Funding Failure: Testing Vendor Gets $40 Million Increase

Amid third grade controversy, Pearson collects more cash

Tennessee standardized testing vendor Pearson will soon be collecting $40 million more thanks to Gov. Bill Lee’s administration extending and adding to the testing company’s contract.

Tennessee Lookout has more:

Amid uproar over third-grade reading scores and the prospect of thousands of failing students, Tennessee lawmakers extended the testing vendor’s contract and bumped up the total payout by nearly $40 million.

The Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Review Committee voted Wednesday to tack on another year for British-based NCS Pearson to administer TNReady and increase the total contract to $132 million from $93 million. The state previously paid $30 million a year to Questar to handle its main K-12 test.

Pearson became the state’s testing vendor of choice after Tennessee had a difficult time transitioning to online tests several years ago:

Pearson’s lobbying expenditure reports show the company spends between $25,000-$50,000 a year to influence lawmakers.

I’m guessing the $40 million contract increase is considered by the testing vendor to be a pretty solid ROI for those expenses.

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For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

The Least Wonderful Time of the Year

It’s TNReady trouble time – an annual event in Tennessee

Ah, yes. It’s that time of year again. The time of TNReady troubles.

This year, of course, the TNReady issue is compounded with a new and ridiculous third grade retention law.

We’ll start there.

As a result of the devastating new law, third grade students who didn’t meet a certain score on the ELA portion of TNReady this year are subject to being held back. To avoid that fate, they can participate in summer school and possibly have a tutor in 4th grade.

If those options don’t work, or they don’t complete summer school, the student will repeat third grade.

Since the test had much higher stakes this year than normal, the TN Department of Education offered the opportunity for students to retake the test if they fell into the score category requiring retention.

Those retakes were set for this week.

Here’s how that went:

My district ran into tech issues today with the 3rd grade retest. Our kids sat for over an hour after trying unsuccessfully to log in.

This type of issue – a technical difficulty with accessing the test – happened in a number of districts across the state.

So, imagine being a third grader at the end of your school year. You find out you have to retake an 85 minute test you’ve already taken. If you don’t do well enough, you have to go to summer school and possibly repeat third grade.

No pressure at all, right?

Then you show up for your retake and you’re ready to go and you have to wait for an hour or two while some tech issues are worked out.

It doesn’t matter that you’ve waited and are now likely extra anxious. This is it.

This test counts. For a lot – especially in the life of a 9-year-old.


Of course, this isn’t the first time TNReady has had problems. In fact, just about every single year the test has been administered, there have been challenges.

This year, many districts did not receive the necessary scores in time to include them in student grades. Here’s how Clarksville-Montgomery County describes the situation:

CMCSS will not include the TCAP/EOC state standardized test results as part of students’ final grades this school year. In accordance with T.C.A. § 49-1-617 and District policy, students’ TCAP scores will not be included in their final spring semester grades if the scores are not received by the District at least five instructional days before the end of the academic year. CMCSS did not receive scores in time.

Although scores will not be included in semester grades, in accordance with state law, the third-grade ELA TCAP score, or retest score, is still being used to determine the pathways to fourth-grade promotion unless a student is exempt from third-grade retention. CMCSS received scores from the state last Friday afternoon and processed through the weekend. Families of students at-risk for retention began receiving communications last Sunday regarding the retest and next steps.

Here’s an update from Sumner County:

So, the scores don’t count for a student’s grades, but they can be used to determine whether or not a student needs to take another test in the last days of the academic year.


Not only are there recurring technical issues with TNReady, it is important to note what the test actually measures:

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

Hillsdale Charters and Common Core

An Alternative Plan for Using TN’s $2 Billion Budget Surplus

Teacher Shortage Crisis Continues

State does little to help attract, retain educators

Nashville’s Fox 17 reports that Tennessee is facing a teacher shortage that is growing worse by the year:

The report shows this school year started with more than 1,000 teacher vacancies state-wide, and about 3,000 positions filled by people with an emergency teaching credential. The vacancies are up 16 percent since last school year.

Low pay and poor working conditions are cited as reasons for the exodus from the profession. Likewise, fewer college students are seeking teaching credentials.

I wrote recently about Gov. Bill Lee’s heavy spin around teacher compensation. While Lee claims Tennessee will soon be in the Top 10 in teacher pay, we currently rank in the bottom 7 – and even below Alabama.

“Tennessee teachers are the best in the Southeast, and we have the outcomes and data to back that up, but we are not paid as the best and are behind our peers in neighboring states,” said TEA President Tanya Coats. “Teachers, like other Tennesseans, have been affected by inflation and rising costs in the family budget. State revenues are strong, and we’ve seen record budget surpluses for many years. More can be done to improve the economics of being a professional teacher in our state, and TEA will continue to advocate for professional salaries for our dedicate educators.”

Coats noted that the proposed teacher pay increase will bring Tennessee’s minimum teacher salary to $42,000 a year. She then pointed out that Alabama’s minimum teacher pay is $43,358.

It’s also noteworthy that only 25% of Tennessee teachers earn more than $60,000 a year.

Bill Lee’s rhetoric on teacher pay doesn’t match the policy reality – and teachers are making that clear by leaving the profession.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @tnedreport

Hillsdale’s Common Core Connection

A report by Adam Friedman in the Tennessee Lookout suggests that Hillsdale College’s charter school network, American Classical Education, relies on curriculum closely tied to the Common Core.

Interestingly, Common Core has been banned in Tennessee and Gov. Bill Lee – who recruited Hillsdale to the state – has bragged about eradicating any traces of the curriculum from Tennessee public schools.

Public School Partners, a nonprofit organization I have been involved with, released a briefing today for Tennessee school superintendents and school boards designed to provide insight and analysis relative to the Hillsdale-Common Core Connection.

Here is that briefing:

SITUATION ANALYSIS

American Classical Education (ACE), a charter-school operator affiliated with Michigan-based Hillsdale College, is proposing to create five American Classical Academy charters based on virtually identical 500-page (+/-) applications submitted to local school boards in Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, and Rutherford counties.

ACE’s charter applications invoke the “Core Knowledge” educational theory as a key driver of curriculum and instruction for the proposed taxpayer-funded, privately run schools. Core Knowledge — a teaching method developed by theorist E. D. Hirsch, founder and chairman of the Core Knowledge Foundation — is  connected to the complex and politically controversial Common Core academic standards, which are banned in Tennessee along with aligned curriculum and materials.

This briefing memo examines how ACE seeks to circumvent Tennessee law and implement Common Core-aligned curriculum and materials. Specifically, this memo explains:

  • How Core Knowledge, the preferred curriculum and instructional approach for Hillsdale-affiliated charter schools, is connected to Common Core;
  • How the Hillsdale-affiliated charter operator’s board chair in Tennessee is a longtime Common Core advocate;
  • How the Hillsdale-affiliated charter applications in Tennessee are seeking a waiver of state law that bans Common Core-aligned curriculum and materials; and
  • How Hillsdale-affiliated charter schools in other states routinely invoke Common Core alongside Core Knowledge in the fine print of their applications.

CORE KNOWLEDGE, COMMON CORE ARE ‘INTERCONNECTED’

For more than a decade, Core Knowledge and Common Core have been synonymous. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation engineered the rapid creation of Common Core standards nationwide during the late-2000s. Alongside the Gates Foundation, Hirsch’s Core Knowledge Foundation unveiled plans in Education Week to link his curriculum to Common Core — and Hirsch personally endorsed the standards in a Washington Post op-ed entitled, “Common Core Standards could revolutionize reading instruction.”


According to a 2013 profile in the New York Times, Hirsch — whose earlier work was criticized as “elitist, antiquated and narrow-minded” — found vindication in the wake of Common Core’s adoption in dozens of states. Similarly, a 2014 article published by the conservative Fordham Institute celebrated a growing recognition of the “connective tissue” between Core Knowledge and Common Core.

