Interesting new column here by Jay Mathews. In it, he writes that??striving to turn around chronically low-achieving schools is "a noble quest I have long supported. But I have come to wonder if it might be a big waste of time and money. Most efforts to save such places have been failures. Why not just close them down and start fresh? Why kill ourselves trying to root out the bad habits of failing schools?" He then goes on to cite and discuss (at some length) Andy Smarick's recent article in Education Next, "The Turnaround Fallacy." Andy is a distinguished visiting fellow here at Fordham. All in all, it's a discussion that's definitely worth checking out....
Last week, Laura flagged a useful interactive map that grades states on their level of educational innovation in areas ranging from school finance to a state's reform environment. The map accompanies the recently released report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Center for American Progress, and Frederick M. Hess of the American Enterprise Institute, Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card of Educational Innovation. The second of its kind, this edition of Leaders and Laggards grades states not only according to how they are performing currently, but also on the basis of groundwork they are laying to address impending challenges and fuel innovation in the years to come.
For the most part, Ohio's results are disappointing. The Buckeye State scores a "C" and a "D" respectively in two staffing areas: "hiring and evaluation" and "removing ineffective teachers." (All the more disappointing when considering that Race to the Top's final priorities gives the most weight to great teaching and leadership.) Ohio ranks average ("C") in technology and school finance, and gets a "B" for its data, and having a solid pipeline to postsecondary education.
However, we are happy to report that despite Ohio's mixed results, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute is highlighted as a group that contributes positively to the state's reform environment:
"There are few reliable state-by-state data on local education advocacy and research efforts-a reflection of the lack of overall commitment to this issue. As a result, we are unable to issue a meaningful grade. However, Kids Ohio and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute are members of the forward-thinking Policy Innovators in Education Network."
One of the main criticisms of individual-teacher merit pay is that it will undermine teacher collaboration. This same argument is also leveled at teachers who choose to sell their lesson plans online. Will putting a price tag on instructional materials undermine forums that encourage the free (literally and figuratively) exchange of ideas? Will it devalue them as educational tools?
Probably not. We sell everything from collector's editions of comics to that left over gallon of paint from a home renovation project on the internet. There are sites to sell homemade arts and crafts, (legally) scalp sold out concert and sports tickets, and offer rare treasures like a first edition copy of Paradise Lost. The prices can be a bit high--and the niche market super specialized--but that's the beauty of the internet. Finally, we can shop all over the country, or the world, from the comfort of our own homes. The shopping around has never been so easy: With the click of a finger, you can find a dozen other versions in ten more colors.
The same concept applies to lesson plans. Why should we let the big textbook companies and curriculum developers corner the market? There are surely plenty of smart capable people who don't work for one of them--and could use the extra buck much more, to boot. With sites like Teachers Pay Teachers, an online market for educators, teachers who have perfected a unit on linear equations can share their materials with others, for a price. Materials are rated by users and prices range from free to pricey.
We know that the best teachers can have a markedly greater impact on student achievement than their less talented colleagues--up to three times greater. A recent study by Emily and Bryan Hassel proposed that we should reconcile with the fact that there simply aren't enough truly amazing teachers to go around; instead, we should try to increase the impact of the best ones. One of the ways to do that? Encourage them to sell their lesson plans and materials and pay them handsomely in royalties.
Putting a price tag on these items is key. Like most of the working world, teachers are busy. There's no incentive to share their hard-earned techniques, tips, tricks, and materials, especially if the potential recipients are teachers at other schools, possibly in other cities, whose students' scores have nothing to do with the seller's school's AYP. (Merit pay detractors claim that school buildings should work together to increase student achievement; financial bonuses will make teachers try to undermine each other.) There's only so much giving we do out of the goodness of our hearts, especially when we're feeling bone-tired and unappreciated, as many teachers no doubt do at the last bell.
The human capital shortage in education has been and will continue to be a problem in education. The Hassels are right that there's no way there are 4 million all-star aspiring or current teachers to fill our nation's classrooms. Extending the reach of the ones we have can only help. And I think it's high time we got over this phobia of putting a price tag on all things education. After all, states, districts, and schools all have a financial bottom line, and it's the very denial of this fact that's spurred astronomical growth in education spending for almost every year of the last 100--and will result in an uncomfortable wakeup call when stimulus dollars run out in 2011.
Guest blogger Katie Wilczak is a former Fordham intern.?? She is now teaching teaching English at a rural municipal high school in Chile through a program launched in 2003 by the Chilean Ministry of Education and the United Nations Development Programme called English Opens Doors . These are her observations and experiences during her first few months teaching in Molina, Chile .
To begin, Chile is a developing country and lags a few years behind the United States in most respects but is committed to advancing its education system and has shown great potential in recent years. English was not a priority of the Chilean education system until a few years ago and consequently, most of my students could barely understand the question ???How are you???? on our first day of class. Interest in American culture is high (the students are especially obsessed with the death of Michael Jackson) and almost all of my students have shown great motivation to improve their skills regardless of the challenges. In this respect, I have been very lucky and the students have made great progress.
