[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — April 1, 2015

[Art Snyder]

  April 01, 2015 - In This Issue:
The absurd insistence on a four-year degree
That 5th-year teaching plateau: plain wrong
The Common Core: promises, promises
Coming soon: A larger gap in achievement scores
A metric is only useful as a metric when it isn't used as a metric
The 'quite small' impact of the Common Core to date
In New Orleans, some open enrollment is less open than others
Not to be confused with Ed in '08
BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
BRIEFLY NOTED
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
 The absurd insistence on a four-year degree
It's an absurdity that a four-year college degree has become the only gateway into the American middle class, writes Robert Reich for The Christian Science Monitor. Not every young person is suited to four years of college: They may be bright and ambitious, but would get little out of it and would rather be doing something else, like making money or painting murals. Yet they feel compelled since they've been told over and over that a college degree is necessary. If they start and drop out, they feel like failures. If they get the degree, they're stuck with a huge bill they may be paying down for years. All too often, jobs they land after graduating don't pay enough to make the degree worthwhile. Last year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that 46 percent of recent college graduates were in jobs not requiring a college degree. The biggest frauds are for-profit colleges, raking in money even as their students drop out in droves, and whose diplomas are barely worth the ink-jets they're printed on. America clings to the conceit that four years of college are necessary for everyone, and looks down on people without college degrees. This must stop. Young people need an alternative: a world-class system of vocational-technical education. A four-year college degree isn't necessary for many of tomorrow's good jobs. More
 That 5th-year teaching plateau: plain wrong
The notion that teachers only improve in their first three years is deeply ingrained in K-12 policy discussions, but two new studies suggest teaching effectiveness increases for at least the first decade, reports Stephen Sawchuck for Education Week. Pinning down the connection between a teacher's experience and effectiveness has been methodologically challenging, because of difficulties in comparing student cohorts taught by teachers with different training and backgrounds. Cross-sectional comparisons have found few performance differences between early- and later-career teachers. However, a forthcoming study in the Journal of Public Economics looks at 200,000 student test scores linked to 3,500 teachers from an unnamed urban district, analyzing those data through three methods that each rely on different baseline assumptions about capturing growth in teacher effectiveness. Under all three, researchers found teachers' capacity to boost student achievement grew well beyond the three- to five-year mark. A different paper by the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research analyzed records from 1.2 million students in North Carolina from 2007-2011, including absences, disciplinary offenses, and test scores. Researchers found teachers gained in effectiveness for at least 12 years, and as they gained experience, were linked to lower rates of student absenteeism. Both studies portray teacher effectiveness as a mutable characteristic that develops, rather than a static one formed the first few years teaching. More
 The Common Core: promises, promises
In 2010, plans for Common Core-aligned tests were introduced with fanfare and promises they'd end dumbed-down, multiple-choice tests and weeks of mindless prepping, writes Emmanuel Felton for McClatchy. They'd bring coherence to a mishmash of state exams and allow states for the first time to compare local students to peers elsewhere. Their online format would make testing more efficient, accurate, and relevant to the digital age. Now, however, political battles over the Common Core have dampened enthusiasm, as has concern about expected length: Smarter Balanced exams could take 8.5 hours; some PARCC tests will take 10. Of 26 states that joined PARCC, just 11 plus Washington, D.C. will test this spring. Of the 31 that signed up for Smarter Balanced, 18 will test. Some states have already committed to leaving consortia next year. The biggest difference in the tests will be new "performance tasks." For English, these sections ask students to write using evidence from the texts. For math, performance tasks are multi-step problems that require strategic thinking. Though less vulnerable to prepping, performance-task sections rely heavily on open-ended questions, which take more time to answer and are more complicated -- and more expensive -- to grade. With so much in flux, the tests will likely need several iterations to improve. More
 Coming soon: A larger gap in achievement scores
The Common Core was rolled out with promises of closing learning and achievement gaps, but in the short term, gaps will almost certainly grow wider, writes Tara García Mathewson for The Hechinger Report. The gap in scores between disadvantaged students and peers has already ballooned in Illinois, New York, and Kentucky, all of which launched early versions of aligned exams. In Illinois, the achievement gap increased 94 percent the first year. In Kentucky, a 16-point proficiency gap among third-graders increased to 21 points. These early tests weren't taken on computers, so schools across the country are scrambling to prepare disadvantaged students who have less experience with online formats. Test-makers argue that in the long run, Common Core tests will help level the playing field, since their computer-based format incorporates new tools. For non-native English speakers and those with special needs, new features can help them display knowledge they've always had but were unable to demonstrate. Still, skeptics remain. Harvard's Daniel Koretz has studied the introduction of new tests in various states and found score gaps shrink on tests used for high-stakes purposes much more than on other exams. Because aligned tests will eventually factor into staffing decisions in many states, and in some cases, graduation requirements, they'll be just as susceptible to score inflation. More
