Jeb Bush Under the Microscope

In a June 23 Wall Street Journal op-ed, former Governor Jeb Bush and Joel Klein made a case in favor of national standards. "The Case for Common Core Standards" reflects their views on the rationale and importance of national standards:
The success of today's students will determine our nation's destiny. America's economic strength and standing in the world economy are directly linked to our ability to equip students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in the 21st-century economy.

However, Greg Forster, posting on Jay P. Greene's blog, that instead of making a case for national standards, Bush and Klein were actually making a case against them. In "Confusion of National Standards," Forster asks:

Bush and Klein argue that standards are being set nationally (in “common”) but pedagogy isn’t. Once again, let’s leave aside the reality that you can’t have national (common) standards while preserving freedom and diversity of pedagogy. Let’s pretend you can set national standards and then let a thousand flowers bloom on pedagogy. Why do it? Why is it valuable to set a single national (common) standard? The article’s title promises an answer to that question, but the article doesn’t deliver.

Read more here.
Equally interesting are the posted comments including this one:

"Joel Klein is the new education czar (CEO of the educational division) for News Corp, the parent company of WSJ. Those who have the media in their hands and foundation/government money behind them, plus other like-minded contacts in high places, exert an incredible amount of influence over education policy and funding. The WSJ op-ed by Bush & Klein made no case whatsoever to the rational person, as circular logic built on false premises is a conduit to deception."

For a fact-based review of the Common Core Standards initiative, go to the Truth in American Education here. This four-page document provides pertinent information so that non-educators can understand. Read it and decide for yourself.

Posted for Grumpy and Sandra

Footnote: Tennessee is beautiful and the grands are delicious. Hope you all have a happy and safe 4th of July. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

Fishy

Are you sure it's about the teachers




SEE MORE:  Jeff Parker Toons In

  It's not often I agree with Jeff Parker, for the most part I think he steers a little West of North... If he reads anything I write, he probably thinks I'm headed East.. This time Jeff nailed it and he nailed it right. The Legislature played the teachers, using them as a smoke screen and laughing about doing it. You see SB 6 isn't all about teachers, but the teachers are making so much "Poor Me Noise" all the legislators had to say was, "See we're protecting you voters from those greedy teachers." The teachers  inadvertently gave the Tally GOP the perfect cover,, This isn't all about the teachers, it's about all of us. It's about the legislature for reasons known only to them to passing a law that is completely flawed...



I wrote that almost a year ago, right after the Florida Legislature passed SB 6.  Not much has changed. Charlie Crist, in a last ditch effort to save his butt politically, vetoed the bill, hoping grateful teachers would make him a US Senator.  SB 6 is back, slightly different, the name's been changed but the big issues are still there.  Unlike last year, the legislature isn't lying about having the Race To The Top Federal Grant.  It's only $700,000,000 instead of the non-existent $900 Mil they claimed to have a year ago, no problem for Tally, that's what tax payers are for.  This year we've found out about some very serious privacy issues we didn't know about last year.  Another potential issue has The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aligned with the Board Foundation offering districts a plan to place foundation trained personal at the superintendent level, the scheme, being tried out in Hillsboro is an invitation for corruption.  Just like last year, the legislature refuses to tell us what "Reform" will cost.

The teachers are happily offering the legislature the same smoke screen they provided last year.  Unemployment in Florida is at dangerously high levels.  Most people have forgotten the last time they saw a pay raise.  At a time when the slightest change in a some one's budget can cause a family to become part of Florida's already high foreclosure statistics, taxes and utility costs are going up.  On top of that the civil war in Libya and futures speculation is driving up the cost of the gasoline people need to get to work.  Like they did last year the teachers, are acting like they're the only ones getting hurt by the economy, and like their only ones that Tallahassee will hurt if they pass this monster they're trying to disguise as Education Reform.

