Reform Rolls Through Indiana

[UPDATE: A quick update on HB 1486. It was recommitted back to education committee to continue to work on it. Apparently the original bill has been changed and is still being worked on to address many of these concerns. Keep an eye on that one...I know I am.]

CECI: SHADOW DOE

In early December Governor Pence decided that CECI had to go. CECI is the Center for Education and Career Innovation, a controversial agency he created last year to quietly take become the Indiana Department of "Reformist" Education. The actual Indiana Department of Education (DOE), for those of you who are not from Indiana, is run by Glenda Ritz, a Democrat who won a surprise victory over Reformist favorite, and cheater, Tony Bennett.

With Ritz at the helm of the DOE "reformers" could no longer change the rules for favored charter schools or ignore the rules about politicking.

Ritz also ran on a platform which called for stopping the reform steamroller crushing Indiana's public education system. The Governor and the Republicans in the state's General Assembly are in favor of the expansion of Indiana's already expansive voucher program. They're for the expansion of Indiana's charter industry. In other words, the Governor and the Republicans in the General Assembly are in favor of privatizing education in Indiana. Ritz ran on a pro-public education platform against privatization and she won the election handily over the reformist, Bennett.

Once elected, Superintendent Ritz and Governor Pence were in conflict. Most of the conflict was between Ritz and the Governor's proxy, the State Board of Education (SBOE).

The Governor, to make things easier for himself, created CECI in order to give full time help to the members of the SBOE who were charged with carrying out his agenda. Then, in December, Pence claimed the high road by disbanding CECI (which, as of this writing, hasn't happened), because it was too controversial.

ENTER THE LEGISLATURE

The Indiana House of Representatives has a supermajority of Republicans. The first education bill this year (HB1609), which passed just yesterday, February 9, 2015, removes the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz, as chair of the SBOE. Ritz is the only elected member of the SBOE; all other members of the board are appointed by the Governor. The bill allows the board to choose its own chair.

Now that the only voice of the voters on the SBOE has been reduced to "a member" (assuming the Senate's version of the bill passes as well) the way is clear for Pence and Co. to continue their assault on public education.

Unfortunately, the DOE still has control of much of the public education process in the state. So, the next bill in the privatization steamroller is HB1486, which would transfer important Department of Education functions to the SBOE. It would also allow them to hire an executive director and staff to run things.

The summary of House Bill 1486 from the General Assembly web site...

Education issues. Requires the state board of education (state board) to adopt voluntary prekindergarten standards that align with the kindergarten through grade 12 standards. Provides that records of the state board shall be kept by the state board. (Current law provides that the records are kept by the state superintendent of public instruction.) Provides that the state board oversees the operation of turnaround academies. Provides that the state board shall appoint an executive director of the state board. Provides that the state board may employ third party experts and consultants to assist the state board in carrying out the state board's functions. Provides that the state board is considered a state educational authority within the meaning of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Provides that the department of education (department) shall provide any data necessary to conduct an audit or evaluation of any federal or state supported program principally engaged in the provision of education. Provides that the state board may adopt rules relating to performance qualified schools. Provides that a model teacher evaluation plan developed by the department must be approved by the state board. Authorizes the state board to establish academic standards in subject areas determined appropriate by the state board. Provides that the update of academic standards must be revised on a schedule determined by the state board. Makes changes to who may be appointed to the academic standards committee. Provides that the state board may obtain assistance from the legislative services agency with the approval of the legislative council or another entity to ensure the validity and reliability of the performance category or designation placements calculated by the department. Makes various changes to the administration of the ISTEP program. Makes various changes to provisions relating to the assessment of school performance. Requires the state board to require IREAD-3 as a statewide assessment to assess reading skills in grade 3.

In a (rather large) nutshell, HB1486...

• Moves the records of the SBOE from the DOE to SBOE
• Gives the SBOE control of the operation of "Turnaround Academies"
• Allows the SBOE to appoint an executive director (Claire Fiddian-Green, perhaps?)
• Employ third party "experts and consultants" to assist the SBOE (CECI staff? Tony Bennett?)
• Makes the SBOE a state educational authority (FERPA)
• Provides that the Indiana DOE give the SBOE data so the SBOE can conduct an audit or evaluation of any federal (like CECI tried to do with the state's NCLB waiver) or state program
• Authorizes the SBOE to establish academic standards in subject areas determined appropriate by themselves
• Provides that the update of academic standards must be revised on a schedule determined by the SBOE
• Makes changes to who may be appointed to the academic standards committee. The bill includes higher education representatives with subject matter expertise, and "industry representatives" in addition to subject area teachers and parents
• Allows the SBOE to obtain assistance from "another entity" to determine A-F categories with the DOE providing data.
• Gives the SBOE authority to develop and implement ISTEP including but not limited to, content, format, and cut scores
• Gives the SBOE the option to "check" the DOE school performance ratings
• Gives SBOE Control over IREAD-3

No wonder Governor Pence was so willing to let CECI go...he knew the legislature would create another, more "reform" friendly Department of Education and attach it to the State Board of Education.

HB1609 now goes to the Senate...which also has a supermajority of Republicans. HB 1486 will likely pass as well. I'll follow them both...

It looks like the CECI staff members might be able to keep their jobs after all.

ASIDE: DEMOCRAPUBLICANS

I have to add one more thing. In Indiana it's the Republicans who are working hard to destroy public education. But it isn't necessarily so everywhere...and it might not have been so in Indiana had Mike Pence not become Governor.

Governor Pence's opponent in the last election was DFER June 2012 Reformer of the Month, John Gregg. I have no doubt that he would have been an only slightly better Indiana Governor for the public schools of the state.

There are also some Democrats on the Indiana State Board of Education, though it would be hard to identify them by their votes.

My point is that Democrats, by definition, are not necessarily friendly to public education. Take a look at the Illinois legislature and the Governor of New York, for example. Even worse is the President and his US Education Department tool, Arne Duncan.

Reformists all.

The only way this is going to change is if parents and teachers stand up and make a lot of noise...

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Support Teachers of Conscience

The narrow pursuit of test results has sidelined education issues of enduring importance such as poverty, equity in school funding, school segregation, health and physical education, science, the arts, access to early childhood education, class size, and curriculum development. We have witnessed the erosion of teachers’ professional autonomy, a narrowing of curriculum, and classrooms saturated with “test score-raising” instructional practices that betray our understandings of child development and our commitment to educating for artistry and critical thinking. And so now we are faced with “a crisis of pedagogy”–teaching in a system that no longer resembles the democratic ideals or tolerates the critical thinking and critical decision-making that we hope to impart on the students we teach.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

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Vermont State Board of Education: Statement and Resolution on Assessment and Accountability, Adopted August 19, 2014

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Making it Harder to be a Teacher

BLAME THE TEACHERS-AGAIN

Once again we're told that it's impossible that so many Indiana teachers are "effective." Claire Fiddian-Green, the state's former "superintendent of privatization," said that the number of F schools (rating based mostly on test scores) is too many when compared to the number of "ineffective" teachers (also based on test scores).

She cited the number of F schools — about 4 percent of schools in Indiana last year — as out of step with less than 1 percent of teachers rated ineffective.

"I do think that calls into mind whether the models, especially the local models, are being implemented with fidelity when it comes to the law," she said.

Ms. Fiddian-Greed was Governor Pence's "point person" on education and the former head of the Center for Career and Education Innovation, or CECI, which the Governor closed in a blatant attempt to gain political points...after he opened it in 2013 in a blatant attempt to gain political points.

Let's give Fiddian-Green the benefit of the doubt. She may have been Governor Pence's point person on education, but she only has a BA from Brown University in Political Science and Russian Studies, and an MBA from Columbia. Perhaps she really doesn't understand education, and specifically public education, at all.

Perhaps she doesn't understand that there are other factors which have an impact on Indiana students' test scores in addition to their teachers. Factors like low birth weight, lack of health care (mental, physical and dental), food insecurity, community stresses and family relations. Factors related to a child's outside-of-school life affect his or her achievement. Educators know this...Poli-Sci majors and MBA's perhaps not so much. I suggest that she read David C. Berliner's Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success for more information. If that's too long or complicated, she can read a summary here.

There's more.

Does Ms. Fiddian-Green know that nearly 50% of teachers leave the profession before their 5th year? The percentage is even higher in schools or school districts with many high poverty students. Why does that happen and who are those teachers who leave?

ANYONE CAN TEACH

The first group of people who leave teaching early are those who don't understand that the job is difficult...and teaching expensive and difficult to educate students, while being held accountable for 100% of their learning, is even more difficult. People who have never taught, while they might be able to imagine the difficulties, don't really know how hard it is...just like I don't really know how hard it is to run a newspaper, or campaign for President, or build an airplane, or drive a semi across the country.

Some college students majoring in education (although because of the destructive forces aligned against public education, there are fewer of those these days) think that teaching is easy...like baby-sitting. All you have to do is tell the students what they need to know and they learn it...plus you only work 7 hours a day and get your summers off. Those people don't last very long in a classroom.

THOSE WHO CAN'T, LEAVE

There's another group of teachers who leave the profession early -- those who aren't very good at it. Good administrators understand this and will try to help newbies get better. However, there are some who just can't cut it in a classroom. It's no coincidence that most states don't grant teachers permanent status (aka tenure) immediately. This gives principals and administrations time to weed out the weak links. Those teachers who just aren't destined to be adequate teachers are either fired soon after they're hired, or they are "counseled out" --  which means that they're allowed to quit rather than be fired.

Of course, there are a few teachers who aren't very good, who somehow get past the first few years and make it to the permanent ranks. Poor administrators who don't do their jobs are the main reason for this.

But by the time year six in a teacher's career comes along most of the people who think the job is too difficult are gone, and so are most of the duds. For the most part, the ones who remain are the "effective" and "highly effective" teachers.

Out of school factors...getting rid of the inadequate performers early...those are the reasons that the number of "bad teachers" doesn't match the number of F schools.

Unfortunately, Claire Fiddian-Green is not the only one who doesn't get it. The legislature, the Governor, and other privatizers, are going to make sure that they punish more teachers by blaming them for the fact that some students have difficulty passing a test.

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Sign An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Vermont State Board of Education: Statement and Resolution on Assessment and Accountability, Adopted August 19, 2014

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A Chance to Fix Our Mistake

ELECTION OF GLENDA RITZ - 2012

Two years ago the voters of Indiana elected Glenda Ritz to the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Her opponent, incumbent Tony Bennett, ran on a platform of continuing reform...more vouchers, continued increase in charters, more testing, evaluating teachers using tests, weakening teachers unions, lowered standards for education professionals...and the usual "reformy"-type attacks on public schools and teachers.

Glenda Ritz ran on a platform of more control by local school boards, fewer tests (including getting rid of IREAD-3), higher standards for educators, eliminating the A-F ratings for public schools, and more support for public schools/less support for privatization.

WE GOT TONY BENNETT

We elected Glenda Ritz, but we got Tony Bennett's platform. In the last 2 years, the 1.3 million Hoosier voters who supported Glenda Ritz got...

• More public money spent on vouchers
• More public money given to privately run charters
• More testing
• Evaluation of teachers using test scores,
• Less control by local school boards
• Lowered standards for entry into the teaching profession
• Continued grading schools A-F based on a flawed metric

In the last 2 years, the teachers of Indiana got...

• Loss of due process
• Loss of collective bargaining rights
• Loss of credit for expertise and experience
• Evaluations based on the test scores of their students
• Testing, testing and more testing

In the last 2 years, Glenda Ritz got...

• Constant disrespect and attacks by members of the State Board of Education
• Blatant disrespect by the governor (who received fewer votes than she did)
• A wasteful new bureaucracy created by the governor (CECI) to undermine her role as Indiana's education leader and to usurp the authority of the Indiana DOE

VOTE FOR GLENDA RITZ AGAIN

The voters of Indiana have a chance to finish the job they started when they voted for Glenda Ritz in 2012. Elect friends of public education to the state legislature and help Glenda Ritz do the job we elected her to do.

There are 1.3 million of us who voted for Glenda Ritz because we wanted changes in the state's public education policies. We then turned around and voted for other state officeholders who have prevented her from doing what we asked her to do. It's time to fix that mistake and elect legislators and officeholders who will

1. return control of local schools to local school boards
2. reduce the overuse and misuse of standardized testing
3. restore professionalism to teachers and treat them with the respect they are due
4. restore economic and community support for Indiana's public schools
5. earmark public tax dollars to public schools, not private corporations

Choose to support your local public schools.

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Sign An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Vermont State Board of Education: Statement and Resolution on Assessment and Accountability, Adopted August 19, 201

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CALL TO ACTION: Tell the Governor, State Board of Education, and your legislators to allow Superintendent Glenda Ritz to do her job

Reposted from the Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Monroe County and South Central Indiana

When over 1,300,000 Indiana voters of both parties elected Glenda Ritz for state superintendent of public instruction it was a clear message that we wanted change in education. However, Gov. Pence, his appointed state board and the supermajority in our state legislature have spent the last two and a half years denying that mandate and throwing roadblocks in Ritz’s way.

We have watched in amazement as our state legislature continued the attack on public education and even introduced bills to take away Ritz’s authority. When these bills failed, we were outraged to see our governor use his executive power to create a second, shadow department of education, the Center for Education and Career Innovation, using millions of our taxpayer dollars.

This blatant usurping of Ritz’s authority and continual disrespect to the voters is now to be compounded by new rules being put forth tomorrow, July 9th, which replaces responsibilities of the chair (Ritz) with the “board staff” or CECI for creating agenda items and procedures.

Granted, it is a difficult situation to have a publicly elected superintendent and her department of education try to work effectively with a state board of education and a SECOND department of education who are tasked with the corporate reform agenda of the governor. The addition of an expensive, unnecessary education department chaired by Claire Fiddian-Greene (who is not an educator) further complicates the situation. All concerned claim to be “for the kids” yet one side represents a democratic process; the other represents an undermining of that process.

It would seem that our legislators who sit passively by and allow our children to be pawns in this political game are ignoring our message in allowing the governor and many of his state board members to void our votes.

Let us be clear:

We voted for Glenda Ritz because we believe that public education is the cornerstone of our democracy.

We voted for Glenda Ritz because we believe that public tax dollars belong in public schools.

We voted for Glenda Ritz because we believe in the profession of teaching and that educators, not politicians, should make policy decisions.

We voted for Glenda Ritz because we know that testing does not equal teaching and that our children are suffering under the use of tests as punishments to schools, teachers and kids within.

We voted for Glenda Ritz most of all because we know that these politicians, fed by their donors, care more about turning our schools into a for-profit venture where the dollar, not the child, is the bottom line.

How can we support Glenda Ritz and reinforce our votes and get our message across? Vote wisely this fall. In the meantime:

Contact Governor Pence: http://in.gov/gov/2333.htm

Contact the SBOE members: http://www.in.gov/sboe/2527.htm and http://www.in.gov/sboe/2423.htm

Contact your state legislators: https://capwiz.com/nea/in/home/

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REPA REDUX

RULES FOR TEACHER LICENSING

The Indiana State Board of Education is once again looking at the qualifications for educators and are examining the proposed changes described in REPA III (Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability) this week.

In 2012, the Tony Bennett-run school board tried to force REPA II through in Bennett's last days in office. Bennett was apparently trying to get them approved before then Superintendent-elect Glenda Ritz could take office. Because of procedural problems, however, the state attorney general prevented implementation. Vic Smith reports.

When the Attorney General’s office reviewed what the State Board had changed in the published rules, they halted implementation of the rules based on procedural problems in the rule-making process. The Attorney General’s ruling meant clarifications had to be drafted and additional public hearings had to be scheduled. State Board member Tony Walker, apparently eager to implement REPA 2, expressed great frustration about the delay during one State Board meeting. Teacher educators, in contrast, were pleased by the Attorney General’s ruling and hoped it would mean the end of REPA 2.

I made some comments at the time because REPA II called for lowering standards for teacher, principal and superintendent licensing.

Now, REPA III has brought the same thing back again. Vic Smith wrote

REPA 2 was Dr. Bennett’s parting shot to try to lower standards for getting teacher and administrator licenses. He asked the State Board to pass the revised rules in December of 2012 after his election defeat. They were passed but with so many amendments that the Attorney General ruled that the rules could not be finalized until they were clarified and given another round of public hearings.

The CECI has now picked up the ball and is calling them REPA 3. They contain at least four really bad ideas:

1) Individuals with any four year degree can get a 5-year “Adjunct” teaching license.

2) Training required to get a principal’s license would be reduced.

3) Training required to get a superintendent’s license would be reduced.

4) Administrative certification can be offered by non-higher education organizations. Whether for-profit private organizations can become training sites for administrators and adjunct teachers is not clear but remains a possibility that should be clarified before the hearings.

...and later...

...[The] problem is the assumption that pedagogical training is a trivial part of becoming a teacher. Why would anyone bother to look into a School of Education teacher training program, especially a rigorous one, if they know they can teach with any bachelor’s degree after passing a content area test? Has the Governor concluded that to know something is to be able to teach it to students? We know better.

A couple of years ago I read a prediction by Stephen Krashen. He predicted that Arne Duncan would eventually claim that

...teachers don't need any kind of degree in education or any course work in education.

Duncan hasn't said that yet...Indiana Governor Mike Pence, the CECI (his shadow department of education) and supporters of REPA III have beaten him to it.

DOES TEACHER QUALITY MATTER?

Does teacher quality, including pedagogical training, actually matter?

In her book, The Flat World and Education, Linda Darling-Hammond discussed just this issue.

Ronald Fersuson demonstrated that...that the single most important measurable cause of increased student learning was teacher expertise, measured by teacher performance on a statewide certification exam measuring academic skills and teaching knowledge, along with teacher experience, and master's degrees. The effects were so strong, and the variations in teacher expertise so great, that after controlling for socioeconomic status the large disparities in achievement between Black and White students were almost entirely accounted for by differences in the qualifications of their teachers. [emphasis added]

There are two important things to note in that paragraph. First, the teacher expertise included teaching knowledge. Knowledge about teaching is important...not just content knowledge! Second, just to make sure that we're clear on the issue of poverty, this study was done "after controlling for socioeconomic status" (Teachers are the most important IN-SCHOOL factor in student learning. Out of school factors play a much bigger role. See Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success by Berliner, et al).

Other pertinent comments from Darling-Hammond

The strongest predictors of student failure were the proportion of teachers without any training or certification...

Among the school resource measures, the level of teacher experience and a related measure -- the percentage of teachers without a full credential -- are the variables most strongly related to student achievement.

[NOTE: These are all referring to the effect on student achievement after controlling for socioeconomic status.]

Would any members of the school board continue to go to a dentist who allowed an untrained person to work with patients in his/her office even if that person knew a lot about teeth? Would any members of the school board use an attorney who allowed an untrained person to speak for his/her firm in court, even if that person knew a lot about the law? Would any member of the school board got on board a plane flown by an untrained person, even if that person knew a lot about aerodynamics?

Professional work needs to be done by professionals.

MORE

To read Vic Smith's discussion of the REPA III language click here.

If you'd like to tell the School Board how you feel about REPA III, public comments on the proposed language will be accepted until January 31, 2014. Go the SBOE website at http://www.in.gov/sboe/REPAIIIcomment.htm to enter your comments. The proposed rule language can be found here.

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Sign An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

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