Shearon shares his POV

Dave Shearon (a former MNPS BOE member from 1998 to 2001) made some very helpful observations in two recent posts to the NashvillePTOTalk list. I think they deserve broader publication and he has generously given me permission to post them here as he's no longer including MNPS issues on his blog.

I've been a little confused by MNPS getting "A's" on value-added even though we are losing ground to the state. So, I did a little investigating.

An "A" only means that a school or system is not doing significantly worse at helping students make gains than the state average from 1998. That's right, 1998 is the measuring stick, so it makes perfect sense that, with the vast majority of schools getting better, MNPS could be doing a poorer job of improving and still make A's.

Of course, this means that our students -- at all pre-achievement levels -- are losing ground to their peers across the state. For example, the 25th percentile for 3rd graders in 2002 for MNPS corresponded to the 22nd percentile for the state. Today, those students are at the 16th percentile. Our 50th percentile was the state's 44th, and today it's the 36th. Our 75th used to http://tinyurl.com/2cf6rr.

Members of the public can only see this data at the system level. Board Members, Dr. Garcia, and anyone to whome he gives a password can see similar data (and much more) for individual schools. Thus, if our leadership wanted to, it is possible for them to report on many additional views of our performance. For example, they could report, if they wanted to, on how zoned schools are doing compared to the academic magnets at helping high-achieving students to gain knowledge and skills in exchange for the time they spend sitting in class. This could be similar to the study I produced in 1999 (http://tinyurl.com/ekxuk) or they might find a better format. But it could be done relatively easily.

There are other interesting results that can be pulled from the online data available to Board members and the administration. For example, they could look at the effect of high concentrations of beginning or ineffective teachers in some feeder patterns. (http://tinyurl.com/ys454f) When I did my study, it meant requesting paper copies of a thick bundle of school-level reports, entering that data into spreadsheets and doing the anlysis. Today, it's just a password and a few clicks for any Board member.

In fairness, I should note that any Board member who undertook such an effort would open themselves up to attacks on three fronts.

First, they would be accused of not being supportive of the system. Many in the system and many parent and community supporters treat hard but fair questions as "attacking public schools."

Second, although I think access could be given to a Board member only down to the school level, for example, the system available to Dr. Garcia and those he designates (other administrators, principals for their own schools, etc.) goes to the teacher and even the student level. This leaves the Board member as a possible suspect if confidential data becomes public. Note: the kind of performance analysis I am suggesting is not confidential.

Third, some analyses would leave the Board member subject to accusations of mis-placed priorities. This line of attack sounds like "As long as low-achieving students are struggling, how can you be concerned about whether we're wasting the time of those who are already doing well?" For "low-achieving", feel free to substitute "minority", "poor", "ELL", "special-education" or any other categorization. The truth is that ALL parents want their children to be engaged, happy, and learning at school and Board members SHOULD represent ALL parents.

To me, the political risks to Board members are the price of leadership. We should have better information on how ALL our students are doing than we do today, and the fact that we don't is the responsibility of the Board.

David N. Shearon, JD, MAPP
Nashville, TN
Contributing monthly to www.pos-psych.com

and Dave continues in this second post:

I think it is fair to say we have not made the stunning gains that the PR campaign of MNPS has tried to claim and that we have made NO WHERE NEAR the jaw-dropping gains that Dr. Garcia claimed for his former district when he was being recruited.

Further, the data suggests that, at least through 2005 (the last year this study was updated), we weren't helping students learn as much between grades 3 and 8. Now, does this apply to every group of students, or is it weighed down by group differences such as increased ELL. Or, put another way, are early high-achieving, non-FARM students doing as well now as they were in 2008? Impossible for us to determine, but Dr. Garcia or his staff or a Board member could provide the answer.

Yes the state standards for proficiency are weak, and thus AYP under NCLB is weak, though we're not even achieving it. Remeber that AYP is based on a minimum cut score that creates no pressure to be concerned about high-achieving students (or those so far below the system determines they won't make it).

David N. Shearon, JD, MAPP
Nashville, TN
Contributing monthly to www.pos-psych.com

Accurate test scores

Today's must read is from the Gannet newspaper syndicate via the Tennessean--and not just because I'm quoted. It's not that "test scores don't help" it's inaccurate test scores that don't help. And when the rules, tests, formats, content change regularly--the excuse that we're comparing apples to oranges allows enough room for a Mack truck to drive through. And sure enough...just as we're reviewing all of this the state is, again, revising the curriculum and tests. It's a moving target.