From time to time I talk to a very liberal and very vocal educator, who is also a serious blogger.   She blogs almost daily and posts them on several different sites.  Needless to say, she's not a fan of Florida's GOP controlled legislature or their Education Reform Proposals.  This year and last I've suggested she might want to explain to her readers how the reform bills would hurt everyone, not just teachers.  She must not have thought it was a good idea, as far as I know she never mentioned it. There must be some unwritten liberal rule against working with conservatives, even when you're on the same side of an issue.

On the other hand, conservatives, tired of hearing teachers use the same overworked line about about being over worked and underpaid they've used for the last sixty years haven't paid much attention to what's actually in the new law.  They want accountability in the school systems.   Many got stuck personally with bad teacher it took a district years to fire.  They want a way to measure teacher performance.  So do I,  I belive strongly in prefornance based compensation, but it has to fair to everyone.  The Tallahassee Politicians are promising to do just that, and telling all of us, the teachers are screaming because so many are incompetent, they feel entitled and don't want to face reality.  Here's a fact no one is talking about.  From the Brevard Public Schools Grant Application:

The District realizes there is a need for additional funds to fully accomplish the reform goals and commits to providing those funds in year 4 to supplement the grant. Funds equivalent to approximately 20% may be reallocated, redirected, or sought from tax based sources for use in the RTTT project 

So much for Tallahassee's "we got the costs covered" line of manure.  Remember how angry many of you got, first when you were told no one in Congress Reads a bill,   then when Pelosi said you have to pass Obamacare to find out what's in it.  The only way we learned what was coming was when we started taking it upon ourselves to find out what was in it.  That's the only way you'll know how SB736/HB7019 are going to affect the schools, the teachers, your children and your wallet.  Sandra has the easiest to read and most comprehensive coverage of the proposal's I know off, archived on Grumpy Educators.  She has been researching Florida Educational Issues for almost two years that I'm sure of.  Long before she posted her first blog on the subject she and were discussing education on Florida Today forums.

One other thought, in Florida it's called FCAT, (please click that link) other states have other names for it.  No mater what the name or the state it boils down to teachers spending most of the school year preparing students for a single test.  The results of that one test determine funding, school classification and a host of other thing I don't know about.  Every teacher and parent I know of complains about spending five or so months a year teaching to a single test.  I've heard of kids getting physically sick on "The Day".  If you think it's bad now;  Wait until 60% of a teacher's pay check depends on one test a year.  They will teach to the test, I for one can't blame them. 


This little video was designed to reassure kids to reasure kids about taking FCAT




What the hell will they do for Merrit Pay

Tally Shell Games

I've commented several times about thoroughness of Sandra's research, I think it's hard for most people to envision how difficult and time consuming that is.. I'm going to use last night as an example, but first you need to know a few things about Sandra.  She has a real job, except for a few big names on a handful of large websites, there is no money in blogging.  She's not an educator, or teacher, scared reform and merit will cost her money, or get her fired.  She's a taxpayer, she knows reform will cost money.  She's sees the potential for Tally's proposals to cost taxpayers a fortune, funding a scheme that's clearly flawed and may only provide a benefit to the various special interests lobbying for it's passage..

Remember what I said about time consuming research, last night around 9:30 she posted a comment with a link to a pretty damning article that I suggest everyone read:

Inside the multimillion-dollar essay-scoring business 

Talks about how the Test Companies Actually grade tests that determine the future of students, schools and even school systems.  Soon if the legislators have their way, the reach of the test companies will go much farther.  I read the article and suppressed the sudden urge slam my fist against something.  The article featured a company call Pearson. that was the company that screwed up Florida's FCAT scores last year and left tens of Thousands of Florida 3rd Graders with otherwise good report cards wondering all summer if they were going to fourth grade or not.

Think back to when you were that age, would you have wanted that hanging over your head all summer?  It's incredible, a honor roll report card is not enough to outweigh a single Tallahassee mandated test, administered and graded by a company that might be engaged in questionable practises.

This morning I found Sandra had sent me another email around eleven last night.  She'd been wading through the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS for HB 7019, and found the :
FISCAL ANALYSIS and ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT, it's on pages 15 and 16 and reads like this

A. FISCAL IMPACT ON STATE GOVERNMENT:

1. Revenues:
The bill does not have a fiscal impact on state revenues.


2. Expenditures:
See Fiscal Comments.


B. FISCAL IMPACT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
The bill does not have a fiscal impact on local revenues.


