Further fiddling with standards and tests

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / August 1, 2002

Some weeks back, I used this space to describe ways that a state's academic standards may be lowered, including several that occur out of public view. (See "A field guide to low standards," May 16, 2002.) I explained how a state might simply set low standards, focus its tests on the easier skills covered by the standards, create deliberately easy test questions and generous rubrics, or establish low cut scores for passing the tests. That editorial prompted a number of reader comments. These revealed additional holes in existing state systems of standards-based accountability and further illumined why it is so hard to do right by this education reform strategy, notwithstanding the new oomph supplied by the No Child Left Behind Act.

In some states, there's simply no strong commitment to the idea of clear standards that spell out what children should know or to accurate measures of what they DO know. As one writer put it, "I believe my home state of Vermont uses several of your suggested methods to defeat standards. In English, Vermont's 'portfolio' system makes almost any kind of scoring completely subjective. Even when considering a student's portfolio work in other subjects, the student actually polishes each portfolio submission, running it past his teacher several times before a highly unrepresentative sample of his or her work gets placed into the holy folder.

"My wife and I have attempted to receive documentation of ANY curriculum for our children's

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Further fiddling with standards and tests

Reins of New York City school system given to a new breed of leader

August 1, 2002

On Monday, July 29th, New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg named Joel I. Klein, the chairman and chief executive of Bertelsmann Inc., and a former assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration-where he led the antitrust prosecution of Microsoft-as chancellor of the city's public school system. Klein is a fighter who, while leading the Justice Department's antitrust division, went after corporations accused of monopolistic and market-spoiling practices. Klein's history as a monopoly basher could come in handy as he works to shake up the near-monopoly that is New York City's public school system. As The New York Times observed, "What bigger monopoly than the public school system? It is a government-regulated system. It controls everything from bus contracts to teachers." The Times went on to note that Mayor Bloomberg's choice to lead the city's school system "seems calculated to convey one thing: a deep distrust of professional educators, or at least professional education as practiced in New York City over the last 33 years."

It is, therefore, ironic that Klein's appointment will not be final until the state education commissioner in Albany grants a waiver from the state law requiring the chancellor to have formal credentials in education. Despite the fact that Joel Klein is following in the wake of a small but highly visible crew of non-educators who have taken the helm of major urban school districts-Seattle turned to a general, Chicago selected a budget chief, Los Angeles

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Reins of New York City school system given to a new breed of leader

States, districts struggle to implement No Child Left Behind

August 1, 2002

Seven months after President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, and one month after the U.S. Department of Education announced that children at 8,652 low-performing schools are now eligible to transfer to higher-performing schools, some states and school districts are giving the new law's approach to failing schools a chilly embrace. In Michigan, where high state standards for adequate yearly progress have resulted in half of the state's elementary and middle schools being declared failing, a coalition of groups is pushing the state board of education to ease the standard by which a school is declared failing. A district official in Cleveland complains that the law "is systematically taking the rug out from under these [failing] schools" and warns that choice and supplemental services requirements could drain struggling schools of money and motivated students, before conceding that "the high profile of this accountability system should get us focused."

Some school districts seem bent on thwarting the new law. In South Carolina, a handful of districts with failing schools say they won't offer parents the choice of transferring their children out of low-performing schools. "We feel we've made adequately yearly progress," said a representative of one district that has an underperforming school on the state list. Another district claims that a court-mandated desegregation order spares it from having to offer students a choice of schools, though a letter from Secretary of Education Rod Paige says that school districts under desegregation

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Adding value to the "Blue Ribbon" school award

August 1, 2002

The Department of Education has given the Blue Ribbon School award since 1982, but attention has recently been drawn to the fact that not all honored schools can actually claim stellar records of student achievement. Accordingly, the DOE recently announced that test scores and test score improvements will become a major component of the selection process. See "Changes afoot for Blue Ribbon Schools," by Jane Elizabeth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 30, 2002. For an account of what was wrong with the old Blue Ribbon Schools program, see "In Praise of Mediocrity," by Tom Loveless and Paul DiPerna, Education Next, Summer 2001.

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Adding value to the "Blue Ribbon" school award

Charting success at a low-tech technology charter school

August 1, 2002

A recent issue of Duke Magazine featured a profile of the Media and Technology Charter High School, started by a Duke alumnus to serve students from the worst neighborhoods in Boston. Although the school lacks flat-screen LCD monitors, PDAs and functioning DSL lines-hallmarks of high-tech-it is succeeding in educating and inspiring its young charges through a combination of altruism, perseverance and common sense. "A Charter for Achievement," by Jonas Blank, Duke Magazine, May/June 2002

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Charting success at a low-tech technology charter school

Checking up on charter schools

August 1, 2002

Fueled by an active business community, frustrated parents, reform-minded local legislators, dedicated entrepreneurs (and some assistance from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation), charter schools have flourished in Dayton, Ohio, which some term "ground zero" of the national charter movement. But the next few years are critical to the evolution of the city's (and nation's) education landscape, as many of the city's 19 charter schools-which have proven popular with parents but have not yet produced higher test scores-undergo a state-mandated five-year review. For details see "Charter schools' first checkup pivotal point," by Scott Elliott, Dayton Daily News, July 29, 2002

