State Rep. Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville) has written a decidedly anti-Pre-K editorial in the commercial appeal. I have a couple thoughts on this. First, why is a representative from a small government part who represents a constituency on the other side of the state injecting himself in a decidedly local matter that he has no stake in? Second, he seriously misrepresents the research and provides no links to the studies he cites, which is broken down by Smart City Memphis. When you actually READ the study he cites (I assume its the vanderbuilt study I found on their site) that (he says) claims that the PreK program in TN hasn’t produced results, you see clearly stated in its executive summary that participants experienced academic gains 38% greater than those who did not participate (a graph can be seen below). Please fact check yourself next time sir.
Richland Elementary Principal Sharon McNary has been selected by the National Association of Elementary School Principals to receive its highest honor in Washington DC. A bit from the article about McNary:
McNary has spent her career in Memphis public schools, starting as a special-education teacher who moved up because even as a new teacher, superiors saw leadership in her.
Congratulations!
TN Ed Report notes that two more counties in TN have voted in favor of resolutions that ask the state to stop using TVAAS in teacher evaluations and licensure. While I will go on record as saying I support TVAAS’ use in my evaluation and licensure, I do believe that it constitutes too large of a percentage in those decisions (a reduction to 33% in evaluations sounds much more appropriate). I’m also interested in seeing a suspension of this data’s use in educator evaluations once we implement PARCC until we get the kinks ironed out.
Shelby County educator Joy Singleton-Stevens describes how she continues to be a leader in education while remaining in the classroom.
Last but not least, the commercial appeal reports that the fiscal impact of municipal school districts could sap over $50 million from the unified school district.
]]>Kevin Huffman joins the Tennessee Education blogosphere! He did point out a few interesting pieces of info, especially regarding Tennessee’s PLAN and EXPLORE (basically Mock ACT) tests rising above national norms (averages?) this year. We look forward to many more blogs from the Commissioner in the coming weeks and months!
The Chronicle also released an extensive piece pointing to higher teacher support for our state evaluation system, but I plan to do a more extensive post on that later. You can, however, find the whole article here in the mean time.
The National School Boards Association reports that teacher evaluation metrics are improving in their effectiveness and usefulness. Specific to Tennessee, we are only one of 4 states that (apparently, I haven’t heard of this) use evaluations for targeted PD, 13 that use it to promote teachers (more like not rehiring teachers in my experience?), 14 using it to grant tenure and 18 using it as a component to compensate educators (haven’t seen this yet). The whole report isn’t terrible long and contains some helpful graphics. You can find the whole thing here.
However, it does highlight that evaluation changes represent a trend across the country. From the press release:
In the past five years, 38 states have altered their teacher evaluation systems to include some measure of student performance,” said NSBA Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel. “With variations across teaching and learning models, school boards and district officials need state support and the ability to adapt teacher evaluation models to meet the needs of local schools.”
Highlights of newer systems in place across states include: the use of multiple stakeholders to design and implement evaluation tools; multiple measures to show teacher effectiveness; and data that link teacher and student achievement.
Related to the article, Jane Roberts notes the following trends related to teacher support for evaluation in Tennessee:
the number of teachers who feel the evaluation process has merit is 21 percent higher than last year. But 49 percent of the state’s teachers still don’t trust the process or feel it is worth the time.
Clay Bailey at the Commercial Appeal notes that there will be a candidate mixer for those running for the suburb’s school board seats at 6:30 PM at the Bartlett performing arts center on Oct 21st. Though I don’t know why, they are all running unopposed anyway…
Michael Kelley writes that the issue of school facility transfers between SCS and the new municipal school districts is likely to come up soon, perhaps as early as the October 22nd School Board work meeting. A little teaser on some of the issues involved:
Feasibility studies showed that obtaining school buildings at little or no cost was critical to the viability of suburban districts. Critics of that approach contend that taxpayers throughout Shelby County paid to build suburban schools and should be compensated at fair market value if the buildings are to be given up.