Tennessee has one of the largest gaps in the nation between how well students score on federal and state standardized tests, a new analysis of testing data has found.

and

'Cheap tricks' vary

States use a number of "cheap tricks" to create the illusion that students are doing better than they really are, said Dan Koretz, a Harvard University testing expert.

Those include designing tests easy enough for almost all students to pass or lowering passing scores to make sure most students make the grade.

Yet, somehow that isn't working well either.

I think the authors cut my quote awkwardly before printing it.

"Because taxpayer money is being taken, there must be accountability."

I actually started by saying until we have actual choice, where the free market can decide (which schools to utilize) and because we're using taxpayer money and educating other people's children some sort of accountability is required. This is a standard phrase of mine--as some of you will know. To me, it's always been more about the children than about the money. Both are important but children only get one childhood--somehow the legislature always manages to find more money for the things that are first on it's agenda.

Here's the link to the Gannet interactive map. Click on the map and then the mouse rollover feature will let you slide around from state to state to view the differences between their state scores and the national NAEP test.

To save you some time here are the differences for surrounding states in 8th grade Math Scores from 2005.

13 Kentucky
10 Missouri
11 Arkansas
39 Mississippi
48 Alabama
46 Georgia
52 North Carolina
48 Virginia
60 Tennessee

No other state in the nation has as much difference between state and national scores as Tennessee in math. The next three other states, NC, WV and NE all score in the low 50's.

And here 4th grade Reading.

37 Kentucky
2 Missouri
22 Arkansas
71 Mississippi
61 Alabama
61 Georgia
53 North Carolina
55 Virginia
66 Tennessee



The Tennessean provides a graphic of all the states in order for 8th grade math but not for reading. Wonder why they only show the one where we're not at the bottom.

Education legislation

The state legislature is making some progress toward making information more accessible to mere citizens. They've still got a ways to go before catching up with some other states but I'm thankful for forward progress. I'd like to see the companion bills listed together. I'd also like to see an e-mail subscription service that would automatically e-mail a citizen when a bill is filed (or action is scheduled or taken) that is on their 'watch' list.

For our purposes here bills filled that touch on education issues can be scanned from this web page. It sure beats the heck out of reading through the summaries of some 1500 bills filed each of the last several years. This format will make it much easier for moms and dads to scan and discover where they may want to impact the system. The more eyes that look at these and discuss the back stories and connections the better off we'll all be. So when you've got a few minutes and a warm cup of your favorite beverage scroll through these. Also be mindful that the summaries may not be completely accurate and you may want to actually review the legislation.

Scanning this page it looks like BEP is going to be a hot topic and this bill from Rep. Mike Turner (D- Nashville) catches my eye:

*HB0052 by *Turner M.

Education - Deletes provisions for value added testing and performance education. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 1.

The Abstract summarizes *HB0052 as introduced.

I consider Value Added information essential to knowing how well public education is doing. Tennessee had a healthy jump on the NCLB requirements because we had value added already up and running. What we need is access to more of the Value Added information, specifically teacher scores, not less. And this from a man who wanted homeschoolers to be tested.

And elected superintendents of schools, a perennial favorite is back again:

*SB0589 by *Burks. (HB0661 by *Hill, *Ford.)

Education - Permits election of director of schools and outlines specifications. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 2, Part 3 and Section 49-2-203.

HB0948 by *Winningham. (*SB0578 by *Burks.)

Local Education Agency - Permits election of director of schools and outlines qualifications. - Amends TCA Section 49-2-203 and Title 49, Chapter 2, Part 3.

This is a curious one:

*SB0198 by *Harper.

Local Education Agency - Authorizes legislative body of Davidson County to appoint a certified teacher as a non-voting member of the Davidson County school board. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 2, Part 2.

It's not like Jayme Merrit, MNEA President, hasn't already put the school board on notice that she wants three minutes to speak at every BOE meeting, or that there haven't been enough 'former' educators on the Board already. If the Metro Council wants to appoint someone to be their eyes and ears at the BOE they are free to do so outside of the state legislation. And what's the purpose of making sure it's a certified teacher?

And I'm wondering why partnering with the local police department is insufficient:

*SB1451 by *Tate.

Education - Requires department of education to study allowing LEAs to create school district police departments. - Amends TCA Title 49.

And here the LEA gets to skim money off the top of a charter school's budget:

*SB1447 by *Tate.

Local Education Agency - Authorizes the LEA to retain, as an administrative fee, 5 percent of the state and local education funds that otherwise would be allocated to a charter school for processing information required by the state department of education with respect to such school, including reporting student enrollment data, teacher certification data, insurance and retirement data, and budgetary information. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 13, Part 1.

and more on charters:

*SB1865 by *Johnson.