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The clock is ticking on urban school reform

August 1, 2002

A host of opposing forces-not a failure of will, goals or effort-is what's retarding urban schools, writes ace journalist Richard Whitmire in the Democratic Leadership Council's Blueprint Magazine. Time is running out for urban schools, which must battle budget cuts, revolving door leadership, concentrated poverty, and successful suburban districts' resistance to standards and accountability. But substantial gains in districts like Charlotte, Sacramento, and Houston prove that, with innovation and visionary leadership, demographics are not destiny. "Time Is Running Out on Urban Schools," by Richard Whitmire, Blueprint Magazine, July 29, 2002

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Turn surplus PhDs in math and science into teachers

August 1, 2002

A new report from the National Research Council proposes that math and science Ph.D.s, who face fewer job openings in academia, should instead try teaching in K-12 schools, which are in dire need of math and science teachers. The NRC panel proposed creating a prestigious two-year fellowship to place recent Ph.D.s in primary/secondary classrooms, an idea that resonated with graduate students and post-docs they surveyed. For more see "Wanted: Math and Science Teachers," CNN.com, July 31, 2002, and "NRC Seeks Program to Put Ph.D.s in K-12 Classrooms," by Hannah Gladfeldter Rubin, Education Daily, July 31, 2002 (subscribers only).

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Vouchers may debut in the Northeast

August 1, 2002

Last week, the Camden city council unanimously approved a resolution asking the New Jersey legislature to award hefty $6,000 vouchers to students in the city's notoriously low-performing schools. The measure-which faces steep opposition from the governor and teachers union-marks the first time a Northeastern municipality has endorsed a publicly funded voucher program. "School vouchers sought for Camden," by Melanie Burney, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 26, 2002.

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Inexorable and Inevitable: The Continuing Story of Technology and Assessment

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / August 1, 2002

Randy Elliott Bennett, Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment
June 2002

The Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment, which is based at Boston College and exists only on-line, has just published this 20-page article by Randy Elliott Bennett of Educational Testing Service, arguing that "the inexorable advance of technology will force fundamental changes in the format and content of assessment." It's essentially a think piece about the future of assessment in a high-tech era. The author contends that most uses that have so far been made of technology in assessment involve taking conventional testing formats and adapting them for computer-based administration. In the future, he says, assessments will have to match the cognitive and instructional processes by which learning itself occurs. In essence, that means that, as people do more of their learning via technology, assessment technologies will have to keep pace. This raises a host of issues involving costs, fairness, test security, and validity. He poses questions better than he answers them, but the piece includes an extensive bibliography and a 2-page chart showing how eight states are currently grappling in interesting ways with technology-based assessment. It won't blow you away but may lead you to ponder some new issues at the intersection of assessment, accountability and technology. You can find it at http://www.bc.edu/research/intasc/jtla/journal/v1n1.shtml.

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Inexorable and Inevitable: The Continuing Story of Technology and Assessment

Middle Grades to High School: Mending a Weak Link

Kelly Scott / August 1, 2002

Sondra Cooney and Gene Bottoms, Southern Regional Education Board
2002

As a follow up to a 2000 survey of eighth graders, the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) tracked those students through ninth grade to determine which experiences in the "middle grades" (6-8) are linked to success in higher-level ninth grade English and math courses. Penned by Gene Bottoms and Sondra Cooney, director of SREB's middle school reform initiative, this report finds-perhaps unsurprisingly-that three eighth grade experiences are most apt to translate into higher achievement for high school freshmen: 1) studying algebra; 2) reading lots of books; and 3) expecting to graduate from college. SREB's most important finding is that "ninth graders who are placed in higher-level courses have a lower failure rate that students with similar characteristics who are placed in lower-level courses." View this 12-pager at http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/publications/briefs/MiddleGradestoHS.asp or order a copy from SREB at 592 10th St., NW, Atlanta, GA 30318.

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Middle Grades to High School: Mending a Weak Link

National Geographic Society Alliance Study

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / August 1, 2002

National Geographic Society and Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning
2002

The National Geographic Society commissioned Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), formerly the Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory, to determine whether 8th graders taught by teachers who took part in the Society's "Alliance" training programs do better on NAEP geography assessments than 8th graders in general. The conclusion is that they do. This looks like good news for anyone who thinks that young Americans need to learn lots more geography. It's good news for those seeking evidence that staff development programs for teachers can work when gauged by improved student achievement. And it represents a rare and imaginative use of NAEP test items and national NAEP results for purposes of program evaluation. That said, I have two reservations. First, the margin by which the pupils of Geographic trained teachers surpassed their peers, while statistically significant, isn't very wide. (Neither group knows much geography.) Second, despite painstaking efforts to match the school and students samples and to make the testing circumstances similar, one large difference remains. Whereas the national NAEP is a no-stakes test administered by someone other than the regular classroom teacher, the test given to 8th graders in the McRel sample was administered by their very own geography teacher, included stakes (at least for a program the teacher was invested in), and provided plenty of warning for teachers to pep and prep their students. A better study would have the

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National Geographic Society Alliance Study

Reports of Institutional Effectiveness

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / August 1, 2002

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
2002

Virginia is tiptoeing into the fractious world of higher education assessment and institutional comparisons. No, they're not doing what a grown-up state should, which is pushing for measures of academic value-added that can be compared from one college to another, much as K-12 education is now doing. That remains hugely controversial in higher ed and few institutions will countenance it. (I, for one, have long felt that we would learn an immense amount by simply re-administering the 12th grade NAEP tests to people in the middle, or the end, of their undergraduate years.) But Virginia's State Council of Higher Education now requires individual (public-sector) campuses to devise their own ways of measuring student learning in certain core skills (e.g. critical thinking, writing, math) as well as well as 14 system-wide "performance measures" having to do with things like retention rates, average time-to-degree, and various spending and resource utilization rates. Thus we see, for example, that the flagship University of Virginia spends 72 percent of its core budget on instruction (and "academic support") while Virginia Tech checks in at 61 percent. Virginia Tech also reports that 48% of the research papers done in first-year writing courses demonstrated "full competence" while UVA reports that 29% of its students display "strong competence." It's impossible to make meaningful comparisons so long as each institution sets its own standards and uses its own measures. But hats should be doffed

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The Geographical Distribution of Teacher Absenteeism in Large Urban School District Settings: Implications for School Reform Efforts Aimed at Promoting Equity and Excellence in Education

Rob Lucas / August 1, 2002

James E. Bruno, Education Policy Analysis Archives
July 26, 2002

This paper by UCLA professor James Bruno examines the frequency with which teachers call in sick and leave substitutes in charge of their classrooms in large urban schools. Bruno finds that in areas of "negative" (low income) geographical space, teachers are more likely to think of their sick days as entitlements and more apt to use them. More teacher absenteeism increases costs for the district, decreases the return on additional spending, and reduces the quality of education. It's not a problem for which there are any quick fixes, though Bruno does have one creative idea to help mitigate its effects: a school with a high rate of teacher absenteeism could develop a corps of regular substitutes who are better trained and more integrated into the school, so that learning doesn't come to a standstill when the teacher is away. The paper can be downloaded at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n32/.

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The Geographical Distribution of Teacher Absenteeism in Large Urban School District Settings: Implications for School Reform Efforts Aimed at Promoting Equity and Excellence in Education

Treating teachers like professionals

August 1, 2002

As the editor of Teachers As Owners, I couldn't be happier with the conclusion in the recent Gadfly review, namely that "one can't put the book down without noting the chasm between these ideas and the reality of most American schools." (See http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=51#770.) Notwithstanding my agreement with the conclusion, however, there are some aspects of the review that I feel compelled to comment on.

The thesis of the book is that, like doctors, lawyers and other professionals, teachers should have the same opportunity to work for themselves. In a professional partnership, the teachers are the leaders and decision makers. They control their own work, including determining the curriculum, setting the budget, choosing levels of technology available to students, determining their own salaries, selecting their colleagues, monitoring performance and hiring administrators to work for them.

Ownership, however, is not the same as "democratic employment" as suggested by the reviewer. Without going into the detail of the book, it asserts that leadership is needed, not that everyone is in charge. The book does not propose a leaderless organization. It does propose an organization where the leader is accountable to the teachers themselves. There are many examples in law, medicine, consulting and accounting of firms where the professionals govern themselves and select leaders from their own ranks

As the reviewer points out, the book suggests that success requires an uncommon culture and uncommon leadership. To say that it is uncommon, however, should not be

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Treating teachers like professionals

What We Have Learned About Class Size Reduction in California

Rob Lucas / August 1, 2002

edited by George W. Bohrnstedt and Brian M. Stecher, CSR Research Consortium
August 2002

George Bohrnstedt and Brian Stecher have released their fourth and final report analyzing California's class size reduction (CSR) initiative. It provides an excellent introduction to the research in support of CSR and the mechanisms by which California implemented it. CSR's short-term effect was to increase achievement inequality among rich and poor students; some have speculated that the primary reason for this was a migration of experienced inner-city teachers into newly created suburban jobs (see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=52#783 for more information). But Bohrnstedt and Stecher view the teacher flight as a relatively minor problem. They blame the achievement inequality on the way CSR was implemented as an incentive program. (Schools were given a grant for each class of less than 20 students. Those that already had low class sizes were rewarded, and overcrowded schools struggled to attract teachers and make the grant stretch far enough to cover the program's cost.) Even after controlling for factors such as poverty, the authors say, CSR's effects are disappointing. The report contains numerous interesting policy recommendations, the most sweeping of which is that CSR and California's other stand-alone education reforms should be consolidated into a single strategy centered on state's recent push towards standards and accountability. For a copy of the report, go to http://www.classize.org/techreport/CSR_Capstone_prepub.pdf.

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What We Have Learned About Class Size Reduction in California