It has been noted, however, that allies of the suburban school district movement in the General Assembly may step in to resolve the issue before local leaders have had a chance to work out a deal.
Here are the current poll results from the CA website. Looks like we have a lot of municipality voters out there…
]]>In opening her piece she states “Memphis is poised to become the next national center for New Orleans-style school governance.” And this isn’t just her saying it, it also comes out of the mouths of district officials. The stated goal of this system, to quote Brad Leon, is to create “a system of schools” similar to what New Orleans has done.” Those words will make you cheer or shudder depending on which side of the education reform debate you come down on.
I won’t quote the whole article here because it is extensive, but my favorite graphic from the whole article shows the speed and extent to which these new “systems of schools” are already forming:
As a teacher in our city I’m both encouraged and worried by what I read here. I’m encouraged because, unlike many urban cities with struggling education systems, we are truly taking action to address the tremendous inequalities that exist in our system. I work in a high performing charter (Soulsville) and see the tremendous impact it can make on kids, especially those that would otherwise attend the neighborhood school where I used to work (right down the road at Hamilton High). I’m also encouraged because I sincerely believe that these people truly want to see quality educational outcomes for all children. Personally, I’ve never bought into the corporate reform mindset that believes all school reformers are out to destroy public education in our state.
At the same time, I’m worried that creating these new systems will only solidify tiered inequality in our city. I can easily foresee a system where the lucky few attend high performing charters, those zoned for the ASD attend those schools and the district pours its time and money into iZone while neglecting those schools and students that don’t fall under the umbrella of the iZone, most likely due to lack of resources. Furthermore, out in the municipalities, which will not fall under the jurisdiction of SCS and these reform efforts, there may be NOTHING done to combat the inequalities that exist there. Outcomes in these areas are still woefully low by any standard and should be a part of any reform efforts in Shelby County.
I’m also worried about the impact this approach will have on teachers in these new systems. In my experience and in that of my colleagues, those that work in charters, ASD schools and iZone schools work incredibly hard and burnout is common due to the numerous stressors that come with trying to turn around long time failing schools. I know many teachers who have left their charter schools in the past year because of the high stress environment. This is true whether I talk to teachers in ASD charters, non-ASD charters or iZone schools across the city.
As these “systems of schools” expand, it is imperative that charter operators and system superintendents work to ensure that this pattern doesn’t continue. Educators want schools where they can work for an extended period of time. They need to see these new schools as long-term career options where they can work for five, ten, even fifteen years while continuing to be successful. I firmly believe that for this to happen, there needs to be some sort of teacher voice heard in this process to ensure that these type of work conditions exist. Unions and charters have not traditionally worked well together, so that’s probably not the answer, but there needs to be some sort of unified teacher voice ensuring we make this vision a reality. Because at the end of the day, education is about the quality of the people we put in the building with the children. All the reforms in the world won’t do us any good if we can’t get good people to come to and continue teaching in whatever school systems we put into place.
Are you a Memphis or Shelby County educator? What do you think about this “systems of schools” approach? Email us your thoughts at [email protected], then sign up for our email list and follow us @bluffcityed on twitter!
]]>Commercial Appeal: Jane Roberts confirms that schools and colleges shouldn’t experience much impact from the government shutdown.
“Right now, nobody is panicking, but there certainly are question marks if this continues on for weeks or months down the road,” said Richard Ritzman, head of financial aid at University of Memphis.
If you’re interested in getting a more in depth insight into what an izone school looks like, she’s also written a great profile of Chickasaw Middle. Worth a read here.
TimesFreePress: good news for Memphis grads looking to stay in state. Attending a Tennessee college will, on average, leave you with one of the lowest student debts in the country on graduation. The Hope Schoolarship gets great play. I love this scholarship also because it’s a great incentive for my kids each and every day (“get a 3.0, get paid!”):
Volunteer State students graduate with the sixth-lowest debt in the nation, nearly $6,000 less than the U.S. average of $26,600. And the debt load among grads from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is better yet — $13,845, about half of the national average.