More recently, J.C. Bowman, executive director and CEO of Professional Educators of Tennessee, observed the deep ties between Core Knowledge and Common Core in a report by the Tennessee Lookout: “You can’t say you’re against Common Core, but for Core Knowledge. They’re both ideologically from the same place. They’re very interconnected.”

ACE BOARD CHAIR IS LONGTIME COMMON CORE ADVOCATE

Former State Senate Education Committee Chair and now ACE Board Chair Dolores Gresham is a longtime champion for Common Core.

In a 2013 op-ed published in the Tennessean, Gresham touted Common Core as promoting “critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity.” While barnstorming the state in 2014, Gresham declared during a public meeting in Memphis: “We will be using Common Core standards in public education in Tennessee.” (video 3m10s). In a heated exchange with a parent, Gresham dismissed a child’s stress over Common Core as an “isolated incident” (video 4m30s).

Despite Gresham’s efforts to sell Tennesseans on Common Core, the tide turned against the standards with critics across the political spectrum ramping up attacks. Conservative Tea Party activists, especially, opposed what they saw as federally incentivized overreach by the Obama Administration — even deriding the standards as “Obamacore.”

By late 2014, Gresham responded to the political pressure by introducing legislation to repeal Common Core in Tennessee. Soon after, she switched positions, telling the Associated Press in early 2015 that she reconsidered and thought Common Core was the right approach. Then, she changed her mind again. Education Week chronicled Gresham’s back-and-forth policy shifts in an article with the headline: “Common Core Flip-Flop Times Two: One Tenn. Senator’s Changing Positions.”

Policymakers representing conservative suburbs in Middle Tennessee — where ACE is now seeking to open charter schools — blasted Common Core in public statements and legislation.


For example, then-State Representative Joe Carr, who now serves as Rutherford County mayor, issued a statement to Breitbart News saying that Common Core amounted to “centralized education.” Similarly, then-State Representative Sheila Butt, who now serves as Maury County mayor, penned an op-ed in the Columbia Daily Herald pledging to eliminate Common Core and in 2015 co-sponsored a bill to repeal the standards. (More recently, however, Butt reversed course with public statements voicing support for ACE’s Common Core-aligned “classical school curriculum.”)


DESPITE PUSHBACK, CORE KNOWLEDGE DOUBLED DOWN ON COMMON CORE

Ignoring the growing political furor in Tennessee and across the nation, Hirsch’s Core Knowledge Foundation doubled down on support of Common Core.

In a 2016 blog post in Achieve the Core (published by Common Core advocacy group Student Achievement Partners), Core Knowledge Foundation President Linda Bevilacqua wrote that the instructional design of the foundation’s language arts curriculum is not only aligned to the Common Core but “embodies the spirit and intent of the standards.”

Similarly, in a 2016 research paper, the Core Knowledge Foundation noted: “The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) establish an ambitious vision for the K-12 education system.” Moreover, the paper stated: “The Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) program meets the CCSS in ways that are consistent with the research on how children learn and on effective pedagogy.”

In a 34-page compendium of “Frequently Asked Questions” published in 2017, the Core Knowledge Foundation noted that the organization’s language arts materials, known as CKLA, are “fully, and explicitly, aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).” The document repeatedly emphasized a deep and intentional connection with statements such as: “CKLA is 100% aligned to both the knowledge-building spirit of the standards and to each of the individual standards. At the individual standard level, the alignment is explicit: It is present at the domain level and unit level, as well as the lesson level; this explicit alignment is detailed in the teacher materials for the given domain or unit.”

TENNESSEE OFFICIALLY BANS COMMON CORE STANDARDS, MATERIALS

According to Chalkbeat, Tennessee officially repealed Common Core standards in 2015 and transitioned in 2017 to revised academic standards that were billed as homegrown. Legislative efforts to purge the Volunteer State of all vestiges of Common Core persisted for several more years.

