- Duncan lays out priorities for education law: Testing, preschool funding, teacher evals
- Education groups, leaders weigh in on Duncan’s speech​
- Charter School Boards Pose Particular Problems In D.C.
- Group proposes more assessments for Va. kindergartners
Duncan lays out priorities for education law: Testing, preschool funding, teacher evals
The Washington Post
By Lyndsey Layton
January 12, 2015
Education Secretary Arne Duncan spelled out his priorities for a new federal education law Monday, calling on Congress to build in funding for preschool, add $1 billion annually in federal aid for schools with the neediest students, and maintain the federal mandate that says states must test students every year in math and reading.
Duncan spoke at Seaton Elementary, a high-poverty school in the District’s Shaw neighborhood. He was supposed to visit a classroom, but school was delayed by freezing rain and none of the mostly Latino and African American students were present.
He talked broadly about equal educational opportunity as a civil right — and as a moral and economic imperative for the country — and included specific ideas he wants incorporated in federal law. Any new law must include a provision that states test every student annually in math and reading in grades three to eight and once in high school, he said.
“I believe parents, teachers and students have both the right and the need to know how much progress all students are making each year toward college and career readiness,” Duncan said. “That means all students need to take annual statewide assessments that are aligned with their teacher’s classroom instruction.”
Duncan’s speech came amid growing anti-testing sentiment among an odd alliance of parents skeptical of standardized tests, unions that say using test scores to evaluate teachers and schools has warped education and conservatives who want to shrink the federal role in education.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate education panel, said he plans to work with the ranking Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, on an aggressive timetable to deliver a bill to the Senate floor next month.
A former U.S. education secretary, university president and governor, Alexander has criticized the Obama administration for dictating education policy to states and acting as “the national school board.”
He is considering ending the federal testing mandate, saying it has prompted states and local school districts to pile on more tests during the school year to measure if students are ready for the federally required exam at year’s end.
The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, the country’s two major teachers unions, want to replace annual tests with age-span testing, which would evaluate students once in grades three through five, once in grades six through eight and once in high school.
“That fixation on high-stakes testing has eclipsed all else, to the detriment of our schools and our kids,” said Randi Weingarten, the AFT’s president. “That’s what we hear from teachers, parents, students and communities every day. And that’s why we are for grade-span testing for accountability purposes.”
In his remarks, Duncan acknowledged that “there are too many tests that take up too much time” and that Congress should direct states to limit the amount of time that students spend taking tests and require parental notification if a school exceeds that limit.
He said he was alarmed by Republican congressional leaders who want to cede power over schools back to states.
Doing so would “turn back the clock on educational progress, 15 years or more,” he said. “Back to the days when, in too many places, the buck stopped nowhere for student learning. Back to the days when expectations for how much a student should learn often depended on what side of town he or she grew up on. The days when the only factor that never seemed to matter in teacher evaluation was how much students were learning.”
He recalled how he took a year off during college to work at his mother’s after-school tutoring program on the South Side of Chicago. One of his students was a basketball player, an honor-roll student on track to graduate.
“But as we worked together, I was heartbroken to learn that he was basically functionally illiterate,” Duncan said. “He was reading at a second- or third-grade level, and unable to put together a written paragraph. He had been led to believe that he was on track for college success. He wasn’t even close. The educational system had failed him. But the buck stopped nowhere.”
Duncan said states should be required to evaluate teachers based on “student growth,” as determined in part by test scores.
The Obama administration wants to add a program in federal law to fund preschool for low-income children. President Obama has unsuccessfully asked Congress to add pre-K to the K-12 system in his annual budget request, saying that it is the most cost-effective way to help disadvantaged children. But Republicans have blanched at spending more on education.
The administration also wants Congress to add $1 billion to the $14.4 billion it spends annually to help states educate poor students. The federal government spends about $79 billion annually on K-12 education, disbursed through funding formulas and competitive grants.
Duncan called for a bipartisan effort to rewrite the law. “In America, education has been a bipartisan cause, and it must continue to be,” he said. But at the event, he was joined by seven Democratic members of Congress and no Republicans.
The GOP-controlled Congress is making the most serious attempt in years to rewrite the 2002 federal education law known as No Child Left Behind, which was due for reauthorization in 2007.
No Child Left Behind dramatically expanded the federal role in education. For the first time, states were required to annually test students and make public test scores for different groups — including racial minorities, the disabled, English-language learners and the poor. States were required to make progress toward academic goals for those groups or face penalties. And they were required to take action aimed at improving their worst-performing schools.
