Between local school board meetings, writing the State School Board to do what's right, participation in a visioning process for new facilities in my district, and prepping for a recent visit to the state capitol, I'm left with the question lots of schoolteachers face when summer comes... "When does the break begin?"
The Class of 2018.
Our 2 hour drive to Columbus was taken on the occasion of a lobby day, set up by our friends at Ohio BATs. Beginning at 9am, we were scheduled to meet up, break into two groups, and meet with 10 or so state Senators who are currently working on the budget bill. Our first goal was to encourage them to support safe harbor language for the class of 2018, removing any connection between Ohio's volatile and convoluted system of standardized tests and their ability to graduate. These kids have seen the worst of an assessment system that has been awful for everyone.
Every Senator with whom I had the opportunity to speak believed that something needed to be done for the class of 2018. This would include my own Senator Gayle Manning, as well as Senate Education Committee Chair Peggy Lehner, candidate for Ohio Governor Senator Joe Schiavoni of Youngstown, and Senator Jordan. Even the young man, whose name I didn't catch, who was homeschooled in North Ridgeville and met with us in place of Senator Bacon seemed convinced of the unique inequity and instability in the assessment system as it relates to this group of students.
Right now, Senators Schiavoni and Skindell have requested to add an amendment to the Senate Budget Bill that would allow members of the class of 2018 to use their course grades in place of assessment scores in order to earn points toward graduation. The Republican majority in the Senate has the power to keep or discard this amendment. CALL THEM NOW, and tell them that "because Ohio's assessment system has been so volatile over the past 3 years, it is unfair to use it as a measure for graduation. In order to remedy an atrocious situation in which 38,000 students are in danger of not earning a diploma, it is necessary to put language in the budget bill that will allow for the use of course grades in place of test scores to earn points toward the 18 necessary to graduate." You'll find the Senate Republican contact info here.
Convening the Experts, and Then Ignoring Them.
Because of the widespread demand to decrease assessments in Ohio's ESSA study, and then his own failure to do what the research told him to do, Superintendent Paolo DeMaria created an Assessment Advisory Committee to study and make recommendations regarding streamlining (read limiting) Ohio's assessment system. It was serendipity that the Super presented the proposal to the state school board two days prior to our Columbus visit because our second goal was to encourage a dramatic reduction in testing.
DeMaria's group of experts and education leaders suggested moving to the federal minimum of required assessments which would involve the elimination of the following tests... 4th and 6th grade Social Studies, high school American History, American Government, 1 high school Math, high school ELA I, the fall 3rd grade ELA (if the retention policy is eliminated), the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (if the district assesses otherwise), the ACT/SAT requirement and/or the Work Keys. They also indicated that the high school End of Course test could be replaced with a single sitting general content exam.
While I would argue that the state should also look at decreasing the time spent on assessments that remain, this proposed plan sounds pretty good.
Unfortunately, while DeMaria decided to convene this committee of experts himself, as he has no actual experience working in a school, he is also choosing to essentially ignore their suggestions. At the state board meeting he proposed eliminating 4th grade Social Studies, ELA I, American Government, and the Work Keys. The phrase I heard from one Senator in Columbus to justify this rationale was "we can't just get rid of tests because of the federal minimum."
Well, perhaps not, but I'm guessing that the thinking of the educational leaders on the committee was not quite as simplistic. We can get rid of these assessments because they have done nothing, and will do nothing to improve educational quality in Ohio. There is very little actionable data that comes from our assessment system from the perspective of a student, teacher, school, or district. The assessments are often developmentally inappropriate and currently employ technology that has an impact on student performance. The unnecessary high stakes tied to assessments (3rd grade and high school) is not federally mandated and causes undue anxiety and some dire consequences in the lives of students. This is just off the top of my head.
On the up side, all of the Senators with whom I spoke, believe that our assessment system is too intrusive and needs to be scaled back. There is currently legislation in the works to eliminate the 4th and 6th grade Social Studies tests. This was referred to as "a beginning" in multiple meetings that I attended. Will we eventually move to the Assessment Advisory Committee's suggestions? I doubt that we will, but I do believe that we can do far better than the Superintendent's proposal. I think the Senators that we spoke to believe this as well.
Ignoring the Experts While Insisting You Are One (or The Face of Entitlement)
If there were a down side to our lobby day, it was our accidental opportunity to meet lobbyist and Educational Consultant, Lisa Gray, who arrived for a meeting with Senator Lehner as our meeting was concluding. The Senator introduced us and told Mrs. Gray the nature of our discussion, namely a solution for the class of 2018 and the minimization of assessments. In so many words, Gray, stern-faced and full of self belief and entitlement, told us that as a former teacher she believed that the assessment system and grad requirement were necessary because we need to set rigorous standards so that all of our students are career and college ready.
When I tried to interject to remind her that cut scores on standardized assessments are set essentially arbitrarily and not based on mastery, and that a student's GPA is a better indicator of future success, she scolded me, then went on about educational quality being driven by assessments, and that she would only want these things for her kids. Gray was unwilling to concede to anything that myself or any other professional educator in the room had to say on the subject.
Only later did I find out that her entire soliloquy, and persona for that matter, were utter bullshit. Lisa Gray, Educational Consultant, has not seen the inside of a classroom for more than 25 years and never taught in Ohio (only Indiana). Her claim to be a former teacher is sketchy at best. The fact that she has made hundreds of thousands of dollars working for Philanthropy Ohio, the Fordham Foundation, Teach for America, and other organizations funded by millions of dollars from the Gates Foundation makes her "kindhearted former teacher, suburban mom looking out for the kids" bullshit even more disgusting. The fact that she would frame her children's educational needs with those of all of Ohio's kids is misinformed to the point of negligence. Her children's life in a community whose median income is $121,020 is only marginally comparable to the life of a kid in my city whose median income is $40,952, or those in Cleveland ($26,150). To ignore economic reality and its impact on education is misguided, and is worse than her insistence that standardized tests can improve education.
Lisa Gray is a paid lobbyist. Her opinions are informed by numbers, but not those that clearly prove that standardized testing is not improving educational outcomes... the NAEP scores that have stagnated since 2001's NCLB, SAT scores that declined between 2006 and 2014, ACT scores that have been flat. The numbers that inform Mrs. Gray's position are those printed on her paychecks.
I guess those who disagree with me would probably argue that I'm only advocating for the public schools that sign my check. The difference, obvious in my mind, is that I'm not getting paid for visits to the Senators. It's on my dime. I'm also actually interacting with real live students who impress upon me their concerns, chief among them are the excessive assessments and the high stakes attached to them. They're not stupid. They know that the state tests have little to do with a good education, and their parents, teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders agree.
Unfortunately, paid shills like Lisa Gray make their money by ignoring and talking louder than the real experts in the field, and they have an impact on policy makers. This makes it far more difficult, but not impossible, to have an impact on decision makers about what is truly right for kids. We gave it a go in Columbus, and we're moving in the right direction. I never get into a conversation with a politician, or anyone for that matter, thinking they'll see everything my way. I'm just hoping we might move a bit in one another's direction.
Thank goodness I've got all summer.
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