2. Expenditures:
See Fiscal Comments.


C. DIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACT ON PRIVATE SECTOR:
The bill does not have a direct economic inpact on the private sector
 
D. FISCAL COMMENTS:

Florida’s $700 million Race to the Top grant is funding implementation of most bill requirements. DOE will allocate at least $69 million in grant funds to improve teacher and principal effectiveness.82 Grant funds will be used to assist school districts in the development of new educator performance evaluations; test item banks; student learning growth formulas for subjects tested on statewide assessments; and growth models for district-developed assessments. DOE will provide assistance to school districts in developing or acquiring assessments for subjects and grades not tested on statewide assessments, including:
Resources for districts to develop test items for "hard to measure" content areas, such as physical education, fine arts, and foreign language. Test items for core content areas such as math, social studies, science, and language arts for subjects and grades not tested on statewide assessments; and A technology platform to provide districts with secure access to high-quality test items and tools for the creation and administration of student assessments.
Additional resources may be necessary to maintain a test item bank or platform at the conclusion of the grant period, which is the end of the 2013-14 school year.83
Since 1999, school districts have been required to measure student performance on educator performance evaluations using statewide assessments and, for subjects and grades not tested on statewide assessments, local assessments. During the next three years, the grant will provide funding for the development of assessments in most subjects.
The bill establishes new priorities that must be met by school districts when determining educator compensation; however, it does not require school districts to expend any new funds on adjustments and supplements if funds are not available to do so.

Not exactly relaxing reading
 
I'm not exactly sure how you change an entire Education system and claim it will have no fiscal impact on anything..  Just changing from store brands to name brands when you're grocery shopping has a fiscal impact at the cash register.  Here the State is telling us we'll go from our existing system (chicken thighs) and upgrade to the best available (Whole beef tenderloin) and it will have no effect..  Bullshit, and this line. WTF???

The bill establishes new priorities that must be met by school districts when determining educator compensation; however, it does not require school districts to expend any new funds on adjustments and supplements if funds are not available to do so.

How do mandate someone do something, and then toss in a clause like that.  Early this morning I emailed Sandra, who'd been researching this stuff until really late last night, and asked her what she thought it meant. She answered before heading off to her real job;

They are trying to answer the mail on costs by a little double speak. The bill mandates compliance. Given budget cuts and more to come, sounds like an unfunded mandate or reallocate what you have to meet the legislation. The DOE will supplement.....they will? Tax if you need but it is not a state mandate to tax.
 
Clear as mud.

What she didn't find was a price tag, no one in Tallahassee is willing to mention what this will cost.

Suffle the cost around, a little slight of hand, keep the suckers focused on what they might win, so they don't think about what they're losing



  

Education Reform Like a Business: Funny Business Maybe?

NCR Pearson is the company that scores the FCAT results. When they bid for renewal of their contract, they underbid their competitor by $300 million, and won the $245 million dollar contract. Unfortunately, things didn't work out so well for Florida or for Pearson in 2010. In fact, things didn't work out so well in Wyoming, Minnesota, or Virginia either in returning results on time and generating some irregularities in scoring. Pearson paid Florida a fine of $15 million for the delay due to the "extraordinary difficulties in matching test results to each child's demographic information." They apologized saying that they had "underestimated the complexity of the work called for in the FCAT contract." Superintendents around the State challenged the results since their testing departments found drops in scores unusual. The State conducted two audits. The first was conducted by a company that was a sub-contractor to Pearson. The State then contracted a firm without any connection to Pearson, which found that the data was historically consistent with fluctuations in the past. Commissioner Smith then gave the FCAT results a "clean bill of health." What will this year bring?


Unsatisfied with the outcome, Alachua County school Superintendent Dan Boyd said all he can do is accept what the state's education commissioner has said regarding the audits.

