US News Roundup August 2011

US National Research Council Fails Test-Based Accountability Programs- Submitted by Trevor Cobbold from Save our Schools

A decade or more of test-based accountability programs in the United States has had little to no effect on student achievement according to a report just published by an expert panel of the US National Research Council. The report is a devastating indictment of the focus on testing in US education policy and, by implication, Australian education policy which now closely follows the US model.

.... Their conclusion is emphatic: We conclude.... that the available evidence does not give strong support for the use of test-based incentives to improve education and provides only minimal guidance about which incentive designs may be effective.

The report also describes a range of negative impacts of test-based accountability measures.....

The expert panel was convened by the US National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The 17-member panel comprised a veritable who's who of national experts in education law, economics and 2 social sciences. It has been tracking the implementation and effectiveness of 15 test-based incentive programs for the past 10 years.

To read the full report go to http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12521

Read the report prepared by Save Our Schools at http://www.saveourschools.com.au/choice-and-competition/us-national-research-council-fails-test-based-accountability-programs

Sharon Otterman, "New York City Abandons Teacher Bonus Program" 17 July 2011

A New York City program that distributed $56 million in performance bonuses to teachers and other school staff members over the last three years will be permanently discontinued, the city Department of Education said on Sunday.

The decision was made in light of a study that found the bonuses had no positive effect on either student performance or teachers' attitudes toward their jobs.

..... "We did not find improvements in student achievement at any of the grade levels," said Julie A. Marsh, the report's lead researcher and a visiting professor at the University of Southern California. "A lot of the principals and teachers saw the bonuses as a recognition and reward, as icing on the cake. But it's not necessarily something that motivated them to change."

The results add to a growing body of evidence nationally that so-called pay-for-performance bonuses for teachers that consist only of financial incentives have no effect on student achievement, the researchers wrote.

To read the full article go to http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/education/18rand.html?_r=1

Alyson Klein, "Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Remake Teacher Training Programs" Education Week 22 June 2011

Under a new bill, -  the "Growing Excellent Achievement Training Academies for Teachers and Principals Act", teacher training programs would be held accountable for producing educators who demonstrate the ability to boost student achievement before they even graduate.

Participation in the program would be optional for states. Those that choose to join would designate academies for teacher and principal preparation. The academies would have to use a rigorous admissions process and a major emphasis on clinical, hands-on experience.

States that choose to participate in the program would have to designate state "authorizers," who would approve and oversee the academies. Programs that failed to produce effective teachers would lose their authorization. In exchange for their participation in the program, academies would be exempt from regulations that the bills' sponsors consider "burdensome" and "unrelated to student achievement."

Read more at   http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/06/bipartisan_bill_seeks_to_remak.html

The March on Washington - 3 articles of note

Michael Alison Chandler and Sarah Khan; Teachers descend on D.C. The Washington Post, 31 July 2011

There are many reasons thousands of teachers traveled across the country to protest in front of the White House on Saturday - including to oppose charter schools, to fight for equal funding for poor schools and to have more say in public education policies.

But at a noisy rally their message boiled down to one point, summed up by the sound check before the first speaker took the stage: Tap. Tap. "No testing, no testing, 1-2-3."

The assembled teachers, education advocates and parents vented a frustration they said has been building since the passage of the No Child Left Behind law in 2002, which made standardized testing the centerpiece of a school reform agenda championed by George W. Bush.

With the election of Barack Obama in 2008, many thought their long-standing complaints, about how the policy has imposed unfair penalties on the poorest schools and how it has narrowed curriculum to make time for test preparation, would finally be heard....

 "We had reason to believe from his campaign promises that Obama was going to reverse the damage that this law has caused," said Jonathon Kozol, a public education activist and author. "He has betrayed us. . . . That's why we are here today."

The "Save Our Schools March" was part of a four-day event including a two-day conference at American University with dozens of workshops, such as "Winning the Testing War" and "Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline." There was also a film festival, headlined by the documentary "The Inconvenient Truth About Waiting for Superman," a response to the 2010 film "Waiting for Superman," which featured then-D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and which promoted charter schools.

The event, which was endorsed by the two major teachers unions, took about a year and $150,000 to organize. At least a dozen other cities hosted sister rallies or events. The demonstration's leaders maintain that federal policies are too influenced by business leaders and too little by educators.

The White House invited some organizers to speak with education policy advisers Friday, but the organizers turned down the offer, saying they would be willing to meet after Saturday's march. "July 30 is your opportunity to listen to us," they said in a news statement.

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/07/31/1765233/teachers-descend-on-dc.html#ixzz1Tj7huupr

The ChristainScience Monitor in its coverage of the march notes that even some advocate of the current reform regimes say more debate may be a good thing for education   They quotes Rick Hess, a long time moderate supporter of test based accountability

"There is a simple-mindedness, an arrogance, and a reflexiveness with which the reformers are pushing their agenda, particularly from Washington, and I think they've wound up giving classroom educators serious and fair cause for concern about how things like value-added evaluations or merit pay are taking shape..... This pushback both helps call attention to the need to do this smarter and offers an opportunity to slow down and pursue these things with the deliberation and thoughtfulness they require."