The Chilean school day is long, with nine class periods every day that last from 8am until 5pm. In contrast to most high schools in the United States, students here remain in the same classroom with the same classmates the entire day while the teachers move from room to room each class period. The schedule of classes is different every day and there is usually only one teacher who teaches each subject (i.e. math) to the entire school at all different grade levels and subject levels. Teachers rarely plan in advance, probably because they have so many students and so many classes to keep up with, and therefore the majority of the class hour passes in disorder. In addition, the students are extremely bored and pent up staying in one classroom all day long and therefore very rowdy. Unfortunately, the administration is also disorganized, confused, and inefficient. For example, there are intense "discussions" nearly every week during faculty meetings concerning which days will and will not have classes the following week. It's not unusual to show up to school or to a class to discover that the class has been canceled for some obscure reason or that the students have simply chosen not to show up.
The municipal school where I teach is poor and caters to rural students who do no plan to go to university. During the end of their second year in media (high school) students choose one of five career tracks to pursue. They include: secretaria (secretary), alimentacion (food service), laboratoria chemica (chem lab), contabilidad (finance) and atencion a adulto mayor (care of the eldery). Upon graduation, students receive a titulo and should (theoretically) be able to obtain a job in their field without a college degree. Due to the varying course combinations of each career, classes are different each day and English has been mostly relegated to a few short hours one day per week.
The school facilities are basic and there is no heat, few supplies, a few old books, no computers, and oftentimes no hot water. Sports, extracurricular activities, and music or art classes are non-existent. I attempted to start an after-school club to watch movies in English (the nearest movie theater is an hour and a half away) but I was told by the principal that students will not stay after school to learn. His suggested solution is to pull kids out of other classes to participate but I'm not a huge fan of pulling kids from legitimate classes to watch foreign language films. I've been working for a few weeks to convince students to stay after-school and this week we will finally have our first activity!
Students here in Chile have a lot of power over school administration; strikes by both students and teachers are frequent. We currently have classes every Saturday in an effort to recuperate a few weeks' worth of classes that were missed earlier this year when the teachers protested for a pay increase. While we're recuperating missed class time, a neighboring school is experiencing a student strike in which students are demanding an improved learning environment and physical structure for their school. Every child in Chile has the right to a basic education at a municipal school and the students do receive many benefits from the state. Every student receives free breakfast and lunch at school and all of those students who live too far from the school to afford to travel there--logistically and/or financially--every day receive government-paid housing with host families in the neighborhood. Although I've found that the standards of education are lower than those in the United States, the government is very good about ensuring that each student receives what they deserve.
This experience has surely opened my eyes to the great contrasts in national education systems and in general, the huge cultural differences throughout the world. I feel blessed for the experience and hope that I'm able to impact the lives of my students, even if I'm only remembered as the fun gringa who forced the students to finally learn the numbers and alphabet in English.
Photograph courtesy Katie Wilczak
Quotable:
"M&M sorting is not a new concept...I made it easier for teachers to do. They just have to click and print." -Erica Bohrer, a Long Island elementary school teacher who sells lesson plans online
"Selling Lessons Online Raises Cash and Questions," New York Times (registration required)
Notable:
$15 Million:
Approximate savings Los Angeles Unified School District superintendant Ramon C. Cortines expects from each of four furlough days he has proposed in an effort to close the district's budget deficit.
"L.A. Unified asks union to OK four furlough days this year," Los Angeles Times
For the last month, we've been wondering whether Ohio would truly adopt the NGA/CCSSO Common Core State Standards , or whether the Ohio Department of Education would forge its own path in revising academic content standards so as to meet the June 2010 deadline. The issue was one of timing, as Common Core Standards won't be finalized until January, and this didn't give Ohio enough time to meet its June 2010 mandate.
Given that Fordham gave Ohio a "D+" in our last State of the State Standards report, and that we think the Common Core Standards are substantially better (see our latest report, "Stars by Which to Navigate"), the possibility of Ohio reneging on the Common Core Initiative was worrisome. Emmy wrote on Flypaper:
"What's the Buckeye State to do??? Should the state board of education risk non-compliance with state law and wait for the Common Core work to be finished??? Should state lawmakers revisit the law and extend the deadline for updating the standards??? Are other states in similar predicaments??? If so, what becomes of the Common Core Initiative?"
This week we got our answer, as state education officials announced that Ohio is fully committed to pursuing the Common Core Standards. According to the Columbus Dispatch:
"This decision means the department won't be releasing its own draft standards in English and math this month as planned, because most, and possibly all, of those updates will be scrapped."
(The Ohio Department of Education will release draft standards in science and social studies this afternoon.) Given that the final priorities for Race to the Top allot 70 points to states for the "Standards and Assessments" category, we're glad to see Ohio fully on board with the Common Core. Adopting common standards is worth 40 points alone. (In contrast, accessing and using state data is only worth 5 points, making education a funding a "priority" is only worth 10 points.) Of course, a back of the envelope estimate quickly shows Ohio might lose a larger number of points for "Great Teachers and Leaders" (138 points) or being able to articulate an education reform agenda and get the participation of LEAs (65 points). But we'll save that for another blog. For now, we're happy that Ohio is adopting Common Core Standards.
At "The Quick and the Ed,"??Kevin Carey??has offered an intriguing if somewhat??peculiar response to my and Rick Hess's piece in the Education Gadfly and the National Review Online.??We pointed out that the Obama administration had--months??back--argued that K-12 reform is critical and that education's $100 billion in borrowed "stimulus" funds ought to promote systemic improvement but, according to the administration's own calculus, has not done so. In response, Kevin mounts an admirably straightforward, old-fashioned??defense of government spending for its own sake.??This includes what strikes us as a particularly dated defense of Keynesianism, seemingly imagining that government can and should create jobs at will--in the comfortable certainty that such makework will pay for itself.
Regardless of Kevin's broader affinity for what might be regarded as Stalinist job creation, two more concrete considerations really ought to be kept in mind. First, President??Obama and Secretary Duncan went out of their way to promise a lot more than simple spending and job preservation in promoting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), so there's an issue of consistency,integrity, and honesty here. They justified??the??immense??borrowing for K-12 (and higher) education??not merely as a makework jobs program, but as a tool for promoting a much-needed overhaul of??schooling. They have not delivered and now they (and their acolytes)??seem disinclined even??to recall the??promises that were made. Second, there are??scads of other ways one could spend dollars on education in stimulative fashion without necessarily propping up current jobs. Many of??these alternatives hold greater promise of boosting student achievement--and doing so without aggravating the structural deficits (and staff bloat) that menaces K-12 schooling.??Indeed, with our colleague Mike Petrilli, we suggested a number of such alternatives last winter.
It takes a special sensibility for someone living in a nation drowning in public and private debt, one that is now dumping onto our kids and grandkids another $1.5 trillion in borrowing this year alone, to take offense at the notion that the Obama administration ought to respect its promise that borrowed funds would bring about educational improvement rather than simply padded job rolls to preserve an unsatisfactory status quo.
The latest issue of the Ohio Education Gadfly came out yesterday, and features an excellent piece by Terry on the stark decline in student enrollment in Fordham's hometown of Dayton, Ohio.
Over the last decade the Dayton Public Schools (DPS) have contracted by more than 10,000 students; seeing enrollment decline from 24,916 students in 2000 to 14,393 students in 2009. During this same period Dayton has become one of the country's leading charter school markets.
Over the years such numbers and ratings have triggered angst and anger among district officials and their supporters, and even some hostility toward charters. However, while charters have played a role in draining DPS of students, a significant amount of the attrition can be attributed to an exodus to suburbs, other states, and private schools, Terry argues.
As illustrated by the chart below, the combined enrollment of Dayton public and charter schools has slumped over the last decade. Charter school enrollment peaked in the 2006, but has continued to decline steadily thereafter.
Source: Ohio Department of Education interactive local report card
For more on the incredible shrinking Dayton, you can read Terry's full piece here .?? And be sure to check out the rest of the Ohio Education Gadfly -- we feature a guest editorial by Courter Shimeall, a Teach For America recruiter who is witnessing Ohio's brain drain firsthand; optimistic news that Ohio is planning to adopt common national standards ; and video from the Dayton Education Forum Panel . Don't miss it, and don't forget to weigh in on our Ohio Gadfly Readership Survey!
Quotable:
"This is not about getting in the game, this is about winning. There will be a lot more losers than winners." -Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, on Race to the Top awards
Education Week (subscription required): Rules Set for $4 Billion 'Race to Top' Contest
Notable:
22%:
Percentage of Catholic and independent school operating costs in Victoria, Australia, that will now be paid for by the state government. The new agreement increases funding from a previous level of 19%.?? Victoria is historically the lowest-funded Catholic sector in Australia.
The Age (Australia): State hands $2.1bn to non-government schools
Based on the reaction of the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Education Association, you’d think recent state legislation that loosens teacher confidentiality laws was going to unleash Enron II. Sending a slim sliver of sunshine into an otherwise black box of state data, the Maine legislature decided to release data on the aggregate number of yearly complaints against teachers and the number of teachers who lose or surrender their licenses each year. But the state’s DOE chose to interpret the law as applicable only since its passage--September 12. “That’s absurd,” exclaims Mal Leary, president of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition. "I mean, we're not talking about something that would put somebody in jeopardy [since the data is in toto] by making the law retroactive." But DOE and MEA stand by the decision. "It would be unnecessary work on the part of the Department of Education or others who would have to compile that information. There's just no point in it,” reasons MEA executive director Mark Gray. Is there really no point in it or are there so many points state education officials worry about being speared? Maybe the state just doesn’t want to bother or maybe there’s a secret Ken Lay behind this story. We’ll have to wait and see.
"Sides argue over the release of teacher stats," by Lindsay Tice, Sun Journal, November 8, 2009