During the pandemic in 2021, Governor Bill Lee sought to close what he called a lingering “Common Core loophole” with legislation banning teachers from using educational resources “marketed or otherwise identified as Common Core textbooks or materials.” Lee even pushed to allow the state to withhold funds from school districts caught using Common Core materials. Upon signing the Common Core materials ban into law, Lee stated in a tweet: “I promised that we would root out Common Core in TN public schools, and we’ve made tackling this issue a key legislative initiative.”


In follow-up guidance to school districts, the Tennessee Department of Education and State Board of Education explicitly noted: “When evaluating charter school applications for approval, local boards of education and other charter school authorizers will ensure that textbooks and instructional materials proposed by a charter school applicant comply with the law.” Put differently: Privately run charters, in addition to public schools, cannot utilize Common Core-aligned curriculum and materials.


ACE SEEKS WAIVER OF COMMON CORE BAN

Despite the state ban, ACE is now seeking waivers of the state law that prohibits the use of Common Core instructional materials, according to the Tennessee Lookout.

All of ACE’s charter applications in Tennessee — each signed by Gresham, the ACE board chair — include a list of 16 requested waivers from state law and policies. Near the bottom of the waiver list is an item described as “use of unapproved textbooks.” Specifically, the item requests relief from Tennessee Code Annotated 49-6-2206 — which is a statute entitled, “Use of Common Core textbooks or materials prohibited.”

ACE’s waiver requests don’t specifically mention Common Core, but instead note that the proposed schools’ “curriculum and instructional approaches will be linked to [each] school’s mission and philosophy” as well as curricular materials detailed in the applications. ACE’s curricular materials are based on Core Knowledge — which, again, is connected to Common Core.

According to ACE’s charter applications in Tennessee, the proposed schools’ K-12 Program Guide was “developed from the foundational tenets” of Core Knowledge. Further, ACE states that administrators, teachers, and staff will undergo intensive Core Knowledge training through workshops and summer programs.

Again, contrary to Tennessee law, Common Core is front-and-center in the Core Knowledge Foundation’s marketing. According to the foundation’s website, free downloadable materials include teacher guides, activity books, and other resources “aligned to the Common Core State Standards.” For example, the foundation notes that Core Knowledge history objectives are “correlated with the Common Core English Language Arts standards.”

In a lengthy 2023 publication entitled “Core Knowledge Sequence: Content and Skill Guidelines for Grades K-8,” the foundation repeatedly notes that the Core Knowledge academic objectives “embed all of the skills and concepts within the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.”

OTHER HILLSDALE-AFFILIATED CHARTER OPERATORS PUSH COMMON CORE

Across the country, other Hillsdale-affiliated charter operators routinely invoke Common Core alongside Core Knowledge in the fine print of their applications. For example:

  • In neighboring Illinois, the 2017 application for Chicago Classical Academy pledged that student achievement would be measured against standardized tests that are “valid, reliable, and appropriately aligned with curricula and Common Core State Standards (CCSS).”

Meanwhile, Texas education officials in 2020 blasted the Hillsdale-affiliated Heritage Classical Academy over trying to slip the Common Core into the Lone Star State. In written comments, reviewers for the state education agency and state board of education noted: “The charter intends to use the Common Core aligned Core Knowledge materials, which are not aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and have not been reviewed by Texas educators nor the SBOE.”


CONCLUSION

The evidence is clear: ACE is seeking to implement Common Core in Tennessee — with an initial focus on Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, and Rutherford counties. Core Knowledge, the preferred curriculum and instructional approach for ACE, is connected to Common Core. ACE is led by longtime Common Core advocate Dolores Gresham. Additionally, ACE is seeking a waiver from state law prohibiting the use of Common Core materials. Finally: ACE is part of a nationwide pattern in which other Hillsdale-affiliated charter operators tout Common Core-aligned materials and assessments.

A protest of Common Core organized by Americans for Prosperity

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

An ATM for an Extreme Agenda

Hillsdale charters gain access to Tennessee tax dollars

Over at The Education Report, I write about how Hillsdale’s charter network has gained access to local tax dollars in Rutherford County – and how this opens the door for them to treat local taxpayers as an ATM in support of their Christian Nationalist agenda.