The report cites Tennessee’s “generous” Hope Scholarship as a tremendous leg up in comparison to other states’ funding opportunities — nearby Georgia students graduate with $22,443 in debt, and Alabama’s graduates are closer to the national average with $25,192.
A local Memphis Teacher, Monica brown, gets a great profile piece on the state department of education’s Tennessee Classroom Chronicles. Great read, can be found here.
In statewide news, TN Ed Report notes that two counties, Roane and Marshall County have passed resolutions urging the State Department of Education (read: Kevin Huffman) to slow down education reform in our state. This will be interesting to watch in the coming weeks, especially as we approach the spring legislative session. If enough counties join, it could prompt action by the state legislature, resulting in yet more changes to a system that’s already undergone a massive overhaul in recent years here in Shelby County.
]]>Cato institute: The Cato institute gives Tennessee a “D” in school funding transparency. From the article:
While Tennessee has years of data on per-pupil costs, it does not provide an easy way for people to compare spending.
“The website does include a financial summary, which shows what broad categories are included and not included in per-pupil funding,” Bedrick said, “but you have to read through to page 18 of a nearly 200-page report to find that data.”
Given the research I’ve been conducting for future posts, I would certainly agree with this assessment. it’s easy to find the basic data, but digging deeper is a chore and often requires multiple hours of work.
School Board: The 23 member school board holds its final meeting. Schooling Memphis provides a summary of school board action to close out the last few weeks of August, with an emphasis on some of the missteps that have been taken by various board members. The one high point me highlights:
An actual real-life gold star should go to outgoing Commissioner Sara Lewis who has apparently been running a free, volunteer taxi service for carless parents who are told to report to the Gray’s Creek facility for certain student services. Commissioner Lewis noted that no public transportation is available to the office building, and that some parents just cannot easily get out there. Hopefully, a solution will be forthcoming.
School Safety: After metal detectors were installed in a SCS elementary school, another gun was found in Cyprus Middle Tuesday. The truly sad piece for me is that I know there are many, many more guns in our schools that aren’t found. At one of my previous schools we had multiple gun incidents that we were not told about but learned about from the students.
Merger movement: Arlington and Lakeland are considering a cost sharing agreement in the (almost certain) event that the two municipalities split from SCS to form their own school systems. A quote from Arlington’s Mayor on what this would accomplish:
Wissman said the potential Arlington-Lakeland agreement creates “a natural flow” of students between the two cities by maintaining the current attendance zones. He added those advising Arlington on the schools had long suggested the system should have a name akin to Arlington Community Schools in keeping with the area it would serve. Additionally, the agreement will provide parents, teachers and students a better view of what the future education system in that corner of the county will look like, the mayors said.
]]>Kevin Woods and Ken Whalum will square off in a re-election after the judge sided with Whalum in his law suit. Woods defeated Whalum last year by 106 votes, but the election was marred by a large number of out of district votes cast, which Whalum said swayed the election.
Stand for Children is holding a candidate forum on Tuesday, August 20th at 5:15 PM at St. Pauls Baptist Church, 2124 E. Holmes Rd. for the four candidates looking to step into the shoes vacated by Reginald Porter. Everyone free to attend.
TCAP scores released to the public. SCS has 33 reward schools: 4 charter, 29 traditional public.
A national survey by the AP-NORC poll finds a majority of parents support testing in its current form, no matter how you cut it.
And finally, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issues a statement on Tennessee’s teacher license reforms:
“I want to praise Tennessee’s continuing effort to improve support and evaluation for teachers. For too long, in too many places, schools systems have hurt students by treating every teacher the same – failing to identify those who need support and those whose work deserves particular recognition. Tennessee has been a leader in developing systems that do better—and that have earned the support of a growing number of teachers. Tennessee’s new teacher licensure rules continue that effort, by ensuring that decisions on licensure are informed by multiple measures of their effectiveness in the classroom, including measures of student learning. The new system also adds reasonable safeguards to make sure any judgment about teacher performance is fair.”
