delegates and senators have been invited to the meetings in their district and will be appearing and  answering your questions. Please see the schedule below and click on this link to register:http:// www.surveymonkey.com/s/MCEATownhalls

It is important to have a good turn out so that our elected officials see how important protecting education funding is. For more information, go to: http://www.mceanea.org/action/moe.php

MCEA’s EDUCATION FUNDING TOWN HALL MEETINGS

Tuesday, Dec. 6th                  3:30-5:00pm                Churchill HS               Meet with District 15 delegation

Wednesday, Dec. 7th             3:30-5:00pm                B-CC HS                   Meet with District 16 delegation

Thursday, Dec. 8th                 3:30-5:00pm                Wood MS                  Meet with District 17 delegation

Thursday Dec. 8th                  3:30-5:00pm                Einstein HS                 Meet with District 18 delegation

Monday Dec. 12th                 3:30-5:00pm                Blair HS                      Meet with District 20 delegation

Tuesday Dec. 13th                 3:30-5:00pm                Seneca Valley HS       Meet with District 39 delegation

Wednesday Dec. 14th            3:30-5:00pm                Kennedy HS               Meet with District 19 delegation

Thursday Dec. 15th                3:30-5:00pm                Sherwood HS             Meet with District 14 delegation

More education cuts on the way?

As the Congressional Super Committee tries to come to some sort of agreement on a debt reduction plan, everyone is scattering to see how the possible automatic cuts that could kick in if they fail to meet their deadline would affect them. Education is not immune. If the committee falters, the NEA estimates a $3.54 billion cut coming to federal education funding.

This could be yet another blow to classrooms everywhere. The White House recently released a white paper showing how teaching jobs are at risk across the country. Since the recession began, nearly 300,000 education jobs have been lost. This is over half of all public sector jobs that have been eliminated. The report goes on to estimate that over 200,000 education jobs may be lost in the next year with these cuts. You can read the Congressional Budget Office's report on education cuts here.

This shows the importance of the need for our continued vigilance in lobbying our local, state and national legislators as we move into the state and local budget sessions in the coming months.

Union-District collaboration and 21st century bargaining

Over the last few years teacher unions have been blamed for all sorts of problems; the declining economy, the ballooning debt of our municipalities and poor student performance. While public approval remains high for teachers, that is not the case for their unions (ironic, isn't it?). Some see the unions as an impediment to increasing student achievement and improving teacher performance. We know that is not the case. In fact, some research has been done on this issue, making it clear how difficult it is to pin down. 

Some have taken to attacking teachers rights to collectively bargain over their working conditions and benefits (Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana). We all know that if you want good learning conditions, you need good teaching conditions. 

People like to ignore that unions and districts can work together to achieve the goals of  creating good teaching conditions, so teachers can provide great learning conditions. We have been able to work collaboratively here in Montgomery County over the years to do this and other districts around the country are beginning to do so as well. 

Ed Week released a report on collective bargaining and how it is being changed as more unions and districts work more collaboratively rather than adversarially. You can read the report here. 

Become a teacher! Brought to you by Bill Gates

It was recently announced that Arne Duncan is giving control of the Education Department's TEACH.org website to Bill Gates and Microsoft. It will now be the property of Microsoft's Partners in Learning division. The purpose of the website is to encourage people to become teachers and provide them with education and job hunting resources.


To their credit, they recognize that there is an aging teaching workforce and shortage of teachers in high needs areas, but this marketing campaign is just something that increases corporate America's reach into education policy and our classrooms.The irony here is that the corporate ed "reformers" (Gates et. al) are always pushing the idea that we need to fire a bunch of teachers, when not long ago they were all pumping money into programs to reduce class size. Now they want to help recruit what they see as effective teachers and then schools can save money by increasing class size because the wonderful Microsoft Brand^TM educator can easily and effectively teach classes of 40 plus. Of course we will know that these Microsoft Brand^ТМ teachers are effective because of their test scores. Not that Bill Gates would have that size of a class for his own kids.

We know the stats. Roughly half of teachers quit within five years of beginning teaching. But could all of this high stakes testing be keeping people away from teaching? As the media is filled with anti-teacher messages, are potential teachers being pushed away? That is one question a retired teachers is asking. If our education model continues to be "drill and kill" when it comes to math and reading, and we squeeze out other subjects, what is the impact? Does this create a shallower talent pool?


Maybe if we started by treating teachers better, paying teachers better and including teachers in the decisions that affect them professionally, we wouldn't have to have a billion dollar corporation recruit teachers. People would come to it on their own. 

