Monthly Archives: January 2011

Today is one of those terrific days when I’ve discovered a great new education blog. I’m talking about Education Debate at Online Schools, authored by the mysterious Matthew. He got my attention by linking to a post I wrote and calling me “the sharpest 5 year old in the entire education debate.” Let me tell you. No matter what you’ve heard, in some cases flattery indeed will get you somewhere. Anyway, last week Matthew wrote a great post bringing attention to a financial transparency development in Kansas’ Wichita School District. Local officials posted the district’s checkbook online, a mildly positive step that Matthew rightly addressed with a critical eye: On the financial disclosure: B for effort, D for execution. On the PR supporting it: A+ for selling a mediocre, indecipherable product to those who never bothered to pop the hood. Ouch. I wouldn’t want that to be my report card.

On a busy Friday, the easy and preferred course of action is for me to point you to the latest School Reform News article by my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow. The title of the story is “Teacher Training Overhaul Would Leave Ed Schools in Charge”: Following a blue-ribbon panel’s lead, the nation’s largest accreditation agency for education schools has called for a fundamental overhaul of teacher preparation programs. A report commissioned by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) advocates a clinical model for training public educators and stronger partnerships between local school districts and higher education preparation programs. “The system we have now is far too uneven,” said NCATE president James G. Cibulka. “We have a cottage industry of innovative ideas and practices. We need to approach the problem as a systemic one.” [Link added] Critics say some of the report’s recommendations are long overdue, while they also leave education schools too firmly in control of the teacher preparation process. For a fuller critique, read Mike Petrilli’s “Rearranging deck chairs on the ed school Titanic.” For historical background, read George Clowes’ 2002 School Reform News piece on the crumbling research behind teacher certification.

Today, January 13, 2011 … a significant day for innovation and productivity in Colorado K-12 education? It’s too early to say for sure. But a couple of Board decisions may mean as much. First, the Colorado State Board of Education — which yesterday broke in its new members by making their first decision on a charter school appeal — has an exciting resolution on its agenda for this afternoon. Here’s the main punch of the resolution: BE IT RESOLVED: That the Colorado State Board of Education encourages Colorado’s local Boards of Education to implement cost efficiencies and adhere to the Secretary’s recommendation to improve the productivity of the education system through smart, innovative and courageous actions including, but not limited to, the following areas: (1) Streamlined administrative operations; and (2) Competitive contracting; and (3) Digital learning; and (4) Enhanced educational options; and (5) Performance-based compensation systems. “The Secretary’s recommendation” refers to something I highlighted a couple months ago: a speech by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in which he called for school districts to be more productive and do more with less.

If you’re stuck in the education bubble, the big news for this week is Education Week‘s release of its annual “Quality Counts” report. The national publication uses a wide range of metrics to rate states on their K-12 performance and policies. Since I can guarantee you that some prominent official or media figure in 2011 will turn to “Quality Counts” to make this or that case about Colorado K-12 education, I figure a little up-front clarification is in order. First of all, let me say that the report produced by Education Week contains a lot of valuable information — and especially in the categories of K-12 Achievement; Standards, Assessment and Accountability; and the Teaching Profession. But I admit to find it confusing that one-third of the overall rankings is built around two factors that rely heavily on inputs, rather than outputs. I’m talking about Chance of Success and School Finance.

Today is 1-11-11… 5 straight ones. I’m 5 years old, 5 years of number 1. Now that you’ve had a chance to let that not-too-eerie coincidence sink in, I only have time today to bring your attention to an important document. My edu-crush Michelle Rhee’s new super-fab education transformer group, Students First, has released its official policy agenda. No, it contains nothing terribly profound. But it’s a good statement of principles with which my friends at the Education Policy Center closely agree, under the three main headings of: Elevate the teaching profession by valuing teachers’ impact on students Empower parents with real choices and real information (hey, that sounds like School Choice for Kids!) Shift spending taxpayers’ money to get better results for students (anyone read the Citizens’ Budget?) You’ve got to read the actual document to get a more detailed picture of what the group is proposing to do. But trust me, it’s not only a worthwhile agenda but also a very ambitious one. I’ll continue to wish the best to Students First, even if it is selfish for me to do so.

Well, it’s that time of year again…. Hey, stop giving me those blank stares! Time to preview Colorado’s upcoming legislative session and the debates over bills and policies that could affect K-12 education in our state. Session starts in two days, and Ed News Colorado has posted the annual preview by Todd Engdahl — a must-read for local education transformers. Of course, anyone who has been paying attention or reading what I have to say, knows what the driving theme will be. Engdahl’s story hammers it home:

I’m pretty young and haven’t had the chance to visit a lot of places. Still, I think of passports as pieces of paper that allow you to travel to other countries. The Foundation for Educational Choice offers a different and thought-provoking twist, though, with a new report called “School Passports: Making the Stimulus Pay Off for Students and State Budgets.” In a nutshell, the basic idea is to transform the federal Race to the Top program into “a $4 billion tuition scholarship or education voucher program to enable public school students in 50 states to attend private schools of their choice.” After noting that allowing such a program to happen would require Congress to change federal law, the report breaks down the estimated impacts at the national level and then state-by-state.

What’s in store in the world of K-12 education for 2011? I’m too young and naive to make any worthwhile predictions myself, but I invite you to check out the “7 for 11” prophetic musings of Fordham’s Mike Petrilli. In about 360 days or so we can fully judge how accurate his educated guesses prove to be, but for now I want to hone in on the last of the seven: Diane Ravitch and the teachers unions will criticize budget cuts but offer no alternatives. As states and districts make difficult decisions in the months ahead, Ravitch and the education establishment will attack every specific suggestion. Raise class sizes? Ask teachers to pay more of their healthcare costs? Freeze salaries? Cap stipends for master’s degrees, or years of experience? They will find fault with all of these, but will offer no serious suggestions of their own. As a result, they will implicitly encourage districts to take the path of least resistance: fire their youngest teachers; get rid of art and music classes; and pass along costs to parents in the form of new fees. There’s definitely something to what Petrilli says here. It’s not exactly a startling prediction. But it […]

I’m still catching up on stories and commentaries I may have missed while on break at the end of the year. A few months ago I brought your attention to a growing dispute in Weld County’s Valley Re-1 School District, from the local teachers association that claimed its collective bargaining privileges were being stripped away illicitly. In December by my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow on his personal blog took a closer look and found more reasons to be skeptical of the Valley Education Association’s claims that the existing policy represented collective bargaining. He also pointed out how the dispute was set up by Colorado’s unique legal formulation and noted the potentially significant ramifications from VEA’s lawsuit against the school district for officially changing the policy. A precedent from the case very well could affect other Colorado districts with similar policies. Well, on December 23, the Michigan-based Education Action Group (EAG) featured the story in its national e-newsletter and on its NEAExposed blog under the headline “Colorado school board battling to keep aggressive teachers union in check.” EAG’s interview with the Valley Re-1 superintendent:

Twenty-eleven is here, and I’m back with my youthful optimism looking toward a better, freer education future. While a lot of states — including Colorado — look forward to convening their legislatures with a focus on tackling budget problems, truly bold education reform is at the forefront of conversation in at least one place: Florida. Education Week State Education Watch blogger Sean Cavanaugh recently took note of some recommendations made by Governor-Elect Rick Scott‘s transition team. The 20-page document covers a wide range of ideas in various areas, including teacher quality, school choice and digital learning. Most of the focus is being drawn to a “universal voucher” idea that Gov-elect Scott had hinted at, and is now being fleshed out in the form of education savings accounts. As Cavanagh reports: