tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/no-child-left-behind-15536/articlesNo Child Left Behind – The Conversation2022-09-20T12:37:56Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1907242022-09-20T12:37:56Z2022-09-20T12:37:56ZStressed out, burned out and dropping out: Why teachers are leaving the classroom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484697/original/file-20220914-11733-ybu2z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5114%2C3412&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">High teacher turnover hurts students and negatively affects learning.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/asian-teacher-teaching-math-to-students-in-royalty-free-image/135205438?adppopup=true">Ariel Skelley/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Many school districts across the United States are in the midst of a crisis: a teacher shortage. Part of the problem is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are other reasons why teachers are leaving their jobs at higher rates than before. On Aug. 29, 2022, <a href="https://www.sciline.org/social-sciences/teacher-turnover/">SciLine</a> interviewed <a href="https://tuan-d-nguyen.github.io/home">Tuan Nguyen</a>, an assistant professor in the College of Education at Kansas State University, about why teachers are quitting and what can be done to slow or stop the trend.</em></p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Tuan Nguyen talks to SciLine about teacher burnout.</span></figcaption>
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<p><em>Below are some highlights from the discussion. Please note that answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.</em> </p>
<p><strong>Can you share some data on typical rates of teacher turnover?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Tuan Nguyen:</strong> Before the pandemic, about 15%, 16% of teachers turn over every year. About half of that is teachers switching from one school to another, and then the other half, about 7%, 8%, is teachers leaving the profession every year. </p>
<p><strong>What is known about why teachers leave their jobs?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Tuan Nguyen:</strong> Generally, there are three main buckets, or categories, as to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2020.100355">why teachers leave their jobs</a> for other schools or leave the profession. </p>
<p>One is what’s known as the personal factors … things related to the teachers, their characteristics, such as their age, race, ethnicity and gender, their qualifications. </p>
<p>Another bucket is related to schools, such as … school characteristics and school resources, working conditions. </p>
<p>And the last area is known as external factors. These are things that are happening at the national or state level that are somewhat beyond the school control. We think about NCLB – <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/12/08/458844737/no-child-left-behind-an-obituary">No Child Left Behind</a>. </p>
<p><strong>How does teacher turnover affect student learning?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Tuan Nguyen:</strong> We know that teachers are the most critical factor of student learning, and that when we have high teacher turnover, that is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858420905812">detrimental to student learning</a>. </p>
<p>What you have here is the loss of teaching knowledge and expertise. Districts also have to spend additional resources in order to recruit and train new teachers … usually a novice teacher or a teacher who is underqualified. And we know from research that underqualified teachers and novice teachers are <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/why-teachers-leave-or-dont-a-look-at-the-numbers/2021/05">more likely to leave the profession</a>. </p>
<p>So then what you get is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2021.102079">this cycle of churn</a>, where you have teachers leaving, replaced with new or underqualified teachers, who themselves are more likely to leave. And that leads to more turnover next year.</p>
<p><strong>What makes teachers likelier to stay in their jobs?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Tuan Nguyen:</strong> There are many things that we can actually do to help teachers stay where they are.</p>
<p>One is <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/teachers-paid-covid-retention-bonuses-staff-shortages-covid-19-pandemic-1666872">retention bonuses</a>, so that if they stay for one or two years, then they get an additional bonus on top of their salary. </p>
<p>Many teachers <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_211.60.asp">are not paid very well</a>. They have to moonlight. They have to have a second or a third job. And now they’re asked to <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2022/08/25/inflation-means-teachers-who-buy-their-own-supplies-have-to-spend-more-or-ask-for-help/">buy equipment and resources from their own pocket</a> in order to do that job. That doesn’t really incentivize teachers to stay. </p>
<p><strong>Is there any research on how the pandemic – including health risks, the switch to remote learning and new pressures from parents – has affected teachers’ job satisfaction?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Tuan Nguyen:</strong> National surveys have shown that a significant portion of teachers – 55% – said that they would like to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/01/1076943883/teachers-quitting-burnout">leave teaching as soon as possible</a>. So even if those 55% do not leave their job, and we haven’t seen evidence of that, what that tells me is that teachers are stressed out and they’re burnt out. </p>
<p><strong>What policies can make teaching a more attractive long-term career and reduce teacher turnover?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Tuan Nguyen:</strong> We have to think about making salary competitive so that it’s comparable to other professions, but also make targeted policy decisions and incentives for hard-to-staff schools and subjects. </p>
<p>For instance, we know that economically disadvantaged schools tend to have <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/why-do-high-poverty-schools-have-difficulty-staffing-their-classrooms-with-qualified-teachers/">a really hard time attracting teachers</a>. </p>
<p>We also know that STEM teachers, special education teachers and bilingual education teachers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.4959">are in high demand</a>. We need those folks. So we need to make targeted incentives to get those folks into teaching, right?</p>
<p>We also need to raise the prestige and respect of teachers and the teaching profession. You know, thinking about how we can provide career ladders or promotions to teachers so that they can continue and build on their craft. There are many, many things that we can do. And I’m optimistic that … we can do some of those if we can align our interests and think about policy solutions that can solve some of these problems.</p>
<p><em>Watch the <a href="https://www.sciline.org/social-sciences/teacher-turnover/">full interview</a> to hear about the teacher shortage crisis.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://sciline.org/">SciLine</a> is a free service based at the nonprofit American Association for the Advancement of Science that helps journalists include scientific evidence and experts in their news stories.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190724/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tuan D. Nguyen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s not just COVID-19. Low salaries, subpar working conditions and lack of resources in the classroom are three of the reasons why teachers are abandoning the profession.Tuan D. Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Education, Kansas State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1880402022-08-02T12:58:58Z2022-08-02T12:58:58ZIn Congress, the name of a bill may have nothing to do with what’s in it – it’s all about salesmanship<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477001/original/file-20220801-84886-b3fz6g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C33%2C5570%2C3682&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sen. Joe Manchin speaks to reporters on Aug. 1, 2022. in Washington, D.C., about the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/inflation-reduction-act-of-2022?assettype=image&agreements=pa%3A144323&family=editorial&phrase=Inflation%20Reduction%20Act%20of%202022&sort=best">Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Quick quiz: What’s the name of the compromise climate bill that U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, last week <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/manchin-strikes-major-deal-schumer-climate-tax-health-care-rcna40350">agreed to support</a>? </p>
<p>Hint: In addition to being the most significant climate change-curbing legislation in U.S. history, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/7/28/23282217/climate-bill-health-care-drugs-inflation-reduction-act">the bill</a> also gives the federal government leeway to negotiate Medicare prescription drug prices, solidifies an expansion of access to Obamacare and sets a 15% minimum tax on corporations that make more than a billion dollars in profits.</p>
<p>What’s that? You’re stumped? That’s not a surprise.</p>
<p>The measure is called the <a href="https://www.democrats.senate.gov/inflation-reduction-act-of-2022">Inflation Reduction Act of 2022</a>. It’s a head-scratcher for those who assume that a bill name will reflect the main gist of the bill.</p>
<p>On The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-inflation-reduction-act-is-anything-but-spending-power-supply-demand-imbalance-restrictions-regulation-11659289812">opinion page</a>, investment firm founder Stephen Miran called the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 “an inaptly named measure.” “Senate Democrats’ latest party-line attempt to push their social agenda through Congress lifts Orwellian naming conventions to new heights,” Miran wrote.</p>
<p>Controversy over legislative bill names is hardly new. Politicians have <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/8710-lawmakers-turn-to-catchy-names-for-bills/">long used</a> bill titles as a marketing vehicle, concocting sometimes misleading and outlandish monikers to get media attention, drum up support – who can be against <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">leaving no child behind</a>? – and frame the conversation around the bill before their opponents do. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395040/original/file-20210414-16-14pmx0p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A factory with many stacks, one of which is emitting a cloud of smoke." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395040/original/file-20210414-16-14pmx0p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395040/original/file-20210414-16-14pmx0p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395040/original/file-20210414-16-14pmx0p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395040/original/file-20210414-16-14pmx0p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395040/original/file-20210414-16-14pmx0p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395040/original/file-20210414-16-14pmx0p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395040/original/file-20210414-16-14pmx0p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">George W. Bush’s Clear Skies Act would have done the opposite of clearing the skies, as it weakened environmental protections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/oil-and-chemical-refinery-plants-cover-the-landscape-next-news-photo/1293055258?adppopup=true">Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Stark Naked Act</h2>
<p>Sometimes the whole point of legislation is to get a conversation going and show the public that a lawmaker or a political party cares about an issue. These so-called “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2011-jun-19-la-na-0620-titles-20110620-story.html">messaging bills</a>” won’t pass, but they give lawmakers a chance to hold press conferences and hearings, and go on talk shows. </p>
<p>U.S. Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., in 1997 introduced a bill called the “No Private Contracts to Be Negotiated When the Patient Is Buck Naked Act,” which <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2011-jun-19-la-na-0620-titles-20110620-story.html">became known</a> as the Stark Naked Act. It was <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/105th-congress/house-bill/2784/text">designed to highlight</a> and address the problem of doctors asking patients to pay more money when they were “in an exposed condition.” It <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/105th-congress/house-bill/2784/all-actions?overview=closed#tabs">never got a vote</a>.</p>
<p>President George W. Bush took things a step further, introducing proposals with Orwellian names that were the opposite in substance to what their names indicated. Remember the Clear Skies Act (2002), which <a href="http://vault.sierraclub.org/ecocentro/ingles/pinocchio.asp">would have weakened</a> the Clean Air Act, and the Healthy Forests Initiative, which became law in 2003 and <a href="https://www.sierraforestlegacy.org/FC_LawsPolicyRegulations/KFSP_HealthyForests.php">gave timber companies more access</a> to cut down trees in forests.</p>
<p>Other times, lawmakers try to create a clever and memorable acronym, often stretching the limits of the English language. Take, for example, the Service Act for Care and Relief Initiatives for Forces Injured in Combat Engagements of 2004 – <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-108s2516is">the SACRIFICE Act</a> – which aimed to help military families and recognize the sacrifices of the Armed Forces members injured in combat – and the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny, or the perennially reintroduced <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/26">REINS Act</a>, a GOP bill to, well, rein in the president’s power. </p>
<p>And let’s not forget the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, known as the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ56/PLAW-107publ56.pdf">USA PATRIOT Act</a>, which legitimized domestic spying.</p>
<p>As if coming up with these mouthfuls weren’t enough, the House Transportation Committee in 2004 was <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2011-jun-19-la-na-0620-titles-20110620-story.html">charged with weaving into legislation</a> the name of the wife of then-Chairman U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, Lu. The result: the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (<a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/safetealu/summary.htm">SAFETEA-LU</a>).</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395045/original/file-20210414-21-1tzbl9l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of Rep. Don Young looking thoughtful." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395045/original/file-20210414-21-1tzbl9l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395045/original/file-20210414-21-1tzbl9l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395045/original/file-20210414-21-1tzbl9l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395045/original/file-20210414-21-1tzbl9l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395045/original/file-20210414-21-1tzbl9l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395045/original/file-20210414-21-1tzbl9l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395045/original/file-20210414-21-1tzbl9l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In 2004, Alaska Rep. Don Young, left, asked staff to include his wife Lu’s name in a bill. They did: the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users,or SAFETEA-LU.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rep-don-young-r-alaska-left-and-sen-dan-sullivan-r-alaska-news-photo/524083534?adppopup=true">Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Serious implications</h2>
<p>It’s not just a U.S. phenomenon; University of Stirling (Scotland) researcher Brian Christopher Jones determined in 2011 that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsr060">bill naming in the U.K.</a> is an important part of the legislative process and even could influence a bill’s passage.</p>
<p>It’s unclear whether a bill title can affect a congressional vote, but it can have serious implications if the law ends up before the U.S. Supreme Court, where the title can be used to infer legislative intent.</p>
<p>“The Defense of Marriage Act” was so influential a title that its <a href="https://ylpr.yale.edu/inter_alia/scotus-short-title-turmoil-time-congressional-bill-naming-authority#footnote19_j8asbza">meaning was debated</a> by Supreme Court justices in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2012/12-307">United States v. Windsor</a>, in which the court deemed the act was unconstitutional. </p>
<p>“Both the majority and minority opinions discussed the name and its implications at length, but came to differing conclusions on its importance,” wrote Jones, who was so vexed by that title’s influence on the highest court in the U.S. that he <a href="https://ylpr.yale.edu/inter_alia/scotus-short-title-turmoil-time-congressional-bill-naming-authority#footnote19_j8asbza">called for a neutral bill-naming office</a> to be created so that lawmakers could no longer be in charge of naming their legislation. </p>
<p>In fact, lawmakers can <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/Portals/1/Documents/relacs/manuals/2016LAHouseDraftingManual.pdf">name bills as they see fit</a>. They are fortunate that the rules of advertising don’t apply; in 2013, Jones and attorney Randal Shaheen concluded that some bill titles <a href="https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=shlj">would be deemed deceptive advertising</a> if overseen by the Federal Trade Commission.</p>
<h2>Confusion about naming</h2>
<p>So, is the compromise bill a climate bill? Or an inflation reduction bill?</p>
<p>Branding one proposal as two things violates the rules of branding, and coverage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 highlights the dangers of doing so. Bloomberg News called it the “<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-31/manchin-pitches-democrats-tax-and-climate-bill-to-silent-sinema">Tax-Climate Bill</a>” in the headline and the “tax, climate and drugs bill” in the story. NPR’s headline referred to it as the “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/29/1114216967/climate-experts-experience-an-odd-sensation-after-the-manchin-budget-deal-optimi">energy and climate spending deal</a>.” The emphasis on climate makes sense, given the recent focus on how Manchin has been the holdup to the Democrats’ attempt to address the climate crisis.</p>
<p>But giving the bill a broad name like the Inflation Reduction Act gives reporters leeway to refer to the bill according to whatever aspect they want to focus on. So much for branding.</p>
<p>Would lawmakers submit to an independent bill-naming review process, as Jones suggests?</p>
<p>Unlikely. Chances are they would dub it a “No Onerous Name Surveyor to Ask Regarding Titles Endlessly Released,” or NONSTARTER.</p>
<p><em>This story has been updated from <a href="https://theconversation.com/infrastructure-or-jobs-controversy-over-name-of-biden-proposal-highlights-long-tradition-in-politics-158866">the original version</a> published on April 15, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188040/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Bradbery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 bill in Congress may reduce inflation. Or it may not. What it will do is add to the long history of legislation names aimed at drumming up support for a bill.Angela Bradbery, Frank Karel Endowed Chair in Public Interest Communications, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1685482021-11-01T12:27:19Z2021-11-01T12:27:19ZCOVID-19 threatens the already shaky status of arts education in schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427842/original/file-20211021-19-mpwsjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C5182%2C3680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As more normalcy returns to schools, will arts education programs rebound?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/giani-clarke-a-senior-at-wilson-high-school-during-her-news-photo/1306725559">Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Parents can watch their kids draw and paint at home or perform in school music concerts and dance recitals. But they may not know how their school arts program compares with others around the country.</p>
<p>As a music education professor and a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hKa909sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher who studies arts education policies</a>, I know that access to and the quality of arts programs vary greatly among states, districts and even schools within the same district.</p>
<p>Additionally, I see that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2021.1931599">disruptions from the pandemic</a> are threatening the already <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2010.490776">tenuous status</a> of the arts in public schools.</p>
<h2>Who gets to study art and music?</h2>
<p>Music education first made its way into American public schools in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40318321">Boston in the 1830s</a>. It started with singing instruction, with instrumental music to follow later in the century. Today, arts programs in K-12 schools include visual arts, music, theater, dance and multimedia or design.</p>
<p>A congressionally mandated <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011078">study from 2011</a> offers a snapshot of what’s available to kids. Back then, 94% of public elementary schools reported that they offered music instruction, and 83% offered visual arts. Theater (4%) and dance (3%) were much less common.</p>
<p>Data also shows that, at least at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2020.1773365">high school level</a>, larger schools and traditional public schools offer more arts courses than do smaller schools and private or charter schools.</p>
<p>But the more locally one looks, the more disparities emerge. For example, only <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012014rev.pdf">22% of high schools</a> with high concentrations of poverty offer five or more visual arts courses, compared with 56% of high schools with low concentrations of poverty. Some evidence suggests schools with mostly white students offer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2014.914389">significantly more music offerings</a> than schools in the same metropolitan area that serve mostly students of color.</p>
<p>Disparities also exist in terms of how qualified arts teachers are in different schools. In Utah, for example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2014.944967">fewer than 10%</a> of elementary school students receive music instruction from certified specialists. And in my own analysis of music education in Michigan in 2017-2018, I found only <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429421989961">two-thirds of urban schools</a> had certified music teachers, compared with almost 90% of suburban schools.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Boy wearing a blue shirt and face mask paints a piece of wood outside as a man wearing a pink shirt and orange baseball cap offers direction" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428829/original/file-20211027-21-1gotzgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428829/original/file-20211027-21-1gotzgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428829/original/file-20211027-21-1gotzgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428829/original/file-20211027-21-1gotzgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428829/original/file-20211027-21-1gotzgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428829/original/file-20211027-21-1gotzgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428829/original/file-20211027-21-1gotzgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Visual arts and music classes are common in public elementary schools, while theater and dance are rare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tim-gibson-center-gives-direction-to-a-4th-grader-working-news-photo/1279154819">Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cuts to instruction</h2>
<p>These findings offer clues to how the arts are currently positioned in U.S. schools. </p>
<p>Although the arts were considered a core subject in the 2001 federal <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/1">No Child Left Behind Act</a>, they were not factored into annual testing or related sanctions against underperforming schools. As a result, instructional time in the arts was <a href="https://arteducators-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/448/bf6db6ff-3e19-4642-8f33-93415c74810b.pdf?1452927747">cut back</a>. </p>
<p>In two studies from 2007 to 2008, schools indicated that they had cut an average of <a href="https://www.ewa.org/report/choices-changes-and-challenges-curriculum-and-instruction-nclb-era">145 minutes per week</a> across the nontested subjects, lunch and recess. Where visual art and music were cut back, it was for an average of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3200/AEPR.109.6.23-28">57 minutes per week</a>.</p>
<p>Because states determine curricular requirements and other policies, the landscape varies. <a href="https://c0arw235.caspio.com/dp/b7f9300062f044d142eb469b83ba?state=Arkansas">Arkansas</a>, for example, requires 40 minutes of elementary school art and music per week, while <a href="https://c0arw235.caspio.com/dp/b7f9300062f044d142eb469b83ba?state=Michigan">Michigan</a> has no requirement for either. Only <a href="https://www.ecs.org/artscan-at-a-glance/">32 states</a> consider the arts a core subject.</p>
<p>Furthermore, a school superintendent’s priorities may be the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429412474313">deciding factor</a> in whether a school district’s arts education is robust or merely an afterthought. In a 2017 study I did on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429417739855">arts education in Lansing, Michigan</a>, a midsized school district that had cut staff to fill a budgetary gap, I found elementary schools offered a single music and art class once every eight weeks.</p>
<h2>Benefits of arts education</h2>
<p>Arts education has been associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-381460-9.00012-2">increased cognitive ability</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000376">academic achievement</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264180789-en">creative thinking</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2015.1086915">school engagement</a> and so-called “soft skills” like <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED598203">compassion for others</a>. However, many of these studies are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10632910109600008">correlational rather than causal</a>. It may be that more advanced and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429413485601">more privileged</a> students pursued arts education in the first place. </p>
<p>Still, research on the benefits of the arts has spurred many schools to invest in <a href="https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/articles-and-how-tos/articles/collections/arts-integration-resources/what-is-arts-integration/">arts integration</a>. This approach marries arts content with traditional academic subjects. For example, students might <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858420902712">learn history though theater performances</a>. Other policies aim to use <a href="http://turnaroundarts.kennedy-center.org/">arts integration and artist residencies</a> to improve test scores, attendance, graduation rates and other metrics.</p>
<p>Some arts education advocates have <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3399646">pushed back</a> with a rallying cry of “art for art’s sake.” They worry that if arts education is always justified by its impact on math and reading achievement, it may be viewed as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20299381">nice but not necessary</a>.</p>
<p>More recently, arts education proponents talk about access to a well-rounded, rich curriculum as an <a href="https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/reports-and-data/legislation-policy/naappd/arts-facts-access-to-arts-education-in-not-equitable-2017">equity issue</a>. This has led large districts in <a href="https://www.ingenuity-inc.org/">Chicago</a>, <a href="https://www.creativeadvantageseattle.org/">Seattle</a>, <a href="https://www.edvestors.org/bps-arts-expansion/">Boston</a> and <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Study/88827">Houston</a> to slowly chip away at disparities in arts education.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="High school students sing in individual green tents during choir class" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427845/original/file-20211021-23-1r8arvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427845/original/file-20211021-23-1r8arvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427845/original/file-20211021-23-1r8arvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427845/original/file-20211021-23-1r8arvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427845/original/file-20211021-23-1r8arvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427845/original/file-20211021-23-1r8arvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427845/original/file-20211021-23-1r8arvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">COVID-19 changed how students participate in arts classes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/choir-director-dawn-mccormick-leads-students-keyonna-page-news-photo/1231401397">David Ryder/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>COVID-19 and arts education</h2>
<p>Hands-on arts classes made for an awkward fit with remote learning when schools suspended in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2021.1931597">Many music teachers reported</a> that they were told not to hold live virtual classes with students, and that their students did not engage much with their assignments.</p>
<p>Yet when schools returned to in-person instruction, frustrations and confusion continued to abound. After a community choir rehearsal in Washington state turned into a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/us/coronavirus-washington-choir-outbreak-trnd/index.html">superspreader event</a>, singing and playing wind instruments <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/will-coronavirus-silence-school-bands-and-choirs/2020/08">were banned</a> in many schools. In visual arts classes, the sharing of materials was an issue. And across schools, arts teachers were limited by social distancing restrictions and guidelines around keeping groups of students separated. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Preliminary results of a survey I’m conducting suggest that high school music class enrollment has suffered during the pandemic. This may be as a result of students <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-trends-in-public-school-enrollment-due-to-covid-19-168911">exiting the public school system</a> or of safety concerns regarding singing and performing in large groups.</p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>As more normalcy returns to schools, will arts education programs rebound? Two forces may help determine the answer.</p>
<p>On one hand, the concern over so-called <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/central/blog/mitigating-learning-loss.asp">learning loss</a> is pushing school districts to invest in extra tutoring and coaching in traditionally tested subjects like math and English language arts. As in the aftermath of No Child Left Behind, this could crowd out instructional time for the arts.</p>
<p>However, the pandemic has also drawn more attention to <a href="https://theconversation.com/students-are-returning-to-school-with-anxiety-grief-and-gaps-in-social-skills-will-there-be-enough-school-mental-health-resources-165279">mental health and student wellness</a>. Arts classrooms may provide a <a href="https://artsedsel.org">natural place</a> for <a href="https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/">social and emotional learning</a> because of the focus on collaboration, goal-setting and emotional expression. </p>
<p>There are also government and nonprofit efforts to <a href="https://www.amacad.org/publication/case-for-arts-education">make arts education more consistent</a> across the country. Proposed legislation like the <a href="https://oregonculture.org/2021/04/encouraging-words-from-congresswoman-bonamici/">Arts Education for All Act</a> would expand arts education in K-12 public schools and require more data reporting on arts achievement at the state and federal levels.</p>
<p>For now, access to school arts education remains unequal in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic could help focus attention on these inequities and spur solutions, or it could further complicate the perennially shaky footing of the arts in schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan D. Shaw does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even before the pandemic, access to arts programs and qualified instructors varied greatly among schools and districts.Ryan D. Shaw, Assistant Professor of Music Education, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1582892021-09-13T12:14:33Z2021-09-13T12:14:33Z6 big changes in standardized tests – including less focus on grading students and more on learning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418966/original/file-20210901-26-1mifxb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C5304%2C3375&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Today's tests have more potential to facilitate student learning, rather than just monitor it.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/student-works-on-her-laptop-at-sunkist-elementary-school-in-news-photo/1312167255">Paul Bersebach/Orange County Register via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The standardized tests given to children in schools today are a lot different from those their parents might remember. </p>
<p>For example, students today might take a standardized test at home on a laptop or other digital device. That test is <a href="https://www.curriculumassociates.com/access-and-equity/embracing-antiracism-work">more likely</a> than before to incorporate content on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12429">diverse cultural heritages</a>. And students taking a test may not even be aware they are being assessed, as more tests are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10627197.2017.1382343">blended with instruction</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qrGroqMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">psychometrician</a> who has designed, evaluated and researched educational tests for over 25 years, I believe this new era of school testing is a great improvement. It means tests have more potential to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12370">facilitate student learning</a>, rather than just monitor learning or penalize students. And it shows that, after years of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12415">growing public distrust</a> in educational testing, standardized tests are no longer just tools for accountability – the public is now <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12415">holding test makers accountable</a>. </p>
<p>Here are six ways standardized tests are evolving.</p>
<h2>1. Less common in admissions</h2>
<p>The federal <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind Act</a> of 2001, and its successor, the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=rn">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> of 2015, require states to periodically test all students in grades 3-8, and once in high school, in math, reading and science. These mandated tests are used to <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203781302">evaluate teachers</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.7275/15558737">assign performance labels</a> to children, such as “inadequate” or “minimal understanding.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/making-sense-of-opt-out-movement-forum-levy-scott/">“opt-out” movement</a>, in which parents and their children organized and refused to take these tests, arose in response. As a result, over a dozen states in 2015 <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1002/ets2.12101">did not meet the federal requirements</a> to test at least 95% of students.</p>
<p>High school and college admissions tests have also been targets of criticism and are declining in use.</p>