Why tying test scores to evaluations doesn't work

The ed "reformers" like to say that the best way to evaluate teachers is to tie their evaluations to student test scores. Fire the teachers whose students have bad scores, give bonuses to those whose students have good scores. Simple. Easy. But it's not.

There is plenty of research that indicates that these tests are not good measures of overall student learning, yet people want to use these tests to help evaluate teachers. This debate is going on in Illinois, where the state is preparing to roll-out its new evaluation system. The system could make up to 50% of a teacher's evaluation based on state test scores, despite the fact that these types of tests are not intended to evaluate teachers. It creates a problem for those who do not have these types of tests in their classes. It could cause them to be evaluated on other peoples test scores as is happening in Tennessee or you could be rated on school wide test scores, as is happening in Delaware. Or it may lead to more and more spending on creating standardized tests for those classes. This type of system leaves little room for evaluating educators on their content knowledge, their ability to manage a classroom, their proficiency in assessing their students in multiple ways and being able to get their students actively engaged in their own learning.

There are those who prefer to look at student growth or Value Added Models (VAMs) when evaluating teachers. VAMs have not yet been proven to be accurate either. This piece from the Washington Post , breaks down the problems with VAM, showing the variability from class to class, year to year and test to test. This report from the National Education Policy Center shows that the VAMs used in the much reported on story in the L.A. Times last year that publicly identified teachers and their VAM's (which was to show their effectiveness) was inadequate at best.

Teachers may be the most important in-school contributor to student achievement, but there are a myriad of other factors that may trump that; wealth, poverty, home support, attendance, health care and many others. Those never factor into a standardized test score.

Study: charters provide no significant performance gains

Education "reformers" of the "Waiting for Superman" ilk, love to tout charter schools as the saviors of education in the United States. The corporate reformers love the idea of having public funds go to private, for-profit organizations that run charter schools. This may not always be the best idea as we are starting to see with investigations of a national for-profit charter chain in St. Louis.


A recently released study of charter schools, specifically those that are part of large Charter Management Organizations (CMOs), show that they achieve no better results than traditional public schools on standardized tests in reading, math, science and social studies. While we know that standardized test scores aren't the end all be all when assessing student learning, but as the Washington Post's Valerie Strauss points out; "...but test scores are the measure that these reformers swear by, so, when you live by test scores, you die by them too."


This is not lump all charter schools into one heap. There are some good ones out there.  MCEA does not have a blanket policy either in favor or opposed to charter schools in Montgomery County. We have participated in the evaluation of charter school applications in the past: have supported the applications in some case and opposed them in others, based on the merits of the particular proposals. You can read about our criteria here.

Do you think you're overpaid? (update)

Last week, we told you about a survey that tried to argue that teachers are overpaid. 

Education Secretary Arne Duncan responded to the study with this editorial in the Huffington Post. He does well in pointing out that while money is not a top reason people come into teaching, it tends to be a top reason they leave it. With an average starting salary of $35k and average top salary of $65k, it's no wonder that there is a nation wide problem recruiting and retaining teachers. 

Nice to see the Secretary of Education have teacher's backs. 

Teacher evaluations gone wild

Two recent stories have highlighted some of the strange byproducts of the "ed reform" movement's push to change teacher evaluations.
The first comes from Tennessee, a Race to the Top winner, that has mandates that standardized test scores must be a part of a teacher's evaluation. While we may be used to hearing about that, what is troubling is that teachers who do not teach courses with such tests must rely on the scores of other teachers teaching other grade levels!
The next comes from Idaho where teacher bonuses, part of their new evaluation system, would rely on teachers being able to make "meaningful contacts" with parents of their students.
While we all agree that student achievement is important and  that parent contact is important, is it fair to make a teacher's pay, evaluation and job security rely so heavily on other people?

Do you think you're overpaid?

The Heritage Foundation presented a study this week in which they make the argument that teachers are paid too much.

You read that correctly. They argue that in comparison to private sector workers teachers are over paid.
They believe that local governments who are struggling with their budgets should start looking at reducing teacher salary and benefits.They make the same tired arguments about summers and holidays off. They argue that the job security of teaching adds to the value of the compensation package. Tell that to the over 200,000 education professionals who have lost their jobs over the last three years.

There have been many studies that show that teachers make less than their private sector peers. You can view a breakdown of them here. What the Heritage Foundation folks openly ignore is that many teachers take on jobs inside and outside of the schoolhouse to make extra money to make ends meet. They ignore the hours put in at home after work and on weekends. They ignore the work that is done by teachers on their holidays and summer lay-offs.They say that the data is not quantifiable. Here is a nice accounting of how that data is something that can be crunched.