]]>“I would do it if, considering what we were facing at the time, what we were facing is the threat of special school districts. That, regardless of what people say about this decision, if that was not a specter out there, there would not have been the initiative to do it,” Jones said.
Nashville Schools will study the current climate of testing. Specifically:
MNPS Director of Schools recommended a study session where many of the questions raised by the resolution can be addressed. Speering and fellow Board Member Amy Frogge (a frequent critic of the current testing emphasis) agreed and the Board will now examine in study session the number of hours students spend taking tests, test prep hours, cost of tests, etc.
Sam Chaltain on EdWeek on the importance of making sure we get teacher evaluations right, even if it doesn’t come as quickly, to truly invest teachers and the public in these efforts. This carries a lot of relevance to Tennessee’s experience:
we sidestep the slow process of co-creating new norms in favor of the quick process of mandating new behaviors. Some of these ideas may even have merit; here in DC, for example, there’s a lot to like about the city’s new teacher evaluation system, IMPACT. But as school change expert Michael Fullan points out, the key to real systems change is building collective capacity, which he defines as “generating the emotional commitment and the technical expertise that no amount of individual capacity working alone can come close to matching.”
Article from Knoxville with common core standards rated by the Fordham Institute compared to Tennessee’s:
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a non-profit think tank in Ohio, which is generally supportive of Common Core, has been rating state education standards for years. In 2010, it rated the Common Core standards in English Language Arts with a B+, while the standards for math received an A-.
Compared to Tennessee’s previous math standards, this is much better. Fordham rated Tennessee’s previous math standards an overall “C.”
In English Language Arts, however, Fordham rated Tennessee’s previous standards an overall “A-” compared to Common Core’s “B+.” This is “too close to call,” said the Fordham report.
And the generally estimated cost of implementation:
In Tennessee, Common Core will be tested starting in 2014-2015 with an assessment called PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career), which will replace current TCAP and EOC state testing in math and English.
It will cost an estimated $21 to $25 million to conduct PARCC testing statewide each year, not counting the computers on which the test must be taken, according to Kelli Gauthier, state education department spokesperson.
]]>EdWeek: twitter is a great way for teachers to get informed, but only around 5 percent of teachers are on twitter:
Having done some digging around, former English teacher Tom Whitby makes a “calculated guess” that only about 200-300,000 teachers are on Twitter—a relatively small number if you consider that, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are roughly 4 million K-12 teachers in the U.S.
For Whitby, this amounts to a large-scale missed professional opportunity. In his experience, he says, teachers who are active on Twitter and other social-media outlets are better informed and quicker to assimilate new ideas than their less connected peers:
Having discussions about specific topics within education with educators can be very different depending on their amount of connectedness. Those actively connected educators seem to need less relevant background information in order to address a topic. Discussions with the unconnected educators often get bogged down in explanations and definitions before the discussion of the topic can even take place. BYOD and Flipping were connected topics months before they became mainstream. Being connected seems to support relevance because of the ongoing discussion being framed around education. These in-depth discussions may not be taking place the same way in the hallways, or faculty rooms of schools.
Thoughts? That’s a pretty strong generalization. Any non-Twitter-users care to rebut?
Smart City Memphis advocates for Pre-K as essential for our economic future here in Memphis and Shelby County:
For every $1 spent on Pre-K, there is a $5.12 benefit. By the time children who attended Pre-K are 27 years old, they are three times more likely to own a home than someone who did not attend Pre-K, twice as likely not to receive welfare and social services, and four times more likely to earn a higher annual income. In addition, people without Pre-K are twice as likely to be arrested by the time they are 27 years old.
A school system where children are five and six years old when they enter a classroom has not acted wisely on brain development research, which tells us that the brain is growing to 80 percent of its adult size and that vital learning is taking place before a child is five years old. This is time that cannot be wasted.
For too long, Pre-K has been seen as a worthy thing to do but not as an absolute necessity. Today, we know better. Pre-K can transform children’s lives, resulting in everything from improved vocabulary to improved school attendance to higher graduation rates.
