Racing to the bottom by firing experience

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With Ohio on the verge of adopting the worst aspects of Washington DC's teacher evaluation and merit pay system, more concerning revelations continue to surface. It's no secret that DC public schools were embroiled in a test cheating scandal under the leadership of corporate education reformer Michele Rhee. Now those falsified test results might be causing good teachers to lose their jobs

Student test scores from 100 District of Columbia public schools still under investigation for cheating were used in value-added calculations that were incorporated into some teachers' evaluations this year, according to DCPS spokesperson Fred Lewis. More than 200 D.C. teachers were terminated last week on the basis of their evaluation results.

Previously inflated student achievements are now falling back to earth, and the teachers tasked with catching them are being held responsible for the lower scores now legitimately being measured. In some cases, this is causing teachers evaluations to fall into the dangerous categories of being ineffective - where they are subject to dismissal.

When asked whether there was any chance the appeal decision could be made before the 2011-2012 school year begins, Lewis said:

"No, unfortunately, the appeals decisions will not be made before the beginning of the year. While this would be ideal, the window to file an appeal must be at least 30 days, which is after the first day of school. We also want to make sure we have all necessary evidence in order to ensure the process is comprehensive and fair. We do not want to rush."

Now that Washington DC is a few years into it's regular mass firing of teachers, recently released data from Department of Education shows an alarming result

DC Teacher Demographic

Almost half of Washington DC's teachers have 2 years or less experience! Does anyone still think corporate education reform and "teacher accountability" is about putting "Students First"? Or do we think administrators faced with harsh budget conditions are looking for any means possible to relieve themselves of more experienced and higher paid teaching professionals?

Left unchecked, Ohio's public education system will be in a race to the bottom, with students being served by teachers with little experience, few mentors, low pay, and all in a high pressure vocation. It may be a cheaper way to deliver "education", but at what true cost?

Time for Governor Kasich to listen

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We became aware of the Governor's office standing up some central Ohio teachers yesterday, for what was supposed to be a meeting to discuss new school funding formulas.

Columbus teachers who were present have a great write up of the incident. More troubling that some meeting mix-up however is the ongoing pattern of trying to avoid real meaningful teacher input

While the anatomy of the new school funding formula has yet to be determined, the governor’s spokesperson has gone on record saying the new model will be contain the “over-arching principal of driving more money into the classroom.” Mattei-Smith scheduled five meetings over a two-week period inviting teachers, superintendents and principals, but failed to include teacher-leaders from the Ohio Education Association or the Ohio Federation of Teachers until much later in the process.

This meeting information was initially only shared with administrative groups and not with the teacher organizations (OEA and OFT). Information about these series of meetings was only received after “prodding” Barbara Mattei-Smith for it.

What is currently passing for education policy and its development is a shambles. There simply cannot be any meaningful progress without serious consultation with teaching professionals. Attempts to craft policy without broad consultation is going to lead to terrible policy being made that is harmful to public education in Ohio, and the students who are served by it.

It's time for the Governor to personally meet with teachers associations and spend some time listening to professionals who are on the front lines of delivering quality public education every day. He then needs to take what he hears seriously.

New Poll: SB5 is a referendum on Kasich

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A new poll released by Quinnipiac continues to show massive support for the repeal of SB5, indeed the margin of dissatisfaction with this middle-class busting law is growing and now stands at 56% - 32%.

Tracking our recent anaylsis showing that SB5 could turn Governor Kasich into a lame duck, the same poll shows his unpopularity rising to 50%

"Kasich has until 2014 when he presumably will face the voters, to turn his political fortunes around, but the timeline for the vote on SB5, which is obviously a referendum on the governor's agenda, is much shorter," said Brown. "A loss on SB5 would be a no confidence vote on the governor from the voters of Ohio."

Below are the polling trends for SB5.

Poll For SB5 Against SB5
PPP Mar 15th 31% 54%
Wenzel Apr 12th 38% 51%
Quinnipiac May 18th 36% 54%
PPP May 25th 35% 55%
Quinnipiac Jul 20th 32% 56%

SB5 Polling Trend

None of this means the effort to repeal SB5 should let up. Things could change quickly if supporters of repeal become complacent.

National Research Council Gives High-Stakes Testing an F

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The long experiment with incentives and test-based accountability has so far failed to boost student achievement.

That’s the conclusion of a comprehensive examination of education research by the National Research Council , an arm of the National Academies of Science.

“The available evidence does not give strong support for the use of test-based incentives to improve education,” the NRC concluded. The benefits of these incentives, the group said, have been “small or nonexistent.”

The NRC report is the latest of a long series of research summaries by eminent, mainstream test experts concluding that there is no scientific basis for the current heavy reliance on high-stakes tests for measuring student achievement, teacher quality, and school performance.

The full report can be read here.

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NYCS abandons merit pay failure

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From the NYT, as the largest school district in the country abandons teacher merit pay because it didn't work, Ohio is about to adopt it

A New York City program that distributed $56 million in performance bonuses to teachers and other school staff members over the last three years will be permanently discontinued, the city Department of Education said on Sunday.

The decision was made in light of a study that found the bonuses had no positive effect on either student performance or teachers’ attitudes toward their jobs.

Study after study finds that student test scores do not improve because teachers are compensated with bonus's and merit pay. Instead what we are seeing as these corporate education reforms spread is more corporate type behaviors, such as pressure to cheat.