John King does an about face and I’m happy about it!

John King has changed his accusatory tone since becoming the US Education Secretary. In his previous job as New York State Education Comissioner, he was consistently at odds with teachers. He promoted the questionable practice of using high stakes test scores to evaluate teachers and introduced controversial teacher discipline policies.

Now he has said that blaming teachers  for lacks in student achievement, which became popular during Arne Duncan’s years, was a mistake. He wants to work together with teachers to solve student achievement problems. This development coupled with the new Every Student Succeeds Act, which allows States to determine high stakes testing policies for themselves, is refreshing change for educators nationwide. John King has also been working productively with Randi Weingarten, the President of the American Federation of Teachers, who had a very difficult time with Arne Duncan.

Now teachers can believe that they have educational leaders who are looking out for their interests.

The USA today article on John King is here.

Controversial criteria for evaluating public schools

How do we decide which States are fulfilling their mandate to deliver quality public education to all of their students?

First, we have to agree on what criteria accurately display States’ strengths and weaknesses in their public school policies. One group, the Network for Public Education (NPE), has chosen criteria such as training of teachers, funding, high stakes testing, and privatization of schools.

It should be no surprise that one of the founders of NPE is Diane Ravitch. She has been an outspoken critic of current education trends such as charter schools and standardized tests. As an education historian she believes that these types of reforms are dismantling the very institutions that created successful public education in the United States.

I think NPE’s report is a valuable perspective because it provides an alternative to the wave of current public education policy reforms. After seeing the report you may even decide that you don’t agree with all the changes in America’s public schools.

Check out NPE’s full report here.

Check out Diane Ravitch’s blog here.

Common Core and NY State, improving education or impossible expectations?

The Common Core curriculum and the assessments that come with it are being closely scrutinized and fiercely debated across the United States. New York is experiencing nothing less, but the debate regarding standardized tests has been a bit quieter.

The reason for this is that NY has delivered standardized tests since the 1800s. Regents exams were first authorized in 1864 for 8th grade students. The results of the test were one factor that was used to determine how the state allocated education funds.

High School Regents exams arrived in 1876 in order to ensure that all of the state’s high schools were offering challenging and appropriate programs of study. The list of exams numbered well over 50 until changes to comprehensive exams began in the 1930s. Comprehensive exams are familiar to us since they are still with us. English Language Arts and United States History and Government are comprehensive exams where pre-1930s exams were narrowly focused as in Rhetoric and English Composition and Moral Philosophy.

The Common Core has nearly seamlessly merged with this long tradition of NY state standardized assessments at the high school level, but not as neatly at the elementary level. Elementary testing has become much more demanding with the Common Core. There are now year end English Language Arts and Mathematics tests for grades 3-8.

This has stirred up much controversy in the state. Many stakeholders believe that testing is taking up too much of the school year. Teachers are complaining that they cannot deliver all of the material that will be on the tests. Their students will be tested on information that they have never learned. Common Core supporters say that elementary students will learn more and do better in high school. This will improve the United States apparent learning gap when compared to other countries.

Is the Common Core attempting to raise standards by ensuring that students are learning challenging and appropriate material or is the Common Core unduly stressing students and teachers with impossible expectations?

Where do you stand on this debate?

 

Sources:

History of NY Regents Examinations: 1865 to 1987

Common Core ELA and Mathematics Tests (EngageNY)

Image credit: http://www.mathrise.com/Is-Your-Child-Ready-For-Common-Core/