Looks like school board members were serious about asking the state legislature to help compel Memphis to pay the money it owes for schools after voting on a resolution supporting this step July 30th:
Countywide school board members voted Tuesday, July 30, to seek the law from a legislature that has approved defining the schools merger and establishing suburban school systems separate from the merged school system.
“We seem to have the ability to go to the state to solve local issues,” said school board member Kevin Woods. “I’ve steadfastly opposed such options because I think we should be able to resolve our issues locally. But we do need to get these dollars.”
Also from Smart City Memphis, here’s a facts sheet from a Vanderbuilt Study on Tennessee’s Pre-K system. Notably:
* Vanderbilt found that children who attend PreK are promoted from kindergarten to first grade at twice the rate of peers, have higher attendance rates and are therefore less likely to engage in risky behavior and more likely to graduate from high school and be prepared for the workforce.
* Less than 1/3 of our community’s [Memphis] four year olds are enrolled in PreK. It is imperative that we provide the means for every child to attend high quality PreK and that no child will be turned away because of insufficient funds.
]]>Previously, she worked as the assistant executive director of the Tennessee Education Association; the chief strategist at the Tennessee Charter Schools Association; a lobbyist for law firm Baker Donelson; and for her own firms, Advance Public Strategies and Anderson Consulting.
Tennessean: Interesting take on the postponement of the new licensure regulations until August 16th. This seems to indicate that the pushback from within the board doesn’t seem to be coming from the problem of using test data to evaluate teachers, but rather from putting alternative and traditional programs on the same footing licensure wise:
But board members delayed a decision so Department of Education staff members can look at concerns brought up by the Advisory Council on Teacher Education & Certification.
One of the big issues for the council is distinguishing between teachers who attend a traditional university program and those who take alternative routes to the classroom through programs
like the well-known Teach For America.
Teachers in alternative programs currently work under a provisional license that is valid for three years while the participant receives more training.
The changes are designed to make it tougher for teachers to get and keep licenses by demanding higher scores on initial licensing tests and then requiring more frequent renewals, which would be based in part on evaluations of their teaching effectiveness.
Commercial Appeal Ed Board: argument for giving schools more autonomy and move away from the old bureaucratic model from the 20th century:
We agree with Barbic that it is an unsustainable model if student achievement here and in the nation’s other public school districts is expected to rise substantially. Individual schools need to be given more autonomy to develop curriculums and operational models that best fit the students and the community their schools serve.
]]>The new system also builds on Tennessee’s earlier efforts to encourage school districts to move away from one-size-fits-all approaches, and think about new and innovative ways to retain and reward great teachers. To date, 19 school districts in Tennessee have already implemented or are in the planning phases of implementing new compensation systems. We need to accelerate these efforts across the state.
Hechinger Report: New survey from the Black Alliance for Educational Options finds that 85 percent of African American voters in southern states want as many education choices as possible:
Memphis Daily News: Property tax increase to fund public schools approved with vote switch by Justin Ford and a vote by Sydney Chism in support:
The $4.38 property tax rate is a 36-cent increase from the former rate of $4.02. Thirty cents of the rate increase is to generate the same amount of revenue county government got from the old rate of $4.02 taking into account property value lost in the 2013 property reappraisal. The remaining 6 cents is a tax hike to create half of the $20 million in new funding county government is providing to the consolidated school system in the new fiscal year above the past funding county government has provided.
Tennessee State Board of Education meets, requires evaluators to be certified, requires ELS standards to align with common core state standards passed on first reading, teacher licensure changes put off until meeting on August 16th. Here’s a short video (disclaimer: produced by the Dept. of Ed, so it definitely pushes one way) if you want to learn more.
Tennessean: Tennessee will lead the way in civil rights education according to board members:
“Based on the revisions, Tennessee will now have the highest-rated civil rights standards in the nation,” said Jared Myracle, supervisor of instruction for Gibson County schools, who led the revision process.
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