Author Archives: Andy Spears

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Analytical Gap

 

Earlier today I posted a press release on the Education Equality Index and its claims about schools in Memphis.

I posted the release without comment or analysis.

Fortunately, Bruce Baker provided some analysis regarding this index and other attempts to compare achievement gaps among schools from different states.

Here’s the bottom line: Income gaps explain achievement gaps. That is, states with relatively large income gaps tend to have relatively large achievement gaps. Likewise, states with more income homogeneity tend to have smaller achievement gaps.

I wrote about this on a Tennessee-specific level when talking about the achievement gap and BEP funding increases:

Additionally, during this same ten year time period, the gap between the highest and lowest scores among districts is clearly explained by the gap in per pupil expenditures among those districts. You spend more, you get better results. The impetus for all this spending was the new BEP formula that sent more money to all school systems. Those districts already at the top were most able to take advantage and boost ACT scores while those at the bottom saw an increase in the number of students taking the ACT, resulting in the statewide slight ACT decline Dunn references.

The districts at the top in spending tend to also be the districts with the highest incomes. Thus, TCAP results often serve as good indicators of the relative income level of Tennessee school districts.

Here’s what Baker has to say:

But these assertions – both the old and the new – presume that comparisons of achievement gaps, either by race or income, between states are valid. That is, they validly reflect policy/practice differences across states and not some other factor.

Quite simply, as most commonly measured, they do not. They largely reflect differences in income distributions across states, a nuance I suspect will continue to be overlooked in public discourse and the media. But one can hope.

Achievement gap analysis is interesting and it tells us something. But, as Baker points out, it is important to be clear about what such gaps reveal.

For more on education politics and policy, follow @TNEdReport

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Opting for Questions

Charles Corra over at Rocky Top Ed Talk has some questions about the Opt-out movement that appears to be gaining some traction in Tennessee:

To opt-out or to not opt-out? There seems to be an intense, festering degree of distrust with the state testing system in Tennessee (with good reason, based on how TNReady fared this year).  However, is that enough to justify a lack of no confidence?  Is testing essential to acquiring data and helping to properly identify the needs and focus areas of a school, of a particular student?

The article notes that students are refusing tests on a larger scale, though solid numbers are difficult to obtain. Perhaps the failures of TNReady have called attention to the testing challenges many schools and students face?

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

 

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Memphis Schools Closing Large Achievement Gap

According to a new index created in partnership with Education Cities and Great Schools, schools in Memphis have an achievement gap that is among the largest in the nation. However, data indicate a closing of the gap in recent years.

Here’s the press release:

According to the Education Equality Index (EEI), a first-of-its-kind tool released today, the achievement gap between students from Memphis’ low-income families and their more advantaged peers is significant, but also narrowing at one of the fastest rates in the nation. Between 2011 and 2014, Memphis’ achievement gap narrowed by 19 percent, meaning significantly more students from low-income families now have access to a more equal playing field.

“There is much to celebrate in Memphis, as the achievement gap is narrowing more quickly than in 90 percent of major U.S. cities,” said Ethan Gray, founder and CEO of Education Cities. “While we, as a nation, have a long way to go to ensure our most vulnerable children have the opportunities they need to thrive, we celebrate the many schools in Memphis that are closing the achievement gap, proving that greater equality is possible.”

The Education Equality Index is the first national comparative measure of the achievement gap at the school, city, and state levels, and identifies the regions where children from low-income communities are most likely to attend schools usually only available to their more advantaged peers. Funded by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and developed in partnership by the foundation, Education Cities, and GreatSchools, the EEI features school, city and state-level data covering the nation’s 100 biggest cities in 35 states.

The Education Equality Index also identifies the top 10 schools in Memphis with small or nonexistent achievement gaps that serve a student population where the majority are from low-income families. Power Center Academy Middle School and High School both rank among Memphis’ top 10 schools.

“Closing the achievement gap for me is knowing my daughter can attend college without taking remedial classes, without being challenged with social and study life,” said Memphis parent Angela King, whose daughter attends Power Center Academy Middle School.  “She received a safe and nurturing education while focusing on her deficits.  We feel privileged and honored to have been a part of a program that has holistically met the needs of my daughter and every scholar at PCAMS and PCAHS.”

Key findings from the Education Equality Index include:

  • Memphis’ EEI score of 28.3 puts the city 70th out of the 100 largest cities in the U.S. for which data is available.
  • The achievement gap in Memphis narrowed by 19 percent between 2011 and 2014, a pace quicker than 90 percent of major U.S. cities.
  • Tennessee’s EEI score of 41.5 indicates that its statewide achievement gap is smaller than in 24 of 35 states for which data is available — including Kentucky and Missouri.
  • The achievement gap in Tennessee narrowed by five percent between 2011 and 2014, meaning that today more students from low-income communities have access to schools that are helping them achieve at similar levels to their more advantaged peers.

The top 10 Memphis schools with small or nonexistent achievement gaps that serve a student population where the majority are from low-income families are:

  • Delano Elementary School
  • Ford Road Elementary School
  • Freedom Preparatory Academy
  • Hollis F. Price Middle College High School
  • Jackson Elementary School
  • John P. Freeman Optional School
  • Middle College High School
  • Oakshire Elementary School
  • Power Center Academy (High School)
  • Power Center Academy (Middle School)

As detailed in the EEI, there are hundreds of schools across the nation where low-income students are achieving at levels that match or even exceed their more advantaged peers — proving that all children can excel in school when given the opportunity.

“Equality of opportunity is an American ideal,” said Ethan Gray, founder and CEO of Education Cities. “The Education Equality Index shows that while we, as a nation, have a long way to go to ensure our most vulnerable children have the opportunities they need to thrive, there are schools in almost every city proving that equality is possible.”

This is the first in a series of releases intended to identify the practices that are closing the achievement gap at the quickest pace. To see more data from the Education Equality Index and use the interactive online tool, visit www.educationequalityindex.org.

About Education CitiesEducation Cities is a non-profit organization that convenes, advises, and supports a network of cities in their efforts to increase the number of great public schools. Learn more at www.education-cities.org.

About GreatSchools

Founded in 1998, GreatSchools is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit helping millions of parents find high-quality schools, support great learning, and guide their kids to great futures. GreatSchools offers thousands of articles, videos, and worksheets to help parents support their children’s learning. Last year, GreatSchools had more than 56 million unique visitors, including more than half of all U.S. families with school-age children. Headquartered in Oakland, California, GreatSchools partners with cities and states across the country to promote access to school quality data to families, particularly those in high need. Through its GreatKids program, GreatSchools promotes parenting for education success and teacher-parent collaboration.

About the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation 

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of children living in urban poverty around the world. Headquartered in Austin, TX with satellite offices in New Delhi, India and Cape Town, South Africa, the Dell family foundation funds programs that foster high-quality public education and childhood wellness, and improve the economic stability of families living in poverty. The foundation has committed more than $1.2 billion to global children’s issues and community initiatives to date. Learn more at www.msdf.org.

 

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

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Ready to Score

An elementary principal in Sumner County puts TNReady in perspective:

I hope our students grow into adults who don’t remember their TNReady scores. But I sincerely hope these same students see a relationship between hard work and performance, a correlation clearly revealed through standardized tests like TNReady. I hope our students remember we loved and supported them unconditionally, regardless of test performance. We want to celebrate students’ academic “wins” and help them grow through what might feel like intellectual “losses.” Keep in mind, we sacrifice the opportunity to accomplish either if we don’t play the TNReady game, or at least some sort of similar game.

Read more about why this leader thinks TNReady is important and also about the context of this and other state tests.

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

 

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Corra Talks Cash

Over at Rocky Top Ed Talk, Charles Corra talks about the importance of investment in schools, using the fairly extreme example of Detroit Public Schools as a cautionary tale.

Corra concludes:

DPS’s situation is certainly an extreme one, but clearly not unrealistic.  The legislature in Tennessee needs to look at DPS’s crisis as a warning  – school funding is critically important and should not be overlooked.  Yes, an entire state being underfunded by $500 million is certainly a big difference from a city school district being in debt $350 million, but the point still stands – funding matters, and its not a game.

While he notes that the DPS example is extreme, it is worth noting that the legislature is in the middle of some serious school funding games, with some lawmakers attempting to abdicate the state’s responsibility to fund schools.

Yes, school funding matters. And being $500 million behind as a state is problematic, especially during a growth period when we have a surplus of $1 billion.

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

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Flexible Validity

Commissioner of Education Candice McQueen today provided additional information on how teacher evaluations would be handled in light of the flexibility the department is granting educators in light of TNReady troubles.

First, the email from McQueen, then some thoughts:

Dear educators,

Thank you for all of your thoughtful questions in response to Gov. Haslam’s proposal to create evaluation flexibility during our transition to TNReady. Last month, we shared an overview of the governor’s proposal (here). Earlier this week, the legislation began moving through the legislative process, so I’m writing to share more detailed information regarding the proposal, specifically how it is designed to create evaluation flexibility for you.

The department has developed an FAQ document on Evaluation Flexibility for Teachers (here) which provides detailed information regarding how this flexibility will affect teachers in different subjects and grades. I encourage you to closely read this document to learn how the flexibility applies to your unique situation.

Meanwhile, I wanted to share a few highlights. The governor’s proposal would provide you the option to include or not include results from the 2015-16 TNReady and TCAP tests within the student growth component of your evaluation, depending on which scenario benefits you the most. In other words, if student growth scores from this year help you earn a higher evaluation score, they will be used. If they do not help you earn a higher score, they will not be used. The option that helps your score the most will automatically be incorporated into your evaluation. This applies to all grades and subjects, including science and social studies.

Because Tennessee teachers will meet over this spring and summer to establish scoring guidelines and cut scores for the new assessment, achievement scores will not be available until the fall. TVAAS scores, however, will be available this summer because cut scores for proficiency levels are not required to calculate growth scores.

You can follow the progress of the governor’s proposal as it moves through the legislative process at the Tennessee General Assembly website (here). If you have additional questions about how this may apply to you, please contact TEAM.Questions@tn.gov.

We hope this evaluation flexibility eases concerns as we transition to a new, more rigorous assessment that is fully aligned to our Tennessee Academic Standards, as well as navigate the challenge of moving to a paper-based test this year. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to Tennessee students, as well as your continued flexibility as we transition to an assessment that will provide us with better information about our students’ progress on the path to college and career readiness.

My thoughts:

While flexibility is good, and the TVAAS waiver is needed, this sentence is troubling:

TVAAS scores, however, will be available this summer because cut scores for proficiency levels are not required to calculate growth scores.

The plan is to allow teachers to include TNReady TVAAS scores if they improve the teacher’s overall 1-5 TEAM rating. That’s all well and good, except that there can be no valid TVAAS score generated from this year’s TNReady data. This fact seems to have escaped the data gurus at the Department of Education.

Here’s what I wrote after analyzing studies of value-added data and teacher performance when using different types of assessments:

If you measure different skills, you get different results. That decreases (or eliminates) the reliability of those results. TNReady is measuring different skills in a different format than TCAP. It’s BOTH a different type of test AND a test on different standards. Any value-added comparison between the two tests is statistically suspect, at best. In the first year, such a comparison is invalid and unreliable. As more years of data become available, it may be possible to make some correlation between past TCAP results and TNReady scores.

This year’s TNReady-based TVAAS scores will be invalid. So will next year’s, for that matter. There’s not enough comparative data to make a predictive inference regarding past TCAP performance as it relates to current TNReady performance. In other words, it’s like comparing apples to oranges. Or, pulling a number out of your ass.

IT’S WRONG!

But, there’s also the fact that in states with both paper-based and online testing, students score significantly higher on the paper tests. No one is talking about how this year’s mixed approach (some 20,000 students completed a portion of the test online on day one) will impact any supposed TVAAS number.

How about we simply don’t count test scores in teacher evaluations at all this year? Or for the next three years? We don’t even have a valid administration of TNReady – there have been errors, delays, and there still are graders hired from Craigslist.

Let’s take a step back and get it right – even if that means not counting TNReady at all this year — not for teachers, not for students, not for schools or districts. If this 11 hour test is really the best thing since sliced bread, let’s take the time to get it right. Or, here’s an idea, let’s stop TNReady for this year and allow students and teachers to go about the business of teaching and learning.

