Washington Post — Students in the nation’s only federally funded school voucher initiative performed worse on standardized tests within a year after entering D.C. private schools than peers who did not participate, according to a new federal analysis that comes as President Trump is seeking to pour billions of dollars into expanding the private school scholarships nationwide.
“D.C. students who used vouchers had significantly lower math scores a year after joining the program, on average, than students who applied for a voucher through a citywide lottery but did not receive one. For voucher students in kindergarten through fifth grade, reading scores were also significantly lower. For older voucher students, there was no significant difference in reading scores.
“For voucher recipients coming from a low-performing public school — the population that the voucher program primarily aims to reach — attending a private school had no effect on achievement. But for voucher recipients coming from higher-performing public schools, the negative effect was particularly large.”
Phoenix, AZ – May 23, 2017 – As teachers are saying goodbye to their students after another year’s hard work Governor Doug Ducey announced his veto of Senate Bill (SB) 1209, delivering a final insult to teachers across Arizona. The Arizona Education Association’s (AEA) teacher evaluation bill would have reduced the pressure from high stakes testing on our teachers and allowed our students to spend more time learning.
“Signing SB1209 into law was the simplest action Governor Ducey could have taken to address the teacher crisis, without increasing revenue,” says AEA President Joe Thomas. “Teachers all over the state tell me the overemphasis on standardized testing is limiting their ability to teach and for students to learn. Teachers love teaching because they cherish the moment when they see learning breakthroughs and the light bulb goes on in a child’s eye. We need to remove the hurdles to student learning created by politicians and all of these failed reforms, stop pressuring our teachers to teach the test, and let them get back to teaching our students.”
SB1209 passed with an overwhelming majority in both the Arizona House and Senate, with support from both Democrats and Republicans. If signed, this bill would have ended the nonsensical practice of evaluating teachers using standardized test scores of students they don’t teach. It also would have reduced the degree of standardized test data tied to teacher evaluations.
“As a French teacher, I get part of my performance evaluation and pay determined by my students’ test scores in math and English,” says Phoenix Union High School Teacher Heather Frackiewic. “I have no control over those things, and my job isn’t to teach those things. But I get evaluated and paid based on whether students learn those things.”
SB1209 was supported by teachers, parents, and community leaders who want our public schools to focus on teaching and learning. By vetoing this bill, Governor Ducey is ignoring the will of the people and what they want for our students and public schools.
“This latest insult confirms a definite pattern of disrespect for Arizona’s teachers and students,” says Thomas. “Instead of giving teachers the raise he heralded in his State of the State speech, he offers them a one percent, one-time bonus. Instead of restoring funding to our public schools, he diverts public education money to DeVos’ private school voucher scheme. Instead of supporting Arizona’s teachers and addressing the state’s teacher exodus, he lowers their professional standards and then vetoes AEA’s common sense fix to our teacher evaluation system. When you add up all of his wrong answers this legislative session, it’s clear to see the Governor failed the test.”
Too often in policy debates, each side comes to the table with talking points and an agenda, rather than an open ear and a commitment to find common ground. When it comes to schools, whatever differences we may have on issues like Common Core, testing, and accountability, our unifying goal must always be to ensure that all children receive a quality education, regardless of zip code, and to find solutions that accomplish that.
In order to move educational equity from a shared priority for policymakers and practitioners to a reality for students in our state, education leaders and advocates have pushed for more intentional conversations and actions to address the underlying problems that prevent so many of our students from working on a level playing field.
This commitment to equity reflects many of the recommendations outlined earlier this year in the joint report from the Aspen Institute and the Council for Chief State School Officers titled “Leading for Equity: Opportunities for State Chiefs.” The suggested policy and engagement actions include pushing for greater funding, investing in professional development, and proactively engaging and listening to communities so they can hold state leaders more accountable in meeting goals.
The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act gave us an opportunity to reignite conversations in our state about what it will take to create quality educational opportunities for all students and how we can work together to achieve that vision.
As part of our effort to design a new state education plan, we created stakeholder workgroups made up of educators and the broader community to inform our efforts. We knew it wasn’t simply about changing policy or talking to community members – it was about listening to those who have been most affected by inequities and working with them to meet students’ needs.