 A metric is only useful as a metric when it isn't used as a metric
What will happen when teachers are systematically rewarded or punished based on standardized tests? asks Eduardo Porter in The New York Times. The design of any system must be carefully thought through to avoid sending incentives astray, since people -- wittingly or unwittingly -- goose numbers once a measure is set up. The phenomenon is known as Goodhart's Law, though one economist calls it the Heisenberg Principle of incentive design, after the defining uncertainty of quantum physics: A performance metric is only useful as a performance metric as long as it isn't used as a performance metric. Some hospitals in the United States, for example, will do whatever it takes to keep patients alive at least 31 days after surgery to beat Medicare's 30-day survival yardstick. Last year, the Chicago Police Department achieved declining crime rates simply by reclassifying incidents as noncriminal. American education has embarked on a nationwide experiment in incentive design, with most states instituting teacher-evaluation systems reliant in some part on student gains on standardized tests. Studies that measured the efficacy of this evaluation method did so when test scores carried little weight for teachers' future careers. What happens when scores determine teacher bonuses or job retention? More
 The 'quite small' impact of the Common Core to date
As part of the 2015 Brown Center Report on American Education from the Brookings Institution, Tom Loveless undertook an empirical examination of when the Common Core (CCSS) actually started, since, as he points out, it's difficult to gauge policy effect if you can't say when it began. His analysis uses surveys of implementations to model different CCSS starting points for states, and produces a second early report card on CCSS impact (the first was issued last year). Loveless takes NAEP data for 2009-2013 and two indexes of CCSS implementation, one based on data collected in 2011, the second from data collected in 2013, and finds fourth grade reading scores improved by 1.11 scale score points in states with strong CCSS implementation, compared to states that did not adopt CCSS. A similar comparison in last year's report found a 1.27-point difference on NAEP's eighth grade math test, also favoring states with strong CCSS implementation. These differences are quite small, at most 0.04 standard deviations (SD) on the NAEP scale. A threshold of 0.20 SD -- five times larger -- is generally the minimum for a test-score change to be considered significant. And Loveless stresses his findings are merely statistical associations, and cannot be used to make causal claims. He anticipates 2015 NAEP scores will be important indicators for the Common Core. More
 In New Orleans, some open enrollment is less open than others
School choice is premised on the idea that competition forces schools to improve, but a study from the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans suggests principals in that choice-friendly city are less likely to improve academics to attract students, reports Emma Brown for The Washington Post. Of 30 schools examined, leaders at just 10 said they competed for students by improving programs or operations. Twenty-five schools said they competed by marketing existing programs, including with signs, billboards, t-shirts, home visits, and incentives for parents to refer potential students. Seventeen leaders added extracurricular or niche programs like arts-integration or language immersion to distinguish themselves from competition. And leaders at 10 schools exercised some sort of recruiting or screening, though most were open-enrollment schools where these practices are prohibited. The study argues it's impossible to interpret changes in student achievement without also understanding how choice actually works -- i.e., how increased competition translates into change. The findings suggest New Orleans should do more to ensure children have equitable access to schools, and that schools need supports to improve instruction. The city's new centralized school-assignment process, OneApp, may reduce student filtering, but in general, a stronger central authority in the district will likely draw resistance from a charter-school sector that counts independence among its biggest advantages. More
 Not to be confused with Ed in '08
The National Education Association, the largest U.S. teachers union, has already jumped into the 2016 presidential race, even though only one major candidate has announced a campaign, reports Rebecca Klein. NEA president Lily Eskelsen García announced that the union and its 3 million members are considering candidate endorsements earlier than ever in an attempt to foreground education in the election. In the past, the NEA would send to politicians questionnaires about their views on education after candidacies had been announced. This time, the union has sent questionnaires to all viable candidates in both political parties to determine potential candidates' stances on issues that include the role of standardized tests, ballooning costs for university education, and the rising number of students from low-income families. The NEA also has begun hiring organizers in states with early voting, including Iowa and New Hampshire, and is putting up billboards in Des Moines and Manchester. NEA leaders wouldn't say how much the union plans to spend on the election. During the 2014 mid-term elections, the NEA and smaller American Federation of Teachers together spent an unprecedented $60 million (to uncertain effect). The AFT also has reportedly begun engaging members on whom to endorse in 2016, though no earlier than in past presidential races. More
 BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
 