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2011/0730/Save-Our-Schools-March-a-teacher-revolt-against-Obama-education-reform/%28page%29/3

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 08/01/2011

Campaign organizer Anthony Cody, in a guest appearance on the Washington Post blog-site of Valerie Strauss (Teacher: What Save Our Schools march accomplished - and didn't, 1 August 2011) reported that this event has accomplished some important things.

 ...."'We made a real mark on the consciousness of the education community, that there are a growing number of teachers willing to do what it takes to protect our schools, our students and our profession from the terrible policies and outright attacks we have experienced recently.

.... We offered a clear critique of test-driven reforms, and positive alternatives rooted in our own schools, and our expertise as teachers and parents. We have experienced the effects of No Child Left Behind far too long to allow it to continue. And we are sharp enough to discern the traps that lie within the policies the Department of Education has offered as supposed improvements to the law.

We brought together some of the most brilliant minds in education at our conference and rally. Linda Darling-Hammond and Pedro Noguera, both of whom have advised President Obama on education policy, offered compelling arguments for a shift.

Jonathan Kozol brought the issues of equity into sharp focus, and Diane Ravitch honed in on the logical flaws in federal policy.

We have built a strong network, and we will continue organize to make ourselves heard.

He acknowledges that one event alone will not bring about a change in education policy, particularly when teachers are so demoralized

One of the first challenges of any movement is to destroy the illusion of power that the system projects.  ...[T]here is a tremendous latent power in our profession. But that power only works when people realize it is theirs. Our march was an alarm clock ringing for that sleeping giant. This was the first protest of its kind, but it won't be the last.

.....We have a collection building of videos that people made of the speakers ...that are just now starting to make their way on to YouTube. The words spoken there carried the power of truth, insight and courage, and they will echo for months and years to come, as these issues continue to be debated.

.... We have elevated the voices of teachers and parents, previously marginalized in this arena. We will be heard, and that gives us a chance to influence the debate.

Read this article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/teacher-what-save-our-schools-march-accomplished--and-didnt/2011/07/31/gIQAU1zTmI_blog.html

While there were many excellent speakers at the rally perhaps the voice that will be heard beyond the profession is Matt Damon whose speech can be found at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/matt-damons-clear-headed-speech-to-teachers-rally/2011/07/30/gIQAG9Q6jI_blog.html

And to finish - a quote from the rally speech by veteran equity campaigner Jonathan Kozol on class size:

"' I still have to listen to high people here in Washington who insist to me that class size doesn’t matter… I always ask them where their own kids go to school.  Typically in Washington, they go to very costly private schools where class sizes seldom rise higher than fifteen….

Here’s what I believe: the Senators and the President send their own kids to those kinds of schools; fifteen children in a class. If very small class size and the individual attention this allows a teacher to devote to every child, if this is good for the children of a senator or President or a bid time CEO then its good for the poorest child of the poorest part of America.

Don’t let our leaders get away with this hypocrisy."

Stephen Ceasar and Teresa Watanabe , "Education takes a beating nationwide" Los Angeles Times, 31July2011

After a particularly brutal budgeting season this summer, states and school districts across the country have fired thousands of teachers, raised college tuition, relaxed standards, slashed days off the academic calendar and gutted pre-kindergarten and summer school programs. Slashed budgets are nothing new for educators, but experts say this year stands out.

This report notes that while cuts are deep and across the board the impact is not equal across the board because the easiest parts to cut are those that make the biggest difference to low SES and high need students.

To cover such shortfalls, experts say school officials often reduce, or eliminate, personnel and programs vital to the most vulnerable populations: lower-income and minority students.

In California, many school districts cut spending for adult education, libraries, textbooks, arts and music, gifted students, tutoring for low-performing high school students and other programs, according to two major surveys, including one by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. Many districts shortened the 180-day school year by five days.

These are extraordinarily inequitable cuts for low-income communities of color," said Arun Ramanathan, executive director of the Education Trust-West, an Oakland-based advocacy group.

He said that a shorter academic year and cuts to summer classes exacerbate their generally lagging achievement because many low-income students cannot afford the enriched activities enjoyed by their middle-class counterparts, such as museum visits and private tutoring.

In Florida, state funds for 15,000 children to attend a school-readiness program for low-income families have been cut, and college tuition was raised 15% for the fourth consecutive year. Texas eliminated funding for pre-kindergarten programs that serve about 100,000 at-risk children.

Though cuts in education reach all demographics, they do not affect all students equally, said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan research group based in Washington.

"If we're worried about the future, we have to be worried about these equity issues," Jennings said. "Who's going to be the employees, the industry leaders in the future? Increasingly, they will be children of color, and they're not going to close the achievement gap."

... In Washington state, lawmakers cut more than $1 billion in class-size reduction, early learning programs and teacher development

... nearly half of the 103 bilingual counseling assistants and 16 of the 275 teachers of English as a second language in the School District of Philadelphia were laid off.

To read full article go to http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-education-budget-cuts-20110731,0,3238887,full.story