Ohio's ESSA Draft Plan is not what I heard suggested at my Stakeholder Meeting.

 Superintendent DeMaria listens to input on ESSA.

Having read the Ohio Department of Education's draft plan to comply with the Every Student Succeds Act, I have become convinced of what I had feared all along. The ODE and its esteemed leader, State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria, had little intention of actually acting upon the suggestions of education stakeholders when crafting Ohio's plan. I guess ESSA said they only had to "engage" the public, not actually listen. Their documents celebrate their compliance, indicating that they have "engaged 15,000 Ohioans in the development of the draft." What is seemingly between the lines then is this: then we did whatever the hell we wanted to, which is very little.

According to their expansive public engagement, Philanthropy Ohio, the organization tasked with making sense of the input reported in its "white paper," "All sectors of the community—parents, families, teachers, administrators and community members—raised concerns about the assessments." 

When I skimmed the document last night and became blind with rage that they'd decided not to reduce testing to federal minimums, nor revise punitive measures related to testing like the report card, teacher evaluation, and the 3rd grade guarantee, I thought perhaps I'd read it wrong. Later, my wife directed me to Patrick O'Donnell's article in the Plain Dealer entitled, "Ohio proposes no testing cuts in its ESSA plan -- yet -- despite feedback pleading for them," and my impressions were confirmed. According to the article, both senior ODE policy advisor Colleen Grady and Philanthropy Ohio spokesperson Lisa Gray indicated that the chief concern of all stakeholders was too much time consuming testing.

The ODE's response...

One of the main themes communicated during stakeholder engagement was the need for stability in the state testing system, as Ohio has changed tests two times in the last three years. Accordingly, Ohio is proposing to maintain its current state assessment system. However, the Department will work in partnership with Governor Kasich and the General Assembly to re-examine any state assessments not required under ESSA – an area in which Ohio has already made significant progress. Thanks to the leadership of the Ohio General Assembly, administration time for state assessments was reduced by 50 percent between 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. 

Obviously, the first problem with this is that it fails to address what an ODE spokesperson, as well as a representative from Philanthropy Ohio (who organized and compiled public input) classified as the top concern statewide.

Problem number two is the stated desire to work with Kasich and the General Assembly. Anyone who has had opportunity to listen to a politician speak should realize that this is classic spin...

Politician: "We are looking into that issue."

Translation: "We are going to create a process to appear as if we care about your concerns, undertake a charade like establishing a Workgroup to placate the most vocal, and in the end hope you forget about the issue because we had no intention of doing anything."

Having been regularly bullshitted by people in positions of power, I don't even see that as the biggest problem. My biggest gripe is the congratulatory language at the end. Let's be clear. The General Assembly reduced the testing time because they had created an unmanageable system to begin with. If I punch you in the face, and then get you some ice for the swelling, should I be congratulated as a humanitarian? Furthermore, all the General Assembly did was eliminate the early testing window. Let's not forget that the number one concern of stakeholders, as indicated after that change took place, is still too much testing.

Earlier this year, I overheard an administrator at my school suggest that 'we don't have a small gym anymore, we have a large testing room.' With thousands of students, two school year retake sessions, combined with first time tests (the mind reels at the number of individual assessments administered), I'd add a few things. We don't have technologies, we have testing devices. We don't have teachers, we have test prep specialists. We don't have counselors to help transition students to college and career, we have test administrators. Feel free to add a few of your own.

We also don't have less testing. This year all Ohio high schools are required to administer the ACT to all juniors regardless of capability, intention of going to college, or need for the test. Also, as I understand it, there is going to be an additional extended essay added to English assessments this year. This development has driven my school to have the ELA test completed in two testing sessions. Yes, the General Assembly ditched PARCC and a testing window, but the tests aren't really markedly shorter. Let's not pat ourselves on the back just yet. I would encourage the Superintendent and the ODE, as they work with Governor Kasich and the General Assembly to "re-examine" the assessment system, to look at the reality of the system, and think about investigating how this functions practically in an actual high school (it doesn't), as opposed to looking at this as just a number of tests.

A word about the Graduation Requirement...

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the state's draft plan mention of the Graduation Requirement. The language is as follows...

Any discussion about high school level end-of-course exams will be done in coordination with the State Board of Education’s current reexamination of Ohio’s graduation requirements. 

The Graduation Workgroup got down to business on Wednesday, introducing one another, and seeing a presentation from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce. From what I've seen of the presentation and corresponding research, most of the skills necessary for college and career success are NOT things that can be measured by standardized tests. This would seem to limit the importance of using said tests as a requirement for graduation. I'm guessing those in power at the ODE see things differently. 

One individual who attended the meeting indicated that Superintendent DeMaria said that the tests are essentially off-limits for discussion in the Workgroup. I would be interested in having that verified by other attendees. If it is true, then DeMaria and the ODE are clearly involved in some sort of shell game regarding state assessments. After all, if the ESSA report, signed by DeMaria, says the discussion of end-of-course exams is occurring within the board's investigation, which is being undertaken by the Workgroup, but the Workgroup has been forbidden by DeMaria to discuss the tests, then nothing is being addressed with regard to the assessment system at the high school level. I would also question how adequately the Workgroup is going to be able to address the graduation problem without discussing the root of the problem.

The Superintendent wants to hear from us...again.

When Paolo DeMaria took over as Superintendent, he told Ohioans he wanted to hear from them. As reported in the Plain Dealer at the time, "I want to listen- to get a clear sense of what's happening out here," DeMaria said. "Share with us. Communicate with us, Tell us what we're doing well, what we're not doing well." He has consistently positioned himself as the benevolent bearded face of the ODE, ready to listen, prepared to take action to do what is right for Ohio's kids.

Unfortunately, he's more often proving to be inclined to fall in line with a partisan agenda that features test and punish, attacks on public schools and their teachers, and privatization, just like his predecessors. His recent inaction related to the takeover of the Lorain schools is the best evidence so far. This ESSA draft plan, and its utter lack of a plan to fix the primary issue indicated by Ohioans when they stepped up to share with Mr. DeMaria seems, unfortunately, to be another example.

It's not over, though. True to form, Superintendent DeMaria and the Ohio Department of Education have opened up a period of time to comment on the state's ESSA plan. That's right, they want to hear what we think  The full plan will be released in February, and the window to weigh-in will be open until March 6th. In theory, this feedback will be used to shape the final Ohio plan to comply with ESSA.

Let's hope they prove more capable of responding to stakeholder input than they have thus far.