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Making California School Reform Work
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California's new accountability system was one of the main topics of discussion at EdSource's October 6th Symposium. I hope you were able to join us.
It's a complex topic, however, and feedback from attendees suggested that questions still remain for many. (If you need a refresher, this article summarizes the plan the State Board of Education adopted in September.) And, as EdSource's John Fensterwald writes, "Many issues remain unresolved and many variables are at play." The State Board meets again this week, in fact, to consider a simpler, better organized version of the district accountability plan.
We also check in on the status of state science testing, which is facing its own set of unknowns.
Erin Brownfield, editor
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Changes to the accountability system: News roundup
This week, the State Board of Education is expected to approve a new version of the template for district accountability plans that promises to be simpler, better organized and easier to follow.
It's unclear however, whether the new version will be shorter.
Read more.
The new, multiple-measures school accountability system was adopted in September after two years of debate. But according to EdSource's John Fensterwald, "Passage was the easy part. Now comes the big challenge for districts and schools: to use data they'll get to engage the community, set achievement goals, take steps to improve, track progress, and change course when results don't measure up." Check out
his list of remaining questions about how the system will work. The answers may determine whether it will really make a difference.
Though California has adopted a "multiple measures" approach to accountability, the U.S. Dept. of Education draft guidelines call for a single, summative measure to be used to identify schools in need of improvement.
Educators like Mike Kirst and Tom Torlakson think a single measure "glosses over" results on very different measures and "would severely undercut the value of the multiple measures approach."
Governor Brown affirmed that view when he vetoed a bill by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, which
would have brought the systems into alignment.
Read more about the federal approach at
EdSource.
For a fuller explanation of the problems that two education leaders see with using summative scores, check out
this article
from Heather Hough and Michael Kirst from PACE.
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Opposing viewpoints on California's new accountability system
- In the "Pro" column, Assemblymember Patrick O'Donnell, D-Long Beach (and chair of the Assembly Education Committee), expressed his support for a multiple-measures approach to accountability in a column for the Sacramento Bee. "A single number gives a false sense of precision, inaccurately identifies schools for intervention, and fails to provide information that can guide efforts to improve school health. We know this, because we used a single-number accountability system for more than 15 years, and it was a failure." Read more.
- Firmly in the "Con" category, writer Joe Mathews calls the new system an "incomprehensible mess" in a widely published Op-ed, and decries its complexity, asserting that meaningful comparisons between schools will be impossible. "What does that mean for making sure poor kids are actually making progress? It means they may be on their own." Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
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In another move that pits state education officials against the U.S. Department of Ed., California education officials have decided that students will take only one statewide standardized test in science this spring, a pilot test based on the Next Generation Science Standards.
Federal officials told California in a
Sept. 30 letter that they must continue to administer older tests based on
standards adopted in 1998, and publish those scores instead.
The State Board of Education adopted the new science standards in 2013, and educators had planned to administer a pilot version of a new online test aligned with those standards this spring. It had requested a federal waiver from having to give the old test as well, but the U.S. Department of Education denied its request. Read more.
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Common Core Watch
The lack of attention to education in the presidential debates: Is there an upside?
There have been many
articles written about how infrequently education has come up in the presidential debates, but according to one researcher, that neglect may be a good thing: "When an issue gets dragged onto the presidential stage, it becomes politicized, giving candidates less room for what may end up being necessary compromise," said Conor Williams of New America.
Read more.
New research project will study impact of Common Core
Researchers from the University of Michigan, Brown University and Stanford University will examine the impact of the Common Core State Standards on classroom instruction and social disparities in academic achievement in school districts across the nation. Read more.
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