December 14, 2009
Who Would Have Guessed The Race Would Look Like This?
Stunning. We don't know how else to put it.
Not just the New York State Board of Regents' announcement today that it fully intends to be competitive in President Obama's "Race To The Top" contest with a comprehensive reform package. (As a New Yorker whose kids attend NYC public schools, I was perplexed for months as to why we seemed so willing to walk away from hundreds of millions of dollars at a time when school budgets are being slashed all over - especially since the reforms needed to win shouldn't be considered remotely controversial if you really think about them.)
What is stunning is the tremendous wave of edu-political reform which has been unleashed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the Obama administration in such a short time.
The president was swept into office by a strong demand for change. But who would have guessed that in less than one year we would be looking at such significant coast-to-coast policy changes at the state level. (And thanks to Charlie Barone, our federal policy guru/spiritual advisor/occasional disc jockey for keeping tabs on the RTTP landscape.)
Consider what is happening in all of these states:
California. California had been on the move. In August, the state legislature moved quickly in special session to tear down the firewall between student achievement and teacher evaluation. In November, the state Senate passed Gloria Romero's education reform plan, backed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, that would: let parent petitions shut down or convert failing schools; establish a rigorous teacher and principal evaluation system; and let parents move their children out of failing districts.
Last week, the state Assembly passed a much weaker bill that Schwarzenegger says he would veto, commenting: "This is a Race to the Top, not a race to mediocrity or the status quo." The NAACP has sided with Romero and the Governor, as has an LA based advocacy group "Parent Revolution."
Connecticut. Duncan's comments at a conference saying that states that hampered charter schools would not be competitive sparked Connecticut in June to reverse its decision to cut charter school budgets; it also moved to fully restore charter school funding.
Colorado. In the Spring, Gov Bill Ritter appointed Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien to serve as "Race To The Top Czar." She has held numerous hearings and has toured the state. Colorado is building on the performance pay system it pioneered a few years back in Denver, and the fact that it's charter schools are some of the best performing in the country. Its poised to have a very strong application and is on the short list for those with a good chance of approval in Phase 1.
Delaware. The state published a draft of its Race to the Top plan on December 1st, and is in the middle of a 30-day public comment period. Delaware stakeholders met publicly throughout the Fall. The state has an advantage over other states because of the existing "Vision 2015" project, a comprehensive reform effort created prior to Race to the Top and supported by a broad range of players in and outside of government.
D.C. District officials are holding a community forum on Tuesday evening, December 15th to seek public comment before they draft their plan. Despite all the controversy over Chancellor Michelle Rhee's tenure, especially the ongoing contract negotiations, D.C. has bragging rights given its strong performance on recently released NAEP results in comparison to both other states and big cities. i.e., it can credibly propose that it more aggressively expand what it has already been doing re: shutting down and turning around failing schools, opening new charters, and reassigning or firing teachers and administrators.
Florida. A decade of school reforms has put Florida at the head of the pack in the Race to the Top. A laser focus on the lowest performing schools, and the lowest performing students in those schools, has boosted student achievement on both state tests and the NAEP, and narrowed achievement gaps. Florida has one of the best data systems in the nation, which has helped inform its school reform efforts, and has been a pioneer in both distance learning and dual high school/college enrollment, which has boosted the quality of courses offered to students and at the same resulted in significant cost savings and increased parental choice.
Georgia. Governor Sonny Perdue has established and appointed members to four Race to the Top policy committees, one for each of the 4 areas of RttT reforms or "assurances." The committees are comprised of higher education officials, local educators, advocates, and representatives of philanthropic foundations. Duncan is visiting the state for a public event with Perdue and committee members on Monday, December 14.
Illinois. In June, the Illinois state legislature answered Duncan's call to raise charter school caps and ended its session by approving 45 new charter schools in Chicago, and an additional 15 charter schools for the rest of the state, for a total of 13,000 new charter school slots. Last week, on December 10th, the education advocacy organization Advance Illinois encouraged state leaders to pick back up the effort quickly, praising the state for developing legislation around more substantive teacher evaluations and around stronger supports for struggling schools..
Indiana. Indiana was another state to take early action, lifting charter school caps and taking down the teacher-student achievement data firewall back in June. The state is currently developing an ambitious alternative certification and teacher evaluation plan.
Louisiana. The state passed legislation by Rep. Walt Leger III (D-New Orleans) lifting its charter school cap in June at the end of its legislative session. Louisiana is also pioneering an accountability system that tracks graduates of teacher training programs so that they can be held accountable for the performance of the teachers they train and so that their programs can be improved and/or revamped. A "unified group" of education and community-based organizations launched a statewide RttT effort in August.
Massachusetts. At a widely publicized event in July, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick appeared with Secretary Arne Duncan to announce a big expansion (27,000 new seats) of charter schools. It was seen as particularly significant because key state leaders previously had not been charter school supporters. Here's one quote: "Formerly a charter-school critic, [Boston Mayor Thomas] Menino said he is fed up with opposition from the Boston Teachers Union. 'I'm just tired of it. We're losing kids.'"
This was just a proposal, and since then there has been some back and forth about the specifics, and a bill to address charters and a number of other reform issues is now in the legislature. Two groups - Boston Foundation and Stand for Children - there have been mobilizing actively around RttT.
Michigan. The state legislature has announced that it intends to enact, by January, a package of bills that would expand charter schools, create alternative paths to teacher certification, make it easier to fire teachers for poor performance, and give the state more power to take over failing schools. Governor Granholm has also announced that she is holding off on making planned education cuts because it may jeopardize the state's application.
Nevada. Even though it is one of the states with a teacher/student achievement data "firewall" that would disqualify it from applying, up until two weeks Nevada wasn't planning to act. But then Senator Harry Reid (majority leader of the U.S. Senate), despite union opposition, called on Governor Gibbons to hold a special legislative session. It looks like that may now happen but no date has been set.
New York. Of the 5 states identified as having teacher/student data firewalls, New York is one of only two that has not acted (the other being Nevada; CA, IN, and WI have all repealed their firewall laws). The law is set to expire later this year, but it remains in question whether that is sufficient to make the state eligible.
New York does have some good ideas on the table for its potential RttT plan. On December 2nd, the State posted a broad framework for its Race to the Top reforms on its website, with an emphasis on turning around low-performing schools and closing those that are chronically low-performing,
In early November, Commissioner David Steiner sketched out one of the most comprehensive and ambitious teacher quality proposals of any state education official in the country. It would: set rigorous performance-based assessments for teachers; redesign education schools to focus more on classroom practice; establish report cards for education schools based on the performance of their students on the new certification exams, and on how well their graduates affect achievement in the classroom; expand alternative routes to certification; and establish merit pay for teachers in hard-to-serve areas.
In October, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt introduced a comprehensive reform bill to lift New York's charter school caps, which are projected to stymie expansion as early as next year.
Rhode Island. The state had two big education reform plays so far this year. Back in June, an ed reformer from RI asked Secretary Duncan at a public event if RI could compete given its charter school caps and de-funding of planned charters; Duncan basically said no. At the end of its legislative session in June, the legislature funded a system of "mayoral academies" that had been stuck in limbo. The first one opened outside Providence in September. This is the first of a series of such schools.
Last month, Commissioner Deborah Gist announced that RI was ending its policy of basing teacher assignments and layoffs on seniority, and instead would make them based on quality. The move garnered massive media coverage, and lawsuits were filed by the teachers union, but Gist has held firm. Gist also, through administrative action, raised the cut score for passing teacher exams from the among lowest in the nation to among the highest in the nation; schools of education are fighting it but here, too, Gist has held firm.
Tennessee. In late May, Duncan said Tennessee would "not be helping its chances" for Race to the Top funds if it continued arbitrary caps limiting the growth of charter schools. This set off a chain of events in which the state legislature held a special session and Democrats were freed to reverse their positions against charter school expansion by their leadership (and given a pass from the Tennessee Education Association), culminating in approval of charter school expansions in six school systems on a lopsided vote of 79-15.
Wisconsin. The state took down its teacher/student achievement data "firewall" in a blitz session a couple of months ago. A whole package of reform-oriented policies being pushed by Governor Doyle is now in the legislature. Mayoral control of Milwaukee schools, which Duncan has pushed for, is part of the fight. Doyle is calling for a special session to vote on his proposals on December 16th.