<p>In 2020, the University of California decided to phase out ACT and SAT testing requirements due in large part to the impact these scores had on <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/05/26/university-california-votes-phase-out-sat-and-act">denying admissions</a> to Black and Hispanic students. Similar complaints surround admissions tests <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-elite-virginia-high-school-overhauled-admissions-for-gifted-students-heres-how-to-tell-if-the-changes-are-working-164850">for competitive high schools</a>. For example, a March 2021 lawsuit against New York City and the state claims that the high school admissions process “<a href="https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=jHAVRjM/0VBF2bxhnEz7aA==">denies equal opportunity and protection to students of color</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A student stands up in middle of crowd of seated high school students" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419350/original/file-20210903-13-1xjs8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419350/original/file-20210903-13-1xjs8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419350/original/file-20210903-13-1xjs8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419350/original/file-20210903-13-1xjs8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419350/original/file-20210903-13-1xjs8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419350/original/file-20210903-13-1xjs8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419350/original/file-20210903-13-1xjs8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New York City public school students met with board of education officials in January 2020 and demanded an end to standardized testing in the admissions process, among other things.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/new-york-city-public-school-students-meet-with-board-of-news-photo/1203098845">Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Taken at home on different devices</h2>
<p>For over a century, standardized tests involved students seated at desks in front of a proctor watching the clock. The tests were administered under stringent conditions to ensure all students were tested on the same content and under the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12377">same testing conditions</a>. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic changed that and made it nearly impossible to administer educational tests in classrooms or other school settings. This prompted <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12377">more flexible tests</a>. In 2020, students began taking high-stakes tests such as <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/03/college-board-offers-home-ap-exam-details">Advanced Placement</a>, <a href="https://www.princetonreview.com/business-school-advice/gmat-online-faq">the Graduate Management Admission Test</a> and <a href="https://www.doe.virginia.gov/remotetest/about.shtml">statewide exams</a> at home. Some tests require a proctor to watch students <a href="https://www.princetonreview.com/business-school-advice/gmat-online-faq">via their computer’s camera</a>, or they use additional software to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/style/testing-schools-proctorio.html">flag suspicious behavior</a> that may indicate cheating.</p>
<h2>3. Integrated with other education software</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic prompted an emphasis on technology to not only deliver tests digitally and remotely, but to also integrate them with a wide array of instructional software.</p>
<p>One familiar example of such integration is the <a href="https://www.duolingo.com">Duolingo app</a>, which teaches foreign languages by <a href="https://www.springerprofessional.de/en/game-based-learning-analytics-in-physics-playground/17159198">constantly testing users</a>. Testing companies are also <a href="https://www.nwea.org/instructional-connections/">partnering with curriculum companies</a> so that the results from tests can be used to suggest what students and teachers should focus on next. Other developments use technology to assess students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12374">while they are learning</a>. This integration makes the tests more useful because teachers and learners can benefit from more tailored instruction, or instruction <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10627197.2017.1382343">embedded in the assessment</a> itself. </p>
<h2>4. Recognize cultural diversity of students</h2>
<p>The new generation of educational tests are beginning to reflect more diverse material to which students from different groups can relate.</p>
<p>For instance, a test today might <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12429">mention topics</a> like the Black Lives Matter movement or immigration reform to acknowledge the presence of racism in society and honor students’ cultural heritages.</p>
<h2>5. More personalized</h2>
<p>More tests are using technology to <a href="http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2354/w3paper1.pdf">personalize assessments and encourage student engagement</a>. For example, the <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED562580.pdf">difficulty of the test can change</a> based on how well students are doing while they take it. And new research funded by the U.S. Department of Education aims to <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/funding/grantsearch/program.asp?ID=2118">transform tests</a> so teachers, employers and students can design their own tests for specific purposes such as diagnosing student needs.</p>
<h2>6. Emphasize learning over competition</h2>
<p>Finally, the new tests will deemphasize comparing students to one another and instead highlight the knowledge and skills students have demonstrated, in addition to pointing out what they should work on.</p>
<p>Moreover, new tests being designed will not interrupt instruction – they will be part of it. To best inform learning and instruction, <a href="https://www.education.ne.gov/assessment/nscas-growth/">shorter tests, targeted to recent instruction</a>, will be administered, and students’ performance will be reported quickly. Teachers will be guided on how to use the results to <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1111/emip.12415">inform and improve their instruction</a>.</p>
<p>By incorporating technology to engage students and integrate testing with instruction, and by making test materials relevant to a wider diversity of students, I believe the new educational tests will better serve education. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Sireci receives funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. </span></em></p>Public outcry against standardized testing, along with adjustments required by COVID-19, have led to a new generation of academic tests.Stephen Sireci, Professor of Psychometrics, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1315172020-03-02T12:18:57Z2020-03-02T12:18:57ZTutoring kids who don’t need it is a booming business in affluent areas where parents want to stack the deck<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317462/original/file-20200226-24690-l6rs59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C43%2C1206%2C517&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many families shell out $200 monthly on private 'learning centers.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kumon_Students.jpg">Beanosity</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many relatively well-off parents drive their kids to special activities after school. On top of trips to soccer practices and games or piano lessons and recitals, they increasingly make one more stop: a trip to their local after-school tutoring center.</p>
<p>In most cases <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122413497012">these children don’t attend underfunded schools</a> or need help competing with those in affluent districts. Nor are they high school students looking to boost their SAT or ACT scores before applying to college. They are typically doing just fine at their schools or are ahead of their classmates. And yet they get private, long-term tutoring on a regular basis.</p>
<p>I’ve been researching this intensive after-school tutoring, which I call “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479831142/hyper-education/">hyper education</a>,” for eight years. It’s becoming a <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-soc-081715-074341">more common extracurricular activity</a> for children of all ages. </p>
<p>Even if public schools provided the same quality of education for all, which is <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/02/the-costs-of-inequality-educations-the-one-key-that-rules-them-all/">demonstrably not the case</a>, I fear that this trend is increasing the advantages that the children of affluent families already have over their peers.</p>
<h2>Tutoring franchises</h2>
<p>Tutoring, of course, has long been commonplace within and outside of American schools to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/461070">help kids who are struggling to keep up in class</a>. While for-profit tutoring businesses have been in the United States for decades, they have grown <a href="https://www.kumon.com/assets/us-en/pressrelease/release2014-0716.html">over the past two decades</a> in urban and suburban communities alike.</p>
<p>Franchised chains of after-school learning centers, such as <a href="https://www.kumon.co.uk/blog/kumon-over-50-years-now-in-50-countries">Kumon</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41290-018-0059-9">Sylvan, Kaplan and Mathnasium</a>, operate in over 50 countries. Parents pay these multinational corporations around US<a href="https://tutors.com/costs">$200 per month</a> for each child to get math, reading and other kinds of lessons once or twice a week with their own curriculum and homework assignments intended to be more challenging than what is offered by the schools.</p>
<p>While researching for my book <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479831142/hyper-education/">“Hyper Education: Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough</a>,” I interviewed more than 100 Asian American and white families with children in elementary or middle school whose kids go to after-school tutoring centers or participate in academic competitions, or do both.</p>
<p>Most live in Boston suburbs, but some reside elsewhere in the United States. Nearly all of these children attend high-performing public schools. I also spent time in after-school learning franchises and interviewed around 30 educators inside and outside the public school system. </p>
<h2>Traffic patterns</h2>
<p>No longer reserved for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rich-new-yorkers-baby-ivies-preschool-kindergarten-acceptance-elite-college-2019-3">Manhattan families</a> angling to get their toddlers and preschoolers into elite kindergartens, <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-soc-081715-074341">more and more families from a wide array of backgrounds</a> enroll their kids in tutoring centers. While there is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/677907">no hard data yet available</a> regarding exactly how many children are getting this type of instruction, I believe it is safe to say the number is growing as parents with disposable income <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122418772034">spend increasing amounts of money</a> on their children to give them ever more advantages.</p>
<p>These educational franchises advertise as serving students not only struggling in academics but also those who are “<a href="https://www.mathnasium.com/">already ahead in math</a>.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kumon-franchise-sees-record-setting-enrollments-as-new-report-suggests-continued-boom-of-tutoring-industry-300582182.html">Business is booming for Kumon</a>, which has seen its revenue grow 60% in the past decade. <a href="https://www.mathnasium.com/franchise/mathnasium-ranked-one-of-the-fastest-growing-franchises-by-entrepreneur-magazine/">Mathnasium</a>, one of its top competitors, is one of North America’s fastest-growing franchises.</p>
<p>A mother of children attending public schools in the Boston suburbs observed that one tutoring center is so popular that the town “had to change traffic patterns” to accommodate during drop-off and pickup times.</p>
<p>One center director told me that her growth plan was to open in areas that already have highly ranked school districts, since those families have shown a commitment to education and have the means to pay for more. Another director targeted his advertising efforts to families making at least $125,000 a year in his affluent Boston suburb.</p>
<p>No child is too young to start, it seems. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/fashion/with-kumon-fast-tracking-to-kindergarten.html">Junior Kumon</a> targets children starting at age three. They teach these little kids how to recognize letters, numbers, patterns and shapes. I even saw a child in diapers who was enrolled at a Kumon center.</p>
<h2>Getting further ahead</h2>
<p>Parents are keeping their kids enrolled in nonremedial tutoring for years if they feel like it’s getting results.</p>
<p>“We just kind of kept her in the program, because it was working,” the mother of a fifth grader told me. “It seemed like the public school math program just wasn’t anywhere near stretching her capability to do math. So, it felt, like let’s keep doing this.”</p>
<p>Children enrolled in after-school academics can get confused about which kind of learning matters more. For instance, a fourth-grade student mentioned that her regular teacher counted her private math center assignments as satisfying her school homework. That raises good questions about which curriculum was more relevant and conducive to her learning. </p>
<p>Despite this industry’s growth and what parents may believe, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-081715-074341">effects of tutoring generally are mixed</a>.</p>
<p>Troublingly, educators believe that the growth of private tutoring is contributing to a sense of academic pressure that can contribute to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0013164405282461">emotional problems</a>, even for kids who aren’t getting this extra instruction. The students who take classes outside of school “make other kids feel bad, because they’re brighter, more capable, and they do more, and they can do it faster,” a Boston-area elementary school principal told me.</p>
<p>As a result, I’m seeing a growing education arms race, of families feeling pressured to ensure their kids learn enough to be above their grade level and ranked at or near the top of their classes. This is starting at younger and younger ages. Many parents told me they enroll their elementary school children in hyper education simply to “keep up” with those who do.</p>
<p>In 2016, <a href="https://www.mathnasium.com/southokc-news-mathnasium-partners-with-national-pta">Mathnasium teamed up with the National Parent Teachers Association</a> to help boost student performance in mathematics by hosting math games inside and outside of schools – a step that further embeds for-profit businesses into the public schools. Hyper education is growing. And as it does, it’s seriously changing what it means to go to school and be a child.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131517/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pawan Dhingra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of intensive after-school ‘hyper education’ says it’s becoming a more common extracurricular activity for children of all ages.Pawan Dhingra, Professor of Sociology and American Studies, Amherst CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1317392020-02-18T13:55:01Z2020-02-18T13:55:01ZDemocratic candidates seek a big and unprecedented K-12 funding boost<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315356/original/file-20200213-11000-t70bwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C640%2C4062%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">She's got proposals for constituents too young to vote.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/democratic-presidential-candidate-sen-amy-klobuchar-greets-news-photo/1199727589">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Democratic presidential candidates are proposing <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2019/09/presidential-candidates-education-2020-teachers-student-debt-school-safety-funding.html">new approaches</a> to the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html">federal government’s role</a> in public education. </p>
<p>Former Vice President <a href="https://joebiden.com/education/">Joe Biden</a> and Sen. <a href="https://berniesanders.com/en/issues/reinvest-in-public-education/">Bernie Sanders</a> want to triple the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/EDFP_a_00103">US$15 billion</a> spent annually on <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html">Title I</a>, a program that sends extra federal dollars to school districts that educate a high percentage of poor children.</p>
<p>Sen. <a href="https://elizabethwarren.com/plans/public-education">Elizabeth Warren</a> wants to go further and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/10/22/what-elizabeth-warrens-k-12-plan-reveals-about-education-politics-today/">quadruple funding for that same program</a>. </p>
<p>Other candidates have similar proposals to substantially increase funding for public education, including Sen. <a href="https://medium.com/@AmyforAmerica/amys-first-100-days-b7adf9f91262">Amy Klobuchar</a> and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/12/07/mayor-pete-buttigieg-k-12-education-plan-charter-schools/">Pete Buttigieg</a>. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn’t yet issued his education platform, or <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/01/05/bloomberg-education-plan-to-promote-charter-school-expansion/">indicated where he stands on federal K-12 funding</a>.</p>
<p>Funding increases of this scale would transform the <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-role-in-education-has-a-long-history-74807">federal role in education policy</a>, making it easier for school districts to <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-gap-2018/">pay teachers higher wages</a> while <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-much-of-a-difference-does-the-number-of-kids-in-a-classroom-make-125703">reducing class sizes</a>. This focus on funding would mark a departure from previous administrations, which instead emphasized policies intended to increase <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">accountability</a> and strengthen <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">teacher evaluation</a>.</p>
<p>As a scholar of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=F8pdFSgAAAAJ&hl=en">school finance</a>, I study the role of resources in schools. The <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25368">research</a> is clear that <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20150249">spending more</a> <a href="https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/EDFP_a_00236">on students</a> over the long haul would bring about <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/131/1/157/2461148">long-term benefits</a>.</p>
<h2>Only 8%</h2>
<p>The federal government spends a total of about <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_235.10.asp?current=yes">$55 billion per year on K-12</a> education, in addition to outlays for <a href="http://nieer.org/state-preschool-yearbooks">early childhood</a> and post-secondary programs like loans and grants for <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2017/03/07/federal-support-for-higher-education-comes-from-spending-programs-and-the-tax-code">college tuition</a>. This amounts to around $1,000 per K-12 student and <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_235.10.asp?current=yes">just 8%</a> of the total $700 billion it costs to run the nation’s public schools, which are mostly funded by state and local tax dollars.</p>
<p>Federal funding has <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_235.10.asp?current=yes">never surpassed 10%</a> of total public school funding, except from 2010 to 2012 when the federal government sought to reduce the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/implementation.html">school spending cuts</a> <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/688011/summary">brought about during the Great Recession</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="W04p2" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/W04p2/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The federal government has historically exerted influence in non-monetary ways. For example, under the <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-role-in-education-has-a-long-history-74807">No Child Left Behind Act</a> of 2001, President George W. Bush’s administration relied on standardized tests to hold schools accountable for student achievement. Schools that failed to make yearly progress on test scores faced <a href="https://education.findlaw.com/curriculum-standards-school-funding/what-happens-when-a-school-fails-to-make-adequate-yearly-progress.html">serious repercussions</a>, such as replacing the school staff or reopening the school as a charter school.</p>
<p>Former President Barack Obama’s Education Department used <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">Race to the Top</a> – under which states competed for federal grants through a point system – and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/nclb-waivers-timeline-and-glossary-of-terms.html">other initiatives</a> to get states to adopt a specific set of policies regarding teacher hiring, promotion and dismissal that the Education Department said would help schools employ better teachers overall.</p>
<p>Obama also signed the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> into law <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-every-student-succeeds-act-still-leaves-most-vulnerable-kids-behind-46247">in 2015</a>. It scaled back many of these policies and returned authority over accountability back to <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/this-weeks-essa-news-maryland-releases-second-year-of-school-ratings-school-climate-surveys-emerging-as-accountability-measure-looking-ahead-to-reauthorization-more/">individual states</a>.</p>
<p>These initiatives have two things in common. All of them have been longer on mandates than money, and it’s unclear that any have worked. Some <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB10009-1.html">major studies</a> <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20174001/">failed to find</a> substantial impacts and educators have <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2019/10/most_states_have_walked_back_tough_teacher_evaluation_policies_report.html">largely opposed</a> using student test scores to drive high-stakes staffing decisions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Testing, testing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Washington-Legislature/f206331a6ae14c048d718d5dc8dc8b2e/4/0">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Graphic concerns</h2>
<p>One source of opposition to increasing spending on public schools is a <a href="http://www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/we-cant-graph-our-way-out-research-education-spending">now</a>-<a href="https://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/smart-guy-gates-makes-my-list-of-dumbest-stuff-ive-ever-read/">infamous</a> <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2018/04/13/why-the-school-spending-graph-betsy-devos-is-sharing-doesnt-mean-what-she-says-it-does/">graph</a> that traces the rise of this spending on a per-student basis over the past 40 years, while test scores have remained stagnant. The juxtaposition of these two trend lines, opponents of higher spending say, suggests that more funding is not the answer.</p>
<p>Versions of this chart often appear in <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/public-school-spending-theres-chart">libertarian</a>, <a href="https://www.alec.org/article/increasing-education-spending-equal-higher-test-scores/">conservative</a> and <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-gates-school-performance_b_829771">mainstream</a> outlets.</p>
<p>Education Secretary <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2018/04/13/why-the-school-spending-graph-betsy-devos-is-sharing-doesnt-mean-what-she-says-it-does/">Betsy DeVos tweeted</a> a version of the graph and later <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-secretary-devos-2019-naep-results">declared</a> that the “gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students is widening, despite $1 trillion in federal spending over 40 years.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"984534888941604864"}"></div></p>
<p>I find DeVos’ statement and the graph she was talking about misleading.</p>
<p>A simple comparison of two trends does not necessarily mean that one causes the other. I also think this line of argument becomes potentially dangerous when policymakers use it to <a href="https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-education/2016/07/what-the-republican-platform-says-about-education-215401">justify under-investing in public education</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year would <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/02/trump-slash-education-funding-merge-block-grant-charter-schools-title-I.html">reduce federal K-12 spending</a>.</p>
<h2>More spending on white kids</h2>
<p>The significant increase in Title I funding Sanders, Warren, Biden and other candidates propose could partly address a problem that all the leading <a href="http://schottfoundation.org/2020-presidential-forum-public-education">Democratic presidential candidates agree</a> requires urgent action: substantial <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X16670899">funding</a> <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/688011/summary">inequities</a> in public schools.</p>
<p>Despite a widespread stated <a href="https://ccsso.org/resource-library/leading-equity-opportunities-state-education-chiefs">commitment to equity</a>, many states <a href="http://www.shankerinstitute.org/resource/adequacy-and-fairness-state-school-finance-systems">actually spend less</a> in high-poverty school districts than in more affluent communities.</p>
<p>In addition, students of color attend schools that receive, on average, <a href="https://edbuild.org/content/23-billion">$2,200 less per student</a> from state coffers compared with the schools predominantly enrolling white students. </p>
<p>Of course, finding a way to pay for these spending increases through new tax dollars or cuts to other priorities would be a challenge. But there is probably no way to address the challenges facing the nation’s public schools that doesn’t involve significant increases in funding, targeted to places where most students are <a href="https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/how-does-level-education-relate-poverty">growing up in poverty</a>.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com/democratic-presidential-hopefuls-are-promising-to-ramp-up-funding-for-public-schools-123136">December 18, 2019</a>.</em></p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131739/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David S. Knight receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the W. T. Grant Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the American School Counselor Association.</span></em></p>Biden, Sanders, Warren and other candidates are calling for far more federal spending for schools in low-income areas.David S. Knight, Assistant Professor of Education Finance and Policy, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1080182018-12-03T11:37:21Z2018-12-03T11:37:21ZGeorge H.W. Bush laid the foundation for education reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248483/original/file-20181203-194932-1ri33m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President George H.W. Bush in 1990.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/washington-dc-usa-1990-president-george-718857319?src=M0-3E8Z8HAlcSliupLb0VQ-1-1">Mark Reinstein/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>George H.W. Bush fulfilled his desire – articulated late in his 1988 campaign for president – to be <a href="https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/reports/negp30.pdf">“the education president</a>.” It just took three decades.</p>
<p>It’s true that Bush passed no education bills during his one term as president.</p>
<p>His next three successors, by contrast, all produced signature education legislation: <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/legislation/GOALS2000/TheAct/index.html">Goals 2000</a> for Bill Clinton, <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind</a> for George W. Bush and both <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">Race to the Top</a> and the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> for Barack Obama. All, however, followed a plan drawn up by George H.W. Bush. He was – in my view as an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d-pest4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">education historian</a> – the architect of sweeping change.</p>
<p>The cornerstone of the Bush education blueprint was an elite bipartisan consensus. Like his predecessor in the White House – Ronald Reagan – Bush was sympathetic to the free market. But unlike Reagan, Bush was a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/taxanalysts/2014/05/16/george-h-w-bushs-profile-in-pragmatism/#3516f4181a3d">pragmatist</a>, and as vice president had watched Reagan fail in his push for tuition vouchers. But Bush was also a consummate Washington insider, less intent on dismantling government than on improving it. In the long wake of the alarmist <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html">A Nation at Risk</a> report, which suggested that American students were falling behind their international peers, Bush offered a new vision for federal involvement in education. Rather than choosing between the unregulated market and the heavy hand of government to fix schools, Bush offered a third way, <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?22949-1/america-2000-education-initiatives">making the case</a> that entrepreneurial activity in education should be encouraged and carefully monitored by the state. That vision, which shaped an entire generation of education reformers, remains the foundation of an enduring consensus among liberals and conservatives alike.</p>
<h2>Federal government as catalyst</h2>
<p>Beyond establishing a vision, Bush threw his energies into school reform projects large and small. In keeping with his belief that the federal government could <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-1991-book1/html/PPP-1991-book1-doc-pg395-2.htm">“serve as a catalyst”</a> in promoting change, he was an early advocate for charter schools, which he successfully <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED327985.pdf">framed</a> as a bipartisan marriage of entrepreneurism and government, and which he pitched not as devices of the free market, but as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/28/opinion/school-choice-without-harm.html">an experimentation</a> against inequality. Through the <a href="https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/npo-spotlight/new-american-schools">New American Schools Development Corporation</a>, for instance, Bush funded the Community Learning Centers of Minnesota project – the first endeavor <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED371513.pdf">“based on the charter school concept, a variation of the school choice approach</a>.” In so doing, he created a model that would be replicated a thousand times over.</p>
<p>Perhaps most significantly, Bush laid the foundation for <a href="https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/reports/negp30.pdf">standards-based accountability</a>. Before he took office, the federal government had little involvement in the governance of public schools. President Lyndon Johnson had increased Washington’s reach through the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/the-nations-main-k-12-law-a-timeline.html">Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965</a>, which channeled vast new sums to schools. But Johnson and his successors – including Jimmy Carter, who <a href="https://education.laws.com/department-of-education">elevated</a> the Department of Education to the Cabinet – had done little to position the federal government as a kind of executive suite in public education. Bush changed that, and sought to do so by developing top-down accountability through curricular standards and aligned tests.</p>
<p>Less than a year after taking office, the Bush administration worked with the National Governors’ Association to organize the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/09/24/05summit.h34.html">1989 Charlottesville education summit</a> – a meeting at which then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton distinguished himself as an ally. A few short months later, in his <a href="https://www.infoplease.com/homework-help/us-documents/state-union-address-george-hw-bush-january-31-1990">1990 State of the Union address</a>, Bush proposed his <a href="http://www.capenet.org/pdf/Outlook171.pdf">America 2000</a> legislation, which called for standardized tests that would “tell parents and educators, politicians, and employers just how well our schools are doing.”</p>
<h2>Enduring influence</h2>
<p>At the time he was defeated in his bid for reelection, Bush had little to show for his plans. The charter sector in the early 1990s remained minuscule. Congress sank America 2000 shortly after it was proposed.</p>
<p>Over time, however, Bush’s grand design was gradually realized. Rechristening Bush’s failed America 2000 legislation as Goals 2000, Bill Clinton gave incentives to states to create curricular standards and aligned tests, and he doled out millions of dollars in grants to charter school developers. George W. Bush advanced his father’s work through No Child Left Behind, as well as through strong support for the charter sector, which doubled in size under his administration. Barack Obama offered continued support to the charter sector, while also ensuring the future of accountability testing through <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=rn">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>. In short, the Bush paradigm has had remarkable endurance across time and across different administrations.</p>
<p>This is not to say that federal policy has had a positive effect on schools over the past quarter-century. No Child Left Behind is today viewed by policy experts, educators and even many of its original backers as a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pam.21978">failure</a>. And charter schools, despite receiving generally positive press, have produced <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112340">mixed results</a> while largely <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/08/24/we-must-diversify-charter-school-options.html">failing to produce real innovation</a>.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the endurance of these efforts reveals Bush’s particular genius for working within complex democratic bureaucracies to build lasting power. The Department of Education, once a sleepy backwater, today exercises tremendous influence. And in wielding that influence, Bush’s successors – both Republicans and Democrats – have also advanced his administrative agenda. Phrases like “standards and accountability” and “school choice,” once deployed only by policy wonks, are now common terms in the national education dialogue.</p>
<p>George H.W. Bush’s ideas persisted well after he left office. That’s because they were rooted in compromise between elites on both sides of the aisle and because they were patiently developed through bureaucratic institutions and the law. For good or ill, it seems, true power lies not in the issuance of ideological proclamations or executive orders – it lies in statecraft. Leaders, after all, may come and go. But their policies can continue to shape the world long after they leave office.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108018/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Schneider does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Though his education initiative staggered while he was in office, the late former President George H.W. Bush had an influence that continues to shape education policy, an education historian says.Jack Schneider, Assistant Professor of Education, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/779342017-07-05T22:54:07Z2017-07-05T22:54:07ZStudents’ test scores tell us more about the community they live in than what they know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174526/original/file-20170619-22096-10p5l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students at an Atlanta elementary school prep for upcoming state standardized tests. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Back-to-School-AP-Poll-Testing/c0bb7d24c40349dfbda7a9c817324c99/69/0">AP Photo/David Goldman</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, policymakers across the U.S. make life-changing decisions based on the results of standardized tests.</p>
<p>These high-stakes decisions include, but are not limited to, student promotion to the next grade level, student eligibility to participate in advanced coursework, eligibility to graduate high school and teacher tenure. In 40 states, <a href="http://www.nctq.org/dmsStage/StateofStates2015">teachers are evaluated</a> in part based on the results from student standardized tests, as are school administrators in almost 30 states.</p>
<p>However, research shows that the outcomes of standardized tests don’t reflect the quality of instruction, as they’re intended to. Colleagues and I have conducted studies in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19404476.2016.1252304">New Jersey</a>, <a href="http://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3033&context=dissertations">Connecticut</a>, <a href="http://gradworks.umi.com/10/26/10268014.html">Massachusetts</a>, <a href="http://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2075/">Iowa</a> and <a href="http://greatlakescenter.org/docs/early_research/pdf/NelsonMayloneIntroPages.pdf">Michigan</a>. </p>
<p>The results show that it’s possible to predict the percentages of students who will score proficient or above on some standardized tests. We can do this just by looking at some of the important characteristics of the community, rather than factors related to the schools themselves, like student-teacher ratios or teacher quality.</p>
<p>This raises the possibility that there are serious flaws built into education accountability systems and the decisions about educators and students made within those systems.</p>
<h1>Standardized tests</h1>
<p>Students’ scores on mandated standardized tests have been used to evaluate U.S. educators, students and schools since President George W. Bush signed the <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/no-child-left-behind-overview-definition-summary.html">No Child Left Behind Act</a> (NCLB) in 2002. </p>
<p>Although more than 20 states had previously instituted state testing in some grade levels by the late 1990s, NCLB mandated annual standardized testing in all 50 states. It required standardized mathematics and English language arts tests in grades three through eight and once in high school. State education officials also had to administer a standardized science test in fourth grade, eighth grade and once in high school.</p>
<p>The Obama administration expanded standardized testing through requirements in the Race to the Top grant program and by funding the development of two national standardized tests related to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-common-core-explained-56484?sr=1">Common Core State Standards</a>: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/another-standardized-test-this-one-called-parcc-but-heres-whats-different-40056?sr=1">Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers</a> (PARCC).</p>
<p>Forty-five states initially adopted the Common Core in some form. Approximately 20 are currently part of the PARCC or SBAC consortia. Key portions of Race to the Top applications required states use student test results to evaluate teachers and principals.</p>
<h1>Predicting scores</h1>
<p>It’s <a href="http://www.dl.icdst.org/pdfs/files/31971dff000be81bb656c00948255a75.pdf">already well-established</a> that out-of-school, community demographic and family-level variables strongly influence student achievement on large-scale standardized tests. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/2013/TotalGroup-2013.pdf">median family income</a> is a strong predictor of SAT results. Other factors strongly linked to achievement on state standardized tests include parental education levels, percentage of lone parents in the school community and percentage of families living in poverty in the community. </p>
<p>We decided to see if we could predict standardized test scores based on demographic factors related to the community where a student lived. By looking at three to five community and family demographic variables from U.S. Census data, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19404476.2016.1252304">we have been able to accurately predict</a> the percentages of students who score proficient or above on standardized test scores for grades three through 12. These predictions are made without looking at school district data factors such as school size, teacher experience or per pupil spending. </p>
<p>Our models can identify how much a particular variable affects students’ scores. That allows us to identify the most important demographic characteristics as they relate to the test results. For example, by looking at just one characteristic – the percentage of families in a given community living in poverty – we can explain almost 58 percent of the test’s score in eighth grade English language arts. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19404476.2016.1252304">Our most recent study</a> explored three years of test scores from grades six through eight in more than 300 New Jersey schools. We looked at the percentage of families in the community with income over US$200,000 a year, the percentage of people in a community in poverty and the percentage of people in a community with bachelor’s degrees. We found that we could predict the percent of students who scored proficient or above in 75 percent of the schools we sampled.</p>
<p><a href="http://christienken.com/publication/education-policy-perils-tackling-the-tough-issues/">An earlier study</a> that focused on fifth grade test scores in New Jersey predicted the results accurately for 84 percent of schools over a three-year period.</p>
<h1>Smarter assessments</h1>
<p>To be clear, this doesn’t mean that money determines how much students can learn. That couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, our results demonstrate that standardized tests don’t really measure how much students learn, or how well teachers teach, or how effective school leaders lead their schools. Such tests are blunt instruments that are highly susceptible to measuring out-of-school factors.</p>
<p>Though some proponents of standardized assessment claim that scores can be used to measure improvement, we’ve found that there’s simply too much noise. Changes in test scores from year to year can be attributed to normal growth over the school year, whether the student had a bad day or feels sick or tired, computer malfunctions, or other unrelated factors. </p>
<p>According to the technical manuals published by the creators of standardized assessments, none of the tests currently in use to judge teacher or school administrator effectiveness or student achievement have been validated for those uses. For example, none of the PARCC research, as <a href="http://www.parcconline.org/assessments/test-design/research">provided by PARCC</a>, addresses these issues directly. The tests are simply not designed to diagnose learning. They are simply monitoring devices, as evidenced by their technical reports. </p>
<p>The bottom line is this: Whether you’re trying to measure proficiency or growth, standardized tests are not the answer.</p>
<p>Though our results in several states have been compelling, we need more research on a national level to determine just how much test scores are influenced by out-of-school factors.</p>
<p>If these standardized test results can be predicted with a high level of accuracy by community and family factors, it would have major policy implications. In my opinion, it suggests we should jettison the entire policy foundation that uses such test results to make important decisions about school personnel and students. After all, these factors are outside the control of students and school personnel. </p>
<p>Although there are ideological disputes about the merits of standardized tests results, the science has become clearer. The results suggest standardized test results tell more about the community in which a student lives than the amount the student has learned or the academic, social and emotional growth of the student during a school year. </p>
<p>Although some might not want to accept it, over time, <a href="http://www.cshe.berkeley.edu/publications/validity-high-school-grades-predicting-student-success-beyond-freshman-yearhigh-school">assessments made by teachers</a> are better indicators of student achievement than standardized tests. For example, high school GPA, which is based on classroom assessments, is a better predictor of student success in the first year of college than the SAT.</p>
<p>This change would go a long way to providing important information about effective teaching, compared with a test score that has little to do with the teacher.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Tienken does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Standardized test scores drive many of our decisions about students, teachers and school districts. But research shows that the results are highly predictable, in a bad way.Christopher Tienken, Associate Professor of Education Leadership Management and Policy, Seton Hall UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/748072017-04-27T01:51:13Z2017-04-27T01:51:13ZFederal role in education has a long history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166909/original/file-20170426-2838-1b35jhj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C307%2C3062%2C2342&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Though many of Thomas Jefferson's educational policies were never passed during his lifetime, they became the foundation of federal education today.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AThomas_Jefferson_by_Mather_Brown%2C_1786_-_DSC03165.JPG">Portrait by Mather Brown / Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/26/record-press-call-education-federalism-executive-order">has directed</a> the United States Department of Education to evaluate whether the federal government has “overstepped its legal authority” in the field of education. This is not a new issue in American politics.</p>
<p>Ever since the Department of Education became a Cabinet-level agency in 1979, opposition to federalized education has been a popular rallying cry among conservatives. <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ684842.pdf#page=2">Ronald Reagan advocated</a> to dismantle the department while campaigning for his presidency, and many others since then have called for more power to be put back into the states’ hands when it comes to educational policy. In February of this year, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/899/text">legislation was introduced</a> to eliminate the Department of Education entirely.</p>
<p>So, what is the role of the state versus the federal government in the world of K-12 education?</p>
<p>As a researcher of education policy and politics, I have seen that people are divided on the role that the federal government should play in K-12 education – a role that has changed over the course of history.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Donald Trump holds the signed Education Federalism Executive Order. Wednesday, April 26, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Growth of public education in states</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript">10th Amendment</a> to the United States Constitution states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This leaves the power to create schools and a system for education in the hands of individual states, rather than the central national government. Today, all 50 states provide public schooling to their young people – with 50 approaches to education within the borders of one nation.</p>
<p>Public schooling on a state level began in 1790, when Pennsylvania became the first state to <a href="https://isminc.com/pdf/free/administrators-faculty/history_education.pdf#page=3">require free education</a>. This service was extended only to poor families, assuming that wealthy people could afford to pay for their own education. New York followed suit in 1805. In 1820, Massachusetts was the first state to <a href="https://www.raceforward.org/research/reports/historical-timeline-public-education-us">have a tuition-free high school for all</a>, and also the first to require compulsory education.</p>
<p>By the late 1800s, public education had spread to most states, in a movement often referred to as the <a href="http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1871/Common-School-Movement.html">common school movement</a>. After World War I, urban populations swelled, and vocational education and secondary education became <a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/lkatz/files/why_the_united_states_led_in_education_lessons_from_secondary_school_expansion_1910_to_1940_1.pdf">part of the American landscape</a>. By 1930, <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/ae4.html">every state</a> had some sort of compulsory education law. This led to increased control of schools by cities and states.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Massachusetts was the first state to offer tuition-free schooling for all students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_English_High_School#/media/File:EnglishSchool_KingsBoston1881.png">Artist: George Clough / Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Federal role in education</h2>
<p>As for the federal government’s role, education is not specifically addressed in the Constitution, but a historical precedent of central government involvement does exist.</p>
<p>In 1787, the Continental Congress, the central government of the United States between 1776 and 1787, passed the <a href="http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/northwest-ordinance/">Northwest Ordinance</a>, which became the governing document for Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota. </p>
<p>The ordinance included a provision encouraging the creation of schools as a key component of “good government and the happiness of mankind.” Just two years earlier, the <a href="http://www.in.gov/history/2478.htm">Land Ordinance of 1785</a> required land to be reserved in townships for the building of schools.</p>
<p>The role of the federal government in general grew much larger after the Great Depression and World War II, but this growth <a href="http://lwv.org/content/history-federal-government-public-education-where-have-we-been-and-how-did-we-get-here">largely excluded K-12 education</a> until the 1960s. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X024003004">included education policy</a> in his vision of a “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/lyndonbjohnson">Great Society</a>.”</p>
<h2>Elementary and Secondary Education Act</h2>
<p>In 1965, President Johnson signed the <a href="https://federaleducationpolicy.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/1965-elementary-and-secondary-education-act/">Elementary and Secondary Education Act</a> (ESEA) into law. This law <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/the-nations-main-k-12-law-a-timeline.html">decidedly changed the role of the federal government</a> in the world of K-12 education. </p>
<p>ESEA doubled the amount of federal expenditures for K-12 education, worked to change the relationship between states and the central government in the education arena, called for equal treatment of students no matter where they reside and attempted to improve reading and math competency for children in poverty. </p>
<p>ESEA was passed with the intention of bridging <a href="http://prde.upress.virginia.edu/content/WarOnPoverty">a clear gap</a> between children in poverty and those from privilege. <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html?exp=0">Title I</a> of the ESEA, which is still referenced frequently in K-12 education policy, is a major provision of the bill, which distributed federal funding to districts with low-income families.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President George W. Bush passed one of the most well-known reauthorizations of ESEA in 2001, with No Child Left Behind.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>ESEA today</h2>
<p>ESEA is still the law of the United States today. However, the law has required periodic reauthorization, which has led to significant changes since 1965. One of the most well-known reauthorizations was President George W. Bush’s <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/1">No Child Left Behind</a> (NCLB) Act of 2001. NCLB called for 100 percent proficiency in math and reading scores nationwide by 2014, and expanded the role of standardized testing to measure student achievement.</p>
<p>Under President Barack Obama, <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment/index.html">Race to the Top</a> was established, requiring states to compete for federal grants through a point system, which rewarded certain educational policies and achievements. This resulted in nationwide changes in the way teachers are evaluated, and placed even more emphasis on test results.</p>
<p>In 2015, Obama signed the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1177">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> (ESSA) into law. This is the latest reauthorization of ESEA, and <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/12/07/the-every-student-succeeds-act-explained.html">returns some federal power</a> over education back to states, including evaluation measures and <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-the-new-education-law-allow-for-teachers-with-lower-qualifications-54999">teacher quality standards</a>.</p>
<h2>The debate continues</h2>
<p>Since the 1980s, a growing trend in the field of K-12 education has been the growth of <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/choice/">school choice and charter schools</a>. Every state has its own policy regarding these issues, but during the presidential campaign of 2016, President Trump assured that his administration <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/08/trump-pitches-20-billion-education-plan-at-ohio-charter-school-that-received-poor-marks-from-state/">would provide federal money</a> to help students attend a school of their choice. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-betsy-devos-70843">has dedicated her career</a> to the cause of school choice.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of Trump’s first budget proposals called for significant reductions to the Department of Education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jon Elswick</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>On April 26, President Trump signed the “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/26/record-press-call-education-federalism-executive-order">Education Federalism Executive Order</a>,” which requires the United States Department of Education to spend 300 days evaluating the role of the federal government in education. The <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2017-04-26/donald-trump-to-order-education-department-to-study-government-overreach">purpose of the order</a> is to “determine where the Federal Government has unlawfully overstepped state and local control.” This comes on the back of a proposed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/trump-seeks-to-slash-education-department-but-make-big-push-for-school-choice/2017/03/15/63b8b6f8-09a1-11e7-b77c-0047d15a24e0_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.896aa1c3cf95">13.5 percent cut</a> to the national education budget.</p>
<p>It’s not yet known what the results of this study might conclude. But, in my opinion, it may impact ESEA and the current funding structure that has been the norm for over 50 years, dramatically impacting funding for students in poverty and with special needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74807/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dustin Hornbeck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trump has ordered a task force to look into the federal government’s role in schools. Where does this executive order fit in the country’s long history of federal versus state educational policies?Dustin Hornbeck, Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership and Policy, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/708432017-01-09T01:33:04Z2017-01-09T01:33:04ZWho is Betsy DeVos?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151992/original/image-20170106-18647-si5oul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos speaks in Grand Rapids, Michigan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article first published on Jan. 8, 2017.</em></p>
<p>Since Donald Trump tapped Betsy DeVos to become the secretary of education, her name has been associated with a great deal of controversy and conversation. This came to fruition when she became the first Cabinet position in United States history to be confirmed by a vice president’s tie-breaking vote.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/betsy-devoss-school-mission-1480024466">Much of this conversation</a> has centered around Devos’ controversial past as a supporter, lobbyist and financial donor to causes that directly support school choice and school vouchers, and how she might <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/opinion/betsy-devos-and-the-wrong-way-to-fix-schools.html?_r=0">further this cause as the next education secretary</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/what-is-school-choice/">School choice</a> is a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ravitch-will-school-choice-kill-public-education/2012/06/25/gJQABAor0V_blog.html?utm_term=.b2fb0fc16806">controversial</a> movement that advocates for parents to “choose” the school (public, private, religious, charter, home, online) they feel is best for their children. Tuition is paid for by redistributing funds from government public schools, or from vouchers that come from a government entity. School choice proponents believe this market-based approach spurs competition, <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/how-does-school-choice-affect-public-schools/">causing all schools to improve</a>. </p>
<p>Trump made his support of school choice clear during his election campaign – <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/education">Trump’s campaign promised</a> to earmark US$20 billion to the federal education budget to provide “choice” for students nationwide. </p>
<p>As a researcher of education policy and politics, related to <a href="http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Community-Schools/eSchools">e-schools</a> and brick-and-mortar charter schools, I’ve been following the dialogue within the political and educational community and the concerns over what her tenure as secretary of education will mean for school choice and public schools. </p>
<p>Critics worry that what DeVos worked toward in Michigan is a <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/EqualEd/2017/0104/In-Michigan-a-test-case-for-US-public-schools-under-Trump">foreshadowing for what is to come in the United States</a>. <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/betsy-devos-michigan-school-experiment-232399">DeVos pushed school choice</a> for two decades in her home state of Michigan to improve education, with disappointing results.</p>
<p>Who exactly is Betsy DeVos and what can we learn from her past actions? </p>
<h2>Background</h2>
<p>Betsy DeVos’ most recent job was running the <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/about-us/">American Federation for Children</a>, an advocacy organization. The group’s <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/about-us/mission/">self-described mission</a> is “promoting school choice, with a specific focus on advocating for school vouchers, scholarship tax credit programs and Education Savings Accounts.” </p>
<p>In this role, DeVos lobbied the state of Michigan, and others, <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/betsy-devos-look-numbers/">for legislation that promotes school choice</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Children line up at a charter school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/neontommy/12488014164/in/photolist-k2wkx3-5emtNP-8tgBeB-5eqU5U-5eqMxw-5emuZr-dpjptd-6gJSKE-5eqSd5-5emtr6-5emoXT-5emtyg-5vj4gD-qGZ2FH-pGVci5-5emqee-8tgBtT-5emonD-k2wprL-rDLnAv-rBteS1-5vonTs-aAHrNV-aAHfDM-de4u6Z-8tgBfP-o2dQqj-5eqSwU-5emqmg-5emvLM-k2wmPw-5von4S-qnufNk-doHDpT-nB4mKu-4z593y-doHRMo-9iFHyD-5vomo9-qnmiu9-6peYW6-iyucDc-4FFE8G-iCKMic-rnbweu-8tgBL4-5emqRc-9udQVk-5emvpe-5vonxm">Neon Tommy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Prior to running the American Federation for Children, DeVos was the chairwoman of the Republican Party of Michigan and served in other leadership roles in the Republican Party. </p>
<p>DeVos currently sits on the board of directors for the <a href="http://www.allianceforschoolchoice.org/">Alliance for School Choice</a> – a special interest organization that marshals donations toward legislative action in favor of school vouchers.</p>
<p>DeVos is married to the heir to the Amway fortune and together both are billionaires. <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2016/12/betsy_devos_would_be_first_ed_.html">Neither DeVos nor her children ever attended a public school</a>, which is unprecedented in the 35-year existence of the role of education secretary. Every education secretary to date either went to public school or had children that attended public schools. </p>
<h2>Michigan agenda and beyond</h2>
<p>While in Michigan, DeVos and her husband worked to advance the choice and voucher agenda substantially. Together, they started the <a href="http://www.glep.org/about-glep/">Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP)</a> which has worked to provide funding and private training to state legislators to advocate for the <a href="http://www.glep.org/glep-mission/">redirection of public funds</a> from traditional public schools to other options, including charter schools, private schools, parochial schools (private schools with a religious affiliation) and online schools. Several of these types of schools are run by <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/NEPC_NP-EMO-09-10.pdf">education management organizations that earn profit</a> from managing publicly funded schools. </p>
<p>GLEP actively <a href="http://www.glep.org/2016-campaign/">endorses candidates</a> that subscribe to the school choice agenda. Since Trump named DeVos his pick for education secretary, GLEP’s current head, Gary Naeyaert, has <a href="http://www.glep.org/betsy-devos-named-political-figure-of-the-year/">posted several</a> articles on GLEP’s website praising the work of DeVos. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2016/12/betsy_devos_helped_create_michigan_charter_sector_how_its_doing.html?r=113331457&_ga=1.174998178.1888671687.1482882702">results of the increased choice in Michigan</a>, and Detroit more specifically, are not clear. <a href="http://urbancharters.stanford.edu/download/Urban%20Charter%20School%20Study%20Report%20on%2041%20Regions.pdf">Stanford University released a study</a> that claims that charter schools in Detroit have a slight edge over public schools. Conversely, a more recent study from New York City’s <a href="http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/preferences-and-outcomes-a-look-at-new-york-citys-public-high-school-choice-process.pdf">Independent Budget Office questions</a> whether choice programs actually benefit lower-income students. <a href="https://theconversation.com/charter-schools-fabulous-or-failures-35995">Many scholars</a> have <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/11/02/school-choice.html">questioned</a> the broader choice agenda.</p>
<h2>Confirmation</h2>
<p>During <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?421224-1/education-secretary-nominee-betsy-devos-testifies-confirmation-hearing">Senate confirmation hearings in January</a>, DeVos created more controversy with her responses to several questions asked by members of the confirmation committee.</p>
<p>In one exchange, DeVos was asked if she supported schools being gun-free zones. Her response was that a school in Wyoming might need a gun <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/betsy-devos-grizzlies-wyoming-when-asked-about-guns-in-schools/">to fend off grizzly bears</a>. In another exchange, DeVos stated she was “confused” after declaring that the enforcement of a federal law for students with disabilities should be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/28/the-telling-letter-betsy-devos-wrote-to-clarify-her-position-on-u-s-disabilities-law/?utm_term=.ca494720161a">up to individual states</a>.</p>
<p>On Feb. 7, she became the first cabinet position in United States history to be confirmed by <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/VPTies.pdf">a tie-breaking vote by the vice president</a>. Only two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), voted against her nomination.</p>
<h2>What’s the future?</h2>
<p>The question is, could DeVos influence policy?</p>
<p>Some might argue that in the United States, the federal government is secondary in crafting education policy because most educational decisions are left to states. </p>
<p>This is because the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/tenth_amendment">United States is a federal</a> governmental system, and the Constitution, under which this system is governed, does not mention or consider the provision of education.</p>
<p>Despite the traditional understanding of state-controlled education, the national government has taken more power in the last several decades. The Department of Education budget has <a href="https://ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget17/budget-factsheet.pdf">swelled to over $200 billion</a> from <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/history/edhistory.pdf">just under $20 billion in 1980</a>. Adding to the larger budget, Congress has passed several <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/saa.html">laws that promote educational accountability</a>, which tie additional federal funds to state implementation of these statutory suggestions. It took the latest piece of federal legislation, called the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>, to put some of this power back to the states.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Accountability is based on a system of standardized testing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shinealight/2220267854/in/photolist-4ocshf-jdmxFd-dwphu8-bzH2FN-2Ge5Ad-nN5dxA-8VvSaf-tX8Ls-tX8mH-tX8Gj-so3ioA-tX8g5-tX8tc-tX8dM-tX8BR-tX8oT-tX8aW-tX8xN-tX84J-tX814-tX87J-A6JZq-66JPu7-tX7TV-8vEXkh-f3rcu5-wR4xs-7KS76L-pbB4Yd-bSXrxr-4iLBEW-m2SWHp-a7M72W-787EzG-5xqRc3-na6KMt-9LPBnH-6akRDL-kDdac2-oW3LQq-oW9wQS-66Exo6-66JPK7-66Exat-8tZhVF-o9JVqP-6Fayur-4HDHhG-dwxpou-8vBVVr">Ryan McGilchrist</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Accountability is based on a system of standardized tests that measure specific pieces of information. Proponents of choice and vouchers seem to look to these tests as the evidence that show whether or not students are learning. </p>
<p>This market-based approach is debated by <a href="http://www.nea.org/home/38711.htm">teachers’ unions</a>, parents and <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ750641.pdf">others in the public education field</a> – but all 50 states have adopted some sort of testing accountability.</p>
<p>The organizations with which Betsy DeVos has been involved view standardized testing data as an essential tool needed for accountability. <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/ed-choice-101/educational-choice/">They use this as the evidence</a> to support a movement that redistributes public school funds and gives parents the choice to send their children to private schools or charter schools. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1176146?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Some refer to this as privatization</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594511152/teacherscolleger">point out that</a> the effectiveness of federal choice policies <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/print/educ/Privatization.pdf">is still unclear.</a></p>
<p>How education policies might be influenced based on these past actions is hard to know. One early indication could be Trump’s budget proposal to the Congress. The education portion of his budget will reveal the intentions of the coming policies of the DeVos era and subsequent potential for “school choice.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dustin Hornbeck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Confirmed in a historic tie-breaking vote by Vice President Pence, Betsy DeVos will be the next secretary of education. Here’s what you need to know about her past legislative actions and proposals.Dustin Hornbeck, Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership and Policy, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/658692016-11-09T11:06:39Z2016-11-09T11:06:39ZAre wealthy donors influencing the public school agenda?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144904/original/image-20161107-4711-ztg3ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A campaign for Los Angeles Unified School District school board candidates. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/local99/8554994975/in/photolist-e2YzXn-e2YA84-9eURCL-9chSab-e35hi1-e2YzTv-ayha1Q-e35huU-e2YAdX-e35h5w-e35hbS-e35gVy-e35hmm-e2YzFr-e2YAma-e35hwd-67s9Nw-e35hrh-e35h9j-e2YApM-e35hcY-e35hjf-e2YA2P-e2YzJk-e2YA9H-e2YzLn-Jtmtf-e35ho1-e35hej-e2YzYR-e2YzQP-e35gSN-6RxVaY-e35h2s-e2YzMX-9vMoNQ-suGwU9-e35hpy-apfKHG-j2ybSo-j2v9DE-j2vnro-j2uKj2-e35h4u-8LAmzc-bjog9-9kwJUR-vMQG5J-k2H3L-4nKVq">SEIU Local 99 | Education Workers United Follow</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>School boards have often been portrayed as old-fashioned and dysfunctional, so much so that <a href="http://educationnext.org/lost-at-sea/">some school reform leaders have advocated</a> for eliminating school boards altogether. </p>
<p>It is no surprise then that school board elections have mostly been known as being <a href="http://educationnext.org/the-union-label-on-the-ballot-box/">sleepy affairs</a>. Most candidates in the past have been known to <a href="https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/HessFeb2011.pdf">spend less than US$1,000</a> toward campaign expenses such as campaign literature and name recognition efforts. In 2010, for example, <a href="https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/HessFeb2011.pdf">less than 3 percent</a> of candidates reported spending more than $25,000. </p>
<p>However, this reality, as we have known it, is changing. Of late, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/04/school-board-races-attract-big-outside-money/">out-of-state donors are writing</a> very large checks to support candidates and <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/05/23/32adv-local.h31.html">political action committees (PACs)</a> in local school board elections. Yes, there are PACs now involved in local school board elections. </p>
<p>Recent school board elections in places such as <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/big-money-bad-media-secret-agendas-welcome-americas-wildest-school-board-race/">Denver</a>, <a href="http://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2014/10/27/behind-five-figure-fundraising-ips-board-races/17980029/">Indianapolis</a>, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-election-money-20150515-story.html">Los Angeles</a>, <a href="http://www.startribune.com/out-of-state-money-pouring-into-minneapolis-school-board-race/280863712/">Minneapolis</a> and <a href="http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2012/10/orleans_parish_school_board_ca.html">New Orleans</a> have seen candidates routinely raising at least 50 times as much money as the 2010 national average. </p>
<p>Why is this happening? And how might the involvement of these large wealthy donors change our local schools?</p>
<p>We are scholars of politics and education. Our research shows that such large donations have the potential to change who is elected to govern and, as a result, how our schools are reformed. </p>
<h2>Why do school boards matter?</h2>
<p>First, let’s look at the unique arrangement of power in the U.S. education system to understanding why this new infusion of funding is significant. </p>
<p>The U.S. education system is highly decentralized, with control of schools spread across over <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_098.asp">13,000 independent, local school districts</a>. Most boards, comprising five to eight members, <a href="https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/HessFeb2011.pdf">enjoy considerable power</a> <a href="https://www.nsba.org/about-us/frequently-asked-questions">over many areas,</a> <a href="https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20060228_SchoolBoards.pdf">including</a> whom to hire, what to teach, when to hold school and how to allocate budgets.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144896/original/image-20161107-4704-1c6wsy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144896/original/image-20161107-4704-1c6wsy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144896/original/image-20161107-4704-1c6wsy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144896/original/image-20161107-4704-1c6wsy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144896/original/image-20161107-4704-1c6wsy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144896/original/image-20161107-4704-1c6wsy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144896/original/image-20161107-4704-1c6wsy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">State of Maryland school board meeting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mdgovpics/6973055520/in/photolist-bCbJtb-4x9RNU-oR7oB7-sq8LAW-qLARnd-hcKA2y-bCbCDq-bCbWwY-bR6oNz-bCbLKw-bR6Tpt-bCbZZm-bR6Pj8-bR6E7P-bCbStq-bCc97A-bR6tTk-bCcavG-bR6JZ6-bR6Lui-bR6FJe-bCc7VY-bR6BY4-bR6Rpa-6Hz6yp-bCc2uS-bR6LMP-bR6jhx-bR6rHt-CqJyt-sqg7q2-4TgSjk-bCbWKG-bR6DLv-bR6KTa-bCbRBS-bCbXSf-bCbMTC-bCbFn9-bCc8vs-bCbZHq-bCbLn7-bCbR2b-8Zdkbv-bCc1E3-bCc64f-bR6Jpn-bCbEj7-bBLYhZ-bR6N4V">Maryland GovPics</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is true that of late, the decision-making power of school boards has been curtailed by recent national (e.g., <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind</a> and <a href="http://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>) and state (e.g., <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED473720">state takeover laws</a>) policies. For example, when NCLB came up with its own guidelines for “highly qualified teachers,” school boards had to ensure that their definition for teachers’ qualifications aligned with federal standards and not only with local priorities and standards. Ignoring these federal guidelines was accompanied by the potential loss of federal funding. </p>
<p>Even with these recent limitations, however, school boards nonetheless remain important. They can modify, regulate, innovate and resist state and federal policy demands. </p>
