Tony Bennett's Fiasco

....in case you're local paper won't print it.  Take a look.

Dear Editor,
Tony Bennett’s plan to give letter grades to schools has turned into a fiasco. Last January, all 35 speakers in the only public hearing on his plan opposed it, including representatives of all education groups and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Bennett did not attend the hearing. Nevertheless, he pushed the plan through in February without any of the recommended changes, despite information from his own department that the plan would result in 22% D’s and F’s for Indiana schools. In comparison, Florida last year gave D’s and F’s to 6% of their schools. Indiana schools are not over 3 times worse than Florida schools! This fact is certifiably grounded in data from the National Assessment, which is a test taken in common by all states and is known as “the nation’s report card.” On the National Assessment, Indiana consistently outscores Florida in 4th and 8th grade math and in 8th grade reading, and Indiana consistently scores higher than the national average. Tony Bennett’s A-F system has demeaned the performance of Indiana’s schools compared to Florida. Conveniently, low grades would feed more schools into his pipeline for state intervention which in Indianapolis and Gary has resulted in for-profit corporations taking over schools, accompanied by discord, litigation and fragmented communities.

Mayors have complained that unfairly low school grades damage local economic development efforts to attract new jobs. The calibration of this A-F system is simply wrong. It will hurt our schools and our economy.

This fall implementation has seen major delays, the director of the program took another job in the midst of the roll out, and local school officials say they can’t get answers to their questions about the flawed growth statistics. We need a change. I support Glenda Ritz for State Superintendent who stands for a revised system of grading our schools.

Dr. Vic Smith
Indianapolis, IN

Indiana Citizens for Public Education

The Mind Trust and a Local Control Ruse

This post from School Matters nicely gives some counter voice to the local gushing over the Mind Trust's plan to gut  Indianapolis Public Schools.  It is important to note how much taxpayer money is already going to these folks and how much this "gift" as the Indy Star puts it positions them to receive in the future.  We're not going to say that some of these ideas aren't good but this is shady politics and it's time that the public pay much more attention to the money trail.  Finally, the idea that mayoral control is more democratic is preposterous (just ask community folks in DC, New York, New Orleans, or Chicago).

The Mind Trust’s plan to redesign IPS

Posted on December 20, 2011 by stevehinnefeld

The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that promotes education reform, released an ambitious proposal Sunday for remaking Indianapolis Public Schools. It certainly has people talking.

Here are some initial thoughts:

– A key feature of the plan involves killing off the IPS school board and turning control of the district over to the Indianapolis mayor and city-county council. Whether this is a good or bad idea, it’s certainly undemocratic. As Heather Gillers points out in theIndianapolis Star, it means “telling voters who live in IPS that they are the only ones in the state who will not be allowed to elect their school board.”

More significantly, the city of Indianapolis and IPS cover very different geographical areas –- the mayor of Indy isn’t the mayor of IPS. The mayor and city-county council are elected by voters from throughout Marion County, but IPS is only one of 11 school districts in the county. About three-fourths of public-school students in Marion County attend non-IPS schools.

The argument for mayoral control is that the mayor will be “politically accountable” for the schools. But even if the mayor screws up, IPS residents may not have the votes to punish him at the polls.

– More than 80 percent of IPS students qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches. No other public school district in Indiana comes close to that level of poverty, except for some districts in Lake County (Gary, East Chicago). The Mind Trust plan barely mentions this fact, or the challenges it presents for any scheme to dramatically improve performance in IPS schools.

Sure, poverty can’t be an excuse for failing to do everything possible to improve schools. But as Helene F. Ladd and Edward B. Fiske wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed, pretending poverty doesn’t matter only gets in the way of serious attempts at reform.

– The Mind Trust plan envisions converting all IPS schools to what it calls “opportunity schools,” with the freedom and flexibility that are usually associated with charter schools. All would be “schools of choice”: parents could send their kids to any school in the district, subject to the IPS somehow playing traffic cop.

It’s the standard market-based ideology of education reform: “Great schools” will thrive because parents send their children there; “failing schools” will close for lack of enrollment. The models for this approach are New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The Mind Trust claims it will be possible to reallocate 80 percent of IPS administrative costs to the schools, leaving the district’s central office to be a low-level provider of services. This seems like a stretch. But even if it isn’t, a whole lot more responsibilities also would flow to the schools. Principals would apparently be responsible for hiring and firing teachers, establishing curriculum, selecting textbooks, arranging for school meals, lining up transportation, securing special-education services, handling the paperwork for federal Title I funds, etc., etc.