Ultimately, local taxpayers could end up footing a $350 million bill to support Hillsdale in Tennessee.

Here are some highlights:

Hersch explains that even when there is broad public opposition to Hillsdale’s charters (as has been the case in the Tennessee districts where Hillsdale has applied to operate), the school has found a way to foist its charters on districts.

In Tennessee, that means that even the four rejected Hillsdale charters – in Madison, Maury, Montgomery, & Robertson counties – could end up being approved by Gov. Bill Lee’s handpicked State Charter Commission.

A recent analysis of the potential fiscal impact of Hillsdale charters in Tennessee shows that if all five Hillsdale charters ultimately get approved, local taxpayers could be stuck with a tab of an additional $35 million a year.

If the school ultimately reaches Gov. Bill Lee’s promise of a network of 50 charters in Tennessee, that’s a total local taxpayer bill of $350 million a year.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

A Modest Proposal

$1.9 Billion in new education spending

Over at The Education Report I take a look at Tennessee’s giant revenue surplus and offer a proposal on how that money could be invested to benefit public schools and all of Tennessee.

Here are the basics:

20% raise for all teachers – $625 million

Free school breakfast and lunch for all students – $714 million

Investment in Pre-k – 3rd grade reading – $500 million

We can afford it, our students and communities deserve it.

READ more>

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MORE EDUCATION NEWS

Hillsdale Gets Access to TN Tax Dollars

On Teacher Pay in Tennessee

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Lee Brings School Privatization to Chattanooga

Vouchers will be available for Hamilton County students in the 2023-24 school year

Gov. Bill Lee today signed a law expanding his school voucher scheme to Chattanooga.

More from NewsBreak:

Students in these districts (Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga) may receive a voucher in an amount equivalent to the state-generated funding provided to their home district for the student. Under the state’s new school funding formula (TISA), each student generates a specific dollar amount based on a range of factors. The vouchers should range from about $8,000 to around $15,000 depending on where a student lives, family income, and a series of other factors included in the TISA calculation.

Research has consistently shown that vouchers do not improve student outcomes:

In addition to vouchers, Lee is attempting to privatize the state’s public schools through a network of charter schools affiliated with extremist Hillsdale College.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

New Boss, Same Game

Tennessee’s new Education Commissioner will continue privatization push

There’s a new Commissioner of Education coming to Tennessee and Volunteer State residents will likely be unable to discern any policy differences when compared with outgoing Commissioner Penny Schwinn.

Jeb Bush – known for privatizing Florida public schools by way of both charters and vouchers – was quick to congratulate Lizzette Reynolds on her appointment as Tennessee’s next Education Commissioner.

Reynolds works for Bush’s pro-privatization issue advocacy group, ExcelinEd.

While Gov. Bill Lee credited outgoing Commissioner Schwinn with leading the way for the state’s school voucher program, it seems likely Reynolds will continue pushing various methods of school privatization.

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

Hillsdale Continues Push for TN Tax Dollars

Why Does TN Act Like a “Broke Dad?”

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Schwinn Out at Department of Education

Pro-voucher Commissioner leaving role at end of school year

Tennessee Commissioner of Education Penny Scwhinn, who openly advocated for shifting public money to private schools via a school voucher scheme dubbed Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) is leaving her role at the end of the school year.

More from NewsBreak:

Current Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn announced her resignation today, effective in just a few weeks when the school year ends for most districts around the state.

Lee commended Schwinn for her service to Tennessee:

“During her years of dedicated service, Penny has played a key role in our administration’s work to ensure educational opportunity for Tennessee students and secure the next generation of teachers, while navigating historic learning challenges,” said Lee. “I have tremendous gratitude for her leadership and wish her much success in her next chapter.”

Lee credited Schwinn with what he called significant education reform, including ushering in the state’s school voucher program.

Schwinn will be replaced by Lizzette Reynolds, a former top official at the Texas Education Agency.

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

Hillsdale Heist Week in Tennessee

School Vouchers Headed to Chattanooga

Rutherford County and Christian Nationalist Charter Schools

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport