AMPS

by Thomas J. Mertz | November 16, 2007 · 7:48 pm

Half Full Glasses

A new study on math and science testing would appear to offer high praise for America’s public education system. From the NYT‘s report:

American students even in low-performing states like Alabama do better on math and science tests than students in most foreign countries, including Italy and Norway, according to a new study released yesterday.

That, in case you missed it was the glass being classified as half full. If you thought success was high praise, you will learn that Wisconsin ranks in pretty good company, being at or above the league tables of most European countries.

But, according to the study’s author, “the bad news trumps the good because our Asian economic competitors are winning the race to prepare students in math and science.” The Times reporter accents this framing further by quoting Thomas Toch, a co-director of Education Sector, a group with it’s own half full/half empty conflicts, who says this study “shows we’re not doing as badly as some say. We’re in the top half of the table, and a number of states are outperforming the majority of the nations in the study. But our performance in math and science lags behind that of the front-running Asian nations.”

I get the Tom Friedman mantra to some extent, but doesn’t his global flattening thesis of digital communication look somewhat contrived in a doom and gloom sort of way, if it only compares a handful of education systems to the majority of other countries?

Leaving aside his sunny optimism regarding the war and the emergence of “the Friedman,” a tongue-in-cheek neologism coined to express his and others call for a continuing need for just six more months before success will begin to take hold, perhaps the answer to the above metaphor is to suggest that progress in math and science is truly a glass half full story. Pad ourselves on the back for once. There is a good story to be told about America’s public education system. Do we need to strive to do better, obviously. Approaching the future, not from a position of dysfunctionality but from an outlook of building upon our strengths, would seem to be wholly in line with America’s “can do” spirit, a strength we have always shown and should continue to exercise.

Robert Godfrey

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by Thomas J. Mertz | November 16, 2007 · 3:13 am

Simple Majority Declares Victory for Kids and Schools…Let’s Do the Same!

In the Election Roundup I wrote that the Simple Majority campaign in Washington State had lost. With more complete returns, victory has been snatched from the jaws of defeat. Congratulations to the League of Education Voters and the people of Washington!

I attended the Senate Education Committee hearing on the Pope-Roberts/Breske resolution today (more on that later), and I think there is a lesson from Washington for the Wisconsin legislature and the people of Wisconsin. In Washington, they fought against great odds and achieved a major and positive change is state school finance.

Everyone I heard testify today agreed Wisconsin’s system is broken and that each year we move further away from providing the education our children deserve. Most of those testifying were passionate and optimistic — they believe we can fix this and are committed to doing just that. However, some (not all) of the Senators seemed to be primarily interested in the difficulties and obstacles and 1,000 reasons why we can’t do better. This is the wrong attitude and they need to know that if they’d rather make excuses than do the job the Constitution gives them and the people demand of them, we will elect those who can and will.

The resolution itself, like the voters and advocates in Washington, rejects this kind of thinking. It simply asks for a commitment to try to do what almost everyone agrees is the right thing.

Is this too much to ask?

Thomas J. Mertz

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Filed under AMPS, Elections, Local News, National News, Pope-Roberts/Breske Resolution, School Finance, Take Action

by Thomas J. Mertz | November 14, 2007 · 3:51 am

Rank Ranking — The Pangloss Index

Get ready for “news” reports and blog posts (and here) from those eager to find fault with public education harping on the latest “report” from the Education Sector (more on the Education Sector on AMPS, here). In the recently released The Pangloss Index: How States Game the No Child Left Behind Act Wisonsin is ranked at #1 (along with Iowa) as the state that is most guilty of “gaming NCLB’s accountability system.” Don’t believe them.

Among the many faults of No Child Left Behind — recognized even by those who have faith in the utility of compilations of data to capture the essence of educational quality and believe that high stakes testing is the best way to create educational progress (I’m not one of them) — is that the accountability structures of NCLB in these areas are deeply flawed.

The purpose of the Pangloss Index (named after Doctor Pangloss from Voltaire’s Candide, who embodies baseless optimism) is to point out that many states avoid “accountability” (read the punishments doled out to schools that don’t meet the adequate yearly progress measures of the law) in their implementation and generally paint a rosy picture of the state of education. All well and good. If you believe in this stuff (as the Education Sector does) then you want it to be designed in a way that at least has a chance of being useful and documenting the flaws would be a good first step.

If you take the press releases (and here; I can’t resist highlighting this phrase from Kevin Carey: “even tightly constructed laws like NCLB,” “tightly constructed,” what planet is he living on?) at face value, that’s what the Pangloss Index is supposed to do. If you peek behind the curtain you will see that it is in fact a lazy and useless piece of garbage intended only to fan the flames of panic among those inclined to believe the worst about public education and “educrats.”

The whole thing is based on the absurd assumption that all positive data is wrong and all negative data is correct. Therefore, states that report good things get a high (bad) rating for “gaming” the system and states that report bad things get a low (good) rating for being honest and accountable. No effort (none at all) is made to assess the accuracy of any of the reported data or to correlate it with other measures. Don’t believe me? Here is what the report says:

This report is based on data submitted by state departments of education to the U.S. Department of Education through reports called Consolidated State Performance Reports (CSPRs)…The “Pangloss Index” found in Table 1 of this report is calculated by aggregating state rankings on 11 measures derived from the CSPRs….For each measure, states were ranked so that the states reporting the most positive results were ranked highest. For example, while states were ranked highest if they reported the highest high school graduation rates and highest percent of schools making adequate yearly progress, they were also ranked highest if they reported the lowest number of persistently dangerous schools and the lowest high school dropout rates.

This is just a stupid way to look at education policy and practice. The Education Sector has lots of money and a respectable reputation and should refrain from these kind of games if they want to keep the reputation (the money would no doubt continue to flow, money in education policy cares little about standards of honesty or scholarship).

Post of interest on last year’s Pangloss Index:

Jay Bullock: Paging Dr. Pangloss

Thomas J. Mertz

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by Thomas J. Mertz | November 12, 2007 · 4:59 pm

The political landscape of NCLB may be changing

It is increasingly looking likely that there will not be any legislative movement to reauthorize No Child Left Behind (NCLB) before the next election. At the same time, it’s worth mentioning the results from the last Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll published in August (the grandaddy of polling American’s attitudes towards public schools for the past 39 years). In the conclusion sections you’ll see that the public is shifting quite significantly away from this public policy. One of the most encouraging results (see table 14 in the report) is the growing disenchantment with the increasing reliance on standardized testing. As the pollsters’ conclusions suggested, it is probably no coincidence that the criticism of standardized testing has developed since this form of appraisal became the principal strategy in implementing NCLB.

Robert Godfrey

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by Thomas J. Mertz | November 12, 2007 · 4:12 am

Bucking the conventional wisdom: The Science Education Myth

Forget the conventional wisdom. U.S. schools are turning out more capable science and engineering grads than the job market can support. A new report by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, tells a different story from the constant doom and gloom harangue from certain political leaders, tech executives, and academics who’ve claimed that the U.S. is falling behind in math and science education. We’ve heard much about poor test results, declining international rankings, and decreasing enrollment in the hard sciences. They have urged us to improve our education system and to graduate more engineers and scientists to keep pace with countries such as India and China. The Urban Institute’s Hal Salzman and Georgetown University professor Lindsay Lowell have a different story to report. They show that math, science, and reading test scores at the primary and secondary level have actually increased over the past two decades, and U.S. students are now close to the top of international rankings. Perhaps just as surprising, the report finds that our education system actually produces more science and engineering graduates than the market demands.

An abstract from the study:

Recent policy reports claim the United States is falling behind other nations in science and math education and graduating insufficient numbers of scientists and engineers. Review of the evidence and analysis of actual graduation rates and workforce needs does not find support for these claims. U.S. student performance rankings are comparable to other leading nations and colleges graduate far more scientists and engineers than are hired each year. Instead, the evidence suggests targeted education improvements are needed for the lowest performers and demand-side factors may be insufficient to attract qualified college graduates.

Robert Godfrey

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by Thomas J. Mertz | November 10, 2007 · 6:57 pm

What George Fails To Mention Could Fill a Book

From Richard Russell, via the Progressive Dane email list (posted with permission).

The op. ed. referenced can be found here. More on this story on AMPS here.

What George Fails To Mention Could Fill a Book

I used to be one of the “educrats” whom George Lightbourn belittles in his essay “School choice is working and should be expanded”. Now retired, I spent my professional career as an analyst for the Department of Public Instruction. For part of that time, my opposite number at the Department of Administration was a bright, insightful, competent (and, as it turns out, ambitious) young guy named … George Lightbourn. Yes, George fails to mention that he himself got his start as an “educrat”.

But that’s only one of many things that George — now in the pay of the corporate-backed Wisconsin Policy Research Institute think tank — fails to mention.

For instance, he insists that parents should have the right to choose the school their children attend. And so they do. Guaranteed by law. What he fails to mention is that the general public is under absolutely no moral or legal obligation to pay for it.

Even though WPRI now recognizes that parents aren’t doing a particularly good job of choosing schools for their children, George contends that they alone should make the call. Another thing he fails to mention is that raising children is a responsibility shared between parents and society as a whole. It’s the entire culture that insists that kids be immunized, fed, clothed, and schooled (and, in societies more enlightened than ours, provided with health care), and gets downright intolerant of parents who abuse or neglect their kids, or try to use them as cheap labor.

George also fails to mention that public-school choice is a direct competitor against the darling of the neocon movement: PRIVATE-school choice. And, while WPRI was happy to do a study showing the shortcomings of PUBLIC-school choice, the right wing has resisted every effort to subject PRIVATE-school choice to comparable scrutiny.

The reason for this is simple. When Milwaukee’s program was first instituted as a limited experiment, it had an evaluation component. After 5 years, the study (headed by highly respected UW-Milwaukee Education Professor Alex Molnar) had piled up lots of data, the reports were filed, and the private-school kids had done no better than their public-school counterparts. This was a far cry from the glories that had been promised when the “experiment” was begun. The reaction of Gov. Tommy Thompson’s administration? Declare victory, remove the “experimental” tag, expand the program, and eliminate the evaluation! To this day, the private schools are exempt from the kind of accountability that the public schools face on a daily basis.

George advances the corporatist party line that the invisible hand of the market will inevitably cause top-quality schools to bubble up to the top. Quality, quality, quality. That’s all anybody ever looks for in a school, according to the propaganda. The George Lightbourn of a quarter century ago would not have been so naïve as to presume (nor so disingenuous as to pretend) that this is remotely close to reality. I could cite several dozen reasons OTHER than quality that parents use in choosing schools, but just consider a couple of parallel situations: entertainment (vigorous exercise vs. violent video games) and nutrition (a healthy, balanced diet vs. junk food). Those choices are just as free and unfettered as they are with respect to the schools. Do parents invariably choose quality, 100% of the time? The correct answer is another thing George fails to mention.

George also fails to mention that WPRI’s cover has long since been blown. It’s clearly a front for the twin pillars of neoconservatism: corporations and churches. Neither of these institutions is primarily concerned with children as human beings. The former wants their money; the latter wants their souls. They’d be thrilled to see what they derogate as “government schools” close up shop altogether. But they DO foresee a role for government in the final picture: as an endless source of funding.

For the rest of us, their hope is that we’ll end up like George Lightbourn: glossing over the whole truth to focus on the party line, ignoring the big picture for the big bucks.

I suppose it’s POSSIBLE that WPRI could be the source of an honest study on education. It’s also POSSIBLE that the tobacco industry could have done honest research into the health effects of smoking. Sometimes honesty really IS the best policy, if it furthers your agenda. But keen observers will always want to know: Even if what you DID show us is true, what is it you’re NOT telling us? What do you fail to mention?

Now, these folks will undoubtedly counter that we advocates for the public schools have an agenda of our own. And they’re right. We do. It was best stated about a century ago by John Dewey: “What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children.”

George fails to mention that, too.

Richard S. Russell

The 5 greatest bargains in America:
(1) sunshine
(2) fresh air
(3) clean water
(4) public libraries
(5) public schools

Thomas J. Mertz

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by Thomas J. Mertz | November 10, 2007 · 12:17 am

Quote of the Day

We don’t usually venture into higher ed, but the local angle, the applicability to k-12 education and the fact that it comes from one of my favorite education bloggers (and historians of education) inspired this exception:

Wisconsin is essentially drinking the Kool-Aid of poorly-constructed standardized testing as a proxy for accountability.

Sherman Dorn

The context is the University of Wisconsin’s preemptive and premature embrace of an unproven and unwise accountability system.

Thomas J. Mertz

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by Thomas J. Mertz | November 8, 2007 · 8:23 pm

Teacher shows folly of No Child Left Behind

Dave Zweifel on high stakes testing in Madison:

“David Wasserman, the Sennett Middle School teacher who was threatened with firing when he refused to administer one of those questionable No Child Left Behind tests, needs to be commended for having the courage to open a few eyes.

Wasserman eventually administered the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam when he learned his protest was a firable offense. He was prepared to accept a reprimand, but, like most of us, he needs his job and the family health insurance that goes with it.

His actions, though, served to get the NCLB issue on the table where it needs to be thoroughly examined not just by educators, but by everyone concerned about the direction of our schools. It’s one of those tough ones to oppose — who, after all, doesn’t want to make sure that no school child is left behind? — but it’s just another example of how this administration has succeeded in hoodwinking the country with empty and optimistic promises. A quick war in Iraq, but one example.

Rather than training young people to be well-rounded adult citizens, the act has forced teachers to teach only for tests that are focused on mathematics and reading, subjects held in high regard by corporate America.

Meanwhile, courses that make up the bedrock of good citizenship — history, social studies, arts, music, geography and science — get short shrift because if the kids don’t do well enough in those reading and math tests, their schools will be penalized.

Just last week the Chicago Tribune ran a story on Huntley High School in the city’s suburbs, a school that has doubled its student enrollment over five years and has had to hire 30 new teachers fresh out of college to take care of them.

But, because the NCLB act allows no consideration for any outside forces that may impact a school, Huntley High is given no slack as it works to get those 30 teachers up to par. Education experts say it takes teachers two or three years just to learn the school climate.

Another story detailed how the act requires that special education students meet the same test standards.

“It’s a great theory. Of course we want all students to do well, but it doesn’t always work that way,” one teacher lamented.

In Illinois, 297 schools failed to meet the NCLB standards this year. A third of them did so solely because their special ed kids couldn’t meet the requirements.

Problems like that have been reported throughout the country, but the administration and Congress act as though everything is going well. Just this week, a congressional committee that was working on improving the act signalled that it wouldn’t get to it this year.

Maybe — just maybe — teachers like David Wasserman can wake them up.”

Robert Godfrey

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by Thomas J. Mertz | November 8, 2007 · 5:41 pm

Ohio Goes After Charter Schools That Are Failing

The New York Times chronicles the wide spread phenomenon of failing charter schools in Ohio.

Ohio became a test tube for the nation’s charter school movement during a decade of Republican rule here, when a wide-open authorization system and plenty of government seed money led to the schools’ explosive proliferation.

But their record has been spotty. This year, the state’s school report card gave more than half of Ohio’s 328 charter schools a D or an F.

Now its Democratic governor and attorney general, elected when Democrats won five of Ohio’s six top posts last November, are cracking down on the schools, which receive public money but are run by independent operators. And across the country, charter school advocates are watching nervously, fearful the backlash could spread.

Some 4,000 charter schools now operate across the nation, most advertising themselves as a smaller, safer alternative to the neighborhood school. Nationwide, the movement has gained traction among Democrats, partly because of the successes of a few quality nonprofit operators.

But some charters are mediocre, and Ohio has a far higher failure rate than most states. Fifty-seven percent of its charter schools, most of which are in cities, are in academic watch or emergency, compared with 43 percent of traditional public schools in Ohio’s big cities.

Behind the Ohio charter failures are systemic weaknesses that include loopholes in oversight, a law allowing 70 government and private agencies to authorize new charters, and financial incentives that encourage sponsors to let schools stay open.

Robert Godfrey

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by Thomas J. Mertz | November 7, 2007 · 5:42 pm

Election Roundup

The biggest news is the overwhelming rejection of a statewide voucher plan in Utah.

Washington State has a requirement of a 60% super majority for school levies. There was a ballot measure to require only a simple majority. Returns aren’t final, but it appears to be failing. More info here.

Update: Voters say no to simple majority.

Many, many referenda in Minnesota (99 total, the second most in state history). 67.6% of the operating levy referenda passed; 50% of the districts asking for bond referenda and capital projects passed at least one request. For more, see these links:

Districts reel from levy failures

School levy wins don’t quiet calls for more state cash

School funding advocates offer day-after commentary on school levy elections

Latest: What’s next for schools? For many, plans for next referendum

Complete list of School Districts’ Referendum Results ( Minnesota School Boards Association)

Closer to home, there were a number of school referenda on the ballot Tuesday (and a few others, from September and October).

Voters Approve Abbotsford School Referendum (building).

Abbotsford passes $12 million building referendum

Denmark referendum fails for fourth time (building, maintenance and operation).

Galesville-Ettrick Voters Pass School Referendums (building).

Genoa City (building — I can’t find a report yet, but it passed, 250-227). Update: ‘Yes’ to school project.

Hartford voters reject school referendums (building and operating).