<p>This ability to resist or modify policy guidelines was evident recently after the Obama administration released its <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201605-title-ix-transgender.pdf">“Letter on Transgender Students,”</a> which advised school districts to treat transgender students based on their expressed gender identity rather than their sex assignment at birth. </p>
<p>School boards across the country were called upon by local citizens to resist this policy. In some cases, <a href="http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/education/2016/02/23/lgbt-brevard-school-meeting-draws-crowds/80814556/">local school boards voted</a> to not comply with the Obama administrations guidelines. </p>
<p>Thus despite their relatively low profile, school boards have the power to dramatically shape local educational experiences by modifying, or even at times ignoring, state and federal rules and regulations. </p>
<h2>How widespread is outside money?</h2>
<p>This ability to alter or resist state and national policy may be the motivating force behind the recent investment by wealthy, national donors. </p>
<p>To examine this rise in donations to local school board candidates, <a href="http://uar.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/08/09/1078087416663004.full.pdf?ijkey=VwXQR0XzBxo8aFx&keytype=finite">we investigated over 18,000 campaign contributions</a> in local education elections between 2008 and 2013 in five cities (Bridgeport, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and New Orleans). We selected these five sites for examination because they were geographically and politically diverse and yet all five had school board elections where national donors became involved. </p>
<p>We found that donations from outside donors were widespread and significant. In the 2012-2013 elections, for example, we found that large outside donors gave over $2.8 million to school board candidates and committees, comprising 44 percent of all funds contributed by individuals. <a href="http://uar.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/08/09/1078087416663004.full.pdf?ijkey=VwXQR0XzBxo8aFx&keytype=finite">This represents a significant increase</a> from 2009-2010, when large outside donors comprised only 4 percent of donations in the cities we examined. </p>
<p>The figure below shows the growth of out-of-state donations by individuals in each city. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144610/original/image-20161104-27925-ymve9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144610/original/image-20161104-27925-ymve9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144610/original/image-20161104-27925-ymve9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144610/original/image-20161104-27925-ymve9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144610/original/image-20161104-27925-ymve9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144610/original/image-20161104-27925-ymve9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144610/original/image-20161104-27925-ymve9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In-state vs. out-of-state individual donations by city and by year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Data Source: Authors’ Data</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who’s making the contributions?</h2>
<p>By examining publicly available campaign finance disclosure reports, which are filed by all candidates, including school board candidates, and list each donor and the amount donated, we were able to track a list of wealthy donors who contributed at least $1,000 in one election cycle (<a href="https://ethics.lacity.org/campaignfinance.cfm">see here</a> for an example of how to access these data). In total, we found 96 large national donors involved in education philanthropy and education reform. These donors included, for example:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/reed-hastings-netflix-bio-2015-8">Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix</a>, who donated in Los Angeles in 2011 ($150,000) and 2013 ($100,000) and in New Orleans in 2013 ($2,500). The high-tech billionaire is active in supporting the development of new charter schools and founded educational organizations such as NewSchools.org and Aspire Public Schools. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144898/original/image-20161107-4683-10ajx7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144898/original/image-20161107-4683-10ajx7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144898/original/image-20161107-4683-10ajx7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144898/original/image-20161107-4683-10ajx7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144898/original/image-20161107-4683-10ajx7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144898/original/image-20161107-4683-10ajx7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144898/original/image-20161107-4683-10ajx7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reed Hastings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/re-publica/16760697834/in/photolist-rx5XwS-stYCEg-scMne8-9jdZbs-j3EXbe-5BQvAf-srNyUo-q8qJnA-egnoEy-scEEdw-scEsMY-9jasn7-A5FGZ-eaTzdN-fvZNk6-sud3qH-9UgLqZ-eaTAFf-eaMYHV-eaMXbP-eaMY8a-iZu339-2AJju-eggDGg-5BQvAC-2WrM-egnoUA-sGZuJY-n9ETU-61T2xM-5BLdKZ-9UgLr6-82WugK-sccaXs-xkS59-5BLdNg-82ZCUA-9UgLr8-6qW2ct-4SeARf-5BQvzq-47aZAA-476V2t-9TvUCF-snKfP-9UgLri-5qJi5-sK7ZVJ-5BQvwQ-5BQvz1">re:publica</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=4509275&privcapId=4509225">Alan</a> and Jennifer Fournier, who donated in Indianapolis in 2012 ($4,000), Los Angeles in 2013 ($2,000) and New Orleans in 2012 ($2,200). Alan Fournier is <a href="http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/wall-street-donors/alan-fournier.html">founder</a> of Pennant Capital Management, which manages $6 billion in assets. Alan Fournier cofounded (with <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/15/david-tepper-hedge-fund-manager-on-guard-toward-stock-market.html">David Tepper</a>, a hedge funds manager), <a href="http://b4njkids.org/">Better Education for Kids</a>, which advocates for tenure reform and greater teacher accountability. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.citybridgefoundation.org/team/katherine-bradley/">Katherine Bradley</a>, the president of CityBridge Foundation, which “finds, incubates and invests in the most promising practices in public education,” who donated in Denver in 2009 ($500) and 2013 ($6,500), New Orleans in 2012 ($2,500) and Los Angeles in 2013 ($2,000). </p>
<p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/laurene-powell-jobs/">Laurene Powell Jobs</a>, wife to the late Steve Jobs and founder of Emerson Collective, who donated to Los Angeles in 2009 ($1,000) and 2013 ($103,000), New Orleans in 2012 ($2,500) and Denver in 2009 ($2,525). She is active in school reform and is a board member for several education nonprofits including Teach for America, the New Schools Venture Fund, and Stand for Children. </p>
<h2>Could the top 0.01 percent change local schools?</h2>
<p>Outside money may not be a bad thing if the values and interests of donors align with residents in the communities. It might even be a good thing if outside donations raise the visibility of school board elections, so often plagued by disengagement.</p>
<p>Perhaps bigger campaign war chests and close election battles will fuel engagement in school board elections, increase voter turnout and increase awareness of education issues. But these presumed benefits rest on the assumption that these elite donors share the same values and interests of the local community. </p>
<p>Research suggests that this assumption is unlikely to hold because policy preferences among the very wealthy differ from most Americans. Research by prominent academics working on economic inequality, <a href="http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/%7Ejnd260/cab/CAB2012%20-%20Page1.pdf">Benjamin I. Page, Larry M. Bartels and Jason Seawright</a>, captures these differences. These scholars found that,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[o]n many important issues, the preferences of the wealthy appear to differ markedly from those of the general public.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These different preferences are borne out in our data as well. We found that <a href="http://uar.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/08/09/1078087416663004.full.pdf?ijkey=VwXQR0XzBxo8aFx&keytype=finite">national donors favored</a> “reform” candidates, or, put simply, those who supported policies such as school choice, performance-based accountability and adoption of the Common Core of State Standards. </p>
<p>School choice offers parents the ability to choose a their child’s public school rather than being assigned one based on one’s home location. Performance-based accountability plans generally require that school or teacher performance evaluations be based upon student standardized test scores. Schools or teachers <a href="http://www.edweek.org/rc/articles/2008/03/04/sow0304.h27.html">may face sanctions</a> if these targets are not met. The <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/development-process/">Common Core of State Standards (CCSS)</a>, adopted voluntarily by states, outline what students should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. </p>
<p>We found that candidates who received union support <a href="http://uar.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/08/09/1078087416663004.full.pdf?ijkey=VwXQR0XzBxo8aFx&keytype=finite">received almost no support</a> from large, national donors. This targeted funding ultimately shaped, at least in some cases, the focus of the election debate.</p>
<h2>Here is why it matters</h2>
<p>The concentration of funds on candidates with particular policy agendas can squeeze out other policy issues. For example, a candidate we interviewed who was very interested in restoring adult education programs for immigrant parents noted,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It [money] changes the discourse…their [the reform candidates] message is the only message. Not just the dominant message anymore. It’s the only message that people are hearing.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While this candidates wanted to focus on the importance of providing adult education programs for immigrant parents, he felt his message about the importance of this issue was unable to compete with the messages being put forth by the reform candidates because he lacked funding to promote his policy agenda. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144895/original/image-20161107-4669-113sdsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144895/original/image-20161107-4669-113sdsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144895/original/image-20161107-4669-113sdsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144895/original/image-20161107-4669-113sdsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144895/original/image-20161107-4669-113sdsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144895/original/image-20161107-4669-113sdsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144895/original/image-20161107-4669-113sdsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What changes in public schools when wealthy donors get involved?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/6233339252/in/photolist-auPuAq-eowcsm-nXst2t-gZxNxQ-aDoLpP-7NTPGn-nocbWr-dMbHcy-7z7nA8-pdkaV2-aEdWc5-6NzxWW-6Nzx1A-5wCB3M-8UAvRs-eKsFxB-ajCYNC-rk2pPy-8ruiG5-o6UDG7-dz27wr-enWtJ8-8rqyqn-4ahAgw-7zeVz-5CKuKa-nocygt-aDoUpH-5PR25T-5vmkcz-cbLMj1-8Gn5bq-3Rbvct-8zWhxG-fzk4cn-Ma595-nxNiDK-mYoBUQ-5HtRMq-oHQAkx-9YU2Bc-8MKniF-6r5HQf-9a6x89-7FMndG-newNtp-aa1tWH-dMaX4L-nXmJB-eM7jWY">woodleywonderworks</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our interviews, candidates who received outside funds noted that additional funding enabled them to reach voters more often and through multiple strategies. One candidate supported by large, national donors explained that in addition to mailings and yard signs, more traditional forms of reaching voters, the additional funds enabled him to hire a professional videographer who filmed and edited three vignettes that were shown on TV: one at his home with his family, one in a local library in the community and one in a classroom. </p>
<p>Even traditional forms of contact were given an upgrade. For example, a candidate noted that her materials were “more polished” with “nice photos,” something other candidates were unable to do because of a lack of funds. </p>
<p>Some candidates we interviewed felt voters benefited from this, whereas others worried that voters were “inundated” with information from just a few candidates. One candidate described how a friend received seven mailers from a candidate supported by outside funding in a single day. Candidates without this level of funding repeatedly noted that their message couldn’t compete. </p>
<h2>Increasing polarization</h2>
<p>As with state and national elections, we heard from several candidates that outside donations were also leading to increased conflict during campaigns and less willingness to compromise once elected. </p>
<p>One candidate described the polarization of the local board as being “very much like our federal government” where board members were either “a charter school candidate or a union backed candidate” and when on the board, “nobody can cross the line.” </p>
<p>As a result, some expressed concern that voters were becoming more cynical and less confident in their local public schools.</p>
<p>One candidate shared that she heard from voters on several occasions to “please stop calling” because “I’ve already gotten 10 calls this week about the election.” This candidate was concerned that disengagement in the form of low voter turnout was a direct result of citizens being turned off by the election.</p>
<h2>What does this mean for public schools?</h2>
<p>We certainly support greater attention to improving our public education system. But reform takes time. It takes compromise. It takes understanding of the day-to-day realities of local schools. </p>
<p>The old fashioned school boards, with all of their faults, were often slow and pragmatic, a force that could shield school leaders, teachers and students from broader political forces that whip the local agenda back and forth. </p>
<p>It remains to be seen whether school boards are strengthened by the nationalization of local school board elections or whether the injection of national funds will hinder the ability of schools to improve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65869/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Jacobsen receives funding from the Spencer Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Spencer Foundation provided us with a small grant for research on this topic.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Reckhow receives funding from the Spencer Foundation and W.T. Grant Foundation. </span></em></p>The involvement of large wealthy donors in local schools is influencing who gets elected to govern on school boards. Why does it matter?Rebecca Jacobsen, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Michigan State UniversityJeffrey Henig, Professor of Political Science and Education, Teachers College, Columbia UniversitySarah Reckhow, Assistant Professor of Political Science , Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/631772016-10-05T14:15:47Z2016-10-05T14:15:47ZWant great teachers? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140351/original/image-20161004-30459-q01jky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What is teacher quality?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremywilburn/5428589423/in/photolist-9gGWvn-96MMau-Efunvv-5iDrbq-9FaqhG-7E8u9u-mYp9yX-ehQ5wy-e9JABd-fdkjRB-nfbus8-oo5zUt-ddVJ2M-d2myGu-qruMtV-duS9qC-FCLa4t-i2mzDe-5KTPV9-iodDyD-9qfUsc-4U2Kjd-5vgyTv-5JEedG-8sPJGT-c7GYYS-61AczZ-9qmLuW-cJd6N-7kfJGJ-5KTQrQ-GNnV2-9qiHdX-9qk9tT-5UvAaN-7kfJmW-pXf4NX-66PVgA-bdUL6e-apqLkd-dWKuSR-9qjLqt-8vX4ss-9qkhrv-fsAEq-gnsvcy-nLkST7-9qnnMm-39dCV-dLVbWj">Jeremy Wilburn</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of us know the difference a good teacher makes in the life of a child. Many global institutions working to improve access to education, such as the <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/Library/Documents/teachers06-en.pdf">United Nations</a>, the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/48627229.pdf">Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development</a> and <a href="https://www.ei-ie.org/en/websections/content_detail/6212">Education International</a> agree that “teacher quality” is the critical element in whether or not an educational system succeeds. </p>
<p>The United Nations has even <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47034#.V_I2ZJN96qA">called for</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“allocating the best teachers to the most challenging parts of a country; and providing teachers with the right mix of government incentives to remain in the profession and ensure all children are learning, regardless of their circumstances.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is clear we need good teachers, but just what makes for “teacher quality”? And can quality be systematically improved by public policy? </p>
<p>For 30 years I have been studying cultural expectations for what makes a good teacher, beginning with field work in a Tibetan refugee school and an ethnographic study of <a href="http://yalebooks.com/book/9780300084382/learning-be-adolescent">Japanese and American public schools</a> conducted some years later. More recently, my colleague <a href="http://coe.lehigh.edu/faculty/awiseman">Alex Wiseman</a> and I have been working on what researchers from around the world <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/book/10.1108/S1479-3679201527">consider to be “teacher quality.”</a> </p>
<p>The consensus is that teacher quality entails much more than just the way teachers deliver lessons in the classroom. Teacher quality is strongly affected by a teacher’s working conditions. Teachers working long hours, with low pay, in crowded schools cannot give each individual student the attention they need.</p>
<p>Simply raising the requirements for teacher certification, based on what has worked in some high-performing countries, is not effective. An <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807749885.shtml">effective policy requires</a> changes at the level of teacher recruitment, teacher education and long-term support for professional development.</p>
<h2>Quality is more than certification</h2>
<p>Around the world, more than a dozen nations have recently engaged in efforts <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/book/10.1108/S1479-3679(2013)19">to rapidly reform</a> their teacher education and certification systems. The United States, along with nations as diverse as France, India, Japan and Mexico, has sought to improve its educational system by reforming teacher certification or teacher education.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Borrowing from other models is not effective.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/2760560588/in/photolist-5cWAud-fCTNDF-cz6BD3-cdzUd5-3itE3u-9qiNQK-639rw-oRaNA8-Yym25-4zjnt1-4EFgr9-gf7ht-qB5chG-kfqWCX-6Kvv7z-kfsBa5-4FsLJw-o1VnZF-nnx9KQ-arEDkg-a7tAAT-7mVAQY-4m6rjd-dwT1z2-nRTp2J-5vzyee-p3fyUd-zrxXC-aNtArP-c2XYoC-oMBSYP-dLrhCw-cZnEEq-6erhQc-c2Y26d-c9BzhN-dgeyLL-C1N8fb-c2XZJu-cbHPQW-6Fxvvi-pXsrwX-5iJcp1-bUmBCt-dnxskW-3Af86-88eSnq-i2kzaH-5MD5Ws-arEJTx">World Bank Photo Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Usually, governments try to do this by passing laws that <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/book/10.1108/S1479-3679(2013)19">list more requirements</a> for teachers to get their teaching certificate or license. Often they look for models in countries that score well on international achievement tests like <a href="http://timss.bc.edu/">Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)</a> or <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)</a> such as <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807752576.shtml">Finland</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-singapores-school-system-so-successful-and-is-it-a-model-for-the-west-22917">Singapore</a> or South Korea. </p>
<p>It is true that a teacher’s qualifications, experience, personality and instructional skills <a href="https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/PICTEAMAT.pdf">all play a role</a> in contributing to “quality.” Teacher quality covers what teachers do outside the classroom: how responsive they are to parents and how much time they put into planning lessons or grading papers. <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/books_teacher_quality_execsum_intro/">Teaching certificates</a> can make a difference toward ensuring <a href="http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/epaa/article/view/392">teacher quality</a>.</p>
<p>But that does not make for an effective policy. And here’s the problem: One, merely focusing on standards like certification is not enough. Two, the effect <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/rest.89.1.134#.V_IsEZN968U">can vary</a> by grade level or because of student background – so borrowing models from other countries is not the best strategy. </p>
<p>In the U.S., for example, a key part of the important legislation <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind (NCLB)</a> <a href="https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/addressing-inequitable-distribution-teachers-what-it-will-take-get-qualified-effective-teachers-all-_1.pdf">was to put a “qualified teacher” in every classroom</a>. The law emphasized certification, a college degree and content specialization, <a href="http://epa.sagepub.com/content/27/1/75.short">but failed</a> to identify teachers who knew how to implement reforms and who promoted critical thinking skills in their classrooms. </p>
<p>The most recent law addressing teacher quality, the <a href="http://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>, had to roll back these requirements <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/01/06/essa-loosens-reins-on-teacher-evaluations-qualifications.html">allowing each state in the U.S. to experiment</a> with different ways to identify quality teaching. </p>
<p>The law allows states to experiment with different types of teacher training academies and with measures of student progress other than just standardized tests.</p>
<h2>Goal of American teachers different from Japanese</h2>
<p>Moreover, teacher quality is context-dependent: What works in one country may not work in another, or even for another group of students.</p>
<p>Let’s take preschool or early elementary teachers as an example. At this age, many parents would look for teachers who are warm, caring and understand child development. But this, as we know, would change for high school students.</p>
<p>In high school, especially in college preparation courses, students and parents would expect teachers to focus on the lesson. The quality of their teaching would be judged by how well their students score on tests, not how well they are developing socially or emotionally.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Classroom goals vary: First grade English class in session in Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinryder/9098099018/in/photolist-eRY8Sb-eRLHAv-pf8m7B-eRY9r7-56FqAS-jm5tXf-oDyXLg-9N3HNz-eipCVT-6sSfkw-x69t-777FW7-838YMR-8DBHrC-e1KWo1-eRY9yb-jasPSj-92KDud-fnRnR7-777CUh-dvcxsQ-773LEv-2nJZs9-83962x-773G3H-83caBd-82t8Ku-8JTmnj-83c9sE-3XUXY-fnRo27-fnRn2E-e1EhLT-jm4Yie-e1EhTM-e1EhRB-4sJbR-jL118-e1KW75-e1EhPx-e1KVP7-jaoky2-fnBaya-niEV94-773HGg-jaqykQ-83c7zj-773NHz-9N1ei6-9NuKFS">Colin Ryder</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other than the age of the student, goals of the educational system would matter too. For example, American, Chinese and Japanese teachers take very different approaches to caring for small children and helping them learn basic academic skills. In their book, <a href="http://yalebooks.com/book/9780300048124/preschool-three-cultures">“Preschool in Three Cultures</a>,” educational anthropologist <a href="http://joetobin.net/">Joe Tobin</a> and others showed that Japanese preschool teachers are comfortable with classes of 20 students, and tend to tolerate noise and disorder that most American teachers would find uncomfortable. </p>
<p>By contrast, American teachers place great emphasis on one-on-one interactions between children and adults, especially in helping children learn to express their feelings. It is possible that a competent, “high-quality” teacher from Japan would likely feel incompetent and confused in a U.S. school, even if she was fluent in English.</p>
<h2>Countries have their own challenges</h2>
<p>That’s not all. National conditions impact teacher quality. In some nations, it is a struggle to <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807749885.shtml">retain good teachers</a> and distribute them evenly. </p>
<p>For example, many low-income countries face challenges related to poverty, illness and labor shortages that <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/Library/Documents/teachers06-en.pdf">create teacher shortages.</a> Peter Wallet, a researcher at <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/aboutuis/pages/contacts.aspx">UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics</a>, shows that in many countries, national governments <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S1479-367920140000027002">struggle to find</a> enough teachers to staff their schools. He writes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The impact of HIV and AIDS in Tanzania for example meant that in 2006 an estimated 45,000 additional teachers were needed to make up for those who had died or left work because of illness.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The loss of so many teachers places many children at risk of having no access to quality teachers. This basic lack of qualified teachers has been identified by UNESCO as the <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/Library/Documents/gmr-2013-14-teaching-and-learning-education-for-all-2014-en.pdf">major barrier</a> to providing access to quality education for all the world’s children. </p>
<p>Even in wealthy nations, sometimes the most qualified teachers are <a href="http://edr.sagepub.com/content/36/7/369.abstract">concentrated</a> at certain schools. For example, in the U.S. <a href="http://edr.sagepub.com/content/36/7/369.abstract">there is a very unequal distribution</a> of teachers between high- and low-income school districts. Scholar <a href="https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/node/46">Linda Darling-Hammond</a> sees this unequal access to teachers as one of the <a href="http://search.proquest.com/openview/9850a3f0f244c110e9c0a7445207c484/1?pq-origsite=gscholar">greatest challenges facing the U.S.</a></p>
<h2>The point is not to borrow</h2>
<p>The fact is that teaching is complex work. Teachers must build trust, increase motivation, research new methods of teaching, engage parents or caregivers and be adept at the social engineering of the classroom so that learning is not disrupted. </p>
<p>Effective teacher policy has to have <a href="https://www.ei-ie.org/en/websections/content_detail/6212">at least three levels</a>: It must provide clear goals for teacher education and skill development, it must provide “support to local institutions for the education of teachers” and it must address national demands for high quality education. </p>
<p>And in order to develop teacher quality, nations need to do far more that “borrow” policies from high-scoring nations. Nations can learn from one another, but this requires a systematic exchange of information about sets of policies, not just identifying one promising approach. </p>
<p><a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/internationaled/teaching-summit.html">The International Summit on the Teaching Profession</a>, an annual event that began in New York in 2011, is one example of this kind of global exchange that brings together governments and teacher unions for a dialogue.</p>
<p>To be effective, reforms need to have the support and input of teachers themselves. And, national and global leaders need to create more ways for teachers to provide suggestions, or criticism, of proposed reforms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gerald K LeTendre receives funding from the Fulbright Foundation. </span></em></p>On the occasion of World Teacher’s Day, on Oct. 5, a scholar explains why borrowing teacher quality models from high-scoring countries such as Finland, South Korea or Singapore is not effective.Gerald K. LeTendre, Professor of Education, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/621552016-09-30T01:18:23Z2016-09-30T01:18:23ZWant to understand your child’s test scores? Here’s what to ignore<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139806/original/image-20160929-27026-zjhukn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What do you need to know about test score reports?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-425607436/stock-photo-mother-helping-daughter-with-her-homework-at-the-table-in-the-dining-room.html?src=1d99UY_Zz1bXOZR4tlBnTg-10-40">Mother image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now that the first month of school is over, parents can get ready for the next milestone of the school year – they will soon get reports of the state tests their children took last year.</p>
<p>My estimates show that approximately 26 million students in public schools took statewide tests in reading and math last year. Many of them also took statewide tests in science. These tests provide important information to parents about how well their children are doing in school. </p>
<p>However, my research also shows that when parents receive their child’s test score report, they may have a tough time separating the important information from the statistical gibberish.</p>
<p>What’s more, the results might not even give them accurate information about their child’s academic growth.</p>
<h2>Is your child ‘proficient’?</h2>
<p>The No Child Left Behind law, enacted in 2002, required all states to set “achievement level standards” in reading and math for grades three through eight, and for one grade in high school, typically 10th or 11th grade. States were also required to develop tests to measure students’ level of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative_sap_107-1_hr1-r">“proficiency”</a> on each test. </p>
<p>The new federal law passed in December 2015, the <a href="http://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)</a>, will continue this practice. </p>
<p>As a result, the test reports parents receive classify children into achievement levels such as “basic” or “proficient.” Each state decides what these classifications are called, but at least one category must signify “proficient.” </p>
<p>These achievement level categories are described on the test score reports, and so this information is easily understood by parents. For example, I find it helpful each year to see if my sons reach proficiency in each subject area.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139810/original/image-20160929-27037-up5dft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139810/original/image-20160929-27037-up5dft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139810/original/image-20160929-27037-up5dft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139810/original/image-20160929-27037-up5dft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139810/original/image-20160929-27037-up5dft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139810/original/image-20160929-27037-up5dft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139810/original/image-20160929-27037-up5dft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How is student growth being measured?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-352138571/stock-photo-boy-climbing-the-stairs-made-of-books.html?src=GDQj56a0VhPLyUbHVilZ9g-1-40">Student image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But children’s test scores in a given year, and their achievement level, are not the only information reported in some states. A new statistical index, called a “student growth percentile,” <a href="http://kuow.org/post/state-releases-new-student-achievement-statistics-experts-balk">is finding its way into the reports</a> sent home to parents in 11 states. Twenty-seven states use this index for evaluating teachers as well. </p>
<p>Although a measure of students’ “growth” or progress sounds like a good idea, student growth percentiles have yet to be supported by research. In fact <a href="http://www.umass.edu/remp/news_SGPsResearchBrief.html">several studies suggest</a> they <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED563445.pdf">do not provide accurate descriptions</a> of student progress and teacher effectiveness. </p>
<h2>What does it mean?</h2>
<p>What exactly are “student growth percentiles”?</p>
<p>They are indexes proposed in 2008 by <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/author/betebenner-damian-w">Damian W. Betebenner</a>, a statistician who suggested they be used as a descriptive measure of <a href="http://www.nciea.org/publication_PDFs/normative_criterion_growth_DB08.pdf">students’ “academic growth”</a> from one school year to the next. The idea was to describe students’ progress in comparison to their peers.</p>
<p>Like the growth charts pediatricians use to describe children’s height and weight, student growth percentiles range from a low of one to a high of 99. However, their calculation involves a lot more error than physical measurement such as height and weight. Our research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst indicates <a href="http://www.umass.edu/remp/pdf/WellsSireciBahryEE_in_SGPs.pdf">substantial error</a> in their calculation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139797/original/image-20160929-27014-ql2gha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139797/original/image-20160929-27014-ql2gha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139797/original/image-20160929-27014-ql2gha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139797/original/image-20160929-27014-ql2gha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139797/original/image-20160929-27014-ql2gha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139797/original/image-20160929-27014-ql2gha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139797/original/image-20160929-27014-ql2gha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The scores do not actually measure children’s growth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-140540089/stock-photo-school-kids-using-laptop-at-lesson.html?src=uKm7oF4uF6kcagm27-o61A-1-74">Children image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Student growth percentiles are derived from test scores, which are not perfectly accurate descriptions of students’ academic proficiency: Test scores are influenced by many factors, such as the questions asked on a particular day, students’ temperament, their level of engagement when taking the test or just the methods used to score their answers. </p>
<p>Each student’s growth percentile is calculated using at least two different test scores, typically a year or more apart. The most recent test scores of a student are then compared to the most recent test scores of students who had similar scores in previous years. This is to see which of those students had higher or lower scores this year. </p>
<p>The problem, however, is that each of the calculations carries some measurement error. Further calculations only compound that error. So much so that the results end up with twice as much error. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emip.12062/abstract">No statistical sophistication</a> can erase this error. </p>
<p>The question is, why are so many states using such an unreliable measure?</p>
<h2>Using it for accountability</h2>
<p>The use of student growth percentiles is due in part to a desire to see how much students learn in a particular year, and to link that progress to accountability systems such as teacher evaluation. </p>
<p>In 2010, the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/phase1-resources.html">Race-to-the-Top grant competition</a> invited states to come up with innovative ways of using test scores to evaluate teachers, which paved the way for this new measure of “growth” to be quickly applied across many states.</p>
<p>However, the use of student growth percentiles began before research was conducted on their accuracy. Only now is there a sufficient body of research to evaluate them, and all studies point to the same conclusion – they contain a lot of error. </p>
<p>In addition to our research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, research on the accuracy of student growth percentiles has been conducted by education nonprofits such as <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED563445.pdf">WestEd</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emip.12062/abstract;jsessionid=EE60D9A2ECD66164111467AE5D35F001.f04t01">Educational Testing Service</a> <a href="http://epm.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/07/27/0013164416659686">and</a> other <a href="http://www.aefpweb.org/sites/default/files/webform/AEFP21.pdf">research institutions</a>. Researchers <a href="http://cepa.stanford.edu/events/jr-lockwood">J.R. Lockwood</a> and <a href="http://epm.sagepub.com/search?author1=J.+R.+Lockwood&sortspec=date&submit=Submit">Katherine E. Castellano</a> <a href="http://epm.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/07/27/0013164416659686">recently concluded</a> that “A substantial research base already notes that student growth percentile estimates for individual students have large errors.”</p>