Nobody is banging down the doors of school system human resource offices to apply for teaching positions. Prior to the recession and this period of ballooning class sizes, most districts were clamoring to find teachers. If the job was more about the money than the passion and dedication to teach and engage our youth, why do 50% of teachers leave within five years? Surely being overpaid would be enough to keep them around...

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Breaking Down the NCLB Renewal

If you were wondering what the different proposed plans for the NCLB re-authorization looks like, check out this comparison done by Edweek; http://issuu.com/edweek/docs/renewal-debate-pdf/1
It breaks down the key pieces of the law and compares the current law, the Senate plan, and the Department of Ed's waiver program. Notice the contrast between the Senate bill passed by the committee and the current law and waiver program. While the House of Representatives has not yet provided details on many pieces of the proposal, you can also see that the Senate bill is at odds with the House's views on program funding and special grants.
We will have to keep watch on what, if any, changes are made to the Senate bill as it is debated within the full Senate or if this bi-partisan effort is moved on the house as-is.

Collective Bargaining Under Attack...Again.

Earlier this year, we witnessed Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker attack the ability for teachers and other public employees to unionize. His law passed, but not without a fight.
The attack on public employee unions has spread to Ohio where the Governor there signed a bill that strips away most collective bargaining rights for teachers, firefighters and police officers. Unions have mobilized in Ohio and they are fighting back. They collected nearly 1.3 million signatures to have the issue placed on the ballot this November to be considered for repeal. Check out the website We Are Ohio for details and how you can help.

News Round-up

It's been a busy few days in the education world:
Senate Republicans blocked the Educator and First Responder Jobs Act, which could have helped save or create 400,000 jobs.
The Senate committee working on the ESEA re-write, passed it's new version of the bill on to the full Senate. It basically kills NCLB as we know it. While it pulled back significantly on the federal government's role in educator evaluations, some groups feel that there is still too much federal involvement in education policy.
Let's get a group of people together to evaluate the (limited) impact of Race to the Top and not invite two of the most important stakeholders; teachers and principals.

No Child Left Behind bill is showing improvement

Late yesterday, word came that calls from various groups and emails from NEA members helped spur a change to the proposals around teacher evaluations in Senator Harkin's ESEA re-authorization bill. The new changes restore local control on designing and implementing teacher evaluation systems. Those school systems that receive Teacher Incentive Fund (TIFF) grants would have to accept the federal rules for evaluation. While there is still concern abut the turn-around programs contained in the bill, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said:
“We also remain committed to advocating that school accountability systems contain true multiple measures of performance and embrace promising, locally-developed ideas to turn around struggling schools and allow educators to have a real voice in reform.  We look forward to continuing these discussions with Senators Harkin, Enzi and the members of the committee as the legislation moves forward.”
You can read his statement here. You can also get a breakdown of the bill at Education Week.  The bill is scheduled for mark-up later in the week and looks like it will make it out of committee and to the Senate floor.

Slowing Down on ESEA Reauthorization

Over the last few weeks, we've been writing in this space about the upcoming retooling/reauthorizing of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and its main component NCLB. Last week, Senator Harkin's proposal was released and the details have become more clear. From Education Votes, the bill will:

• Still rely heavily on test scores instead of supporting true multiple measures of school performance;
• Prescribes top-down models of school turnarounds that are not based on research, don’t work, and
• ignore promising locally developed ideas; and 
• Takes away teachers’ rights to have a real voice in their own evaluation systems

Last week, leaders of the NEA, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National School Boards Association, American Association of School Administrators and the National Association of Secondary School Principals wrote to the Senator, urging that Congress slow down and allow for greater stakeholder input on these measures and to allow for the rightful local development and control of these issues. 

To that end, we need you to take action! Take a few minutes and click on this link to contact your Senators and urge them to do what's right and slow down on reauthorizing ESEA!

Quality Education as a Constitutional Right: Creating a Grassroots Movement to Transform Public Schools

SNCC veteran, founder of the Algebra Project, and education activist Robert Moses will discuss and sign Quality Education as a Constitutional Right: Creating a Grassroots Movement to Transform Public Schools at an event sponsored by Teaching for Change, the Algebra Project, and Busboys & Poets on Monday, October 17 from 6:30-8:00pm at the DC Busboys & Poets (14th & V). Free and open to the public. More info: http://bbpbooks.teachingforchange.org/book/9780807032824

What are we "waiving?"

Thirty nine states have already signaled their intent to apply for the Department of Education's waivers from meeting the 2014 requirements of NCLB. This is not surprising as the efforts and costs to deal with the fall out from not meeting those goals would be monumental.
What seems to be lost in this is that to qualify for the waivers, a state must submit to more Federal requirements. These requirements mirror those in the Race to the Top program.  13 of the 14 jursidictions that won Race to the Top funds have indicated that they will apply. Maryland is one of the states that will apply and they are in good position to receive the waiver as most of the requirements are in place or in progress. The Baltimore Sun is reporting that Maryland will not apply in the first round.
The big problem for the 25 states that may apply for and be granted the waivers is that it becomes another unfunded mandate. A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education pointed out; “In Pennsylvania, this is viewed by many as a replacement program, not a waiver program,” 
This continues to raise the question of whether this common sense on the part of Department of Education or continued over reaching of their authority. 

100% proficient vs. continuous improvement

Yesterday, Senate democrats released details of their framework for reauthorizing No Child Left Behind. Rather than continuing to push for the unattainable goal of having 100% of students be proficient in math and reading by 2014, the new plan focuses on schools showing "continuous improvement."
Richard Rothstein writes about the follies of this idea in his latest blog post. Everyone wants top performing schools, but does the idea of  "continuous improvement" help? Under the current NCLB system, there are numerous schools around the country that are rated poorly because they don't make AYP but have high numbers of students performing at proficient and advanced levels on the standardized tests that rate them.
"Continuous improvement" could create a situation where schools that perform at their highest level are penalized because they have reached their potential. Others believe that this creates a loosening of standards and that school systems will relax efforts to help their neediest students, while some believe that this will restore local control to school districts in setting education goals and policies.
The bill goes to committee next week, so we can expect some changes when both sides are in the room working together. Depending on how long this takes to pass (if it does at all), it is yet to be known how this will impact the Presidents plan to allow the Secretary of Education to provide waivers from current NCLB penalties. 

Does merit pay really motivate?

As those who push for education "reform" continually talk about the need for merit pay for teachers, there are always questions as to whether or not those schemes work. Esther Quintero writes about it on the Shanker Blog and looks at some of the studies around merit pay. Quintero writes:

"In 1999, Deci and his colleagues published a meta-analysis of 128 studies (see here), again concluding that when people do things in exchange for external rewards, their intrinsic motivation tends to diminish. Once a certain activity is associated with a tangible reward, such as money, people will be less inclined to participate in the task when the reward is not present. Deci concluded that extrinsic rewards make it harder for people to sustain self-motivation."

This is also illustrated (literally) in this video:

We can't discount student poverty

"Before we throw quality public school teachers under the school reform bus, it would seem far wiser to first fully explore ways of bringing them students prepared to learn. It makes much more sense to support Early Head Start and other programs with proven track records." - Marcus D. Pohlmann

Corporate school reformers love to focus on teacher effusiveness and evil unions when dissecting why some students don't perform well in school. What they avoid discussing is the impact of a student's poverty on his/her ability to learn and succeed in school. Marcus D. Pohlmann, a professor of political science at Rhodes College has written extensively on this and related topics. He paints a vivid picture of the hurdles that poor students have to overcome to be successful in the K-12 setting and ultimately be prepared for college or the work force. He was a guest columnist in today's Answer Sheet in the Washington Post and shares his views on why we can't discount the socioeconomic status of our students when we try to determine the best way to serve them. 

What does a "new" NCLB look like?

In a previous post, we wondered what will become of No Child Left Behind. Would it be completely overhauled, would it be left alone, with waivers to help escape penalties, or would it just be tweaked and essentially be more of the same? 
Leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee are beginning to weigh in. Yesterday, we talked about the the proposals of Senator Lamar Alexander and what the NEA thought of them. Tuesday looks to be the day that we hear from the committee Chair, Senator Tom Harkin.
Monty Neil writes in today's Washington Post about what he thinks should and should not be included in a revamped NCLB. Specifically,  he calls for less standardized testing, not linking test scores to teacher and principal evaluations and leaving matters of accountability and improvement to local decision making processes. 
You can read the article here. 
Update: Education Week has some of the "fluid details" of the upcoming proposal here. 

NEA Likes Senate GOP's Bill to Overhaul NCLB (sort of)

There have been many questions surrounding No Child Left Behind (NCLB) over the years of its existence. Recently, the burning questions have been when will Congress act to overhaul the law and what will be the impact of the President's plan to allow for waivers of the penalties NCLB levies on schools and districts that do not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals or reach the overall goal of 100% proficiency for all students by 2013.
Education Week reports that the NEA recently sent a letter to Republican Senator Lamar Alexander (TN) both praising and criticizing some of his recommendations for changes to the law.  The NEA likes his views on creating better systems of accountability and instituting multiple measures of student achievement to reduce the reliance on standardized tests. The NEA also shared its disapproval of his plans for charter schools and the potential for the law to weaken teachers collective bargaining rights. 
It is expected that Democratic Senator Tom Harkin (IA) will be releasing his vision of the reauthorized bill in the coming weeks. It will be noteworthy to see how the Senators' visions will compare and what NEA's reaction will be.

Can we effectively link teacher evaluations and student test scores?

Today's Washington Post has an article by Carol Corbett Burris and Kevin G. Welner, two educators who have had conversations with President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan about the use of student assessments in evaluating teachers. 
Their conversation was based on discussions around the new evaluation system for teachers in New York State that was put in place as a result of applying for Race to the Top. The authors feel that the evaluation system and its connection to test scores is punitive and will lead to further narrowing of the curriculum. 
New York state has long had the Regents Exams, standardized tests that measured student learning in a number of core high school courses. Unlike similar tests in other states that helped determine whether or not school made AYP, students had a vested interest in the Regents; if they did not pass, they did not get credit for the course and jeopardized their chances of graduating on time. That's very different than the use of MSA and HSA scores here in Maryland. 
We also need to keep in mind that there are other things that are hard to account for. Recently Washington D.C. schools were faced with the conundrum of teachers have high value added scores (i.e. their students performed at or above standard) but did not score comparatively in their classroom observations. New York City celebrated the amazing gains made by their students, only to have the Regents admit that the tests were getting easier over the last few years. 
We keep hearing about making educators more accountable by connecting their evaluations to test scores. But if the tests are flawed and cannot accurately measure learning, how can they be expected to accurately measure teaching? 

MCPS superintendent: Have we really learned lessons of No Child Left Behind?

Valerie Strauss at the Washington Post has posted the following article on her blog, The Answer Sheet, by Dr. Joshua Starr, the new Superintendent of the Montgomery County Public Schools.
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By Joshua P. Starr

As a school superintendent, I’m glad to see that President Barack Obama has launched a national conversation about dismantling No Child Left Behind. However, I’m concerned about what may take its place and whether a new law will be what our education system and our country need to improve.

The problems with NCLB have been discussed at great length, but we must absorb the lessons learned from the last 10 years or risk repeating the same mistakes.

NCLB rightly forced us, as a society, to own up to the fact that certain children have been systematically shortchanged by public education. History has proven that, without meaningful oversight, states and local districts will not always do what is necessary to ensure that all children have access to a high-quality education. Any new law must remain committed to providing that oversight.

NCLB also forced educators to use data —but it was the wrong data. Using a standardized test as the only indicator of success is short-sighted, and continuing to build flawed policies around the overuse of a test score will simply lead to more failure.

However, perhaps in response to NCLB, I have seen educators develop wonderful ways of looking at meaningful data. Teachers and administrators are collaborating to track student progress using student work and common assessments given throughout the year. They are critiquing their own lessons and watching video of their teaching to improve. These are successful practices that should be encouraged and replicated. Data should start a conversation, not end it.

Third, NCLB has allowed us to see the difference between being held accountable and being accountable. NCLB is rooted in the idea that if educators are held accountable and shamed publicly, they will miraculously develop the knowledge and skills to improve. As we now know, this is folly. But being accountable is what happens on great teams, when everyone feels responsible for the collective success. This happens in schools and districts when the focus is on student and adult learning; when teachers have time to collaborate; when administrators supervise and evaluate for the purposes of improving and developing; and when superintendents and school boards recognize that we have to provide resources and time for people to learn new skills that will help our children.

With these lessons in mind, I suggest that any new national education law be based on what students need to know and be able to do in the 21st century to be college and career ready.

There is widespread agreement that students need not only good technical skills but should be able to think critically, problem solve, work in teams, speak another language and write well. These skills can be embedded in and integrated among all curriculum areas. For example, rather than focus solely on Algebra II as a graduation requirement, schools should ensure that students obtain the conceptual and abstract knowledge and problem-solving skills that Algebra II promotes.

In order for our educators to be successful, we need to invest in them, support them and then trust that they will do right by our children. Ineffective educators must be given appropriate counseling by peers and experts and, then, be removed from schools and classrooms if they don’t improve. The Professional Growth System in Montgomery County does this with incredible success. Systems of support require collaboration with labor organizations and recognition by elected officials that our educators need to be treated as professionals and paid accordingly.

We also must make sure our students have the social and emotional skills they need to be successful. I want Montgomery County students — including my own children — to be good people and good students. They must have the self-confidence necessary to explore and experiment, to embrace success and deal with the occasional failure. These skills are as important to their future as any of the “three R’s.”

The last decade has taught us what not to do when trying to improve outcomes for our children. We now have a choice. Do we focus on what actually works to improve public education and invest in our people, or do we continue to fall prey to the facile notions of accountability and school improvement that simply don’t work?

Moving Beyond 'Blame the Teacher'

Following up on yesterday's post about who gets to do reform, here is an interesting op-ed piece by Saul Rubinstein and Charles Heckscher. The article draws comparisons to American manufacturers in the 1970's and how they dealt with increased competition from overseas. They make the point that reform needs to collaborative and not imposed upon those involved:

"As school begins, we would do well to remember Deming's lesson: In education as in industry, progress toward quality will require collaboration among administrators, teachers and their unions."

Read the entire piece from the Los Angeles Times 

Who Gets To Do Reform?

Author Steven Brill's new book about education "reform" Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s Schools is out and has created a buzz in ed policy circles. Brill's book takes a look at the companies, policy makers, charter schools and hedge fund millionaires who are driving corporate "education reform." The book also shows the connections between those groups and like minded Democrats and President Obama.

The question that these type of writings always elicits is who gets to "do" reform? There seems to be a consensus that those in education who oppose a particular kind of reform are against improving education all together. We know that's not true. All stakeholders, including teachers and our unions need to be a vital part of it. Wealth and clout do not make you the expert.

Diane Ravitch reviews the new book in the New York Review of Books and the Washington Post's Valerie Strauss has an interesting take on it as well.

If A Policy Fails, Should We Do More Of It?

There has been  a lot of talk about the waiver program for the No Child Left Behind law's unreachable goals, that was unveiled last week. MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr recently said: "No Child Left Behind has outlived its usefulness. We need to start looking at 21st-century skills, and we need to be more innovative."

Richard Rothstein writes on his blog about winning, but really losing, a four year old bet with Diane Ravitch about the long term implications of NCLB and his and Ms. Ravitch's thoughts on how the federal government would deal with them. 

The questions remains, will this waiver program be something that empowers locals school systems to continue to improve education or will it simply add to the pile of test and other accountability measures?

No Test Left Behind

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that  President Obama released the details of the waiver program for the states who are trying to avoid the penalties that come with schools not making impossible goals with their AYP (adequate yearly progress) as required by the No Child Left Behind law. 

The problem is, it still looks a lot like the No Child Left Behind law. The program continues to require high levels of standardized testing and creates school accountability measures that are dependent on those scores. Monty Neil of Fair Test, writes about the issues of testing here.  

It also creates more unfunded mandates for school systems as this may also be a way to have states adopt the cornerstone pieces of Race to the Top program, such as creating standardized tests for courses that don't have already have them and revamping teacher evaluation systems. These new systems could require that as much as 50% of a teacher's evaluation be linked to "student growth" with the details being left to the states to determine. This could certainly be financial burden for those states who were not successful in winning funds during the Race to the Top grant process last year. 

Maryland's State Board of Education president has already stated that Maryland will apply for a waiver, as will Virginia. The District is investigating the possibility of applying as well.

Questions still surround the new plan. The most pressing one is whether or not the Department of Education has the authority to enact this plan. Congress will eventually take up re-authorization of NCLB and who knows what impact that will have on the waiver process and how states will continue to try to reform education. One could expect that this will make education a pressing issue during the 2012 presidential election. 

Will We Leave NCLB Behind?

With scores of high performing schools around the country closing in on failing to meet the standards set by the federal "No Child Left Behind" law, many wonder what will become of it. The President and Secretary of Education have a plan to allow for waivers that will be conditionally granted. The question is, what will those exact conditions be? More of what was put upon states with the Race to the Top program, or something else altogether?
You can read more about it in this week's stories in the Washington Post (here) and the New York Times (here). 

Maryland's Budget Outlook Improving

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot released data today showing better than expected revenues for the most recent fiscal year, and a more favorable forecast for the coming year.

State revenues for the fiscal year that ended 8/31/11 exceeded the budgetted amount by more than $314 million. For the current year (FY12) the Comptroller is adjusting the revenue forecasts up by an additional $195 million above that anticipated in the state's budget. Combined, that provides the state with $509 million more in revenue than anticipated.

This is encouraging news that the economy is improving in Maryland,. This should significantly lessen the pressure on the state to cut education funding - or attempt to shift the responsibility for pension funding onto local counties. This is also an encouraging sign that Montgomery County's local revenues should be improving as well.

You can read the full text of the Comptroller's Report to the Governor and see the revised revenue estimates.

If we teach to the test, does it matter if test scores rise?

