On the Recommended List

Grumpy Educators celebrates 100 blogs today. Here are some reports that are worthy of your time.

Scathing Purple Musings posted Why Conservatives and Tea Party Followers Ought to be Appalled by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top:

"And in what ought to trouble conservatives and tea party followers, but really doesn’t (not yet anyway) “…developing effective teachers and leaders,” speaks to reformers “accountability” mantras. This is school reform code-speak for more tax dollars going for corporate standardized tests, elaborate software or training seminars. Or what Steve Wise cleverly described last February as “infrastructure,” on the floor of the Florida Senate."

Missouri Education Watchdog posted information about providing public input by August 15 regarding Common Core initiatives in Register Your Written Opposition to Common Core Standards. Note an expanded call to action in an earlier post here.

According to the Tampa Bay Gradebook, a new study published by the RAND Corporation indicates that merit pay based on student achievement on standardized tests does not work:

"A New York City program designed to improve student performance through school-based financial incentives for teachers did not improve student achievement, most likely because it did not change teacher behavior and the conditions needed to motivate staff were not achieved, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today."

How many more studies does it take before meaningful accountability is formulated? There is no evidence of value-added measurement working anywhere, as currently designed. There is plenty of evidence that excessive testing is occurring.

Recently, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) revealed results of geography achievement by U.S. students. Yes, that is another test administered selectively throughout the nation, roughly 30,000 of the 52 million attending school. The detail of those results were covered by Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post here.

"NAEP, administered to nationally representative samples of students by the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education, is sometimes referred to as the nation’s report card because it is the only K-12 assessment system given across the country. The 2010 assessment in geography was given to 7,000 fourth graders, 9,500 eighth graders and 10,000 twelfth graders."

Before you go to the article, see what you think the answer to this geography question is:

Which of the following is an accurate statement about the American Southwest?

a) Alternating areas of dense shrubbery and sand dunes often make travel difficult.

b) Arid conditions make access to water an important public issue.

c) Generally fair weather means that most people rely on solar energy in their homes and businesses.

d) Easy access to Mexico has led to a strong manufacturing sector.

Race to the Top: To What End

A brief presentation that is worth considering. What is it that we are racing toward at mach speed?

TEA Party Nation Breaks Silence on Education Reform?

Dr. Rich Swier posted a blog titled "Florida Sells the Souls of its Public School Students for $63 Each" found on Tennessee Watching Federal and State Government and on Tea Party Nation. Swier explains what he sees as a federal scheme to take over public education:

"Have you heard something about a national education initiative titled: Race to the Top (RTTT)? Well this initiative was created from whole cloth by President Obama’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Just as Obamacare is a federal takeover of our health care system, RTTT is the federal takeover of our public education system.

The U.S. Department of Education created the Race to the Top program under the Stimulus Bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA) in early 2009. With a federal grant of $4.35 billion, Arne Duncan had a very large “carrot” to lure the states to enter into a competition for these funds in the name of 'education reform'."

Read more here.

Florida TEA Party activists have been silent on Race to the Top and federal education reform initiatives in this year's legislative session. Last year, the Florida TEA Party opposed SB6, the legislative requirement to obtain federal funds. Curiously, this year, the Florida TEA Party supported legislative initiatives that mirror the Race to the Top proposal that won Florida the federal funds to implement so-called reform, but silent on the details.

Is Dr. Swier's blog a sign that members of the national TEA Party are now taking a deeper look at education reform initiatives? Why did Dr. Swier look particularly at Florida? Whatever the answers, the blog adds additional clarity that across ideologies and across the nation, deep concerns exist among parents, members of the community, and taxpayers. There is plenty to be concerned about.

Eyes directed toward Washington D.C. on July 31. The S.O.S. March on Washington brings those concerns to the doorstep of the policymakers and federal legislators. Will they maintain radio silence, ignore, and pretend there are no concerns?

http://www.tngovwatch.org/florida-sells-the-souls-of-its-public-school-students-for-63-each/

NUT Report: The Exam

Have a giggle thanks to a FB "friend."

Education Narrative Morphs: No Workers? Really?

For some time, educational reform advocates claimed reform was urgent because the U.S. will not be able to compete in the global economy. I do not see that rationale used so much anymore, but I am noticing some new ones. A few weeks ago, I listened to a radio show that focused on new initiatives and partnerships between community colleges and the manufacturing sector. In that discussion, the lack of qualified workers was mentioned. Now, I find this same narrative repeated in a Business Week article here.

"Businesses say the slow pace of education reform is hurting their bottom lines. Intel (INTC), the world’s largest semiconductor maker, is having difficulty filling 2,895 U.S.-based engineering positions, according to an Intel spokeswoman. RightNow Technologies (RNOW), which helps businesses offer online and live-chat customer service, has to burn through about 100 résumés to find one person who has the necessary math, science, and computer training. “We need reform,” says Chief Executive Officer Greg Gianforte. “Without highly educated and motivated individuals, we don’t have a future.”