Oh, and also finding time to be great instructional leaders.

– According to the Star, the Mind Trust paid $700,000 to have its plan produced by Public Impact, a North Carolina consulting firm. That seems like a hefty price for a product that appears to involve no original research, and with its executive summary packed with reformist jargon about bold visions, reinventing education, empowering parents, great leaders, great teachers, ad nauseum.

Some $500,000 came from the Indiana Department of Education, the Star reports – a lot of public money to spend at a time when state government is cutting services.

– For those of us who don’t live in Indianapolis, it’s probably hard to comprehend the hunger that many civic-minded people must feel for something, anything, that will turn IPS into a great school system. It’s common to hear that “IPS is broken and can’t be fixed,” or words to that effect. Superintendents have raised hopes but produced disappointing results, at least when it comes to test scores. So it’s not surprising that the Mind Trust plan has won praise from folks on the left, right and center.

But as education historian Diane Ravitch often warns, there are no “silver bullets” in education. There are no miracle cures for poverty. Making a difference in the lives of children is hard work that takes time, resources, dedication and sustained focus.

Indiana Education and the Democrats

While it is true the Indiana Democrats need to get motivated on education policy--quite frankly, they're letting Daniels completely control the whole conversation--the leaps of logic here are stunning.  There's not research that says that merit-pay works or that charter schools are the answer.  In fact, with only 19% of charter schools outperforming traditional public schools the whole premise seems like a bad bet....or maybe it's about a bigger political ideology.  Don't forget that Daniels has said that if he could privatize public education tomorrow, he'd do it.  Democrats need to speak out, get a candidate to beat Bennett and stop this reckless dismantling of Indiana education.


oh, and.....we should be very worried if Daniels and Obama's education plans are simpatico.

Education stand could hurt Dems

Gov. Mitch Daniels isn't on the ballot this election year. But in many ways, his education agenda is.

In recent years, Daniels and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett have struggled to push education reforms through the legislature because of strident opposition from House Democratic leaders. It's been a disappointing and somewhat surprising obstacle at a time when other Democrats in the state and nationally are fighting for similar reforms.For instance, President Barack Obama's education agenda focuses on many of the same ideas Daniels and Bennett have talked about.

As he sat in his office last week, Daniels noted that he has been able to work with House Speaker Pat Bauer and other Democratic caucus leaders on a range of issues, from property taxes to telecom reform. But on education, he said, House Democrats "like it as it is" and prevent reform bills from getting "to first base."

A big part of the problem is that House Democrats are an arm of the powerful teachers union lobby. So when Daniels argues for changes in teacher seniority rules that sometimes protect bad teachers at the expense of good ones, he gets nowhere. When he talks about changing pay structures, he hits a roadblock.

"The best teachers -- meaning those whose kids learn the most -- should be paid more for that," Daniels said. "The teachers whose kids do not grow year after year after year should not have permanent job protection. That doesn't exist anywhere else."

Again, the Democratic president's administration has advocated for similar ideas. In the Indiana House, though, partisanship prevails.

READ MORE:

A Teacher Speaks Back to Daniels & Bennett

An Indiana AP teacher speaks back to the reckless spin of the Daniels/Bennett machine.  And look!  She actually brings data to a question about education!  Daniels lack of understanding or even concern for public education never ceases to amaze (and how Bennett can sleep at night is beyond us).  AP isn't the answer and it wasn't designed to be.  Historically, AP classes where for those top 2% students that might be ready to take college level classes.  For Daniels (and apparently Bennett) all education is for is a piece of paper that leads to a job--if that's true then rush these kids through, put them in classes that they're not ready for, and make it look good for the paper.

Cheers to this brave and thoughtful teacher!  We need more to speak out!!

AP classes don't always equal upward mobility

Lynette Enz Liberge

Posted: June 13, 2010

In a recent ceremony honoring 12 Indiana high schools for having at least 25 percent of their students pass an Advanced Placement exam, Gov. Mitch Daniels praised the schools for "preserving the opportunity for upward mobility in our state and our society." That seems an odd choice of words, given the socioeconomic data of those schools.

According to the Indiana Youth Institute, the percentage of Hoosier students receiving free and reduced lunch was 42 percent in 2009. By contrast, the school corporations of the 12 high schools in question averaged only 16 percent. In fact, seven of the 12 schools are in districts with the six lowest percentages in the state.

Similarly, the website STATS Indiana reports that in 2000 only 19 percent of our state's adults had a bachelor's degree or higher. In the same year, 58 percent of adults in Carmel had four-year degrees, as did 60 percent of adults in Zionsville and Fishers and 70 percent in West Lafayette.

The fact that these 12 high schools have such a high percentage of advanced students is laudable. It is not, however, a sign of upward mobility. At best, it shows maintenance of the status quo. It might even be argued that Martinsville High School's 9 percent AP pass rate in a district with fewer than 12 percent of adults with four-year degrees actually shows more promise of upward mobility than does Carmel's 31 percent pass rate in its more highly educated township.

I do not mean to diminish the great things going on in those 12 schools. Daniels was right to praise the schools, teachers, principals and superintendents. However, his admonition for other educators to "take notice" is not only insulting, but may ultimately be detrimental to the very students he wishes to help.

The Indiana Department of Education has a goal of doubling the number of students passing AP exams in the next two years. It wants all schools to meet the 25 percent benchmark. This is unreasonable. The governor can't simply will a mediocre student to be prepared for an AP-level class from one year to the next. The skills, knowledge, work ethic and mind-set of an advanced student develop throughout the student's life, both at home and at school.

In many school districts, a majority of parents do not value education, rarely read to their children and never help them with their homework. Just as the high expectations displayed in Zionsville and West Lafayette are passed from generation to generation, these negative patterns are also entrenched in families and in certain areas. Short of some sudden and vast societal change, these districts will not have a 25 percent AP pass rate in 20 years, much less two.

In order to meet state expectations, school administrators and counselors are likely to push students to take classes for which they are not qualified. In order not to lose those students, the teacher will be forced to move at a slower pace or water down the course, hurting those students who were prepared for the class in the first place.

(If the quality of the curriculum falls low enough, the College Board could even pull the school's right to call it an AP course, thus depriving all students of the opportunity to take it.)

Through this unrealistic goal, the state is already cheapening Indiana's AP program in word; its implementation could cheapen the program in substance.

I only wish that educators had the power that Daniels and the DOE seem to believe we do: that with a little more work, a little more training, a little more researchinto the best methods and a little more accountability, teachers can turn things around for all students. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of many dedicated people throughout the state, the path to true upward mobility seems to be a little more difficult to find than that.

Indiana DOE Hostile to Teachers

The word is out.... Tony Bennett hates teachers.  Another embarrassment for Indiana and its reputation in education.  "Hostile" is too nice a word for what has been a administration rife with thoughtless policy changes, aversion to research and data, and a tendency for shady processes.  Bennett keeps trying to call himself a "reformer"....hopefully Hoosiers are smarter than to fall for that.

Teachers union chief chides state Education Department

One of the nation's most prominent teachers union officials has called out Indiana's Department of Education as one of three in the country most hostile to teachers.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten cited Indiana, Virginia and Minnesota as especially egregious in failing to include teachers in their applications for the federal Race to the Top competition for $4.4 billion in money for education reform. "State officials in Minnesota and Indiana failed to include teachers in the application process -- and then scapegoated teachers to deflect attention from the decision not to file applications," Weingarten said in a statement released nationally Tuesday.

"What is especially troubling about the states that failed to work with teachers unions is that, as teachers well know, the common denominator for all good schools is an environment where the adults work together on behalf of the students."

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett has tangled with the Indiana Federation of Teachers and the Indiana State Teachers Association, blasting them as being out to protect adults at the cost of educating children.

The federal grant process required dramatic changes, including a willingness to tie teacher job reviews to student performance. But Indiana pushed harder than many other states, and teachers unions were not allowed to see the proposals until after they were filed.

Indiana did not apply for a second round of funding, citing the teachers unions' lack of support.  Bennett said the positions of the IFT leadership have been at odds with some of the positions of its own locals and with the public statements Weingarten has made at the national level. He said he was surprised at her comments Tuesday.

"That statement is unfounded on her part," he said. "It's obvious that the leadership of the state unions doesn't reflect Ms. Weingarten's openness to reform."