Schools, Private and Charter - Removes the prohibitions on converting a cyber-based school to a public charter school and on creating a cyber-based public charter school. - Amends TCA Section 49-13-106.

This has to happen. We're very far behind this education innovation in other states. I know that one homeschooling organization is going to be afraid that this will 'lure' homeschoolers back to public education and is concerned that parents may not understand that their children will be 'public schoolers' and not homeschoolers but we need to focus on the needs of children. It's past time for Tennessee to offer this. They are certainly cheaper to operate than a brick and mortar school and provide some alternatives that can benefit many families and their children. This could be a legitimate alternative for some of our students expelled as a result of zero tolerance for starters.

But are they learning?

In the middle of the fuss about dress codes and balanced calendars the measure of the real missions of public schools may get overlooked. Some are opining that's exactly the goal--distraction from the facts about whether these children are actually learning.

10 days late the state Department of Education will finally make this data available at 3:00 p.m. today (note this use of the late Friday news cycle tactic). Hopefully, reporters will take the weekend to go through this and lead with legitimate information Monday and not just MNPS press release quotes.

Metro Nashville Public Schools will hold their own Q & A just prior at 1:15 p.m. in the Board of Education room on Bransford Avenue.

"We expect to see information showing improved achievement in our district," said Paul Changas, district director of assessment and evaluation.

"A lot of data has been reported. What we have seen has been encouraging, but there are still a lot of areas that we need to address."Tennessean

Yes, indeed. I'm looking forward to the comparisons that the Save Our Students folks promised Nashvillians last spring. I'm convinced they will bring essential context to these numbers while providing accountability that the system has sorely needed. And we'll know better whether Superintendent of School Pedro Garcia actually earned his new three year contract.

AYP report released

The Tennessee Department of Education has officially released the AYP information. From the DOE's press release.

Seventy-six Tennessee schools demonstrated marked improvement for two consecutive years and have come off the high priority schools list, according to the Tennessee’s 2006 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) results.

Davidson County still has 32 schools on the high priority list and is considered a high prority system along with Cumberland, DeKalb, Fayette, Hamilton, Jackson-Madison, Maury and Robertson Counties. Memphis has 36 schools on the list.

High priority schools are listed here.

District 5, my own, had 7 on the list. It now has six. It looks like Bailey Middle which was in its second year on this list improved enough to be removed from the list. Kirkpatrick, which was on the list for restructuring was removed. New this year is Shwab Elementary. Still on the list and headed down are Dalewood Middle Schol, Glenn Elementary Enhanced Option, Jere Baxter Middle School, and Maplewood Comprehensive High School. Stratford Comprehensive High School has been moved from Restructuring 1 to School Improvement 1.

For the complete AYP status on all schools and districts, as well as supporting materials, visit www.tennessee.gov/education/nclb/ayp/.

UPDATE: The BOE members (both old and new) will be briefed by Dr. Garcia and staff at 11:00 tomorrow morning at Kirkpatrick Elementary.

[UPDATE: Thanks to Anonymous for pointing out that the following was LAST YEAR'S press release not this year's as I write immediately below. Please forgive the error.]

Here's the MNPS Press Release of moments ago:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (November 2, 2005) – Metro Nashville Public Schools made positive gains in several 2005 Tennessee Value Added Assessment System rankings, which were released last night by the Tennessee Department of Education, and made better than the state average gains in all TCAP (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program) criterion referenced test categories. The scores show the amount of progress students make in a given subject from one year to the next, over a three-year period.

Areas in which MNPS made progress include TCAP reading/language, math, science and social studies. MNPS also made gains over the state average in all four TCAP categories.

“We are pleased to have yet another measure of success in our schools,” said Metro Nashville Board of Public Education Chair Pam Garrett. “These TVAAS results are the best we’ve earned in recent years, proving MNPS is on the right track. While we are certainly proud of what is happening, we recognize our task will be even more challenging next year as we adjust to budget shortfalls. The Board and MNPS administration are intent on moving forward as we deal with compromised funding; we will keep working to maintain the tremendous academic progress we’re now achieving.” MNPS also made strides in Gateway English II, End of Course English I, End of Course US History, writing assessment, ACT math, ACT English, ACT reading, ACT science reasoning and ACT composite. For the full list of scores, visit www.tennessee.gov/education.

Note the money excuse. "Tremendous academic progress"--I don't think so.