Interesting piece on why standardized tests are not necessarily the best measures of what our students learned in class.

Yes, there are stupid questions

By Alfie Kohn

It can’t be repeated often enough: Standardized tests are very poor measures of the intellectual capabilities that matter most, and that’s true because of how they’re designed, not just because of how they’re used. Read the rest of the story here.

THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT: IMPACT FOR MARYLAND

President Obama’s proposed American Jobs Act would have significant impact on employment in Maryland, including $315 million to reverse and avoid lay-offs for teachers and first responders and earmarks $315 million for investments in infrastructure of Maryland’s schools. Reprinted below is an explanation of the details.
You can also watch President Obama discuss the American Jobs Act.

THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT: IMPACT FOR MARYLAND

The American people understand that the economic crisis and the deep recession weren’t created overnight and won’t be solved overnight. The economic security of the middle class has been under attack for decades. That’s why President Obama believes we need to do more than just recover from this economic crisis – we need to rebuild the economy the American way, based on balance, fairness, and the same set of rules for everyone from Wall Street to Main Street. We can work together to create the jobs of the future by helping small business entrepreneurs, by investing in education, and by making things the world buys. The President understands that to restore an American economy that’s built to last we cannot afford to outsource American jobs and encourage reckless financial deals that put middle class security at risk.

To create jobs, the President unveiled the American Jobs Act – nearly all of which is made up of ideas that have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans, and that Congress should pass right away to get the economy moving now. The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: put more people back to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans. And it would do so without adding a dime to the deficit. The American Jobs Act has five components:

1. Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow
• The President’s plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in wages, providing broad tax relief to all businesses but targeting it to the 98 percent of firms with wages below this level. In Maryland, 110,000 firms will receive a payroll tax cut under the American Jobs Act.

2. Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America
• The President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job. Of the investments for highway and transit modernization projects, the President’s plan will make immediate investments of at least $625,500,000 in Maryland that could support a minimum of approximately 8,100 local jobs.
• The President is proposing to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. These funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, and will provide $541,700,000 in funds to Maryland to support up to 6,000 educator and first responder jobs.
• The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs. Maryland will receive $315,800,000 in funding to support as many as 4,100 jobs.
• The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. Maryland could receive about $20,000,000 to revitalize and refurbish local communities, in addition to funds that would be available through a competitive application.
• The President’s plan proposes $5 billion of investments for facilities modernization needs at community colleges. Investment in modernizing community colleges fills a key resource gap, and ensures these local, bedrock education institutions have the facilities and equipment to address current workforce demands in today’s highly technical and growing fields. Maryland could receive $93,900,000 in funding in the next fiscal year for its community colleges.

3. Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs.
• Drawing on the best ideas of both parties and the most innovative states, the President is proposing the most sweeping reforms to the unemployment insurance (UI) system in 40 years help those without jobs transition to the workplace. This could help put the 90,000 long-term unemployed workers in Maryland back to work.
• Alongside these reforms, the President is reiterating his call to extend unemployment insurance, preventing 17,600 people looking for work in Maryland from losing their benefits in just the first 6 weeks. And, across the country, the number saved from losing benefits would triple by the end of the year.
• The President is proposing a new Pathways Back to Work Fund to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in growth industries. Pathways Back to Work could place 1,700 adults and 8,300 youths in jobs in Maryland.

4. Tax Relief for Every American Worker and Family
• The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last December by cutting workers payroll taxes in half next year. A typical household in Maryland, with a median income of around $64,000, will receive a tax cut of around $1,980.

5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President’s Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan.
• To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.

American Schools in Crisis: by Diane Ravitch

Diane Ravitch, former Undersecretary of Education during the administration of George Bush, has authored yet another well written explanation of the current political debate over public education in America. The article was published in the Saturday Evening Post.
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"If you read the news magazines or watch TV, you might get the impression that American education is deep in a crisis of historic proportions. The media tell you that other nations have higher test scores than ours and that they are shooting past us in the race for global competitiveness. The pundits say it’s because our public schools are overrun with incompetent, lazy teachers who can’t be fired and have a soft job for life.

Don’t believe it. It’s not true....."

to read the full article, go to http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2011/08/16/archives/post-perspective/american-schools-crisis.html

NEA Letter to the President on Labor Day

September 5, 2011

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I deeply appreciate your steadfast support for public education and America’s students.  We share the belief that knowledge is the single most valuable commodity in today’s global economy.  Public education is not only the vehicle for individuals’ success, it is the engine of American innovation.  Educators across this country hold the cradle of America’s ingenuity and resilient, hopeful spirit in their hands.  In our public schools every day, students are taught that good ideas combined with hard work can create the next new invention, market, or treasure.  On this Labor Day, I write not only to honor the educators who have gone back to school this year to instill that American spirit and work ethic, but I also write to honor all those who have been laid off and are no longer able to fulfill their calling to help our nation’s students.

I have heard the voices of educators across this country who, in the face of budget cuts and pink slips, worry first about their students.  As I know you are aware, one out of every five children lives in poverty and millions more are living with the uncertainty and instability of parents who are unemployed.  Educators see the impact of the economy on the worried faces their students.  They see it in the growing numbers of children who need support from counselors and other educators, yet cuts in school budgets are shrinking our students’ access to the very professionals who can provide a sense of stability and normalcy as our country weathers this economic storm.  Educators see the impact of cuts through the elimination of classes designed to create well-rounded students who can thrive in a 21^st century globally interdependent world.  They see the impact of cuts to afterschool programs, the increase in the number of hungry children, and in ballooning class sizes.  They even see the impact in the growing list of supplies that educators and parents together must provide to students and schools with their own money.

I, along with the 3.2 million members of the National Education Association, look forward to hearing your address to Congress this week.  We understand that these are challenging times and that no lawmaker or American can possibly expect one proposal or one piece of legislation to remedy all that ails the American economy.  I hope, however, that what guides your leadership continues to be a firm belief that investment in our nation’s human capital—the American middle class—is the surest path to economic recovery.  Educators are smart enough to learn lessons from history, and history has shown time and again that federal investments in infrastructure and other middle class job-creating initiatives is the fastest way to not only put Americans back to work, but to improve the country overall.  We urge you not to countenance the false rhetoric of ideologues who proclaim Wall Street, mega corporations, and billionaires as “job creators” who need continued special treatment under the tax code.  The notion that a government that invests in its people is somehow irresponsible at a time when the wealthiest continue to make record profits, enjoy tax breaks for luxury items, and ship American jobs overseas is beyond offensive to average Americans.  The bottom line for this nation—as with any nation in the world—is that when the middle class thrives, so does the nation’s economy.  Our communities become stronger.   Students’ dreams become more attainable. 

When you address Congress and the nation later this week, I specifically hope that you will emphasize: 

·        Putting Americans to work modernizing schools.  On average, the buildings that house our public schools are more than 40 years old and require an estimated $500 billion in repairs and upgrades. An initial $50 billion school renovation program would employ 500,000 workers — a third of the 1.5 million construction workers now unemployed — and could easily be scaled up. Construction and building repair generally create 9,000-10,000 jobs per billion dollars spent. Eliminating just half the backlog in repairs and improvements would, over a period of years, create more than 2 million jobs.

·        Providing direct aid to local governments.  Federal support for public education is an investment in our nation’s future — in equipping America’s workforce to succeed in the global economy of the 21st century. When educators lose their jobs, students lose too. When students returned to school this fall, fewer dedicated professionals were there to greet and care for them — fewer teachers, teachers’ aides, librarians, bus drivers, food service workers, counselors, and nurses.  These dollars will also help ensure that communities are not placed at risk by cuts to other critical services, such as public safety and healthcare.  Many Americans do not realize that forty percent of all education funding is derived from local property taxes.  Given the avarice associated with the mortgage industry over the last 10 to 15 years—in the form of predatory lending practices and unchecked Wall Street speculation in this sector—local communities and their school systems have borne the brunt of a housing crisis they didn’t create.  As a result, we need to ensure that federal dollars make their way to the people in greatest need, that those dollars are not diverted to other purposes or used to meet general budget shortfalls.

·        Urging the Super Committee to develop a balanced approach to deficit reduction by including revenue-raising proposals and protecting programs for the most vulnerable.  The need to preserve and strengthen programs like Social Security and Medicare is evident, but the moral imperative to ensure that Medicaid, low income programs, Pell grants, and essential education formula funding like Title I and IDEA remain unharmed is a notion that I truly hope is unchallenged.  The country’s long term prosperity cannot sustain a continued growth in the gap between the wealthy and middle- and lower-income American families.  Those who are struggling on Main Street should not become a bargaining chip in the country’s fiscal debate – they should be our highest priority.

Our nation’s educators stand ready to work with you to restore confidence in government and revive the American dream — to strengthen our children’s belief that the United States is a nation where a child can dream of greatness, prepare themselves in our public schools, and see their dreams come true.  On this Labor Day, I join with educators across America in wishing you well and pledging our support to work with you to place the American dream within greater reach for every American.

Sincerely,

Dennis Van Roekel

President

National Education Association