EdVANTAGE Blog

Last week, Council Executive Director Bob Reidy and I were guests on Albany public radio’s “Vox Pop” call-in show.

Our scheduled topics were the federal Race to the Top initiative and the Education Department’s recent change in cut scores for the grade 3 through 8 assessments.

Several of the callers were teachers expressing opinions about “teaching to the test” and merit pay plans to link compensation and student performance.

You can listen to the hour-long show here.

Host Alan Chartock told us the program is heard in six states.

Media reporting on the release of grades 3 through 8 state assessment results included a lot of criticism of how the State Education Department handled the implementation of adjusting cut scores – doing it after the tests had been given, or changing the rules after the game had begun, as some characterized the action.

Most of the criticism came from educators.  See the Buffalo News, Middletown Times-Herald Record, and Newsday (paid subscription required), for example.

But the Syracuse Post-Standard also published a harsh editorial.

At the same time, most newspaper editorials have praised the Department’s action in acknowledging testing flaws and moving to set higher standards.  Here is what the New York Times had to say.

The Council tried to draw attention to additional points:  Actual student scores did not decline — there was not a fall-off in school performance, school leaders support higher standards, and the state has much more work to do to help schools and students succeed in meeting higher standards.

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Today the State Education Department released results on the grades 3 through 8 math and English language arts assessments which incorporate an upward adjustment of the “cut scores” students need to reach to be deemed meeting standards.

As expected, the percentages of students meeting standards dropped sharply.

At the same time, the average scale scores earned by students were roughly the same as last year, indicating that the decline in “passing” rates was attributable chiefly to raising the standard, rather than a decline in student or school performance.

The Department’s news release and power point presentation on the results are available here, as is a link to the news conference conducted by Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, Commissioner David Steiner, and Senior Deputy Commissioner John King.

The Council’s statement follows.

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I am not a professional educator by background.  I worked on education policy for the State Assembly and Governor Cuomo, then went to work for New York State United Teachers in 1996 and moved to the Council of School Superintendents in 2002.

Coming out of the Capitol to work more intensively with educators – teachers and superintendents – I was surprised by how positive they were toward the state’s efforts to raise standards and help all students to meet them.

To be sure, both groups routinely quarreled with Commissioner Mills and the Regents over some of the specifics in translating aspiration into policy.

But my sense was that they predominantly embraced the idea that “all means all,” and drew energy from the mission of  at last giving all students access to a meaningful curriculum and striving to help all meet its expectations.

Now there is justifiable concern over how a change in cut scores will affect grades 3 through 8 test results for students and schools and how those scores will be reported and received, especially in this time of extreme financial challenges.

But I draw some hope for the long haul based on our past experience.

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A couple pieces on the movement toward “common core,” quasi-national standards…

Today’s New York Times reports on movement by states to adopt the standards, one of the elements in Washington’s $4.5 billion “Race to the Top” competition.  States which agree to the standards gain points.

The Times reports that 27 states have adopted the standards since they were finalized by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers two months ago.

New York is among those states.  The Board of Regents approved the standards this past Monday.

Also today, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation (no connection to Fordham University) issued a report grading state and national standards.

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As expected, the state Board of Regents today endorsed Education Commissioner David Steiner’s rationale for adjusting “cut scores” on the state’s grade 3-8 math and English assessments.

A news release from the State Education Department explains that the decision is “…based on research that clearly suggests the need to more accurately indicate ‘proficiency’ on those exams.”

School, district, and statewide results from these tests will be released during the week of July 26.

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Last week, we reported on State Education Commissioner David Steiner’s travels to explain plans to adjust “cut scores” on the state’s grade 3 through 8 assessments.

The Commissioner’s travels have continued, to Rochester, Binghamton, the Rural School Association, and perhaps elsewhere.  He also spoke to an assembly of leaders of our organization last week.

New York City papers today are reporting on an analysis done for the State Board of Regents as they prepare to discuss the cut scores at the beginning of next week.  Presumably the analysis will eventually be posted among the materials for the Regents July19, 20 meetings.

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Later this month, the State Education Department will release results from the latest round of grades 3 through 8 math and English language arts assessments.

Education Commissioner David Steiner and colleagues have begun traveling the state to forewarn of an expected drop-off in student success rates following state efforts to make the tests less predictable and more demanding.

The Buffalo News reports on the Commissioner’s visit to Western New York yesterday with an article titled, “Flawed tests distort sharp rise in scores by students; State education chief cites ‘grade inflation’” Read the rest of this entry »

The National Governors’ Association and Council of Chief State School Officers have posted the latest drafts of “Common Core” standards –  quasi-national standards developed through collaboration among 48 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia.

There are two sets of standards — one for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies and science, the other for mathematics.

The drafts are available here.

The groups are seeking public comments through April 2nd.

The corestandards.org website includes an online survey.

The State Education Department is also conducting a survey — see here — and will provide the results to the NGA and CCSSO.

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The State Education Department is developing contingency plans to close a large projected deficit in its operating budget, resulting partly from the threat of a deep cut under Governor Paterson’s proposed state budget.

One option would be to reduce the number of standardized assessments it administers, including Regents Exams.  But no decisions have been made. Read the rest of this entry »