<p>However, many states seem to be unaware of these research findings. Massachusetts even goes so far as to <a href="http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/2015/pgguide/g3-8-10English.pdf">classify children with growth percentiles</a> less than 40 as “lower growth” and children with growth percentiles greater than 60 as “higher growth.” </p>
<h2>Measuring teacher performance</h2>
<p>As I mentioned earlier, 27 states are using student growth percentiles to classify teachers as “effective” or “ineffective.” Research on the use of growth percentiles for this purpose indicates they could <a href="https://www.ets.org/research/policy_research_reports/publications/article/2015/juff">underestimate the performance</a> of the most effective teachers, and <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED563445.pdf">overestimate the performance</a> of the least effective teachers – the exact opposite of what these states are trying to do with their teacher evaluation systems. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139811/original/image-20160929-27058-1c00i9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139811/original/image-20160929-27058-1c00i9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139811/original/image-20160929-27058-1c00i9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139811/original/image-20160929-27058-1c00i9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139811/original/image-20160929-27058-1c00i9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139811/original/image-20160929-27058-1c00i9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139811/original/image-20160929-27058-1c00i9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These measures are being used for teacher performance as well.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-405849895/stock-photo-education-school-teacher-student-digital-tablet-technology-concept.html?src=jySilPadj2412PVoZS0XYw-1-41">Teacher image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A recent report by WestEd evaluated the use of student growth percentiles for evaluating teachers and <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED563445.pdf">concluded</a> they “did not meet a level of stability” that would be needed for such high-stakes decisions. </p>
<h2>Let’s go back to traditional measures</h2>
<p>I believe student growth percentiles have taken us a step backwards in the use of educational tests to improve student learning.</p>
<p>Traditional measures of children’s performance on educational tests, such as whether they are “proficient” in a given year and their actual test scores, give a good idea of how well they performed in math or reading in a particular year. </p>
<p>These traditional percentile ranks are still reported on many educational tests, just like they were when we as parents were in school. Traditional percentile ranks compared us to a national or state group in a given year, rather than comparing us to how other kids in the nation or state were “growing” across different tests they took in different years, as student growth percentiles attempt to do.</p>
<p>Given what we now know about student growth percentiles, my advice to parents is not only to ignore them on their children’s test score reports, but also to contact their state department of education and ask why they are reporting such an unreliable statistic. </p>
<p>Developing measures of how much students have learned over the course of a year is a good goal. Unfortunately, student growth percentiles do not do a good job of measuring that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62155/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Sireci does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Eleven states have introduced a new test score. Here’s what you need to know.Stephen Sireci, Professor of Educational Policy, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/582662016-06-23T10:05:11Z2016-06-23T10:05:11ZHow community schools can beat summer learning loss for low-income students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127775/original/image-20160622-7158-76f0rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">School closure over the summer widens the achievement gap between classes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=bP6aCjJu5mIxxYLo1bYQQw&searchterm=summer%20no%20learning&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=387777430">School chair image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is a part of The Conversation’s series on summer learning loss. For other articles in this series, read <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-summertime-means-for-black-children-60152">here</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/giving-students-choice-in-reading-helps-stem-the-summer-slide-42735">here</a>.</em></p>
<p>My children spent summers reading Harry Potter, playing chess, swimming and hiking the Adirondack high peaks in upstate New York. </p>
<p>As a single parent with a career as a social worker and academic, I wasn’t rich. But I had enough to make sure that my children had what they needed to excel in education and enrichment outside of school. </p>
<p>While middle-class homes can often provide for summer enrichment activities, studies show a different reality for children from low-income families. These children and youth often lose <a href="http://asr.sagepub.com/content/72/2/167.abstract">months of reading and math skills</a> over the summer, widening the achievement gap between the classes. </p>
<p>What can schools do to address this learning loss?</p>
<h2>Summer slide</h2>
<p>The learning loss for youth in low-income communities adds up dramatically over the years. By ninth grade, about two-thirds of the academic achievement gap between disadvantaged youth and their more advantaged peers can be explained by <a href="http://summerlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/SummerCanSetKidsOnTheRightOrWrongCourse.pdf">how they spend their elementary school summers</a>. </p>
<p>What makes this of concern is that a majority of U.S. students in public schools are now from low-income families. A 2013 study found that for the first time in U.S. history, <a href="http://www.southerneducation.org/getattachment/4ac62e27-5260-47a5-9d02-14896ec3a531/A-New-Majority-2015-Update-Low-Income-Students-Now.aspx">a majority (51 percent) of public school students</a> in the United States were eligible for a free or subsidized school lunch, indicating that they fell below the government’s low-income cutoff. </p>
<p>The majority of these students lack quality summer activities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127779/original/image-20160622-7196-muif73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127779/original/image-20160622-7196-muif73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127779/original/image-20160622-7196-muif73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127779/original/image-20160622-7196-muif73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127779/original/image-20160622-7196-muif73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127779/original/image-20160622-7196-muif73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127779/original/image-20160622-7196-muif73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A majority of kids do not have quality summer activities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=sAlhNvprNYJ_faTiRyXxjg&searchterm=children%20playing%20USA&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=139406240">Children image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Furthermore, these issues do not exist in isolation. Children from low-income communities who often experience summer learning loss also often face multiple related challenges that impact their ability to attend school or focus when they’re there. These challenges include insufficient access to health care, poor nutrition, community violence and lack of adult supervision, among others.</p>
<p>Partnerships between schools and communities can help students’ academic success. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law in December 2015, addresses the achievement gap between children from low- and middle-income families.</p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9604.2011.01502_4.x/abstract">Title IV of the ESSA</a> under the program, “Community Supports for Success,” calls for a range of partnerships between schools and communities so students (especially those from low-income families) can gain access to services they need for academic achievement (e.g., physical and mental health care, adequate nutrition, supervision and access to healthy activities beyond school hours). </p>
<p>How can schools implement these partnerships?</p>
<p>Earlier this year, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo <a href="http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2016/04/01/breaking-state-lawmakers-reach-budget-deal-with-big-wins-for-charters-community-schools/#.V2lIlpMrLUI">announced a US$175 million plan</a> that demonstrates a way to enable such partnerships. Cuomo’s plan aims to convert schools with the lowest test scores and graduation rates across the state into “community schools.”</p>
<h2>Providing comprehensive services</h2>
<p>So, what are community schools? And how do they help with student learning?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.communityschools.org/aboutschools/what_is_a_community_school.aspx">Community schools</a> pursue a unique learning model whereby they supplement classroom-based instruction with out-of-school (before school, after school and summer) learning. They provide support to students whose families do not have access to academic support beyond the classroom. Their support is not limited to the school term, but continues all through the year. </p>
<p>My <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/school-linked-services/9780231160957">research on community schools across the U.S.and the world</a> shows that they look different in each community as they develop in response to each school’s specific needs. </p>
<p>The idea behind this learning model goes back to the late 19th century. The first set of school-linked services (precursors to community schools) can be traced back to the 1890s. Back then, they were developed in response to the massive changes being brought about as a result of immigration and industrialization.</p>
<p>As teachers struggled with new sets of challenges in their classrooms, this model provided additional support. For example, in 1894, doctors visited Boston schools on a daily basis – a practice that <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/02_01_01.pdf">helped bring down</a> rates of communicable diseases.</p>
<p>The amount of school-linked services and their gold standard – community schools in the U.S. – have ebbed and flowed over the years. In the last few decades, there has been a marked increase in the number of community schools. </p>
<p>Many individual schools, several counties and an array of cities have incorporated the community school model to reduce the achievement gap between students from low- and middle-income homes. These include Multnomah County (Portland, Oregon), Broome County (upstate New York), Cincinnati, Chicago, Hartford, Tulsa and more recently, New York City, among others. </p>
<h2>What’s the impact?</h2>
<p>The community school model has shown numerous successes. </p>
<p>For example, Oyler School in Cincinnati had fewer than 20 percent of its students reaching 10th grade in the late 1990s. After implementing a community school model in 2010, <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ965251">82 percent of students graduated</a> high school. </p>
<p>Many of these schools provide <a href="http://www.familiesinsocietyjournal.org/doi/pdf/10.1606/1044-3894.4306">extra outreach efforts</a> to involve families that may be hard to reach in the education of their children – a critical component of the partnership. A recent study of the impact of family engagement in elementary and secondary schools found positive correlations between engaged families and <a href="http://uex.sagepub.com/content/47/4/706.abstract">improved academic achievement</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127781/original/image-20160622-7170-1l8z9p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127781/original/image-20160622-7170-1l8z9p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127781/original/image-20160622-7170-1l8z9p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127781/original/image-20160622-7170-1l8z9p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127781/original/image-20160622-7170-1l8z9p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127781/original/image-20160622-7170-1l8z9p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127781/original/image-20160622-7170-1l8z9p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oyler School in Cincinnati.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/withoutsound/3390421423/in/photolist-brdbQX-6aAPcF-6aEYem-6aEY1Y-6aANst-6aEYaq-6aANn2-6aEYpb-6aEYkd-6aANG6-6aEYtq-6aEXsY-6aANaM-6aANx2-brdbYB-brdbHP-brdc12-brdbWx-brdbBt-brdbHa-brdbKP-brdbVr-brdbFM-brdc28-brdbEk-o9G5cQ-brdc4K-brdbSc-brdbNB-brdbJT-brdc3x-brdbMk-brdbCK-brdbTz-brdbPt-bVBXoK-brdbxP-nUeXvb-obzXB3-nUfN5p-obqYqT-obE59m-nUeXMy-obqZ9r-nUf3vc-dKK59-o9G531-pzvzRi-dq3HwH">Sean Biehle</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>School-based health centers are another frequent component of community schools. Studies indicate when there are school-based health centers, lost class time as a result of sickness <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20618619">reduces by as much as three times</a>.</p>
<p>Summer programs are often part of community schools. These programs provide enriched summer activities for students, such as music, dance, crafts, athletics and academics. This enables teachers in high-poverty neighborhoods to begin teaching new content at the start of the school year, without losing months backtracking over content forgotten from the previous year. </p>
<h2>Why we need community schools</h2>
<p>The community school model has been so successful that universities too are making this a focus of college students’ civic engagement efforts. </p>
<p>In 1985, the University of Pennsylvania took the lead in <a href="https://www.nettercenter.upenn.edu/sites/netter_internal/files/Harkavy_Hartley_Hodges_Weeks_Peabody_Journal.pdf">developing a university-assisted community school approach</a>. College students work with the community schools <a href="https://www.nettercenter.upenn.edu/programs/university-assisted-community-schools">to integrate knowledge gained</a> in their UPenn classrooms.</p>
<p>An example is the Moelis Access Science program where UPenn faculty and students provide STEM (science, technology, math and engineering) professional development to teachers serving students in West Philadelphia neighorhoods, which are marked by extreme poverty, violence and low educational attainment. </p>
<p>Over 20 universities are now <a href="http://www.communityschools.org/about/universityassistedcommunityschoolsnetwork.aspx">part of the network of university-assisted community schools</a> including Binghamton University (SUNY), Columbia University and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). </p>
<p>In an increasingly diverse society facing more complex social problems, the traditional model where education occurs completely within the school building, provided solely by teachers from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from September to June, needs reviewing. </p>
<p>That <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Schools-are-trapped-in-the-past-4221901.php">calendar was designed long ago</a> to leave youth free to work in their families’ fields in the summer. Since farming is no longer a major role for the vast majority of students, time outside the classroom can either enhance academic year learning or diminish it. </p>
<p>Do community schools that offer year-round programming and supplemental services cost money? Of course they do. But they have <a href="http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/9780875530062ch29">also been shown to save</a> health care costs. They can also save funds that are now being spent on residential treatment facilities for youth, prison and remediation. </p>
<p>With too many youth dropping out of school, the jobs and workforce necessary to compete in a global economy are at risk. Community schools make sense in a country that is committed to opportunities for educational success for any and all students, irrespective of their family income or their zip code.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58266/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Bronstein oversees the Binghamton University Broome County Promise Zone, which receives funding from the Broome County Department of Mental Health to implement a county-wide system of university-assisted community schools. </span></em></p>The learning loss that occurs over the summer for poor students can lead to a growing academic achievement gap in subsequent years. What are community schools and how do they help low-income students?Laura Bronstein, Dean of the College of Community and Public Affairs Professor, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/549992016-03-25T09:41:03Z2016-03-25T09:41:03ZWill the new education law allow for teachers with lower qualifications?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116399/original/image-20160324-17859-ala8y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will the new education law help the most vulnerable kids?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gibsonsgolfer/6364640471/in/photolist-aGqrSx-edqwHo-8hae8U-3AhYfz-M6zAX-fgsvSZ-cUT1o-8ha9Y9-7k916-Fpm2F-ah5bwa-3cinC-agCAEK-agCxKa-52xgwn-7k8ZT-4P2Xd1-ePVgFH-8h6Xpc-dvbq3y-a1eKau-3rSJpd-5F3g8e-dXGJDR-agFqW5-dk9RyV-a3xe6j-bTY7RK-aWQtC-8mkPzu-7k951-66sVQy-5JRF37-oWX2LJ-agCAqr-9NR32t-6oZV6B-65n5N6-g5qA1-agCG6H-7htvt-3jZGSN-mLaHU-7k99u-8h6Wvp-fgGnPm-NrkJA-2Dvce-fHoFh-4FiGbH">Bob Cotter</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On December 9, Congress passed the <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2015/11/esea_reauthorization_the_every.html">reauthorization</a> of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, called the <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2015/11/esea_reauthorization_the_every.html">Every Child Succeeds Act</a>. A replacement for the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html">much criticized</a> <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html">No Child Left Behind Act of 2001</a>, the reauthorization gained support from groups as diverse as <a href="http://www.publiccharters.org/press/national-alliance-releases-statement-house-passage-student-succeeds-act/">The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools</a>, the <a href="http://www.nea.org/home/64705.htm">National Education Association</a>, the <a href="https://www.pta.org/newsevents/newsdetail.cfm?ItemNumber=4676">National Parent Teacher Association,</a> <a href="https://cdn-files.nsba.org/s3fs-public/reports/120715_NSBA_ESEA_Senate_Ltr.pdf?AWgmJxaOek35vswurnHvRFiSeXL.tzy8">The National School Boards Association</a>, the <a href="http://www.nga.org/cms/home/news-room/news-releases/2015--news-releases/col2-content/nations-governors-endorse-esea.html">National Governors Association</a> and <a href="http://www.fairtest.org/congress-vote-no-child-left-behind-overhaul">Fairtest</a>, an organization that addresses issues related to fairness and accuracy in testing. </p>
<p>With such overwhelming support, it could well be argued that it must be a sound legislation. But, is it?</p>
<p>We have been elementary and secondary school teachers as well as professors and researchers of elementary education, teacher education and teacher development for more than 35 years. And we believe that despite its efforts to redress the problems caused by NCLB, ESSA contains at least one disturbing provision. </p>
<p>We are alarmed by the section of the law that allows states to authorize the establishment of alternative-track teacher education academies, with lower standards and accountabilty for teaching qualifications.</p>
<h2>Teacher academies</h2>
<p>The support for the ESSA has largely come from its reducing much of the heavy-handed federal oversight of education. States and local school districts can now make more decisions about how best to support student learning. </p>
<p>We are happy that the ESSA <a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/king-announces-guidance-states-help-reduce-testing">supports less testing</a>. In addition, it emphasizes a “well-rounded education.” <a href="http://www.arteducators.org/advocacy/advocacy-esea-reauthorization">Students will study arts</a> alongside the academic subjects that were favored under No Child Left Behind.</p>
<p>However, our concern is the inclusion in Title II of the ESSA of language which authorizes routes to teacher certification that attempt to fast-track the preparation of teachers for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade positions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116429/original/image-20160324-17840-1l8iwpz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116429/original/image-20160324-17840-1l8iwpz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116429/original/image-20160324-17840-1l8iwpz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116429/original/image-20160324-17840-1l8iwpz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116429/original/image-20160324-17840-1l8iwpz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116429/original/image-20160324-17840-1l8iwpz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116429/original/image-20160324-17840-1l8iwpz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ESSA will reduce testing. But what about teacher certification?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/albertogp123/5843577306/in/photolist-9UnRWS-fVKsw-aDhmtY-oJBHAS-dADXAU-oN12Lt-hFhsUk-niaHHt-8bZwYd-beBA2e-5gmRgy-8bVZpF-8bZiqC-8bZieb-kiPm9T-6kv8oX-fQNLfa-cDphCL-4KgiQw-b2fiNB-9NXZsk-ctAYKo-5JsjGp-9NYaL8-5qbe5L-nHok3V-9P1XH5-qbyPUU-8bWduk-9P1ZyQ-7RiX8C-kxeLJR-KQKNj-7RiWXw-peSg9Z-7zibzw-qtTg17-raPXsA-ij1N68-hFgdyF-dq2888-9P1C7u-9LjLS2-r94UqV-8bZiz3-9P1QTS-s2NAXY-9P1GdU-9P1QBW-9P1APG">Alberto G.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nationwide, in order for graduates of teacher education programs based in colleges and universities to gain state certification as a teacher, the <a href="http://teach.com/where">programs must follow state requirements</a> such as required entrance and exit exams and the number of credit hours in specific subjects such as reading, math and special education. </p>
<p>In the new ESSA legislation, the envisioned fast-track academies will be exempt from states’ teacher certification requirements. </p>
<p>In other words, they do not have <a href="https://aacte.org/news-room/press-releases-statements/504-aacte-commends-congress-on-esea-reauthorization-urges-responsible-implementation">to meet the standards for accountability</a> and accreditation required of university-based teacher education programs. </p>
<p><a href="https://education.uw.edu/people/faculty/kenzeich">Kenneth Zeichner</a>, a professor of teacher education at the University of Washington at Seattle, has described this as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/12/05/the-disturbing-provisions-about-teacher-preparation-in-no-child-left-behind-rewrite/">“promoting the growth of entrepreneurial teacher education programs.”</a></p>
<p>As Zeichner and another education researcher, <a href="https://www.tcrecord.org/AuthorDisplay.asp?aid=22645">César Peña-Sandoval</a>, note, while most of the new ventures in public education, including already <a href="http://auslchicago.org/">existing</a> <a href="http://www.relay.edu/">alternative certification programs</a>, are nonprofits, <a href="http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=17539">they gain serious tax advantages</a> from their public status. Such programs receive public funding, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/private-equity-and-venture-capital-look-at-public-schools-2012-8">contract out services to for-profit providers</a>, which in many cases are associated with the financial backers of the venture. </p>
<p>Indeed, with the market size of American public education at nearly US$800 billion and legislation friendly to private investment in public education increasing, education is <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/venture-capitalists-are-poised-disrupt-everything-about-education-market/">the new great field for entrepreneurial profit</a>. </p>
<h2>Teachers without adequate qualifications?</h2>
<p>We find it troubling that the legislation allows states to use federal funding for the creation of academies and stipulates that its graduates will be recognized with the same state-issued certification as those who have completed a university-based teacher education program. </p>
<p>States may choose – but are not required – to use up to 2 percent of their <a href="http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/2016/ESSA/CCSSOComparisonofSelectElementsofESEA12142015.pdf">education budget to support the academies.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s1177/text">But then, the legislation limits state oversight as well.</a> For example, states will not be allowed to require those teaching at the academies to have experience, degrees or training in education, to hold advanced degrees or to conduct academic research. </p>
<p>This leaves the door open for academies to hire faculty that suit their religious, moral or philosophical values. Or for supporting profit-making ventures, which include promoting the use of commercially manufactured curriculum materials, <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/%7E/media/research/files/reports/2012/4/10%20curriculum%20chingos%20whitehurst/0410_curriculum_chingos_whitehurst.pdf">which may not support student learning</a> as compared to research-based methods. </p>
<p>What’s more, the academies are not required to obtain accreditation.</p>
<p>And what this means is that state departments of education, which hold credentialing authority for teachers, will not be able to mandate that the academies require a specific number of courses or types of coursework such as courses on the teaching of reading or mathematics. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116430/original/image-20160324-17817-1xenqji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116430/original/image-20160324-17817-1xenqji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116430/original/image-20160324-17817-1xenqji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116430/original/image-20160324-17817-1xenqji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116430/original/image-20160324-17817-1xenqji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116430/original/image-20160324-17817-1xenqji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116430/original/image-20160324-17817-1xenqji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The new law will dilute standards for teacher certification.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cityyear/6129766021/in/photolist-akEDT4-hsXvCX-8yArnp-9cXazR-aCncwM-akHrUN-8yAs28-akHtfm-65n5M8-bxUJ7K-N345a-akEDwc-akHs6E-5PvH34-6EkJRr-rmjgBg-89FwtD-9fyC1h-6MyJDn-3E8RNs-7Hy9g3-dRdSMd-93uqz-9tBFCn-p14HCx-e3qNSv-PdVS-7AahV9-5mVY9F-7muXqt-9BVnBh-9zaAoi-9GDUMs-gBY2gb-bX1sBF-nNvCHT-n8qYXx-arjs94-5sKKaE-4iWh2R-9qtHgw-aMGWEv-nZ4KHz-o7d7Gj-EpPeSQ-2qeM4M-94fDet-d14wbN-frpVnM-975JzC">City Year</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Additionally, the academies do not have to have physical infrastructure, paving the way for entirely on-line teacher preparation programs. </p>
<p>Once someone graduates from an academy, according to the legislation, the certificate may be treated as the equivalent of a master’s degree in education for the purposes of hiring, compensation, retention and promotion. <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s1177/text">Here</a> is what the act says.</p>
<h2>Back to testing?</h2>
<p>So why do we find the elimination of standards for teacher education in the ESSA so troubling? </p>
<p>We have two major concerns.</p>
<p>The first is the assumption in the new ESSA that if the teacher knows enough to pass a state-designated content exam in, for example, social studies, science, literature or math, then that teacher is prepared to teach the content. An understanding of how to teach and what is learned beyond testable content is ignored. </p>
<p>Content exams suggest that teacher candidates have the minimum level of knowledge to teach. Passing these tests, which is required in most states, is intended primarily to signal that candidates have a minimum level of knowledge and competency, but <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/46/1/146.short">does not predict their future effectiveness</a> in the classroom in teaching that content. </p>
<p>Teacher education programs therefore include a strong emphasis on developing pedagogic knowledge and a research-based understanding of student learning. </p>
<p>Pedagogical knowledge – how students learn or fail to learn and how that understanding must be incorporated in approaches to teaching – <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1167272?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">is well established</a>.</p>
<p>It involves not only student learning of subject matter, but teaching in ways that support students to develop confidence in their own capacities to ask and answer questions in the world, as well as to <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1167272?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">to think and engage actively, creatively and critically</a>. </p>
<p>However, such pedagogical knowledge is not required for graduates of alternative academies.</p>
<p>By way of “quality control,” the legislation does require that the teacher candidate demonstrates that she or he is effective at boosting student achievement. The candidates must be placed in classrooms as teachers prior to the completion of their program. This does not require <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/12/05/the-disturbing-provisions-about-teacher-preparation-in-no-child-left-behind-rewrite/">notification to parents of the teacher’s status</a>. </p>
<p>What it may mean to boost student achievement is not specified in the law.</p>
<p>Our second concern is that raising student test scores will be the primary metric of this assessment. </p>
<p>If testing remains, as it has been under No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, the primary measure of a quality education, then once again it is the students, their families, communities and ultimately the nation that will be saddled with the fallout of a narrow and alienating curriculum.</p>
<h2>Who will be affected?</h2>
<p>We are also deeply troubled by the prospect that if virtually unregulated teacher certification academies with little academic quality control are allowed to proliferate, the employers of their graduates will be either charter schools, many operating in high-poverty communities, or traditional public schools that lack the resources to be selective and competitive in hiring the best-qualified teachers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116426/original/image-20160324-17859-19qwauh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116426/original/image-20160324-17859-19qwauh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116426/original/image-20160324-17859-19qwauh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116426/original/image-20160324-17859-19qwauh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116426/original/image-20160324-17859-19qwauh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116426/original/image-20160324-17859-19qwauh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116426/original/image-20160324-17859-19qwauh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The most vulnerable kids will be the ones most affected.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofed/9607323677/in/photolist-fCY3BF-9LTPbH-4eYFPY-b9wjYa-tRiKJ-qsdECK-nqrzAr-rKHjzu-dNpu5F-ddVJVs-EkKh5B-eLRoYK-pwHVu7-6pCMmY-6pCMa3-e6kGCa-6pCsff-pUGAhs-dtiHQs-dtihzL-EkKtfx-py7KjS-6dQ3Uk-qPVceP-b9wYDz-ejzKFQ-pcdJvz-s5Ct1X-6pCXV9-9cjSUX-npg6mN-r94Ape-rtQh5Q-8SiKDg-5fsoht-gc1F4t-cXJdEo-hx3G6s-4TQRjV-6pCXAb-b9wX5k-eVanCr-7mRtFW-dz27Mg-eLUYBv-dYzi6Y-b9wkkk-5UU9Le-dUo3ju-dtid33">US Department of Education</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The law itself describes its intention to prepare teachers to work in “high-needs” areas, which include both communities and subject or specialization areas experiencing teacher shortages. </p>
<p>High-poverty urban and rural schools are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/how-can-students-learn-without-teachers-high-poverty-schools-often-staffed-by-rotating-cast-of-substitutes/2015/12/04/be41579a-92c6-11e5-b5e4-279b4501e8a6_story.html">far more likely to be subject to teacher shortages</a> than schools serving a wealthier population. These high-need schools are also most likely to be staffed by the <a href="http://people.terry.uga.edu/mustard/courses/e8420/Clotfelter-Teachers.pdf">less experienced, least effective teachers</a>.</p>
<p>Once again, as often happens under the privately managed charter school model, <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ846746">underprepared teachers</a> will end up in the poorest and neediest schools, thereby exacerbating the problem of inequitable educational outcomes for children living in poverty. Studies have shown that the <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/research/articles/1998/03/spring-education-darling-hammond">student achievement gap widens</a> <a href="http://people.terry.uga.edu/mustard/courses/e8420/Clotfelter-Teachers.pdf">when teacher qualifications are unequally allocated</a> to students by race, income and location. </p>
<p>We believe that the provisions in the new law that have the potential to undermine teacher quality can and should be scrutinized before states begin their implementation. States do not have to elect to support these academies. </p>
<p>The American public can and should demand that our schools serve the civic good and the well-being of children and their communities by staffing schools with well-qualified teachers who are prepared to support all children as active, creative and critical thinkers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54999/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ESSA, or the Every Child Succeeds Act, was considered to be a welcome replacement of the No Child Left Behind law. However, scholars point to some disturbing provisions in the new law.Gail L. Boldt, Professor of Education, Penn StateBernard J. Badiali, Associate Professor of Education, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/526042015-12-30T13:26:13Z2015-12-30T13:26:13Z2015, the year that was: education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106924/original/image-20151222-27894-1r46xgv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">2015 showed how much race still matters in education.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/illinoisspringfield/14028616900/in/photolist-nnEk4b-eiuvry-KDhJy-ej1W7q-55XtUM-eiVc1e-ej1W31-eiVcN4-eiVbVi-ej1Wgh-eiVbJt-nnE5di-nDRU4x-nE8SN7-nDRTSF-nnEixq-eiVd42-eiVcyz-4SzDm9-bXYQjm-bXYQfb-ekDWdG-ekyb2e-ekDW4N-eioLFi-nE8Vx5-eiVcng-ej1VDd-eiVc7n-eiVbRe-eiVbwp-eiVbpt-nDWs9C-nE9MZD-nE9Mx6-eiVbFa-ej1Wkm-ej1V2w-ej1UUC-ej2fzj-eiVvST-bWUZvG-nDWtLq-nDRVyB-nnE6BR-nnEjSE-nnE8qj-nFWawZ-nDWsDf-nDWstf">Illinois Springfield</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>As we approach 2016, we look back at the big stories of The Conversation’s education coverage over the past 12 months.</em></p>
<p>2015 was a year of much turmoil: higher education witnessed student activism not quite seen <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-history-is-shaping-the-studentblackout-movement-51078">since the free speech movement</a> of the 1960s.</p>
<p>The spark for the protests came from the University of Missouri – where students’ demands for racial justice <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-long-and-troubled-racial-past-of-mizzou-50639">had gone unheard</a>. With the football team joining the protesting students, events took a different turn and resulted in the resignation of the president, Tim Wolfe. Thereafter, protests spread to <a href="https://www.eab.com/daily-briefing/2015/11/24/student-protests-spread-to-more-than-100-campuses-nationwide">over 100</a> other campuses.</p>
<h2>Racism on campus</h2>
<p>Over the past year, scholars writing for The Conversation have emphasized how much race continues to be a factor in students’ success – and not just in college, but even through their early school years.</p>
<p>As some have pointed out, academia suffers from a <a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-academia-black-professors-are-expected-to-entertain-while-presenting-46249">“stunning lack of diversity.”</a> Black scholars <a href="https://theconversation.com/reflections-of-a-black-female-scholar-i-know-what-it-feels-like-to-be-invisible-39748">describe experiences</a> ranging from <a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-academia-black-professors-are-expected-to-entertain-while-presenting-46249">racial slights</a> to outright discrimination. At the K-12 level, research shows that black students <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-harsher-disciplinary-measures-school-systems-fail-black-kids-39906">are more likely</a> to receive out-of-school suspensions for minor violations of the code of conduct. </p>
<p>On campuses, students have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-missouri-president-ouster-offer-lessons-to-universities-grappling-with-a-racist-past-50493">demanding for some time the renaming</a> of buildings whose names evoke a troubled racial past. Many universities and their past leaders were <a href="https://theconversation.com/unsurprised-by-missouri-scholars-on-the-roots-of-racial-unrest-on-campus-50636">intimately connected</a> to the slave trade and slavery. This year further escalated some of the tensions.</p>
<p>In this environment, Fisher v University of Texas, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-crucial-texas-case-on-race-considerations-in-college-admissions-44117">case</a> challenging the University of Texas’s race-conscious admissions policy, took on <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-scholars-emphasize-the-need-for-affirmative-action-43692">even greater significance</a>. The policy <a href="https://theconversation.com/ban-on-affirmative-action-in-medicine-will-hurt-all-39904">allows the university</a> to build a racially and ethnically diverse student body. But the case challenging it says it violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.</p>
<h2>Tenure, college costs, guns</h2>
<p>The debates on university campuses in 2015 were many, and not just to do with race. </p>
<p>The issue of academic freedom became a fractious one after Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker put forward a proposal to slash spending on education and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-else-will-we-lose-when-wisconsin-faculty-loses-tenure-42929">modify the state laws</a> on tenure.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106925/original/image-20151222-27890-phlnmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106925/original/image-20151222-27890-phlnmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106925/original/image-20151222-27890-phlnmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106925/original/image-20151222-27890-phlnmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106925/original/image-20151222-27890-phlnmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106925/original/image-20151222-27890-phlnmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106925/original/image-20151222-27890-phlnmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There were many issues of concern this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dustpuppy/6852779/in/photolist-B86n-B6Lt-B6YW-B7Ps-B8mC-B84A-B8ht-B7nq-B87p-pjYumV-pztNyb-aExUV3-B6E4-B7MX-B8ck-B6FR-B7u4-B7HG-B7eu-B8f3-B7zp-B7Vz-B733-B835-B76t-B7BW-B7bp-B8ko-B6Rn-B71h-B7wz-B786-B7py-B81G-B6K3-B7L7-B7DZ-B6Xo-B6SS-B79N-B7Xb-B7jt-B6Q8-B7cL-B8ac-B6MU-B7Tj-8ZPW1y-ym1o-ym1c">Björn Láczay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All over again, issues of college affordability were <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-reduce-debt-give-students-more-information-to-make-wise-college-choice-decisions-46064">brought center-stage</a> by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s announcement of a US$350 billion debt-free college plan. <a href="https://theconversation.com/clintons-debt-free-college-comes-with-a-price-tag-46378">Our experts argued</a> how such a large expansion in federal dollars would come at a cost. </p>
<p>And while students struggled with debt, smaller colleges struggled to keep student enrollment high enough. One of them, Sweet Briar, a women’s liberal arts college, was <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-can-we-learn-from-sweet-briars-near-death-44055">among those hit hard</a> by declining enrollment. While the board voted to close the doors, its alumnae made efforts to keep it going for at least another year.</p>
<p>In Texas, meanwhile, a “Campus Carry” gun law passed in spring 2015, <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-guns-on-campus-lead-to-grade-inflation-40748">raising faculty fears</a> about the possibility of grade inflation. </p>
<h2>Teachers, testing, new ESSA</h2>
<p>If higher education was in turmoil, so was K-12. </p>
<p>Testing pressures led to an ever-growing number of parents, teachers and students “opting out” of testing <a href="https://theconversation.com/students-are-opting-out-of-testing-how-did-we-get-here-40364">across all 50 states</a>. Some experts <a href="https://theconversation.com/arne-duncans-legacy-growing-influence-of-a-network-of-private-actors-on-public-education-48790">put the blame</a> on the influence of a “network” of private actors over the policies implemented under US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who will be leaving office at the end of this year.</p>
<p>A number of scholars commented on how policies have left schoolteachers <a href="https://theconversation.com/crisis-in-american-education-as-teacher-morale-hits-an-all-time-low-39226">highly demotivated</a>. In an effort to <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-somber-message-on-world-teachers-day-2015-our-teachers-are-at-risk-48550">improve the “annual yearly progress”</a> of their students, some schools not only <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-child-left-behind-fails-to-work-miracles-spurs-cheating-38620">resorted to unethical practices</a>, but also punished teachers for low scores. </p>
<p>How then are teachers being evaluated? It isn’t clear. Not least when music teachers can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-it-get-more-absurd-now-music-teachers-are-being-tested-based-on-math-and-reading-scores-47995">evaluated</a> based on the math and reading scores of students.</p>
<p>In answer to some of these concerns, before the end of the year, President Obama signed The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) – which will replace the NCLB and end many of testing and evaluation policies, although <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-every-student-succeeds-act-still-leaves-most-vulnerable-kids-behind-46247">experts still urge caution</a> on wholeheartedly embracing the ESSA.</p>
<p>Despite the odds, schoolteachers and university professors remained unfailing in their commitment, innovation and dedication to their students. Indeed, innovative examples of teaching were among our best-read stories as well. Here are some:</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-understanding-the-prisoners-dilemma-can-help-bridge-liberal-and-conservative-differences-46166">How understanding the prisoner’s dilemma can help bridge liberal and conservative differences</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/want-more-innovation-try-connecting-the-dots-between-engineering-and-humanities-42800">Want more innovation? Try connecting the dots between engineering and humanities</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-teacher-uses-star-trek-for-difficult-conversations-on-race-and-gender-43098">A teacher uses Star Trek for difficult conversations on race and gender</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/through-the-brewing-class-what-beer-making-can-teach-students-about-business-42396">Through the brewing class: what beer-making can teach students about business</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/using-wikipedia-a-scholar-redraws-academic-lines-by-including-it-in-his-syllabus-39103">Using Wikipedia: a scholar redraws academic lines by including it in his syllabus</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-artists-creative-ways-to-teach-english-to-immigrant-kids-42588">‘Teaching artists’: creative ways to teach English to immigrant kids</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52604/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The year 2015 escalated many of the tensions that have existed on university and college campuses for a long time. It will be remembered as the year of student activism.Kalpana Jain, Senior Religion + Ethics Editor/ Director of the Global Religion Journalism InitiativeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/462472015-12-11T14:34:12Z2015-12-11T14:34:12ZWhy Every Student Succeeds Act still leaves most vulnerable kids behind<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/104743/original/image-20151207-3139-7vn3q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What will the new law change?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/2885861465/in/photolist-5p1N5a-59KGLy-8MNrrm-8xf68h-auPuAq-d2koPW-akEecr-pRvT9s-eRYab1-4QuGnC-d2mcT1-9gL2FY-nocygt-d2mDuh-d2mxN7-d2kDVm-eKKTB7-5HtRMq-c45y97-f44iXT-akH3sU-7SCpn1-d2mvzw-d2kbmq-74sCVq-5fe6iw-8Ntba5-8ruhTy-eh62Ts-r9TFzv-7T4Hwp-nFFD5d-84T8dc-8kuwVZ-84T8f6-dKKAwf-aLdcq6-7XYRra-a4UhUQ-eh62Fh-7T4Met-7T8bPf-7T4Yd4-npoQeW-nocbWr-eh62WJ-9xHPBn-7T8ceE-7T4NFn-84WfdJ">woodleywonderworks</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For a decade, congressional attempts to revise the embattled <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/no-child-left-behind-overview-definition-summary.html">2001 No Child Left Behind Act</a> – a reauthorization of the <a href="http://www.ed.gov/esea">1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)</a> – hit a brick wall.</p>
<p>On December 10 2015, that changed. The <a href="http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/ESSA%20FINAL%20Conference%20Report.pdf">Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)</a>, passed by the House (359-64) and Senate (85-12), got President Obama’s signature. </p>
<p>Will the Every Student Succeeds Act live up to its name and assure equal educational opportunity for every one of America’s <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372">50 million public school</a> children? </p>
<p>As educators with both professional and personal (Felicity Crawford as special education teacher-educator, and Mary Battenfeld as a historian and urban public school parent) stakes in K-12 policy and practice, we think the answers range from certainly, in some ways, to a clear no.</p>
<p>The provisions of this 1,061-page bill (about 400 more than NCLB) do not vary radically from the “accountability through testing” mandates that have marked federal education policy for the last 14 years. The main difference is that the ESSA hands the educational accountability ball from the federal government to the states.</p>
<p>Every Student Succeeds is better, because it rightly takes aim at test and punish strategies, and creates some valuable programs. But ESSA, like NCLB, emphasizes K-12 accountability over root causes of educational inequality. And the new law flies against history’s lesson that federal oversight is a good thing for vulnerable children. </p>
<h2>What makes ESSA better</h2>
<p>Organizations with widely divergent views on education agree that the ESSA should replace NCLB.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.civilrights.org/press/2015/civil-rights-and-education-coalition-ESSA.html">Civil rights leaders</a> who had opposed earlier versions of an NCLB revision as well as the <a href="http://www.nea.org/home/64735.htm">National Education Association</a>, the <a href="https://www.pta.org/newsevents/newsdetail.cfm?ItemNumber=4676">National Parent Teacher Association</a>, <a href="http://www.publiccharters.org/press/national-alliance-releases-statement-house-passage-student-succeeds-act/">charter advocates</a> and the testing reform group <a href="http://www.fairtest.org/congress-vote-no-child-left-behind-overhaul">Fairtest</a> all see the ESSA as better policy than what now exists.</p>
<p>How is “Every Student Succeeds” better? It provides more flexibility on testing. It also ends <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/ayp/edpicks.jhtml?src=ln">“Adequate Yearly Progress”</a> – a measure that required schools to show test score gains. Schools that failed to meet goals were penalized.</p>
<p>Other provisions in Every Student Succeeds are also <a href="http://ffyf.org/resources/ffyf-endorsement-of-essa/">genuine steps forward</a>, such as preschool development grants for low-income children and an <a href="http://www.arteducators.org/advocacy/advocacy-esea-reauthorization">arts education fund</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, the new law drops the term “core academic subjects” and uses instead a “well-rounded education,” meaning that subjects like social studies and arts are less likely to be what one study called <a href="https://repository.library.northeastern.edu/files/neu:1077">“collateral damage of the No Child Left Behind Act.” </a></p>
<p>The ESSA also stops the practice of putting multiple student subgroups (students with disabilities and low-income students, for example) into “supersubgroups” – a practice that can <a href="http://thenotebook.org/blog/159205/accountability-and-esea-reauthorization-deal-your-cheat-sheet">mask inequities</a>.</p>
<p>But these changes are more about what’s bad in our current policies than what’s good in the new bill.</p>
<h2>Testing v anti-poverty</h2>
<p>In 2013, for the first time, low-income children (defined as living in households where the income is no more than 185% of the poverty threshhold) became the <a href="http://www.southerneducation.org/Our-Strategies/Research-and-Publications/New-Majority-Diverse-Majority-Report-Series/A-New-Majority-2015-Update-Low-Income-Students-Now">majority</a> in US public schools, prompting the Southern Education Foundation to warn that unless we provide more for these students, “the trends of the last decade will be prologue for a nation not at risk, but a nation in decline.” </p>
<p>Poor children and their families and communities <a href="http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/29_04/29-4_cariaga-coffey.shtml">show tremendous resilience</a> and learn in spite of tremendous obstacles. Yet, as researchers like Stanford’s Sean Reardon <a href="http://cepa.stanford.edu/content/widening-academic-achievement-gap-between-rich-and-poor-new-evidence-and-possible">have shown</a>, family income closely correlates to academic achievement. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/104746/original/image-20151207-20451-1x6t4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/104746/original/image-20151207-20451-1x6t4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104746/original/image-20151207-20451-1x6t4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104746/original/image-20151207-20451-1x6t4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104746/original/image-20151207-20451-1x6t4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104746/original/image-20151207-20451-1x6t4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104746/original/image-20151207-20451-1x6t4lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How much will ESSA help vulnerable kids?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usaghumphreys/7891381628/in/photolist-d2koPW-akEecr-pRvT9s-eRYab1-4QuGnC-d2mcT1-9gL2FY-nocygt-d2mDuh-d2mxN7-d2kDVm-eKKTB7-5HtRMq-c45y97-f44iXT-akH3sU-7SCpn1-d2mvzw-d2kbmq-74sCVq-5fe6iw-8Ntba5-8ruhTy-eh62Ts-r9TFzv-7T4Hwp-nFFD5d-84T8dc-8kuwVZ-84T8f6-dKKAwf-aLdcq6-7XYRra-a4UhUQ-eh62Fh-7T4Met-7T8bPf-7T4Yd4-npoQeW-nocbWr-eh62WJ-9xHPBn-7T8ceE-7T4NFn-84WfdJ-92VvP4-ajZpew-84Wf3Y-7AAXdV-zgmDb">USAG- Humphreys</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In North Carolina, for example, all schools that received an “F” rating have <a href="http://www.publicschoolsfirstnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/3-8-15-The-Facts-on-Child-Poverty-.pdfThe%2050">school populations</a> of more than 50% low-income children. </p>
<p>What is the new law’s solution to this? Same as the old law. </p>
<p>Schools will need to monitor academic performance of vulnerable groups, which include students living in poverty. So states will still have to test 95% of children, and intervene in the lowest performing schools. </p>
<p>That means the ESSA will likely <a href="http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=13&n=6">do little to disrupt</a> the NCLB pattern of <a href="http://www.wou.edu/%7Egirodm/foundations/Hursh.pdf">“punishing” vulnerable</a> children and the “low performance” of the schools they attend. This will not <a href="http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4db9154t">fix achievement gaps</a>. </p>
<p>In Newark, New Jersey, as in many cities, “accountability” has <a href="http://www.bobbraunsledger.com/newark-activists-to-feds-help-us-achieve-genuine-community-schools/">meant more testing and school closures</a>, leading parent activist Sharon Smith to decry policies that “caused harm in our community…and long-term trauma for our children.” </p>
<p>Testing mandates in the ESSA continue the retreat from the anti-poverty focus of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In signing that act, President Lyndon Johnson <a href="http://www.socialwelfarehistory.com/events/elementary-and-secondary-education-act-of-1965/">identified poverty</a> as the “greatest barrier” to educational opportunity, and <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.htmlprovisions">under Title I</a> provided $US1 billion for schools with large numbers of poor children. </p>
<p>Though Title I is central to the ESSA, LBJ’s understanding that educational achievement depends on civil and economic rights is largely absent. Thus the new law seems unlikely to hit pause on the practice of disproportionaly penalizing vulnerable students and their schools. For example, when <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/16804/CTU_report_CPS_chicago_closing">Chicago closed 49 elementary schools</a>, African-American students were the majority population in 90% of those schools. Nearly 60% had a high concentration of special needs students. </p>
<p>Often, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=30">charters</a>, which receive increased support under the “Expanding Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools” section of ESSA, replace closed schools. Yet charters have a <a href="https://urbancharters.stanford.edu/download/Urban%20Charter%20School%20Study%20Report%20on%2041%20Regions.pdf">decidedly mixed record</a>, particularly with English language learners and children with disabilities.</p>
<p>The ESSA’s support for charter schools reflects a philosophy that favors autonomy, whether through privately run public schools, or through less federal regulation. Yet historically, expanded federal control of education, from nineteenth century land grant colleges, to the GI bill, to the original ESEA, has meant, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=UXuRAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=history+federal+education+control+benefits+poor+children&ots=pOa9Y7Ua4D&sig=yVq0Pl03th5y3OfX0ZJrqYgLAao#v=onepage&q=history%20federal%20education%20control%20benefits%20poor%20children&f=false">according</a> to <a href="http://jackjenningsdc.com/">educational researcher Jack Jennings</a>, “that public education could not avoid its responsibility to educate all children.” </p>
<p>The obligation to educate all children is weakened when we send the federal government to the sidelines. Given their history of <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2013/06/18-special-education-no-child-left-behind-bleiberg-west">opposing certain kinds of reforms</a>, is it wise to trust states to develop their own separate and potentially unequal guidelines and practices? </p>
<h2>Missing the early years</h2>
<p>Almost every page of the Every Student Succeeds Act concerns K-12 schools. But investments in early childhood education are both critical to educational success and <a href="http://www.nea.org/home/18163.htm">cost-effective in the long run</a>. Access to quality preschool is <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/04/22/304563233/what-exactly-is-high-quality-preschool">particularly critical</a> for poor children. </p>
<p>The new legislation <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/press/statement/2015/12/02/126635/statement-caps-carmel-martin-on-house-passage-of-the-every-student-succeeds-act/">proposes to allocate</a> $250 million for preschool grants. But given what we know about the <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poverty-disturbs-children-s-brain-development-and-academic-performance/">importance of the ages from birth to three years to learning</a>, that’s far too little.</p>
<p>All this means the newest version of the ESEA is unlikely to lead us to a future where all children will be able to access high-quality educational opportunities. </p>
<p>As long as attention remains on testable accountability in K-12 schools rather than on poverty, inequality and early education, “every student succeeds,” like “no child left behind,” will continue to be an unfulfilled promise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Battenfeld is affiliated with the public education advocacy group QUEST (Quality Education for Every Student), and is a member of the Boston Public Schools Citywide Parent Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felicity Crawford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is replacing No Child Left Behind (NCLB). How much of an improvement is it over the earlier law?Mary Battenfeld, Associate Professor of Humanities, Wheelock CollegeFelicity Crawford, Chair of Special Education and Associate Professor, Wheelock CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/487902015-10-08T11:15:50Z2015-10-08T11:15:50ZArne Duncan’s legacy: growing influence of a network of private actors on public education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97632/original/image-20151007-7337-18abwsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Arne Duncan opened the gates to a powerful network.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/edlabordems/3548577209/in/photolist-6pzonF-7H8kr6-fD9bky-6zavMm-6zavLU-66Nctj-8wqcn3-8LTYkp-7jtyH4-7jtytV-7jxrWL-a76BeF-7n972h-7n5dje-9TustP-9sPPF7-7bcqFX-sLViRf-suE8U4-fppmY9-nw9Xih-8MUsRz-br76jV-7bgeuu-7bgekC-hg9iLJ-7iAqwR-9nc6Bq-7bgdbY-9nc6zJ-br75FH-fpaaRv-hgb23h-7bcpzr-fpaeQ4-br75bZ-br76r8-br76dc-br75jX-br74HD-br75eV-br76y8-br74Vc-br76bM-br74Tr-br75Yg-br768r-br74JV-br75Ui-br765g">House Committee on Education and the Workforce Dem</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Arne Duncan is <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/10/02/445266796/arne-duncan-stepping-down-as-education-secretary">leaving</a> the US Department of Education in December. Reactions to his legacy have been mixed. Some see him as <a href="http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/09/arne-duncan-education-profile-000231">a heroic reformer</a>, and others <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/education/256012-5-legacies-from-duncans-tenure-as-secretary-of-education">a well-intentioned but overreaching bureaucrat</a>. He has been called the <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/04/08/28obama_ep.h28.html">third secretary of education for George W Bush</a> or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2015/10/02/education-secretary-arne-duncan-reportedly-will-step-down-at-end-of-year/">the center of stormy education politics</a>. </p>
<p>As researchers of education policy, we see him differently: the hub of a network of policy advocates. As the head of the federal Department of Education, he actively facilitated private actors’ influence on public education policy.</p>
<h2>Private actors and connections</h2>
<p>From early 2009, Arne Duncan opened the federal agency’s gates to a powerful network. He used the network, and was sometimes used by advocates for their own purposes.</p>
<p>Duncan was not just the cabinet secretary who played pickup basketball with the president. He was the head of <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1478474">the department with the highest number (five)</a> of early political appointees who had personal connections to President Obama.</p>
<p>He was joined in 2009 by some of the most powerful members of a Democratic-leaning group of education reformers: among them were Deputy Secretary Jim Shelton, a former leader of education policy at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Joanne Weiss, the Chief Operating Officer at NewSchools Venture Fund who became Duncan’s chief of staff. <a href="http://www.newschools.org/">NewSchools Venture Fund</a> is a venture philanthropy firm that sponsors the growth of charter school chains. </p>
<p>In 2009, both organizations were part of a growing network of advocates which Michigan State University political scientist <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/follow-the-money-9780199937738?cc=us&lang=en&">Sarah Reckhow has called</a> the Boardroom Progressives. </p>
<p>These reformers have largely consisted of private actors, including leaders of education nonprofits, charter school founders and other nontraditional school leaders whose essential resources for reform come from the private wealth of major foundations, an approach that Berkeley education professor Janelle Scott has termed <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0895904808328531">“venture philanthropy</a>.”</p>
<h2>Did those connections matter?</h2>
<p>The network that swirled around Duncan gave him ideas that he promoted through the Obama stimulus, and also the skilled personnel to run those programs.</p>
<p>Members of Duncan’s reform network were partly the genesis and <a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/28/0895904811425911.abstract">potentially the beneficiary</a> of a grant program, <a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/28/0895904811425911.abstract">Race to the Top</a>, that required applicants to expand opportunities for charter school creation, eliminate firewalls between student test scores and teacher evaluation, and commit to so-called “college and career-ready standards.” (The most common commitment of applicant states to such standards was to the <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core State Standards</a>.) </p>
<p>Once Duncan’s department announced the Race to the Top program, the network connections were critical to promoting it. Under Duncan, Weiss ran the Race to the Top program.</p>
<p>But building support for his policies was also political: since 2001, federal education policy has often provided rhetorical and political license to state politicians who wanted support for policies they wanted anyway – Paul Manna, Government Professor at William & Mary College, called this license “borrowed authority” in his book <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/schools">School’s In</a> about the politics of the No Child Left Behind Act. </p>
<p><a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/28/0895904811425911.abstract">Race to the Top</a> continued this pattern, and many members of the network of education advocacy organizations <a href="http://educationnext.org/fight-club/">supported</a> the Common Core and the expansion of charter schools in many states.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How did networks influence policy?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofed/13130900394/in/photolist-m1kido-br76Bt-br75MF-br7618-br74PK-br764i-br75Pn-br75u2-br74Ci-br75JK-br75yX-br74tB-br74qp-br75nV-br74rV-br74ye-br75qB-br757D-br76wH-br75Lc-br75px-br74WD-br74B2-fpaf9z-fpptPA-fpahHB-7bgdHQ-fj8Zoj-7H8kax-fiTH5T-nCG7Y4-nWYaCg-m1knzQ-hgc3Ci-hw3Ehx-fiTD9D-hgaUFw-6pDwdS-66HUSk-p8zKmd-wH187A-hg9kn7-ovYTPP-r7nVWH-rLzVW5-s4bwoz-s4846a-rHbVF3-fNn8Jy-fMXAnH">US Department of Education</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, the network was <a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/11/14/0895904812465117.abstract">critical</a> to directly or indirectly building state capacity in the Race to the Top years. In some cases, network members became critical state leaders, as they had under Duncan in Washington, DC.</p>
<p>In other cases, members of the network served as free consultants or as paid contractors for states that did not have the expertise to apply for or carry out Race to the Top projects. The Gates Foundation provided <a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11658.pdf">US$250,000 worth of application consulting services</a> to states that agreed with the foundation’s <a href="http://www.edweek.org/media/criteria_and_support_for_states_for_rttp_applications.pdf">eight-point</a> set of criteria.</p>
<h2>Why care about these networks – isn’t this how politics works?</h2>
<p>At one level, the influence of the education reform network around Duncan is not a surprise: political scientists have written for decades about the relationships between private actors and public policy. That intrigue is the source of terms such as <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2937958">regulatory capture</a> and <a href="http://www.transactionpub.com/title/The-Politics-of-Defense-Contracting-978-0-87871-012-6.html">iron triangles</a>.</p>
<p>If public-private relationships are not new in policymaking, we should also not assume that the network around Duncan has been monolithic or inherently cohesive. As political scientist <a href="http://educationnext.org/files/ednext_20123_mcguinn_full.pdf">Patrick McGuinn explained</a>, the alliances have been evolving rather than centralized and tightly planned.</p>
<p>And yet, we should worry when <a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-6209-383-6_4">policies are shaped</a> substantially outside ordinary public politics by an increasingly private set of actors, whose <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01619560902973647">relationships</a> with the public sphere can simultaneously be rivalrous, symbiotic and parasitic. </p>
<p>One does not need to be paranoid to worry about the concentration of decision-making in the hands of people who are friends and who are not accountable to the general public.</p>
<h2>The legacy of Duncan</h2>
<p>Maybe you approve of Arne Duncan’s policies and are happy with his network because it moved policy. But after the Republicans swept the 2010 midterm elections in dozens of states, a conservative network <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0895904814528794">was able to exert its own, older</a> agenda in state house after state house.</p>
<p>That ascendant Republican network, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), used the reform rhetoric and regulatory momentum of Arne Duncan for its own ends. Some of those goals mirrored Duncan’s – teacher evaluation tied to student test scores and expanded charter schools. </p>
<p>Others did not. Since 2010, many Republican-controlled states have attempted to restrict teacher collective bargaining and created or expanded private school voucher programs. </p>
<p>Arne Duncan did not invent political networks. And yet, to use <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01619560902973647">a term of education professors Janelle Scott and Catherine DiMartino</a>, he has acted as a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0895904812465117">“gatekeeper”</a> by bringing a private network to the fore in education, and further opening public education to privatized influences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48790/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sherman Dorn has received funding for past projects from the U.S. Department of Education as a PI and the Spencer Foundation as a center associate director. He is a National Education Policy Center fellow and has consulted in the past with the Center on Education Policy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda U. Potterton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By bringing private advocates to the fore in education, Arne Duncan further opened public education to privatized influences.Sherman Dorn, Professor of Education, Arizona State UniversityAmanda U. Potterton, Doctoral Student Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/485502015-10-05T09:32:19Z2015-10-05T09:32:19ZA somber message on World Teachers’ Day 2015: our teachers are at risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97111/original/image-20151002-23063-1uoafjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The work of teachers is not valued as much as other professions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/besphotos/2358166134/in/photolist-4AodCN-7Cv6qi-eJc5nQ-4smAGv-cKqUN1-7mAk3R-aHvVNg-8gdwZF-9TprRe-j587eW-rPEZXm-ryLN2H-7YL6Vw-8ePWKG-7NYcNs-7nS8RE-23EySh-7dujYF-8cBzeW-6VtJ5a-4dxked-8NbVe2-iEvL1r-7YBySL-5iD1Sa-4ragHd-aEDKDN-pfPSMa-9WCrcY-asdPBd-9124du-aywv8r-9CYP1m-6D5fFW-BmeM1-d9Hpn1-q2L9yr-dbKYqL-fy5mc9-wVvnpT-rjLQjT-rPaQek-yUEHce-8oNY9-eWQ7RH-4PuUPc-bGXdU8-uTuLYs-8rxuy8-qYp2AC">BES Photos</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What is among the first actions that brutal totalitarian regimes take upon assuming power? They imprison, exile or <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807743593.shtml">“disappear” teachers</a>.</p>
<p>Dictators employ such harsh tactics because of the role teachers play in society. Teachers provide not only a crucial link to our cultural past but also exercise critical influence on the present and the future. Teachers train future citizens on how to think and creatively challenge accepted wisdom, which can threaten the power of tyrants.</p>
<p>But before we rush to congratulate ourselves on how well teachers are treated in our free society, we need to recognize the multiple ways in which damage has been caused to the profession.</p>
<p>The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/world-teachersday-2015#.Vg6imLRYWJV">World Teachers’ Day</a> – celebrated every year on October 5 since 1994 – as a result of concerns about the historically low status of teachers and their mistreatment. </p>
<p>As a researcher who studies the history of schooling in the United States, I can testify that Americans have long had a deep and enduring ambivalence about teachers: we value their work, but <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/books_teacher_pay/">we pay them less respect and less money</a> than those in many other comparable professions. There are plenty of signs that teaching as a vocation is in trouble in the US.</p>
<h2>The problem of teacher turnover</h2>
<p>Look at how <a href="https://title2.ed.gov/Public/Home.aspx">enrollments in teacher preparation programs</a> have plummeted in the last few years in US schools.</p>
<p>The hardest-hit state – <a href="http://www.ctc.ca.gov/commission/agendas/2014-10/2014-10-3D.pdf">California</a> – experienced a 53% decline between 2008 and 2013. Other states are not too far behind – <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/04/25/teacher-preparation-programs-declining-enrollment/26379779/">Michigan</a>, for instance, experienced a 38% drop, and <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/10/22/09enroll.h34.html?qs=drop+in+texas+enrollment+in+teacher+education+programs">Texas</a> a 19% reduction, during the same period. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/23/kindergarten-teacher-my-job-is-now-about-tests-and-data-not-children-i-quit/">Several</a> high-profile educators have either decided to <a href="http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2015/04/06/why-im-calling-it-quits-after-six.html?qs=quit+teaching">“hang up their chalk”</a> or encouraged others to <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/01/award-winning-educator-decries-current-teaching-climate.html?qs=global+teacher+prize">avoid the profession altogether</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What is leading teachers to quit?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/peoplesworld/18680600211/in/photolist-usJXBZ-us8a2W-usx7Yx-ub69tP-ub5UpX-us7Qu5-ub5Y1e-tvFW1F-usxy2i-tvw5bQ-9hSvnm-bUvVwv-62wwkq-gHofKz-dacThu-gHnq3B-sKj3hQ-sv2iFY-sMBjVx-sMBvD6-sv1GNE-sv91dM-sKhzGN-sKhiWu-suZBUJ-sMATST-sv2GEy-sMrKCL-sv54hS-rQBsa1-svax8k-sKiXMs-sMBuC4-sMCj6p-sMCJ4V-rQzMX1-rQMrRp-sMC6ZF-sv1EbA-sMzUwk-sMC864-sKj85f-sv4j73-sKjHhJ-sMrMg5-sv2uD9-sv2mTY-sv8hPp-sMDAxv-sv3CgG">peoplesworld</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And what is causing good, experienced educators to flee the ship of teaching? </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/crisis-in-american-education-as-teacher-morale-hits-an-all-time-low-39226">Teacher turnover</a> has long been an area of concern (<a href="http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1239&context=gse_pubs">teachers depart at a higher rate</a> than comparable professions). The more precise reasons for recent departures are under <a href="http://www.gse.upenn.edu/pdf/rmi/RetentionData.pdf">scrutiny</a>, but we can point to a variety of likely causes.</p>
<p>First, teachers have experienced <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/86547/education-reform-nclb-boehner-van-roekel">heavy attacks</a> from a number of directions over the past 15 years. </p>
<p>Ever since the passage of the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001</a>, which accelerated an ongoing education accountability movement, teachers and schools have felt under <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/no_child_left_behind_act/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">immense pressure</a> to <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/tested/lindaperlstein">improve</a> the annual yearly progress of their students on statewide standardized tests and demonstrate that they are “<a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/methods/teachers/stateplanfacts.html">highly qualified</a>.” </p>
<p><a href="http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco4361/readings/murnane%20papay%202010.pdf">Researchers</a> who investigated these concerns found that teachers generally applaud efforts to improve academic standards, instruction and teacher qualifications. But many of these policies have had profound unintended consequences.</p>
<p>For example, because of the differences between state policies, teachers and schools in one state can be <a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG589.html">punished</a> for <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/books-teachers_performance_pay_and_accountability/">student achievement scores</a> that in other states would be rewarded. </p>
<p>Second, the accountability movement has led many policymakers, especially those keen on finding ways to measure the worth of all things, to fasten onto “<a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/may10/vol67/num08/Using_Value-Added_Measures_to_Evaluate_Teachers.aspx">value-added measures”</a> (VAM) as a way of evaluating teacher performance. </p>