"But there has been great consternation around the state with this, and we noticed some things we were concerned about with the scores, too," Boyd said.

There was particular concern when comparing student learning gains on this year's test with those of the prior year, especially for the lowest-performing students.

"And in looking at those scores, that was the problem with Pearson initially in matching those scores. So if they could not match them, how could they give us accurate results?" Boyd asked.

This year, Boyd is serving on a state-level FCAT review committee.

Florida has decided to develop end-of-course tests. Pearson was selected to develop these tests.


What business model is this? SIB to Captain Eagle, come in Captain, over......




http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-fcat-test-company-problems-06-09-120100609,0,4407916.story

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/10/1674316/fcat-test-producers-under-fire.html

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100916/ARTICLES/100919558

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100806/articles/8061007

Education Reform: If the roof leaks, call 911

Posted for

  Sandra in Brevard




For at least the last 12 years, we have heard again and again that schools, students, and teachers are failing. For at least the last 12 years, national and state initiatives have centered on fixing that problem through accountability and testing initiatives. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) poured billions into the effort while schools struggled to meet the implementation requirements. Race to the Top is more of the same. For the same period of time, Florida poured millions into the FCAT, grading schools, and now it is on its way out to be replaced by another generation of tests.


What business would survive if after more than a decade, there was no return on investment? What business would pour money year after year in fixing something with the same tools and year after year see no progress? What business would fail to go back and examine the problem they were trying to solve?

Maybe the conventional wisdom "if ain't broke, don't fix it" should be reconsidered in educational reform.

University of Florida researchers ‘’borrowed ‘lifestyle segmentation' profiling methods used by direct marketers and political strategists to classify every student into one of several lifestyle groups (four in Bay County, three in Alachua), each based on a common set of values, income level, spending patterns, education level, ethnic diversity of neighborhood and other shared traits." The researchers used this data to examine the relationship between each group’s lifestyle profile and their math and reading scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the state’s standardized exam used to evaluate student and school performance. Researcher. The results indicated that "the most affluent lifestyle group registered the highest FCAT scores, the second richest group ranked second in test scores, and so on. On the math tests, the gap between the highest and lowest scoring lifestyle groups was more than two grade levels." The lead investigator, UF Professor Harry Daniels, said: “The testing patterns in both counties virtually mirrored each other. Every lifestyle group improved in FCAT scores from year to year until the 10th grade exam (which students must pass to graduate high school), when improvement leveled off. But they all improved at the same rate, so the achievement gap persisted year to year.”

Data Mining: An Education Reform Strategy

Posted for Sandra in Brevard
If you got mad a few years ago, when you found out Motor Vehicles was sellng information, this won't make you at all happy


If you buy a book through Amazon, rent a movie through Netflix, or have a Facebook account, your information and choices are "mined" to market new products catered to what the data reveals about you. In these large databases, your choices are compared with others and a book you liked might be offered to others who seem to have similar tastes or interests. Specialized algorithms are developed that "mine" in an effective process to sell products.

Wikipedia defines algorithms in part this way:
"Algorithms are essential to the way computers process information. Many computer programs contain algorithms that specify the specific instructions a computer should perform (in a specific order) to carry out a specified task, such as calculating employees' paychecks or printing students' report cards."

NY Times contributor Seth Freeman wrote this week a clever article this week titled "Me and My Algorithm" of which he said:

“If this is a case of my algorithm, my cyber personal shopper, coach, guardian angel and avatar, knowing me better than I know myself, I really do need to figure out why I, a guy, get repeated offers — tied to a e-mails on vastly different subjects — for mastectomy bras and for something called a vaginal ring. Is the idea that these items make lovely gifts? Since articles I have written have circulated through the Internet by e-mail, it could easily turn out that my algorithm will soon get the opportunity to read what I have had to say about it here. What, I wonder, will it think?” (1)
 