Not ready,
The president of the California Board of Education estimates that less than half of California's teachers are fully prepared to teach the new instructional standards known as the Common Core. More
 
Serious money
California districts are caught in a fight with the federal government over $500 million in unpaid Medi-Cal reimbursement claims. More
 
Knowledge, but no action
Although new school reporting requirements have been cited as helping to reduce student suspensions statewide, fewer than one out of five California districts is setting annual goals based on the subgroups that receive the disproportionate share of discipline. More
 
Testing imBalance
As millions of California students prepare to take the new Smarter Balanced assessments this spring, due to delays, most will not have had the benefit of taking a series of "interim assessments" that were supposed to help them and their teachers prepare. More
 
A bit of a chasm
The LAUSD and UTLA remain divided by more than $774 million per year and at odds over teacher evaluations, according to the LAUSD chief labor negotiator. More

 BRIEFLY NOTED 
 
Glut is now scarcity
Districts throughout the country are struggling to find substitute teachers, a shortage that has worsened as the unemployment rate improved. More
 
The Energizer Bunny of anti-Common Core
Gov. Bobby Jindal kicked off the upcoming legislative session by announcing he would back three pieces of legislation aimed at removing the Common Core from the state curriculum. More
http://www.nola.com/education/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2015/03/gov_bobby_jindal_looks_to_legi.html
 
But don't get too comfortable
An agreement has been reached on legislation that would keep Tennessee current academic standards intact -- for now -- despite efforts to repeal them. More
 
Meanwhile
Charging that Tennessee has breached its constitutional duty to provide "a system of free public education" for children in the state, the Hamilton County Board of Education and six smaller districts are suing, asking the court to order the General Assembly to address hundreds of millions of dollars of underfunding. More
 
Back to Go
A Kansas University law professor said one result of the state's new school-finance law could be to halt an ongoing lawsuit over school funding, and forcing plaintiffs to start over. More
 
Charters come to Alabama
Gov. Robert Bentley has signed into law a bill allowing charter schools in Alabama. More
 
Carpool time
The Indiana Supreme Court has determined the state constitution does not require districts to offer busing, which could clear the way for cash-strapped schools to tell kids to find their own rides to school. More
 
Contrary to popular belief
Joshua Goodman of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government examined weather data, student test scores, and attendance data in Massachusetts between 2003 and 2010, and found the number of school days canceled because of snow in a given year had no impact on children's math and reading test scores. More

 
 GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

 
Discovery Education 3M: Young Scientist Challenge
With the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, students have the opportunity to create an engaging one- to two-minute science video that describes a new, innovative solution to a real-world problem. Maximum award: $25,000 in U.S. Savings Bonds; a trip to 3M's World Headquarters in St. Paul, MN; contest trophy, and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist." Eligibility: all legal U.S. residents who are students enrolled in 5th through 8th grade at a public, private, parochial, or home school located in one of the fifty states or the District of Columbia. Deadline: April 21, 2015. More
 
Dollar General: Youth Literacy Grants
Dollar General Youth Literacy Grants provide funding to schools, public libraries, and nonprofit organizations to help students who are below grade level or experiencing difficulty reading. Grant funding is provided to assist in implementing new or expanding existing literacy programs; purchasing new technology or equipment to support literacy initiatives; or purchasing books, materials or software for literacy programs. Maximum award: $4,000. Eligibility: schools, public libraries, and non-profit organizations. Deadline: May 21, 2015. More
 
 

Quote of the Week: 
 
"We have light years to go, we have so far to go. We've changed the world in some pretty profound ways, but we have not changed the world in that way." -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, giving himself low marks on changing teacher-preparation programs, in a speeach at the annual legislative conference of the Council of Chief State School Officers. More

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