Teachers have been at the core of that engagement. They are the ones who, on a day-to-day basis, educate, mentor, and bolster our children. In Pennsylvania, we’ve been fortunate to have exceptional teachers from across the state come together to form the Pennsylvania Teacher Advisory Committee, which will serve as a pipeline for teacher voices and input into our collective work.
Giving teachers a seat at the table allows them to share their stories and those of their students and provide timely insight on how changes in state education policy could make a positive difference in classroom practice – or where it might not have its intended effect. Policy makers must understand how their work might alleviate or exacerbate systemic inequities statewide for students most impacted by a legacy of inequitable access and opportunity.
Equity is also about assessing and meeting all the unique needs of our children, and not just the ones that can be measured in test scores. One of our state’s more successful ventures in this arena has been the launch of Pennsylvania’s Superintendents Academy, a two-year professional development program that addresses challenges faced by students, including poverty and mental health. This setting provides an important opportunity for superintendents to discuss how inequities outside of the classroom affect schools and what can be done to systematically support the whole child.
If we want to change students’ lives for the better, everyone – from the secretary of education to teachers to anyone in between – must not shy away from the difficult conversations that a discussion about equity sometimes surfaces, or avoid pointing out the real inequities that continue to affect many children.
With so many advances in technology, we have more opportunities than ever before to engage and connect with others that don’t share our own background. Let’s keep talking. More importantly, let’s keep listening, and work together to act on what we’re hearing.
Pedro Rivera is Pennsylvania’s secretary of education. @pedroarivera2
Mairi Cooper is the 2015 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year. @patoy2015
For 14 long years, students and educators have lived under the deeply flawed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) returns decision making for our nation’s education back where it belongs – in the hands of local educators, parents, and communities – while keeping the focus on students most in need.
American politician and educational reformer Horace Mann once said, “Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.” Education can open opportunities for all students. It can help fulfill the American promise that personal initiative can open new worlds. The reality is that today’s schools are hardly uniform, and while that can be an advantage in offering choice, many schools operate within constraints that put their students at a disadvantage. To deliver on the promise of education as an equalizing force, America’s teachers and administrators need to know where their students are starting their school journeys—to meet each student wherever he or she is—and have the tools to measure growth along the way. Assessment results can help focus these efforts.
To understand the disparities among students—to measure the gap—the assessment must be able to measure students who are performing on, above, or below grade level. There is a place for understanding grade level proficiency (in fact, federal accountability frameworks demand it), but to actually teach each student as he or she is the teacher needs to know where the starting line is.
Adaptive tests, which adjust with each test question and can include out of grade level material, provide the clearest picture of that starting line. Many tests adapt only after several items have been presented, which does not return the same precision as a test that adjusts in real time in reaction to every single student response. In addition to this true adaptivity, the test also needs a deep pool of items to draw from in order to ensure that students are seeing new questions. And of course, an adaptive assessment must use a stable scale, which is the only way to accurately show a student’s growth over time, regardless of grade level performance.
Efficient assessment is also crucial to meeting students where they are because it returns actionable assessment data without sacrificing instructional time. Efficiency also refers to obtaining quality and precise data from the assessment instance. Adaptive tests—like our Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) interim assessments—can pinpoint student growth and instructional needs accurately in a relatively short amount of time. MAP assessments take about an hour, and give students and educators information they can immediately use to move learning forward.
Students immediately see how they scored on the test.
Teachers see how the class is performing and can use this information to set goals with students, create flexible groups to differentiate instruction, and communicate with parents.
Principals get a view of their entire school and can direct resources to meet specific needs.
District administrators can see how each school is performing and make adjustments based on reliable information.
No single assessment can do it all—nor should it. Using multiple measures allows educators to cross-check their data and answer different educational questions with the appropriate tools. But when it comes to driving individual learning, especially for underserved populations, formative and interim assessments have a critical role to play in providing the information educators need to close achievement gaps. To understand where all students are on their learning path, an adaptive assessment can be an invaluable tool, provided it meets certain criteria: measuring growth regardless of grade and gathering data efficiently.
American politician and educational reformer