States increasingly strained against the law’s expectations: It required every student to be proficient in math and reading by 2014, for example. In 2011, the Obama administration began issuing waivers that freed states from the most punitive aspects of the law if they adopted education policies the White House favors.
That further infuriated conservatives, who say the federal government needs to scale back its involvement.The $79 billion spent annually on K-12 programs amounts to about 12 percent of education funding nationwide.
Critics of testing argue that the exams cause stress for young children, narrow curricula and lead to cheating scandals. Some say the Obama administration has pushed even further through its Race to the Top program and its waivers, which encourage states to use the standardized test scores to evaluate teachers and schools.
“The waiver strategy and Race to the Top exacerbated the test fixation that was put in place with No Child Left Behind, allowing sanctions and consequences to eclipse all else,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. “From his words today, it seems the secretary may want to justify and enshrine that status quo, and that’s worrisome.”
Education groups, leaders weigh in on Duncan’s speech​
The Washington Post
By Lyndsey Layton
January 12, 2015
A range of interest groups and players are weighing in on U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s speech Monday regarding the Obama administration’s priorities as Congress rewrites the main federal education law known as No Child Left Behind.
Here are some reactions from people with a stake in education policy:
Bruce Reed, president of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which supports charter schools, online learning and runs a program designed to develop school leaders:
“Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to put our nation on the path to educate all American children, not just the fortunate few. This morning, Secretary Arne Duncan reaffirmed the Department of Education’s commitment to that vision of equal educational opportunity. We applaud Secretary Duncan’s call for an updated law that holds all students to high expectations, provides teachers the resources and supports they need, and ensures all families have the high-quality public schools they deserve. This is no time to turn back. We will only achieve equal opportunity for all if we set high expectations for all.”
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents teachers in most large urban districts:
“On testing, we are glad the secretary has acknowledged that ‘there are too many tests that take up too much time’ and that ‘we need to take action to support a better balance.’ However, current federal educational policy—No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top and waivers—has enshrined a focus on testing, not learning, especially high-stakes testing and the consequences and sanctions that flow from it. That’s wrong, and that’s why there is a clarion call for change. The waiver strategy and Race to the Top exacerbated the test-fixation that was put in place with NCLB, allowing sanctions and consequences to eclipse all else. From his words today, it seems the secretary may want to justify and enshrine that status quo and that’s worrisome.”
Jonah Edelman, chief executive officer of Stand for Children, an advocacy group that pushes to end teacher tenure and expand charter schools, among other things:
“Education Secretary Arne Duncan strikes the right balance between more resources, reform, flexibility and accountability. As a country, we must remain deeply committed to the promise of equity in public education as a civil rights issue, a moral issue and an economic issue. We look forward to working with Congress and the administration to update the law so that it provides all children with the education they need to succeed.”
Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, the country’s largest teacher union:
“We must reduce the emphasis on standardized tests that have corrupted the quality of the education received by children, especially those in high poverty areas. Parents and educators know that the one size fits all annual federal testing structure has not worked. We support grade span testing to free up time and resources for students, diminish “teaching to the test,” expand extracurricular activities, and allow educators to focus on what is most important: instilling a love of learning in their students. We must give states and districts the flexibility to use assessments they feel are best for identifying achievement gaps, rather than forcing them to live with a one size fits all approach that often ignores high needs children.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), a former public school teacher who represents Riverside and its surrounding communities:
“Study after study has shown that students learn the most when they are taught in a multitude of ways, and standardized testing takes away from those important learning methods and encourages educators to only teach to the test.
“While I do believe that the federal government has an important role in education and should continue collecting data on student performance, the current method of testing must be changed. We must also support teachers, invest in quality, traditional public schools, and close the achievement gap. Doing so would create an education system that is flexible, effective and more reflective of our national goals.”
Kris Perry, executive director of First Five Years Fund, which advocates for publicly funded preschool:
“...a wealth of cognitive and development research has proven over and over again that quality early childhood education has a profound impact on a child’s ability to walk into a classroom ready to learn and succeed. Brain scientists, educators, economists, and public health experts agree that the foundation for success begins at birth and is built through age 5. It’s time for the federal government’s most critical K-12 policy to adequately recognize that education starts well before a child steps foot in a kindergarten classroom.”