<p>The idea behind VAM is that yearly student test scores can be used not only to track student achievement but also as a way to measure the instructional impact of their teachers. </p>
<h2>Dealing with tests and fixing poverty</h2>
<p>On the face of it, such instructional assessments might seem like a reasonable approach. But there are many pitfalls to using a test originally designed to measure students to evaluate teachers.</p>
<p>So much so that eminent scholars in the field of statistics, economics, psychology and education have issued <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/bp278/">urgent warnings</a> to policymakers that VAM are far too flawed to be of any value in teacher assessment. </p>
<p>Despite such caution, <a href="http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/beardsleyputtinggrowthandvalueaddedmodel.pdf">many states</a> have moved forward with the implementation of evaluation systems that employ VAM as a primary mechanism for teacher evaluation, a development that is sure to signal to many teachers that they are in what one researcher calls “<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/why-do-teachers-quit/280699/">a very disempowered line of work</a>” because they have so little control over their professional lives.</p>
<p>Finally, and perhaps most importantly, <a href="http://www.lbjlibrary.org/lyndon-baines-johnson/timeline/johnsons-remarks-on-signing-the-elementary-and-secondary-education-act">for decades</a> teachers and schools have been <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/schools-cant-fix-everything-about-poverty/article/2566473">asked to do something that is beyond their control</a>: fix poverty. </p>
<p>While teachers can have profoundly powerful and positive impacts on students, there is an overwhelming amount of <a href="http://cepa.stanford.edu/content/widening-academic-achievement-gap-between-rich-and-poor-new-evidence-and-possible">research</a> demonstrating that student performance on standardized tests is largely determined by their socioeconomic background. </p>
<p>For a variety of reasons that researchers are still struggling to understand, the achievement scores of students from poor communities across the country <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED507359.pdf">are lower than their wealthier counterparts</a>. </p>
<h2>Vocation is in trouble</h2>
<p>Until we better understand the mechanisms behind the relationship between poverty and achievement, state leaders should be morally bound to avoid legislation or regulations that can “mis-measure” the value of their teachers.</p>
<p>If we want to encourage smart, creative, passionate individuals to enter the teaching ranks, we must insist that they receive the respect, autonomy and intellectual freedom they deserve. </p>
<p>We cannot afford to lose a whole generation of teachers. We will endanger the crucial <a href="http://www.jstor.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/stable/23014368?pq-origsite=summon&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">professional and institutional knowledge</a> that one generation of teachers passes on to another.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David A Gamson receives funding from the Russell Sage Foundation and the Spencer Foundation. </span></em></p>There are plenty of signs that teaching as a vocation is in trouble in the US.David A Gamson, Associate Professor of Education (Education Theory & Policy), Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/444982015-07-13T10:22:19Z2015-07-13T10:22:19ZThe calamity of the disappearing school libraries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88114/original/image-20150710-17478-ou3b84.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lower-income students benefit the most from libraries. Yet, budget cuts are leading to a decline in their numbers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/peskylibrary/407779909/in/photolist-C2YL6-aBpQzA-bSidyF-4DiFh-hEnJNa-6f8r52-6573FT-7tmPPK-743Sdj-bqHA8Z-3BqQCE-7tmPX4-brK835-r4ydw-cW5cXG-3ajJub-zCQEo-bmPZau-aspQch-6jtwev-8EFdiQ-9sHwcQ-743Rzb-jeP57L-8Jfwof-jeRzQG-8Dkgqa-4npQn4-8ww6qj-5zPUYo-9f4udZ-97Yski-d7224j-5qGm6e-6233yC-9sEwMc-7fj5Ft-5xbUho-7Ap9zi-g5pkZ-g5cyq-bSidtK-5Ga7Za-984jVU-bBr2E3-6YX7Ly-9fn2ya-8BF4ar-8JcsPr-8BJbtE">Pesky Librarians</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From coast to coast, elementary and high school libraries are being neglected, defunded, repurposed, abandoned and closed. </p>
<p>The kindest thing that can be said about this is that it’s curious; the more accurate explanation is that it’s just wrong and very foolish.</p>
<p>A 2011 survey conducted with my graduate students of <a href="http://sl-it.mansfield.edu/upload/MU-LibAdvoBklt2013.pdf">25 separate statewide studies</a> shows that students who attend schools with libraries that are staffed by certified librarians score better on reading and writing tests than students in schools without library services. And it is lower-income students who benefit the most.</p>
<p>This clear empirical evidence has had little impact on budget cutters, however. They act – mistakenly – as though there is no link between libraries and educational achievement.</p>
<p>Here are the numbers and the arguments to which they need to pay attention. </p>
<h2>A dramatic decline in school libraries and librarians</h2>
<p>The number of school libraries in New York City has dropped from <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/03/18/number-of-libraries-dwindle-in-nyc-schools.html">nearly 1,500 in 2005 to around 700 in 2014.</a> </p>
<p>Over a recent five-year period, <a href="http://www.slj.com/2013/10/schools/lacking-district-vision-or-mandate-houstons-school-librarian-numbers-continue-to-shrink/">43% of school librarian positions</a> in the Houston Independent School District evaporated. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.slj.com/2015/01/legislation/oh-department-of-education-will-vote-to-purge-school-librarian-requirement/">Ohio has lost more than 700 school library positions</a> over a decade. </p>
<p>California has hemorrhaged school librarians to the point where it now has <a href="http://edsource.org/2014/school-librarians-a-rare-find-in-california-public-schools/62226#.U4ZLhXa2XFw">the worst ratio</a> – <a href="http://www.slj.com/2014/01/schools/california-school-librarians-look-to-higher-ed-during-advocacy-overhaul/#_">1-to-7,000 librarians-to-students</a> – of any state in the nation. </p>
<p>And, finally, in my own home state of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia provides a dramatic story. In 1991, there were 176 certified librarians in Philadelphia public schools. <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20150201_Shelved.html">Today there are 10</a>. It appears that 206 out of 218 classroom buildings in the school district of Philadelphia have no librarian. Two hundred Philadelphia schools do not have a functional library book collection. A majority lack the technology to access necessary e-resources. And <a href="http://www.williampennfoundation.org/newsroom/30-million-investment-aims-improve-literacy-outcomes-48000-children-school-district">85% of these children</a> come from homes in poverty. </p>
<h2>Proven impact</h2>
<p>This is happening despite the fact that we know school libraries are highly effective. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.slj.com/2011/09/industry-news/something-to-shout-about-new-research-shows-that-more-librarians-means-higher-reading-scores/">A 2011 study</a> using data from the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/">National Center for Education Statistics</a> revealed that “..states that gained librarians from 2004–2005 to 2008–2009 — such as New Jersey, Tennessee and Wyoming — showed significantly greater improvements in fourth grade reading scores than states that lost librarians, like Arizona, Massachusetts, and Michigan.”</p>
<p>So why, in the face of readily available evidence, are so many budget cutters targeting school libraries? </p>
<h2>A vulnerable institution</h2>
<p>One reason they cut is because they can. </p>
<p>For example, look at my state of <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20150201_Shelved.html">Pennsylvania</a>, where schools are not required to have libraries. Prisons must have them. Barber and cosmetology schools must have them. They are <a href="http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2014/11/philadelphia-teacher-carol-heinsdorf.html">compulsory</a> in nursing programs. But in public schools they are optional. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88115/original/image-20150710-17482-loeb3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Why are budget cuts targeting school libraries?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/scrc/6307493694/in/photolist-aBny8h-e4T2Wr-e4T56K-e4YJrm-e4T5We-e4T5rv-bJkmUV-bvqzfN-bvqyTo-bJkmzn-e4T52g-92FmHu-j366bw-hYcuBE-bPDTKt-9SeVSB-77XDLs-92Vshx-3rLG3W-bAKeW1-5hdRNK-bPDTJp-6b6kuh-JsQda-hijUps-77XDQL-bPDTGP-btw3TK-c7aJjS-9LdX64-c7dXYY-c7dXLo-4pA3xE-5V8StD-eHZkc2-3UUACG-6fSTAK-5STK33-98VAEn-aCuS7K-dyN3BD-dyTwaY-9tLwdH-98VAxn-98YJrQ-7kw78j-8ry7Wh-8wwyyJ-7jq62r-7jq5Q8">W&M Swem Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Or consider the city of <a href="http://www.slj.com/2013/10/schools/lacking-district-vision-or-mandate-houstons-school-librarian-numbers-continue-to-shrink/">Houston, Texas</a>, where decisions on school staffing for certain positions, including certified librarians, are left to the discretion of school principals. It is not alone in that. </p>
<p>Also at work in the minds of budget cutters may be the hoary falsehood that the internet has made the need for libraries obsolete. </p>
<p>But those who think that the internet replaces a library must think it is okay to use WebMD instead of going to a doctor. </p>
<p>Librarians teach information literacy – how to separate the useful from the less useful, the credible from the inaccurate, and how to navigate the internet safely.</p>
<h2>Capitol Hill to the rescue?</h2>
<p>There is some hope, however, and it comes from legislation unanimously passed on July 8 by the US Senate. </p>
<p>In a bipartisan <a href="http://hottytoddy.com/2015/07/10/senate-approves-cochran-amendment-supporting-school-libraries-modernization/">amendment</a> – sponsored by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) – to Senate Bill 1177 that reauthorizes the <a href="http://www.ed.gov/esea">Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind (renaming it the ESEA)</a>, school districts would be authorized to use federal funds “…to develop and foster effective school library programs…programs with certified school librarians at their core.”</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.psla.org/">Pennsylvania School Librarians Association</a> and the Pennsylvania PTA, who have been active on this issue, lobbied both of their state’s senators aggressively. But presumably party pressure played a factor, as 100% of the senators voted unanimously for the amendment. </p>
<p>However, in the narrowly passed reauthorization of its version of ESEA (<a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2015/07/House_passes_ESEA_rewrite.html">the Student Success Act</a>), the House of Representatives included no language about school libraries or librarians. </p>
<p>When the Senate finishes its deliberations and (presumably) passes S1177, a conference committee will need to meld the House and Senate versions together. </p>
<p>Will the language supporting school libraries and librarians survive this process?</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-state-union-address">State of the Union Address</a>, President Obama said that “In the 21st century, one of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education.” </p>
<p>The research is clear. School librarians are an integral part of a world-class, 21st-century education. </p>
<h2>Congress needs to step up</h2>
<p>It is time for a rethinking and redirection of federal policy in education. Former President George W Bush and President Barack Obama have <a href="http://pdk.sagepub.com/content/96/7/41.abstract">called</a> education the civil rights issue of our time. </p>
<p>However, allowing each state and each school district to decide how funds should be expended to educate students and provide library services has brought about huge inequities particularly in impoverished communities with resource-starved schools. </p>
<p>In the 1960s and 1970s, the now 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) pumped millions of dollars into building school library collections for school students. Since then, only a few competitive grant programs have been available from the federal level to fund any improvements to school library programs. </p>
<p>With the defunding of the <a href="http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/eduleg/schoollibraries">Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program</a> in 2011, today there are no <a href="http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/eduleg/schoollibraries">federal programs</a> for school library funding. Clearly, the states, taking the lead from the feds, continue to ignore the funding of school libraries.</p>
<p>Yet, until now, federal education policy and legislation have neglected to support the role of school librarians. That needs to change. We need a national agenda and our elected officials to take a stand and ensure equity of library services and certified school librarians to teach the next generation to find and apply information to solve problems, think critically, and develop innovations.</p>
<p>Until such time, we shortchange our students and our future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Debra Kachel previously received grant funding from the Institute for Museums and Library Service to administer a Pennsylvania school library research grant project. She is affiliated with the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association, the Assn. for School Librarians, and the American Library Association.</span></em></p>The number of libraries is dropping drastically across almost all states. Will a revised No Child Left Behind law make a difference?Debra E. Kachel, Professor of School Library and Information Technologies Program, Mansfield University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/425882015-06-19T10:18:16Z2015-06-19T10:18:16Z‘Teaching artists’: creative ways to teach English to immigrant kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83468/original/image-20150601-15234-1j39n89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Freese Elementary first graders starting to paint a giant puppet with teaching artist Felix Diaz.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of California eScholarship Repository</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bringing professional actors and dancers into the classroom may seem an unusual strategy for boosting the speaking skills of children who speak a language other than English at home. Yet, these creative drama and movement activities can help children struggling to improve their fluency in the English language. </p>
<p>English language learners face a <a href="http://edsource.org/2015/mexican-american-children-lag-behind-white-peers-by-age-2-study-finds/77678#.VYDxrM7u78s">daunting challenge</a> in today’s classrooms, which have an increased focus on written work. To improve their English language skills, these children need <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/21/08ell.h29.html">frequent opportunities</a> to engage in verbal interactions. Children who do not become proficient in reading by the end of third grade are at an <a href="http://www.aecf.org/resources/early-warning-why-reading-by-the-end-of-third-grade-matters/">increased risk</a> of dropping out of school. </p>
<p>Schools in San Diego, California, are successfully leading the way in using creative ways to teach English. </p>
<p>Educators and teaching artists have come together in San Diego schools to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/TRTR.1192/abstract">demonstrate</a> how theatre games and creative movement activities in early grades can help children improve their English language fluency. </p>
<h2>Making it happen</h2>
<p>Having begun my career as an educator in Europe, I was attracted by the idea of an arts-rich curriculum that motivated children through imaginative engagement. </p>
<p>As the director of the Center for Learning in the Arts and Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, I approached the Visual and Performing Arts Department of the <a href="http://www.sandi.net/site/default.aspx?PageID=1">San Diego Unified School District</a> about setting up a pilot project in 15 San Diego elementary schools. </p>
<p>In 2007, our proposal was funded by the <a href="http://www.cpec.ca.gov/">California Postsecondary Education Commission. </a></p>
<p>Over a period of several months, the San Diego Visual and Performing Arts Department recruited and trained the professional actors and dancers who would serve as “teaching artists.” </p>
<p>The idea of recruiting teaching artists was to have a group of professionals trained in dance and drama, who could visit as many as five classrooms each day and encourage English learners to use language as a tool of <a href="http://sites.uci.edu/class/kindergarten/theater-kindergarten/kindergarten-theater-lesson1/">communication</a> even during the first lessons. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85600/original/image-20150618-23223-1ls7zd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two teachers at Central Elementary lead a theatre warm-up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of California eScholarship Repository</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Classroom teachers co-taught with a teaching artist for 50 minutes each week for 28 weeks (14 weeks of drama, 14 weeks of dance). Teachers practiced with their pupils on the days between visits. Videos of lessons were made available online, so that teachers could remind themselves of details. </p>
<h2>How it worked</h2>
<p>In a way, this program was not all that new. These lessons were only an enhanced version of the theatre and dance curriculum that was available to all San Diego elementary schools before testing and budget pressures caused the school district to reduce its offerings. </p>
<p>Budget cuts over the years have forced the elimination of arts activities in kindergarten to second grade in many school districts nationwide. A <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011078.pdf">study</a> by the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/">National Center for Education Statistics</a> found that in 2009–2010, only 4% of US elementary schools offered instruction that was designated as drama or theatre; just 3% offered dance. </p>
<p>When the teaching artists arrived in San Diego classrooms, children welcomed them enthusiastically and eagerly joined in. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://sites.uci.edu/class/first-grade/theater-first-grade/grade-1-theater-lesson-1/">lessons</a> generally started with the class standing in a circle, responding through words and physical movements to directions given by the teaching artist. Instead of memorizing vocabulary and studying grammar, children learned through active participation. </p>
<p>And English learners who were unsure of the meaning of verbal instructions could check their understanding by watching the teaching artist and other students. </p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rrq.90/abstract">Rigorous evaluation</a> has shown that the program has helped children, especially those with the most limited English speaking skills.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85601/original/image-20150618-23246-1yikqjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kindergartners at Balboa Elementary practice a dance activity with their teacher.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of California eScholarship Repository</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Teacher interviews affirmed that the vocabulary and communication skills of all children were enhanced by the teaching artist visits. </p>
<p>The most striking improvement was in the speaking skills of the English learners. </p>
<h2>Limited learning in classrooms</h2>
<p>Today’s classrooms face many challenges.</p>
<p>Nearly <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96">10% of the student</a> population in the US now comes from non-English speaking homes. In California, children whose home language is not English <a href="http://edsource.org/wp-content/publications/ELStats0308.pdf">make up over 20%</a> of the public school enrollment.</p>
<p>The passage of [Proposition 227](http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_227,<em>the</em>%22English_in_Public_Schools%22_Initiative_(1998) in 1998 has made the situation particularly challenging for non-English speaking children. Proposition 227 requires California public schools to teach even limited English-proficient students in classes that are taught nearly all in English. </p>
<p>In today’s classrooms, children’s learning is limited by several factors.</p>
<p>Contemporary kindergarten classrooms <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-happened-kindergarten">resemble</a> the first grade classes of a generation ago. First graders are tackling assignments that were formerly taught in second grade. </p>
<p>Moreover, the demands of a highly structured curriculum and rising class sizes leave limited opportunities for rich verbal interactions between the teacher and the pupil. Chances for <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3tg4k5xx">individualized feedback</a> are also often limited. </p>
<p>This is reflected in the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind (NCLB)</a> data: only 11 of the 50 states are meeting adequate yearly progress targets for limited English-proficient students under NCLB. At the same time, the number of school-age kids who speak English as a second language is continuing to grow. </p>
<h2>What English learners need</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, preparation programs for elementary teachers currently dedicate little time to methods for teaching oral language skills. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.bilingualeducation.org/pdfs/PROP2272.pdf">Research</a> has demonstrated that oral language proficiency in the primary grades is critical to the literacy development of children in general, but especially of English learners.</p>
<p>Drama and dance activities in which nonverbal communication is utilized in combination with verbal interactions can offer an effective substitute for one-on-one interactions with the classroom teacher. </p>
<p>Given that the weekly teaching artist visits constitute a relatively low-cost intervention, such programs may provide a means of affordably addressing an urgent problem.</p>
<p>The San Diego project did not just help English learners; it provided [benefits](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8573z1fm#page-1](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8573z1fm#page-1 ) for English-speaking students as well through increased engagement, attendance and exposure to the arts.</p>
<p>But clearly, the need is greater for English learners, for whom the arts can provide a bridge to understanding the language of the classroom. </p>
<p><em>Next: How should kids learn English: through Old MacDonald’s farm or Ali Baba’s farm?</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liane Brouillette received funding for this research from the California Department of Education and the United States Department of Education.</span></em></p>Want kids to improve fluency in English language? Try dance and drama as teaching tools.Liane Brouillette, Associate Professor of Education, University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/425852015-06-15T10:05:31Z2015-06-15T10:05:31ZTest data misuse reaches absurd levels<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84742/original/image-20150611-11441-179isgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There have been some serious fallouts from standardized testing.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/judybaxter/2266590287/in/photolist-4shSjT-m1aKsC-m1aExs-aqJhAx-raW3sT-6F4K57-6Mk4hm-rsguGe-di1LZa-9ZWKZv-htUmhf-htUjsS-htTHho-htV3f8-htUjzW-gxWHEx-gxVFsu-gxWHYD-gxWcUo-gxWcb9-gxVFgC-gxWbtg-gxWHTt-gxWbBT-gxWJbc-gxWbFv-gxWHmX-htVEGX-gxWSth-gxWRRK-gxXoEg-gxXozB-gxXoHx-gxWRwX-5qQvgh-5DM8ej-hykPNx-hymvwQ-hykPvi-hykKM6-hykMoH-hymvV5-hykHnr-hykWM3-hykKHP-hykLMT-hymAs1-hymviU-hynqnD-hynsyT">Judy Baxter</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The promise of the bipartisan <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind (NCLB) 2001 legislation</a> was, as the name says, that no child would be left behind. A key piece of this legislation is the annual testing of every child from third through eighth grade and then once in high school.</p>
<p>The data from these tests were intended to provide policymakers and educators with evidence to improve educational outcomes for the most disadvantaged students. But instead of promoting equity and social justice, the <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/">data</a> are being used, in some cases, to further punish and disenfranchise the most <a href="http://www.nyclu.org/news/high-stakes-tests-harm-students-and-teachers-undermine-equity-new-yorks-schools">vulnerable students</a>. </p>
<p>As an educational researcher, teacher and mom, I understand the potential as well as the unintended impacts of the annual testing regime. I also know that it doesn’t have to remain this way. We, as a nation, can do better. </p>
<h2>Fallout of standardized testing</h2>
<p>NCLB is a reauthorization of the <a href="http://www.ed.gov/esea">1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act</a>. Many efforts have been made to reauthorize NCLB since 2007, with a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/no-child-left-behind-reauthorization/">big push this spring</a> to get it revised and reauthorized before the fall campaign season. </p>
<p>NCLB’s use of standardized testing has been widely criticized for its inability to improve learning outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable students. It’s not just excessive testing, but an inappropriate use of the results that are now <a href="http://www.fairtest.org/dangerous-consequences-highstakes-standardized-test">threatening</a> the quality of public education.</p>
<p>Professional organizations such as the <a href="http://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=76">American Evaluation Association</a> and the <a href="http://www.aera.net/AboutAERA/AERARulesPolicies/AERAPolicyStatements/PositionStatementonHighStakesTesting/tabid/11083/Default.aspx">American Educational Research Association (AERA)</a> have put out public statements about how “high stakes” decisions based on test data violate the <a href="http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.weraonline.org/resource/resmgr/a_general/aera.pdf">code of ethics</a> to “do no harm.”</p>
<p>AERA’s statement lists a <a href="http://www.aera.net/AboutAERA/AERARulesPolicies/AERAPolicyStatements/PositionStatementonHighStakesTesting/tabid/11083/Default.aspx">set of conditions</a> under which testing programs need to be implemented: alignment of curriculum with the test items, adequate resources and opportunity to learn, validation of the passing scores and means to address the needs of students with language and learning differences. </p>
<p>In addition, <a href="http://www.aera.net/AboutAERA/AERARulesPolicies/AERAPolicyStatements/PositionStatementonHighStakesTesting/tabid/11083/Default.aspx">AERA has said</a> that test scores should follow a strict ethical code when it comes to evaluations. Much of this is currently missing. </p>
<h2>A range of tests</h2>
<p>Let’s take stock of just how many tests are currently “out there” and what their different purposes are.</p>
<p>For instance, there are NCLB mandated “accountability” tests, such as <a href="http://sbac.portal.airast.org/">Smarter Balanced Assesment (SBAC)</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/another-standardized-test-this-one-called-parcc-but-heres-whats-different-40056">Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)</a>; “diagnostic” tests used by districts to assess students and inform instruction, such as <a href="https://www.nwea.org/">Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEAs)</a>; and course-level tests for high school students, such as <a href="http://readysetgo.state.mn.us/RSG/AP/index.html">Advanced Placements</a> and <a href="http://www.ibo.org/">International Baccalaureate</a>.</p>
<p>There are also college entrance tests, such as <a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/sat-act">SAT and ACT</a>. And there is the national sampling for comparison across states – <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/">National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)</a> and, for international evaluations, there is <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)</a>. </p>
<p>This is all on top of the classroom- and school-level assessments that actually support the daily teaching and learning process between a teacher and a student. </p>
<p>As a result, what has happened is that there is too much testing and not enough learning. </p>
<p>The testing industry that has emerged from this is now a formidable lobby. Over the past five years it has spent over US$20 million to secure the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/03/30/report-big-education-firms-spend-millions-lobbying-for-pro-testing-policies/">$2 billion annual industry of standardized</a> testing in the US.</p>
<h2>Misuse of data</h2>
<p>The data generated from this testing are being used to make critical decisions about students, teachers and schools. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, however, test data have <a href="https://theconversation.com/tests-dont-improve-learning-and-parcc-will-be-no-different-40289">not been used</a> to improve teaching. Instead, data from the NCLB mandated accountability tests are being terribly misused.</p>
<p>There are now several court cases related to the misuse of standardized test scores in <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=OUWOAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA198&lpg=PA198&dq=class+action+suits+on+high+school+graduation+test+requirements&source=bl&ots=G2jtVYo1sz&sig=KFd9n2tLt7W-eRPEbJm_Wu7YTe0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=O8JyVeaQDsffsAWdh4OYCg&ved=0CE0Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=class%20action%20suits%20on%20high%20school%20graduation%20test%20requirements&f=false">teacher evaluations and high school completion tests</a>. Teachers’ job positions, careers and salaries are being determined by test scores of students they don’t even teach. </p>
<p>US Secretary of Education <a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-us-secretary-education-arne-duncan-tennessee-making-changes-teacher-licensure-policy">Arne Duncan has pushed</a> for teacher evaluation to be based in part on students’ standardized test scores despite the experiences of <a href="http://addingvalue.wceruw.org/Related%20Bibliography/Articles/Sanders%20%26%20Horn.pdf">Tennessee</a>, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/30/houston-teachers-sue-over-controversial-teacher-evaluation-method/">Houston</a> and <a href="http://www.fldoe.org/accountability/assessments/k-12-student-assessment">Florida</a>, where misuse of test data has been seen and challenged in court. </p>
<p>In these states, art and physical education teachers were evaluated on students’ English and math test scores. This error has already led to <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2015/02/05/teachers-union-sues-use-scores-evaluations/22946247/">lawsuits in Tennessee</a> and in <a href="https://feaweb.org/teachers-file-federal-736-lawsuit">Florida</a>. </p>
<p>Luke Flynt, an Indian River County teacher, in public testimony to the school committee, discussed how absurdly unreasonable these models of testing are. Flynt was a teacher in Florida who received unsatisfactory ratings because the computer model predicted that his students would score above a perfect score.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-I0Z7T0ZVVw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Luke Flynt, an Indian River County teacher, goes on the record.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, last year, Sheri Lederman, a fourth grade teacher in New York’s Great Neck Public School district, has <a href="http://dianeravitch.net/2015/06/01/good-news-legal-challenge-to-new-york-teacher-evaluations-will-proceed-in-court/">challenged</a> the inappropriateness of her teacher evaluation rating. The case will be heard by the New York Supreme Court. </p>
<p>As it is, teachers are frustrated. Testing has only added to it. <a href="http://hechingerreport.org/half-teachers-leave-job-five-years-heres/">Between 40% and 50% of new teachers</a> are <a href="https://theconversation.com/crisis-in-american-education-as-teacher-morale-hits-an-all-time-low-39226">leaving</a> the profession within five years. This is leading to a <a href="http://all4ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/PathToEquity.pdf">huge loss of social capital</a> and institutional capacity in the highest-need schools, where the rate of teacher exodus is highest. The annual cost of teacher dissatisfaction, expressed in the high turnover, is estimated to be <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/03/30/395322012/the-hidden-costs-of-teacher-turnover">$2.2 billion</a>.</p>
<p>This misuse of data is also one of the reasons behind the <a href="https://theconversation.com/students-are-opting-out-of-testing-how-did-we-get-here-40364">national</a> <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/04/what-happens-when-students-boycott-a-standardized-test/390087/">opt out movement</a>, as parents and teachers say no to testing. </p>
<p>This misuse of data is also driving states to opt out of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). </p>
<p>At least 10 states have already dropped the CCSS, and <a href="http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/states-fighting-back-map/">similar legislation is pending</a> in most other states. Several states are “<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/some-states-rebrand-controversial-common-core-education-standards/2014/01/30/a235843e-7ef7-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html">rebranding</a>” the standards by having more local input and revising elements of the standards. </p>
<h2>Testing has not worked</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12521">National Academies</a>, the premier source of expert advice on pressing societal challenges, have documented that the current test-based accountability models of incentives and sanctions has not been effective for improving learning or achievement.</p>
<p>They have also called for reformed models of accountability that would consider broader-based measures of progress.</p>
<p>As is evident in these details, the true failure of education, as stated by the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/217916454/ASA-VAM-Statement-1">American Statistical Association (ASA)</a>, has been in preparing our legislators and educational policymakers in the ethical use of statistics. </p>
<p>In particular, the <a href="http://www.rand.org/topics/value-added-modeling-in-education.html">Value Added Model (VAM)</a>, a complex statistical tool, is being inapproriately used for assessing teachers’ performance. </p>
<p>The ASA has cautioned that these data are not an accurate measure, as standardized test scores are not “causational.” In other words, test results are affected by many factors – not just the teacher. Results need to be interpreted with caution. </p>
<p>And also, for this reason, no high-stakes decisions such as job termination should be made based on the test results. </p>
<p>The basic scientific premise of quality assessment and evaluation is taking multiple measures, using multiple methods, and making use of multiple opportunities for a more accurate representation of anything being studied, particularly something as <a href="https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/creating-comprehensive-system-evaluating-and-supporting-effective-teaching.pdf">complex as teaching</a>. </p>
<p>The aspirations of “No Child Left Behind” are essential for our nation’s success. However, the current models based on limited standardized test scores significantly underrepresent the complexity of learning. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/strengthen-evaluation-to-improve-student-learning-says-oecd.htm">Other nations</a> have developed <a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/school/46927511.pdf">models of educational accountability</a> that are aligned with standards, reduce the number of tests, and help ensure equity and improve educational outcomes by <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/synergies-for-better-learning.htm">strengthening teaching and learning</a>. They also cost a lot less.</p>
<p>The question is: do we, as a nation, have the political will to leave behind the illusion of a quick fix from test scores?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42585/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Flynn Ross does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Art teachers have been evaluated on English test scores. There seems to be no limit to how test data are being used to punish students, teachers and schools.Flynn Ross, Associate Professor of Education, University of Southern MaineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/403642015-05-14T10:24:15Z2015-05-14T10:24:15ZStudents are opting out of testing. How did we get here?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81256/original/image-20150511-19560-givley.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students are refusing tests as part of a nationwide Opt Out movement.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-1473083p1.html?cr=00&pl=edit-00">bibiphoto</a> / <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/editorial?cr=00&pl=edit-00">Shutterstock.com</a>">bibiphoto / Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Opt Out,” a civil disobedience movement against state-mandated testing in elementary and secondary education, is growing rapidly across the United States. Last year, Opt Out protests occurred in about <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/17/living/parents-movement-opt-out-of-testing-feat/">half the states</a>. This year, the movement has found support across all 50 states.</p>