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T C Weber Has Had Enough

Nashville blogger T C Weber has had enough of the Tennessee Department of Education’s excuse-making over the ongoing TNReady fiasco.

Here’s what he has to say:

For those of you new to the game, let me give you a recap. This was supposed to be the year that everything was going to be different. But it didn’t take long for things to go awry. Within hours of beginning the administration of the test, the online testing platform failed. A mad scramble to affix blame ensued with the Department of Education ultimately deciding that pencil and paper would be the way to go. But in order to do that, schools would need to receive supplies in a timely manner, and now, that’s not happening either.

This is becoming a complete and utter fiasco. Some schools are having to change testing schedules for the third time. What that translates to is a loss of valuable instructional time and a huge inconvenience for children and teachers. It also fails to take into account special programs like field trips and such. One school in Chattanooga has two field trips scheduled for the end of April during dates they are now supposed to hold for testing. I guess they’ll have to cancel. Why are students going to be punished because adults failed to do their job?

He says more, but the post reminds me of the old adage: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

More on TNReady:

Still Not TNReady

Ready for a Break

Ready to Waive

Ready Already?

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

 

 

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Memphis to Join NAEP TUDA

Shelby County Schools is among six districts joining the “Nation’s Report Card” via the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) program.

Here’s the press release:

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) will include six more urban school districts from around the country after a unanimous vote Saturday by the National Assessment Governing Board to expand the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) program.

The six districts — Clark County School District (including Las Vegas); Denver Public Schools; Fort Worth Independent School District (Texas); Guilford County Schools (including Greensboro, North Carolina); Milwaukee Public Schools; and Shelby County Schools (including Memphis, Tennessee) — volunteered to be part of NAEP administration starting in 2017. TUDA is a special part of the NAEP program that provides results of how fourth- and eighth-graders perform in reading and mathematics in some of the nation’s largest urban school districts. The vote of the Governing Board, which sets policy for NAEP, brings the total number of TUDA districts to 27.

 

The idea for a big-city version of NAEP, also known as The Nation’s Report Card, originated in 2000, when the Council of the Great City Schools — a coalition of the nation’s large urban public school districts led by Executive Director Michael Casserly — requested that the Governing Board conduct a trial NAEP assessment for large urban school districts that volunteered to participate. Congress first authorized funding for TUDA in 2002, and increases in funding over time have enabled the Governing Board to expand the program.

 

“The Governing Board values Mr. Casserly’s foresight and leadership and the bipartisan support from Congress, the president and the Department of Education to support the expansion of this program,” said Governing Board Chair Terry Mazany. “TUDA provides school district leaders, parents and civic leaders with objective and comparable data to measure the progress of student achievement over time in many of the country’s largest school districts.”

 

“The addition of these six new cities to the Trial Urban District Assessment of NAEP is a major step forward for the program and will help sustain efforts to improve the nation’s large-city public schools well into the future,” Casserly said. “We are thrilled that 27 cities will be participating in 2017.”

 

TUDA tests representative samples of students and it reports district-level student achievement results, including trends over time. To be eligible for TUDA, a district must be in a city with a population of 250,000 or more, and at least half of its student population must include minority racial or ethnic groups or must be eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. New TUDA districts must be large enough to support testing three NAEP subjects per year in grades four and eight. The six districts join these other school systems:
  • Albuquerque Public Schools
  • Atlanta Public Schools
  • Austin Independent School District
  • Baltimore City Public Schools
  • Boston Public Schools
  • Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
  • Chicago Public Schools
  • Cleveland Metropolitan School District
  • Dallas Independent School District
  • Detroit Public Schools
  • District of Columbia Public Schools
  • Duval County Public Schools (Jacksonville, Florida)
  • Fresno Unified School District (California)
  • Hillsborough County Public Schools (Florida)
  • Houston Independent School District
  • Jefferson County Public Schools (Kentucky)
  • Los Angeles Unified School District
  • Miami-Dade County Public Schools
  • New York City Public Schools
  • School District of Philadelphia
  • San Diego Unified School District
“We now have an ever-greater geographic representation in TUDA, with four more states included. This will provide the nation with an objective picture of the achievement spanning the diversity of our nation’s students, recognizing that the majority of students in our nation’s schools is now composed of minority populations,” Mazany said.