Elisa Villanueva Beard, co-chief executive of Teach for America:
“As an organization that prepares thousands of teachers each year to teach in high-need schools, and has helped prepare tens of thousands of teachers over the last two decades, we have seen first-hand the importance of a state annual testing requirement, as it provides us with one critical measure to help ensure that our students are learning and our teachers are providing high-quality instruction.”
Charter School Boards Pose Particular Problems In D.C.
WAMU
By Kavitha Cardoza
January 13, 2015
Almost half of D.C.’s children attend charter schools and they operate with a great of autonomy. As a result, the quality of education is increasingly shaped not by the mayor or schools chancellor but by the boards of the approximately 100 individual charter schools.
Carrie Irvin heads Charter Board Partners. It’s a nonprofit that recruits and trains volunteer board members for individual charter schools.
"Serving on a public charter school board is not 'I’ll show up twice a year, vote like the guy next to me because he looks smart and put it on my resume.’ It’s a serious leadership responsibility," Irvin says.
Irvin says some charter school leaders ask friends and family members to serve on the board and while well intentioned this isn't ideal. She says boards need different people who bring different skill sets to the table including financial, legal and communications. And Irvin says its important school leaders trust their boards otherwise they won't bring up problems.
"So they might be mounting evidence that test scores are declining, but instead of bringing it to the board, for fear of being penalized, the school leader will tell anecdotes about the fifth grader that won a citywide violin competition," Irvin says. "We tell our boards anecdotes are not a substitute for data. Boards need to be looking at data."
Irwin says improving the quality of charter school boards in turn improves school quality.
Group proposes more assessments for Va. kindergartners
The Washington Post
By Moriah Balingit
January 11, 2015
A University of Virginia report published last week found that about a third of Virginia youngsters rated poorly on kindergarten readiness and argued that more assessments are needed for young students to identify where they fall short.
The report was based on a two-year study of approximately 2,000 kindergarten students around Virginia who were evaluated in four areas: literacy, math, self-regulation and social development. Currently, the state only requires a literacy assessment, though some districts conduct additional testing.
They found a third of students fell short of benchmarks in at least one area. In 40 percent of classrooms, 40 percent of children were rated “not ready” in one area. The report does not disclose which districts participated, but said the students in the study were representative of the state’s kindergartners.
Amanda Williford, a professor and one of the report’s authors, acknowledged that getting the state to adopt another assessment for students could be a tough sell. Last year, state lawmakers moved to curb standardized testing.
But she said these assessments are intended to be used exclusively to inform the way a teacher instructs students, not to judge academic performance. And teachers, she said, found them useful.
“I really think knowing where kids are is important,” she said. “This assessment helps teachers be able to do that.”
Del. Rob Krupicka (D-Alexandria), who has advocated for cutting back standardized testing, supports the pilot program and believes it could be useful if adopted statewide. He believes the assessments would need to be streamlined to avoid taking away from class time but thinks the information will be valuable.
“Having a comprehensive assessment for children to evaluate how well they are prepared and to give teachers information to catch them up is really important,” he said. The results of the pilot also show the need for expansion of early childhood education in the state, he said.
Williford said research has demonstrated that youngsters who fall short in those four areas can face educational challenges. But she said they’re not arguing that the children should be held out of kindergarten. Instead, they need interventions to get them on track before they fall further behind.
The goal, Williford said, is to give teachers better tools to figure out which students need extra help and training to tailor lessons to a student’s weaknesses.
“Without that early intervention, they’re much less likely to be successful,” she said.
In the course of the study, researchers conducted one-on-one assessments of students, and teachers also filled out evaluations.
The report, which was funded by the state and the nonpartisan advocacy group Elevate Early Education, includes recommendations for the state to adopt the assessments, giving districts the option of participating. It also recommends training teachers to help students learn self-regulation skills such as staying on task and working in groups.
Lisa Howard, president of Elevate Early Education, said a pilot program that would allow school districts to opt in would cost the state about $1.7 million in the first year and $1.2 million in subsequent years.
She said teachers who participated in the pilot responded positively.
“Teachers told us that the data was useful to them and that they used the information to guide their instruction,” she said.
Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, an advocacy group dedicated to ending the misuse of standardized testing, reviewed the report and cautioned that assessing students is useless — or even harmful — if the schools do not follow up to address the gaps.
“It would depend on what interventions follow that categorization whether it’s harmful or potentially helpful,” he said.