Last year, Bill Gates and other Microsoft executives obtained a patent for a personal data mining system that "would analyze information and make recommendations with the goal of aiding a person's decisions and improving quality of life. The patent abstract described the system this way: "Personal data mining mechanisms and methods are employed to identify relevant information that otherwise would likely remain undiscovered." Users supply personal data that can be analyzed in conjunction with data associated with a plurality of other users to provide useful information that can improve business operations and/or quality of life. Personal data can be mined alone or in conjunction with third party data to identify correlations amongst the data and associated users. Applications or services can interact with such data and present it to users in a myriad of manners, for instance as notifications of opportunities. Of course, it's not all about improving lives: Further down, the patent explains that "such data can be afforded to businesses involved in market analysis, or the like, in a manner that balances privacy issues of users with demand for high quality information from businesses." (2)
 
Building Longitudinal Data Systems for Education

What does this have to do with education? Plenty. There is a widespread belief that the development of longitudinal data, from early childhood through the 12th grade and beyond is a necessary element to educational reform. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC), "a national, collaborative effort to encourage and support state policymakers to improve the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement." The organization articulates a widespread belief that "States have made remarkable progress in developing longitudinal data systems that can follow student progress over time, from early childhood through 12th grade and into postsecondary education through implementation of the 10 Essential Elements. The 10 State Actions are the fundamental steps states must put in place to change the culture around how data are used to inform decisions to improve system and student performance."

Florida received a federal grant for $9,975,288 with funding starting in July 2010 and ending in June 2013 and cited these major outcomes in their proposal
 

a) Upgrade the four major source data systems that are incorporated into Florida’s Education Data Warehouse (EDW)

b) Employ a unique identifier system so that social security numbers are no longer the key field for tracking students between the Local Education Agencies and the State

c) Provide several different reporting capabilities for use by a myriad of stakeholders

d) Implement a data mining tool for FLDOE to analyze and evaluate its program and policies more efficiently and effectively (3)

The Data Quality Campaign reaffirmed that "Florida is among the top states in collecting data (10 of 10 criteria along with 11 other states) and using it (5 of 10 criteria, better than all but two states). "When states collect the most relevant data and are able to match individual student records over time, they can answer the questions that are at the core of educational effectiveness." (4) According to their website, the founding father of the Data Quality Campaign is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with additional support from Casey Family Programs, Lumina Foundation for Education, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts. You can follow DQC on Facebook.

DQC’s executive director believes that there is education data collected that is not necessary and cited Kansas and Tennessee as “leaders in establishing rules for data control.” However, the Fordham Law School Center on Law and Information Policy conducted a study (5) on the massive data collection efforts and concluded that states "are collecting far more information than necessary, failing to take appropriate measures to safeguard student privacy and protect them from data misuse, and failing to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Fordham's investigation also reveals that 80% of the states "do not have a system to delete student records. "Fordham law professor Joel R. Reidenberg, who oversaw this study, had this to say of the Center’s findings:

“Ten, 15 years later, these kids are adults, and information from their elementary, middle and high school years will easily be exposed by hackers and others who put it to misuse. States, he said, "are trampling the privacy interests of those students." (6)
 
Conclusion

Bill Gates and the entire computer industry need a literate population with financial means to buy and make use of their products. Therefore, at some level, these efforts are intended to spur improvements. I do not mean to suggest any nefarious intent. Clearly, there is business development intent. Then, I wondered what other benefits a massive data collection has. Could it be a way for an industry, like the computer industry, to be able to identify minds early on with potential to join that workforce, nurture them, and ensure that the U.S. has sufficient minds here versus importing from abroad. Right now, the jobs in this sector are blooming in China and India and likely a destination for unemployed U.S. computer guru's, leaving the potential for a U.S. brain drain. Whatever the reasons, I find it troubling. What do you think?
 

1.     http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18freeman.html?_r=2
2.    http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/02/gates_ozzie_other_microsoft_execs_patent_personal_data_mining.html
3     http://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/state.asp?stateabbr=FL
4.     http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/2010/01/florida-among-top-states-in-education-data-collection-and-use.html
5.     http://law.fordham.edu/center-on-law-and-information-policy/14769.htm
6.     http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/AR2009102703562.html

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