 

View a list of current and eligible TUDA districts at www.nagb.org/policies/list-tuda-districts.html.

 

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The National Assessment of Educational Progress is the only nationally representative, continuing evaluation of the condition of education in the United States. It has served as a national yardstick of student achievement since 1969. Through The Nation’s Report Card, NAEP informs the public about what American students know and can do in various subject areas and compares achievement among states, large urban districts, and various student demographic groups.

 

The National Assessment Governing Board is an independent, nonpartisan board whose members include governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives, and members of the general public. Congress created the 26-member Governing Board in 1988 to oversee and set policy for NAEP.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
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Frogge Announces Re-election Bid

MNPS School Board Member Amy Frogge today announced she will be running for re-election from her District 9 School Board seat.

Here’s the press release:

Amy Frogge, School Board Representative for District 9, today announced her campaign for re-election to the Metro Nashville School Board. First elected in 2012, Frogge represents the greater Bellevue area, Sylvan Park, Charlotte Park, West Meade, and Hillwood.

“Through all our successes and challenges, it’s been an honor
representing our district,” Frogge said. “Standing up for our schools is
demanding, but the tide is turning away from reckless experimentation
and toward implementing strategies that have been proven to help our
children learn and grow.”

Frogge has been an outspoken proponent of whole child education, early childhood intervention, and increased exposure to physical activity and the arts. At the same time, she has vehemently opposed excessive standardized testing; efforts to diminish our teachers’ ability to be effective; and educationally and fiscally dangerous tactics pushed by out-of-state special interest groups.

During her tenure on the School Board, Frogge has succeeded in
guaranteeing all students in pre-K through sixth grade have recess
daily, and she has worked with other board members and administrative leaders to decrease standardized testing. She has also helped ensure that every middle school child receives instruction in foreign language, supported expansion of MNPS’s model pre-K program, and advocated for adequate and equitable school funding.

In addition, Frogge has been instrumental in efforts to update the aging Hillwood High School and increase capacity at elementary schools and middle schools across District 9. Money has been allocated to pay for architectural plans for a new high school, and plans call for
renovations to various schools as well as a new elementary school in the Bellevue area.

Frogge was named a “Hero of Public Education” by former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch, Best Public School Defender by the Nashville Scene, and School Board Member of the Year by the national blog Schools Matter.  She also received the Distinguished Service to Our Community honor from Delta Kappa Gamma, a teacher organization, and the Robert Chandler Ambassador Award from the Nashville Adult Literacy Council.

“With a new director of schools to be chosen soon, Nashville has a
unique opportunity to make our school system the best urban district in the nation,” Frogge noted. “With a singular focus on serving our
children, we can do great things for our city’s future.”

Frogge is backed by an impressive coalition of civic leaders, teachers,
involved parents, and community members from across the political
spectrum. (See list attached.) Her campaign kickoff is scheduled for
Monday, March 28 at 5:30 p.m. at Thistle Stop Café, 5128 Charlotte Pike.
To contribute to Amy’s campaign, visit https://amyfrogge.com. A complete website is in the works.

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

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Still Not TNReady

Rocky Top Ed Talk has an updated list of school systems experiencing delays in receiving TNReady testing materials. These delays have happened in spite of Commissioner McQueen’s confidence in the process of moving forward with pencil and paper tests. Schedules have been changed, updated, and disrupted again and again as the shift was made from computer-based tests to paper tests. Students and teachers have lost valuable instructional time while the state and its testing vendor, Measurement, Inc. continue to experience challenges in meeting test delivery obligations.

Here’s the current list of school systems that have experienced delays in receipt of TNReady materials:

  • Hamilton County Schools
  • Dickson County Schools
  • Robertson County Schools
  • Murfreesboro City Schools
  • RePublic Charter Schools (Nashville)
  • Sumner County Schools
  • Maury County Schools
  • Wilson County Schools
  • Putnam County Schools
  • Williamson County Schools
  • Bartlett City Schools
  • Tipton County Schools
  • Achievement School District (Memphis)
  • Blount County Schools

If your school system has experienced delays or disruptions due to this year’s testing issues, let us know in the comments.

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