Md. superintendents criticize implementation of school reforms

By Valerie Strauss, January 30 at 4:33 pm "Nearly all of the superintendents of Maryland school districts have signed a statement that criticizes federal and state education officials for forcing them to implement several major reforms, including the Common Core State Standards, on what they say is an unrealistic timetable...." Click here to read the full story.

Gates Foundation Gets It Right This Time

Vicki Phillips is the Director of Education at the Gates Foundation, and a key decision-maker in the Foundation's education reform agenda; helping to guide the hundreds of millions of dollars the Foundation invests in education reform. Phillips recently posted a commentary on the Common Core that calls for caution before attaching high-stakes to the new standards and evaluation systems. She said:

• "The key principle is giving teachers and students time to adjust to new expectations before they face serious consequences for not meeting them" 
•   "Teachers should benefit from the insights that come out of the evaluation systems as soon as they are available, but districts should ensure that there is a baseline and several years of data before using these systems to make personnel decisions" 
•  "...test scores shouldn't be used to make consequential decisions, such as whether students should graduate, until we are sure we understand how to interpret the results". 
•  "...no new schools should be singled out (as needing improvement) based on new assessments until teachers have had a few years to get used to the new ways of working". 

 It's not often that teachers, parents, and the big ed reform foundations like Gates all agree. Let's hope the Maryland State Department of Education is listening.

BOE Supports Call for MSA waiver

Montgomery school board backs bills to skip standardized tests set for spring in Maryland - because the tests no longer align with the new common core curriculum being taught. Read the story in the Washington Post. Congratulations to the Montgomery County Board of Education for this act in support of sanity - and to the many Montgomery County state legislators who are supporting this proposal. Discussions are also underway in Annapolis over the Maryland State Department of Education's plans for a federal ESEA waiver that attempts to mandate high stakes testing through 2017 and beyond. To communicate with your legislators about this issue, you can find their contact information here. Stay informed by signing up for the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA)'s online legislative updates here.