<p>In New York state alone, the number of students opting out has more than tripled this year. Nearly <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/03/why-the-movement-to-opt-out-of-common-core-tests-is-a-big-deal/">200,000 students</a> – more than 15% of the state’s students – opted out this spring.</p>
<p>While Opt Out protests are aimed at several test-related issues, they have been ignited mainly by the <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core Standards</a>, a set of reforms to establish a nationwide set of academic standards and tests. </p>
<p>For the past 25 years, my research has focused on testing policies. Over the last four years, along with my research team, I have intensely researched the Common Core standards, interviewed several leaders, scrutinized the reform’s funding and assembled a database of responses to the reform across 10 diverse states.</p>
<h2>What happens on the day of the test</h2>
<p>Opt Out protests can take many forms. At times, teachers take the initiative and refuse to give the test, and at others, it is the parents who decide to exempt their children. Sometimes students themselves decide to boycott.</p>
<p>For instance, at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle, protesting parents and students acting on their own opted out. So, the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/24/us-usa-education-washington-idUSKBN0NF22920150424">entire 11th grade class</a> didn’t show up on the testing day. </p>
<p>On the other hand, in Washington, Florida and Oklahoma, although very disparate states, teachers acting alone or with union support refused to administer the tests. </p>
<p>In some cases, school policy has required parents to send their children to school, but instead of taking the tests they are made to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/14/why-schools-are-forcing-some-kids-to-sit-and-stare-for-hours/">“sit and stare”</a>: that is, do nothing while their classmates toil away on the tests.</p>
<p>Some critics <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/21/education/teachers-unions-reasserting-themselves-with-push-against-standardized-testing.html">claim</a> that Opt Out has been largely driven by teachers’ unions angered by policymakers’ efforts to undermine teacher tenure and collective bargaining. </p>
<p>Union activity has played a role in Opt Out. However, our database indicates such protests have occurred in states <a href="http://edexcellence.net/publications/how-strong-are-us-teacher-unions.html">with or without</a> strong teacher unions. For example, despite a weak teachers’ union in Florida, <a href="http://unitedoptout.com/uoo-opt-out-map-2015/">Opt Out actions</a> there are among the strongest in the nation.</p>
<p>In fact, opposition to the Common Core and its testing is broad-based. National poll data show <a href="http://pdkintl.org/noindex/PDK_Poll_46.pdf">60% of the public</a> does not support the reform. </p>
<p>Opponents span the political spectrum. For example, conservative pundit Glenn Beck held an <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/glenn-becks-theatrical-attack-on-common-core/2014/07/23/c59453e4-1270-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9_story.html">anti-Common Core simulcast</a> in 700 theaters nationwide in July 2014. Diane Ravitch, the now-left-leaning academic, has regularly <a href="http://www.dianeravitch.net">posted critiques</a> of the reform on her blog since 2013. </p>
<h2>Reaction to the Common Core</h2>
<p>How can the Common Core – a reform backed by billions in federal funds and hundreds of millions from the Gates Foundation – be upended by children who won’t take tests? </p>
<p>I’ll focus on three explanations.</p>
<p>First, while Opt Out was ignited by the Common Core, it was incubated by a long stream of similar “standards-based reforms.” The Common Core and prior standards-based reforms (SBRs) entail aligning standards, curriculum, instruction and tests. To motivate alignment and effort, test scores are pegged to consequences, such as school closure and job loss. </p>
<p>However, the public <a href="http://www.ncrbc.net/static/doc/40th_PDK-Gallup_Poll_Highlights.pdf">hasn’t found</a> this playbook compelling since at least 2008. The majority of teachers and parents in our 10-state database say the incessant focus on testing undermines students’ education. </p>
<p>Some critics say it can even harm children, partly because the test questions can be <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/03/why-the-movement-to-opt-out-of-common-core-tests-is-a-big-deal/">developmentally inappropriate</a> – they go way over the heads of small children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81259/original/image-20150511-19521-6c1b1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81259/original/image-20150511-19521-6c1b1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81259/original/image-20150511-19521-6c1b1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81259/original/image-20150511-19521-6c1b1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81259/original/image-20150511-19521-6c1b1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81259/original/image-20150511-19521-6c1b1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81259/original/image-20150511-19521-6c1b1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protests spread to all 50 states this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/girlray/13564444734/in/photolist-mEDjQN-mEESaj-mEBAHz-mEDHmQ-mED5p4-mEDbVP-mEDTLN-mEC7qa-mEDQWj-63FcQb-awratr-9Jtr7i-47piP6-9Jwfob-9JtriX-rE83Cj-2FTvVz-dmNpiu-8LT3Wr-hN1djZ-iFiov3-6Q5McX-cfxAMW-72zbi2-r2wu3E-72Dwiw-72zj9K-72A1jx-72zFwg-72DeWQ-72EGUL-72wSaP-72ApWm-gw4PH-9xc8wH-391rGm-72EkEd-72AWVq-72B2yc-72Ehjj-72A8Lg-72EQA7-4y9Njv-cQCcWG-azkems-qTkFWC-nw9S8z-awt3vp-qFR6He-5Et5jR">Girl Ray</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, the Common Core has lacked transparency. The reform was unveiled in June 2009 and described as “state-led.” However, the federal government’s <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">Race to the Top Initiative (RTTT)</a>, announced three months earlier, dangled US$4 billion before cash-strapped states to <a href="http://www.ascd.org/common-core-state-standards/cc-policy-timeline.aspx">induce them to embrace </a> the Common Core. </p>
<p>Claims that the reform was “state-led” were also contradicted by $360 million in RTTT federal funding for the development of Common Core tests. A reform leader I interviewed in 2011 said, “Every effort must be made not to tie federal dollars or federal accountability measurements directly to the Common Core.” </p>
<p>He correctly recognized that perceptions of federal involvement jeopardized the reform. Among Opt Out participants are those seeking to get the federal government out of state education systems, because education is a power the US Constitution accords primarily to the states.</p>
<p>Third, the Common Core became entangled with market-based reforms. These are the 1955 brainchild of <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Friedman.html">economist Milton Friedman</a>, who claimed school choice will improve education. Competition for seats in better schools will shutter bad ones for lack of students. RTTT encouraged the use of Common Core tests to identify weak schools, and it also promoted school choice. </p>
<h2>Problematic reforms</h2>
<p>Market-based reform has sprouted into a worldview that a free market can fix schools. Private enterprise is now seen as a source of solutions for schools posting low test scores. </p>
<p>One <a href="http://unitedoptout.com/">United Opt Out</a> founder, <a href="http://www.pegwithpen.com/2013/08/my-opt-outrefusal-letter-for-2013-2014.html">Colorado teacher Peggy Robertson</a>, has refused to administer the Common Core tests, because “ultimately, they are being used to dismantle the public school system.”</p>
<p>Standards-based reforms were launched following the 1983 federal report, <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html">A Nation at Risk</a>. The <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html">report</a> proclaimed, “The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future….” </p>
<p>In response, every state sought to boost academic standards. By the late 1990s, almost all states had their own version of standards-based reforms (SBRs). In 2002, SBRs prevailed in federal policy when the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act</a> was signed into law.</p>
<p>Yet standard-based reforms inevitably unleash damaging distortions. Here’s why.</p>
<p>Rational people seek to avoid punitive consequences associated with inadequate test scores, but under SBR there are many ways to raise scores that do not improve learning. </p>
<p>Such “gaming” includes narrowing curriculum to tested subjects and limiting instruction to test prep. Gaming can extend to outright cheating – the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/us/atlanta-school-workers-sentenced-in-test-score-cheating-case.html">recent convictions</a> of 10 Atlanta educators is one example.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81263/original/image-20150511-19560-13n6jvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81263/original/image-20150511-19560-13n6jvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81263/original/image-20150511-19560-13n6jvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81263/original/image-20150511-19560-13n6jvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81263/original/image-20150511-19560-13n6jvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81263/original/image-20150511-19560-13n6jvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81263/original/image-20150511-19560-13n6jvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Common Core standards ignited the Opt Out movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&searchterm=Common%20Core&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=225571744">Boy image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moreover, SBR isn’t effective. No Child Left Behind <a href="http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/tracking-achievement-gaps-and-assessing-the-impact-of-nclb-on-the-gaps/lee-tracking-achievement-gaps-2006.pdf">hasn’t changed </a> achievement trajectories. NCLB didn’t close achievement gaps among high school students even in states with high standards. This <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/%7E/media/newsletters/0216_brown_education_loveless.pdf">bodes poorly</a> for the Common Core’s aim of graduating all students ready for college and career.</p>
<p>Market-based reforms (MBR) have also spurred Opt Out. One <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-bill-gates-pulled-off-the-swift-common-core-revolution/2014/06/07/a830e32e-ec34-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html">MBR entanglement</a> comes from the Gates Foundation’s strong support of the Common Core. Gates and other foundations are acting as venture philanthropists to promote the reform.</p>
<h2>Corporatization of education</h2>
<p>In contrast to traditional philanthropy, venture philanthropy seeks to <a href="http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Snyder.pdf">maximize</a> philanthropic “investment” in social and political changes the philanthropists value. It does so partly by attracting other investors.</p>
<p>For venture philanthropists in education, the other biggest investor is the government and its public tax dollars. Some question whether venture philanthropists’ <a href="https://www.aei.org/publication/thoughtful-critique-contemporary-edu-giving/">outsized sway</a> over public education undermines democratic control.</p>
<p>Venture philanthropy is salient in the Common Core. My research team found that less than 12% of philanthropic funding for the reform directly targeted public school districts. Far more went to other nonprofit entities.</p>
<p>These were charged with appraising the new standards, educating parents about the value of the reform, or developing aligned curriculum. In other words, philanthropists invested much more in strategic partners who advanced the reform the philanthropists desired rather than in schools that served students. </p>
<p>Prominent elements of the Opt Out movement are taking aim at corporate education reform. An <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/173728/occupy-doe-push-democratic-not-corporate-education-reform">early example</a> is the 2012 Occupy the Department of Education — a protest in Washington, DC orchestrated by United Opt Out National.</p>
<p>Given that Opt Out entails all 50 states and millions of citizens across the political spectrum, its scope likely exceeds Occupy Wall Street.</p>
<p>In response to Opt Out, <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/news/staff/bios/duncan.html">Secretary of Education Arne Duncan </a> has threatened to <a href="http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2015/04/21/as-opt-out-numbers-grow-arne-duncan-says-feds-may-have-to-step-in/#.VTqE5ZNahKo">withhold funding</a> from schools that don’t test 95% of their students as mandated by federal law.</p>
<p>However, by “voting with their feet,” Opt Out protesters are rejecting political leaders’ support for federal control and for standards- and market-based reforms.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Conversation is funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.</em></p>
<p><em>To read more on testing, see:</em> </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-can-the-us-learn-from-south-koreas-testing-pressures-40365">What can the US learn from South Korea’s testing pressures </a></li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/in-test-based-systems-even-young-kids-resist-learning-37569">In test-based systems even young kids resist learning</a></li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/tests-dont-improve-learning-and-parcc-will-be-no-different-40289">Tests don’t improve learning and PARCC will be no different </a></li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/another-standardized-test-this-one-called-parcc-but-heres-whats-different-40056">Another standardized test, this one’s called PARCC. But here’s what’s different</a></li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/no-child-left-behind-fails-to-work-miracles-spurs-cheating-38620">No Child Left Behind fails to Work ‘miracles’, spurs cheating</a></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40364/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mindy L Kornhaber does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If the Opt Out movement has gained ground, it is not without reason. Testing has not only pushed learning out, but taught people how to “game” the system.Mindy L Kornhaber, Associate Professor of Education (Educational Theory & Policy), Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/403652015-05-04T08:20:32Z2015-05-04T08:20:32ZWhat can the US learn from South Korea’s testing pressures?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80158/original/image-20150503-23842-1ykndjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students in South Korea are under extreme testing pressure.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=2xw4pw4ZUu99hNRaaw5LCg&searchterm=Korean%20%20exam&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=141647254">Students' image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Korea is often upheld as a model of educational success by policymakers and <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/education/2014/07/25/3464167/south-korea-education/">commentators</a> in the United States. </p>
<p>This is not without reason. </p>
<p>Korean students have consistently performed well on global standardized <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm">tests</a>, while US students fall <a href="http://neatoday.org/2013/12/03/what-do-the-2012-pisa-scores-tell-us-about-u-s-schools-2/">somewhere in the middle</a>. </p>
<p>The question is whether South Korea is a good model to emulate? </p>
<p>With American education policy moving towards more standardized testing, we need to understand the steep costs that countries such as South Korea are paying due to high-stakes testing.</p>
<p>During my five years in Seoul, two of which were spent working with students as an AP US and World History teacher at Hanyoung Foreign Language High School and my seven-plus years working with US schools, I have observed intriguing parallels between these two dynamic educational systems. </p>
<h2>Families under immense pressure</h2>
<p>South Korea is a <a href="http://www.ncee.org/programs-affiliates/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/south-korea-overview/">Confucian-inspired</a> society that places an immense value on education, which is both admirable and exemplary. </p>
<p>The passion and energy that students and families put into schooling is extraordinary. From kindergarten onward, Korean students are shuttled off to private academies for <a href="http://qz.com/311360/students-in-these-countries-spend-the-most-time-doing-homework/">additional instruction and studies</a>. This continues even after the end of each school day and frequently extends to weekends and holidays as well. </p>
<p>Families frequently <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-s-korea-the-best-education-means-a-sacrifice-for-parents/2012/11/05/6adb0564-256f-11e2-9313-3c7f59038d93_story.html">divide</a> themselves geographically, with the mother accompanying the child for the purpose of taking advantage of far-flung educational opportunities, even as the father stays behind.</p>
<p>Failure is never due to a lack of effort or resource allocation. </p>
<p>In fact, the emphasis on educational achievement is such that it drives a massive amount of <a href="http://monitor.icef.com/2014/01/high-performance-high-pressure-in-south-koreas-education-system/">spending on private tutoring</a>. </p>
<h2>What have been the outcomes of testing?</h2>
<p>An unfortunate fallout of this overwhelming emphasis on educational attainment is the <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/04/15/393939759/the-all-work-no-play-culture-of-south-korean-education">high suicide rate</a> among high school students. Suicide is the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/03/20/poll-shows-half-of-korean-teenagers-have-suicidal-thoughts/">leading cause of death</a> for youth in Korea in the age group, 15 to 24. </p>
<p>The Korean government has been trying to address the situation in innovative ways. For example, a new <a href="http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-03-korea-smartphone-app-curb-student.html">smartphone app</a> has been developed to warn parents if their children are at risk based on key words they use in text conversations or on social networks.</p>
<p>Elementary and secondary education in South Korea is focused on preparing students for the all-important College Scholastic Aptitude Test, commonly known as <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/11/test-taking-south-korea"><em>suneung</em></a>. Although the test itself only takes one day, students prepare for it over the entirety of their pre-college schooling. </p>
<p>Performance on the <em>seneung</em> is the primary factor that determines <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21588373-there-are-perils-country-having-all-your-children-working-too-hard-one-big-exam">university admission</a>, which in turn strongly impacts whether graduates will secure a position in a desirable area of the economy. </p>
<p>The entire nation comes to a standstill on the morning of this eight-hour exam. Banks and government offices open an hour later than usual in order to ensure that students will be able to make it to their exam sites on time.</p>
<p>Flights are prohibited from taking off or landing during the English listening portion of the exam. In the days leading up to the exam, temples are filled with parents, almost exclusively mothers, making prayers and offerings on behalf of their children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80159/original/image-20150503-23871-1a16k8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80159/original/image-20150503-23871-1a16k8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80159/original/image-20150503-23871-1a16k8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80159/original/image-20150503-23871-1a16k8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80159/original/image-20150503-23871-1a16k8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80159/original/image-20150503-23871-1a16k8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80159/original/image-20150503-23871-1a16k8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Curriculum in South Korea is overwhelmingly focused on standardized test preparation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=-s7C6AxGVX95cO1juD7MhQ&searchterm=%20Korea%20schools&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=193078202">Student image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The test <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-koreas-dreaded-college-entrance-exam-is-the-stuff-of-high-school-nightmares-but-is-it-producing-robots/">emphasizes memorization</a> over analytical thought. Consequently, pedagogy throughout primary and secondary schooling is dominated by direct instruction and objective forms of assessment. </p>
<p>Korean students have thus come to excel at learning and assessment tasks that prize memorization and recall. They thrive in answering the “what,” but are rarely asked to engage with the “why.” </p>
<p>It is imperative that we address a fundamental question: What is purpose of education? </p>
<p>The goal of education cannot simply be to perform well on a standardized test and get into a prestigious college. In trying to “catch up” to the test performance of nations such as Korea, the U.S. could be making a grave mistake.</p>
<h2>Kids in the U.S. are under testing pressure</h2>
<p>Statutory requirements of <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind (NCLB)</a>, in addition to the institution of <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core State Standards</a>, have led to a <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/11/17/362339421/testing-how-much-is-too-much">similar trajectory</a> for standardized testing. </p>
<p>Narratives of work-readiness and global competitiveness are being used to legitimize the instituting of a ludicrous number of standardized tests in the United States.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ccsso.org/Who_We_Are/Our_Promise.html">Council of Chief State School Officers</a> and the <a href="http://www.cgcs.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=1">Council of the Great City Schools </a> recently released a <a href="http://www.ccsso.org/News_and_Events/Press_Releases/Chief_State_School_Officers_and_Urban_School_Leaders_Announce_Joint_Effort_to_Improve_Student_Testing.html">survey</a> that showed the average large district student in the U.S. is taking 113 standardized tests from K-12th grade. </p>
<p>The loss of instructional time due to standardized testing is staggering. An <a href="http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/news/testingmore2013.pdf">American Federation of Teachers (AFT) study</a> estimates a loss of instructional time of three days per year for elementary school students and two weeks per year for middle and high school students. </p>
<p>This has led to the narrowing of the curriculum, with <a href="http://www.cep-dc.org/displayDocument.cfm?DocumentID=309">literacy and math education</a>) occupying a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305764X.2011.607151">rapidly increasing</a> proportion of the average elementary school day. Severe <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/mar11/vol68/num06/High-Stakes_Testing_Narrows_the_Curriculum.aspx">cuts</a> in art, music, and physical education programs are the norm. </p>
<p>Teachers are being forced to <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/mar11/vol68/num06/High-Stakes_Testing_Narrows_the_Curriculum.aspx">teach to the tests</a>. Additionally, teachers are also being assessed through the <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/05/13/32value-add.h33.html">misguided</a> use of standardized test-based <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/12/23/the-fundamental-flaws-of-value-added-teacher-evaluation/">value added evaluation</a>. </p>
<h2>Testing systems strip away humanity</h2>
<p>Even as the US moves toward a narrow, standardized test-focused curriculum, Korean education policymakers are working to increase <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/12/16ahn.h31.html">space for creativity and an appreciation for diversity</a>. </p>
<p>It is not without reason that a rapidly increasing number of American parents and students are choosing to [opt-out](http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/03/10/as-students-opt-out-of-common-core-exams-some-say-movement-is-not-about-testing of standardized the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/07/new-york-common-core-stress_n_4747863.html">stress and anxiety</a> of standardized tests. </p>
<p>Students must be engaged in extracurricular activities and the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/01/22/top-10-skills-children-learn-from-the-arts/">arts</a>, in addition to acquiring a solid grounding in reading, writing, math, science and social studies. </p>
<p>An over-emphasis on objective outcomes leads to excessive stress and strips away the humanity of young people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40365/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Owenby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Korean students have consistently been at the top of global standardized tests. But the high grades have come at a tremendous cost.Thomas Owenby, Visiting Instructor, Education and Youth Studies, Beloit CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/402892015-04-22T10:03:29Z2015-04-22T10:03:29ZTests don’t improve learning. And PARCC will be no different<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78823/original/image-20150421-9051-1a1sfd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are there "better tests"?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&searchterm=standardized%20tests&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=91377575">Test image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>About 15 years ago, <a href="http://www.alfiekohn.org/">education writer Alfie Kohn</a> made an impassioned <a href="http://www.alfiekohn.org/case-standardized-testing/">case against standardized testing</a>. But despite the <a href="http://www.alfiekohn.org/essays-standards-testing/">wealth of evidence</a> supporting his argument, standardized testing has dramatically increased in the last few years. </p>
<p>From being linked only to high school exit exams and school report cards in the 1980s and 1990s, standardized tests are now part of national standards as well as test-based teacher evaluations. </p>
<p>The latest to be added to the list has been developed by the <a href="http://parcc.pearson.com/">Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)</a> that <a href="https://theconversation.com/another-standardized-test-this-one-called-parcc-but-heres-whats-different-40056">claims</a> to assess whether students are ready or not for college and careers.</p>
<p>As a 30-plus years educator who has <a href="https://www.academia.edu/11976160/Testing_capitalism_Perpetuating_privilege_behind_the_masks_of_merit_and_objectivity">examined</a> how high-stakes testing in the US perpetuates privilege, I do not see how this round of testing will be any different. </p>
<p>I believe PARCC, a move toward national standardized tests of college and career readiness, is another attempt to chase <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/bitter-lessons-chasing-better-tests">“better tests.”</a> It does not offer anything more to prove that these standardized tests rise above the flaws in testing we have witnessed for decades. </p>
<p>The appeal being made in the case of PARCC is that these tests evaluate the college and career readiness of students. If we recall, similar grand claims were made as part of testing being central to <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind (NCLB)</a>.</p>
<h2>PARCC items found to be grade inappropriate</h2>
<p>NCLB was driven, at least in part, by promises of closing the achievement gap and bringing greater equity to public education. But that <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-child-left-behind-fails-to-work-miracles-spurs-cheating-38620">promise has not been fulfilled</a>, a fact likely linked to the flaws of standardized tests.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core standards</a> and PARCC tests fit into the same pattern of chasing “better tests” to achieve idealistic goals, the only difference being these tests are national instead of being state-based.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78832/original/image-20150421-9034-10vxw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78832/original/image-20150421-9034-10vxw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78832/original/image-20150421-9034-10vxw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78832/original/image-20150421-9034-10vxw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78832/original/image-20150421-9034-10vxw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78832/original/image-20150421-9034-10vxw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78832/original/image-20150421-9034-10vxw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At times the questions on tests are not age appropriate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&searchterm=testing&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=85447984">Girl image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From what we know about PARCC so far, the difficulty with tests is that many of the questions are developmentally inappropriate. For instance, during the implementation of English Language Arts elementary tests in New York, questions were not properly matched to the age group.</p>
<p>Principal of South Side High School in New York State <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/19/educators-alarmed-by-some-questions-on-n-y-common-core-tests/">Carol Burris, who was named an outstanding educator, explains:</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“a passage on the third-grade test from <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/drag-racer%23cart/cleanup#cart/cleanup">‘Drag Racer’</a>…has a grade level of 5.9 and an interest level of ninth - 12th grade.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Bitter lessons of chasing better tests</h2>
<p>As we know, across the US, high-stakes standardized testing has had many <a href="http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=45883&concordeid=66825">detrimental consequences</a>: students have been denied graduation, children have been <a href="https://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/retain-to-impede-when-reading-legislation-fails-again/">retained in third grade</a> teachers have been dismissed and <a href="https://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/why-is-some-test-cheating-wrong-but-miracle-school-lies-are-ok/">convicted of cheating</a>.</p>
<p>Despite the grand claims about the tests, there is a growing <a href="http://www.fairtest.org/get-involved/opting-out">opt-out</a> movement. In addition, there have been technology failures during testing, controversies over the assessment services company <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/debate-over-test-security-vs-student-privacy-rages-in-the-age-of-social-media/2015/03/23/bbac030a-cf0c-11e4-a2a7-9517a3a70506_story.html">Pearson “spying” on students</a> and concerns about student data security. </p>
<p>However, in the wake of the <a href="http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/education_law/2015/04/eleven-atlanta-public-school-defendants-convicted-of-racketeering-in-standardized-test-cheating-tria.html">cheating scandal and conviction of teachers in Atlanta</a>, Angelika Pohl, founder and president of the Atlanta-based <a href="http://bettertesting.com/about_us">Better Testing & Evaluations</a>, <a href="http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2015/04/15/with-teachers-going-to-jail-weve-raised-stakes-in-testing-but-we-havent-raised-quality/">remains convinced</a> that the problem is not with the tests themselves but with the inability to create “better tests”: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Tests are not inherently bad. It is quite possible to write test questions and answer choices that most people would agree are fair measures of what a student has learned. It is possible to write questions that do not have any of the flaws mentioned nor other flaws. But it costs money. And expertise.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Tests don’t lead to better performance</h2>
<p>Instead of chasing “better tests,” we must admit standardized tests are flawed mechanisms for creating equity.</p>
<p>Evidence suggests that neither Common Core nor the related high-stakes “next generation” tests (such as those developed by PARCC) will achieve that ever-elusive goal of “better tests.”</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12521">2011 comprehensive review of the accountability movement</a> built on standards and high-stakes testing has shown the degree to which testing has negatively affected student graduation rates, an <a href="http://www.blackboysreport.org/2015-black-boys-report.pdf">important indicator of equity</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, testing has often had a greater <em>and</em> negative impact on learning than curriculum or standards. Managing director of the <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/">National Education Policy Center</a>, <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/pb-options-2-commcore-final.pdf">William Mathis</a> has shown that high-stakes testing “resulted in the ‘dumbing down’ and narrowing of the curriculum.” </p>
<p>Nothing about these “next generation” of tests suggests they will be any more effective than state-based accountability systems introduced almost 30 years ago, since the format and grading of these tests remain essentially the same. </p>
<p>In fact, continuing to depend on standardized testing will neither increase student achievement nor achieve equity goals. </p>
<h2>Many factors go into test scores</h2>
<p>That tests do not create equity, but do reflect inequity, is also clear from the example of college entrance exams such as the SAT.</p>
<p>Results of standardized tests directly reflect students’ socio-economic status and their parents’ level of education. As data from <a href="http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/TotalGroup-2012.pdf">the SAT</a> show, student scores increase directly in line with parental wealth and education, thus misrepresenting college-preparedness, which is <a href="https://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Validity_of_the_SAT_for_Predicting_First_Year_College_Grade_Point_Average.pdf">better represented</a> by simple GPA.</p>
<p>Standardized tests <a href="http://www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/teachers-matter-so-do-words">reflect</a> more out-of-school than in-school influences. Standardized test scores are also biased by <a href="http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/%7Elds/pdfs/spelke2005.pdf">gender</a> and <a href="https://bearcenter.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Wilson%20%2322.pdf">race</a>, with whites and males scoring higher. However, test data are misinterpreted as exclusively student achievement.</p>
<p>In short, from the SAT and ACT to PARCC, I would argue, <a href="http://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/racial_justice_and_testing_12-10.pdf">high-stakes tests perpetuate and even create inequity</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Struggle-American-Curriculum-1893-1958/dp/0415948916">Education historian Herb Kliebard</a> explains that US formal education embraced standardized testing in the early 20th century mostly because those tests were inexpensive and easy to implement. </p>
<p>In the process, a system has been set up that tolerates the <a href="http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/28_03/edit2283.shtml">many and more corrosive consequences of those tests</a>.</p>
<p>We currently have no evidence, however, that PARCC has solved these historical and lingering problems with the inherently flawed and limited system of standardized testing.</p>
<p>Using standardized tests such as PARCC for high-stakes decisions about individual students or teachers will only continue to fail students and not achieve goals of social and educational equity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Thomas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the debate over standardized tests continues, a scholar questions the introduction of a new college readiness test, PARCC and gives reasons why it will be no different.Paul Thomas, Associate Professor of Education, Furman UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.