Workers supporting the Space Program have been laid off in droves, across a large spectrum of skills, including engineers. University students are graduating and finding it difficult to get jobs. There are returning soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq that also represents a pool that have qualified workers to fill these positions. In 2009, Business Week reported that there is no shortage of U.S. engineers in spite of what industry leaders claim. Sorry, if RightNow Technologies has to "burn through" so many resumes, but perhaps their Human Resources Department needs to change approaches. How about the local Workforce Development Office or Hire a Hero Program? Companies must also revisit their internal training programs; those investments have fallen off dramatically. There was a strong customer support employment base before companies began to ship them overseas, which had nothing to do with supply of workers and everything to do with cheap labor costs elsewhere.

Under the current rates of high unemployment, filling current job openings is a rather cynical narrative to advocate for fast-paced education reform.

Find the earlier blog on Boosting Skilled Blue Collar Workers here. http://grumpythings.blogspot.com/2011/06/boosting-skilled-blue-collared.html

Race to the Top for Tots: Don't measure the temperature of the fire – put it out!

Last week I posted information about the new federal initiative to generate tests for preschoolers here. In these most difficult economic times, or frankly, in my view at any other time, there is no rhyme or reason for pouring millions into test development and particularly for under 5 year olds. The costs of implementing these tests will ultimately fall on local taxpayers and further impact school budgets.

Stephen Krashen writes that this new and expensive testing will only tell us what we already know. His views are reprinted with permission. Your views?
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The federal government plans to establish detailed standards and assessments to see if children of poverty are ready for kindergarten and are safe and healthy (The "Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge," termed the "Race to the Top for Tots," by the New Brunswick Patch.)

We already know that millions of children suffer from the effects of poverty: They are children from low-income families who are behind in academics, suffer from food deprivation and lack health care. Please see the careful and complete reviews of research by David Berliner and Richard Rothstein among others.

We also know which children are in need and we know what to do about it.

We don't need more precise data. The house is on fire: The US Department of Education's plans are like spending money on determining the exact temperature in each room, rather than rushing to put out the fire immediately.

Instead of spending money dealing with the problems of poverty, we are giving it to testing companies who are eager spend billions of tax dollars creating expensive new tests and measures that will only tell us what we already know.

See the details for yourself: http://www.ed.gov/early-learning/elc-draft-summary.

Other sources:

Berliner, D. 2009. Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success. Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit. http://epicpolicy.org/publication/poverty-and- potential;

Rothstein, R. 2010. How to fix our schools. Economic Policy Institute, Issue Brief #286. http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ib286

NUT Report: Funding for pre-school testing announced

With the debt-ceiling debate raging and the urgency to cut spending, the rationale and priority for a new Race to the Top pre-school standardized assessment initiative go unexplained. States will compete for $500 million in funds to develop tests that are intended to measure "academic performance but also children’s social, emotional, physical and artistic readiness for kindergarten." This assessment is intended to assist Kindergarten teachers in preparing targeted learning opportunities and are not to be used for any rewards or punishments for students, teachers, or schools.

Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post noted that in 2003 when President Bush suggested giving all children in Head Start programs a standardized test, reaction seemed different:

Critics howled. Early childhood development experts said preschoolers are too young to be evaluated by standardized tests in part because they don’t have sufficient ability to comprehend assessment cues. The plan was shelved.

A recent article in The Nation notes concerns about this initiative.

The kindergarten-entry assessments are “probably the most radical part of the [Race to the Top early learning] program,” acknowledges Sara Mead, a pre-K expert and senior associate partner at Bellweather Education Partners, a nonprofit Washington, DC, consulting firm. “It would drive a big shift towards much more measurement of early learning program outcomes, which parts of the early-childhood education community have traditionally opposed.… But these are not intended to be assessments to determine whether or not an individual child is ‘ready’ for kindergarten, and they never have high stakes for kids, in terms of denying them entry into kindergarten.”

Laura Bornfreund, a policy analyst at the New America Foundation’s Early Learning Initiative, has written that pre-K assessment remains controversial:

Concerns over inappropriate assessments of young children are rampant, so it bears repeating that appropriate kindergarten readiness assessments are not “tests” in the way adults might think of them. They do not require children to sit down with a bubble sheet and number-two pencil. Often they are based on teachers’ observations of children’s drawings or playtime interactions. For many literacy assessments teachers conduct them by sitting down with students, one by one, to ask them questions about sounds and letters or to point to pictures. The idea is to create a low-pressure experience. But there are still many questions in the research community about how to ensure that assessments are administered in ways that are sensitive to a child’s age and stage of development.

Pop Quiz

1) What is the problem this new assessment will solve?
2) Will the data collected become part of the State Longitudinal Database Systems?
3) Will the data be made available to other agencies and researchers without parental consent in accordance with the proposed regulatory changes to Family Education Rights and Protection Act?

Answers:
1) No one knows, but it's expensive.
2) No one knows, change is hard.
3) No one knows, we have to do something.

I am not an educator, not a policy wonk, nor a pre-K expert, but I am taxpayer and a NUT - No Unnecessary Testing. Peanuts anyone?