That’s the message in this new video released today from School Choice Now, the Tennessee coalition pushing a voucher proposal at the General Assembly this year.
Here’s the video:
TEA Files Second TVAAS Lawsuit
Suit Names Haslam, Huffman as Defendants
The Tennessee Education Association has filed a second lawsuit challenging the use of TVAAS data for teacher merit pay. This suit, like the one filed last week, was filed in Knox County.
In this case, a science teacher was denied a bonus under the APEX system as a result of TVAAS scores associated with just 16% of the students he teaches.
Here, it seems the principles behind incentive pay didn’t work. That is, proponents of merit pay suggest that teachers will be more motivated to perform if they know there’s a monetary incentive attached to their performance. In this case, the teacher knew his pay was tied to performance in only one of the classes he taught and yet it was the scores in that class that were not high enough on TVAAS to earn him a bonus.
The perverse incentive created by such a system is that a teacher would focus on only a few of his or her students in order to achieve a raise.
In this case, it could be that the teacher wasn’t at his best in this particular class. Or, it could be he treats all his courses the same and the results he achieved in this particular class were good, but not high enough to reach the bonus level.
The challenge of merit pay is that it assumes that if there’s a monetary bonus attached to pay, teachers will work harder than they are. The very premise is insulting because it assumes that teachers aren’t working at their best right now and if only they had a small financial incentive, they’d work a little harder. The facts of this specific case suggest otherwise.
Another takeaway from this case is that the system is not paying teachers based on the totality of their work. This teacher taught other, upper level science courses that were not tested. He didn’t have TVAAS data for those, but there is surely some form of test data that could be used to assess value-added if that’s the desired way to establish performance. That’s not being done, either. Maybe this teacher does an outstanding job in the upper level courses. We don’t know. And, based on the pay structure in place in Knox County, the system sends that message that his performance in those courses is irrelevant to his pay.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
House Overwhelmingly Votes to Delay Common Core, PARCC
The Tennessee House of Representatives this morning voted to delay any further implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Tennessee and to delay the use of the Pearson Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) until July 1, 2016 — effectively a two-year delay in the process.
The vote in favor of the legislation was a resounding 82-11. The vote was a surprise, as two amendments offered by House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh were adopted. An amendment to delay further Common Core implementation, including the adoption of new standards in science and social studies was approved by an 80-6 vote.
On delaying the PARCC testing, the vote was 88-0.
If Tennessee goes forward with a delay in PARCC participation, it will join Florida and Kentucky, who have already decided to stop using PARCC to assess their students’ mastery of the Common Core State Standards.
Procedurally speaking, the bill has already passed the Senate in a different form. It will now be sent back to the Senate to ask that body to concur in House amendments. The Senate can choose to adopt the House amendments, in which case the bill would be sent to Governor Haslam for his action. If the Senate does not adopt the House amendments, the bill goes back to the House. The House can then either 1) remove the amendments or 2) refuse to remove the amendments. If the House refuses to back down from its original action (which passed with more than 80 votes), a conference committee will be appointed to sort out the issue.
The vote to delay Common Core and PARCC ended a particularly bad week for Governor Haslam’s education policy agenda.
First, the TEA announced a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of TVAAS-based merit pay for teachers, a measure supported by the Haslam Administration.
Then, the House Finance Committee did not take up Haslam’s proposal for school vouchers, instead delaying consideration for one week. The bill barely eked out of House Finance Subcommittee with Speaker Harwell having to break a tie vote.
A TEA-backed bill prohibiting the use of TVAAS in teacher licensure decisions also passed key committees in the House and Senate this week.
For more on Tennessee education politics and policy, follow @TNEdReport
TEA Files TVAAS Lawsuit in Knox County
Use of TVAAS is Arbitrary and Violates 14th Amendment, TEA Alleges
The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Knox County teacher who was denied a bonus under that school system’s pay plan after Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) data for 10 of her students was unknowingly attributed to her.
TVAAS is Tennessee’s system of measuring student growth over time. It generates data based on student test scores on TCAP and end of course tests.
In this specific case, the teacher, Lisa Trout, was assigned TVAAS data for 10 students after being told her evaluation would be based on system-wide TVAAS data because she taught at an alternative school.
The TEA lawsuit cites two different memos which indicated that Ms. Trout could expect an evaluation (and bonus eligibility) to be based on system-wide data. At the conclusion of the school year, Ms. Trout was informed that her overall evaluation score, including observations and TVAAS data was a 4, making her eligible for a bonus under the Knox County pay plan.
When she did not receive the bonus as expected, she began asking questions about why the bonus had not been paid. She ultimately determined that without her knowledge, a school counselor had assigned 10 students to Ms. Trout for the factoring of TVAAS scores. The students were in an Algebra II course Ms. Trout taught, even though she does not hold an endorsement for teaching Alegbra II.
Though the suit does not specifically mention this, it should be noted that 10 students is a particularly small sample size subject to significant statistical anomaly.
The TEA lawsuit contends that Ms. Trout was owed the bonus based on Knox County School Board policy and in this specific instance, the bonus should have been paid.
Arbitrary?
The TEA goes on to contend that Ms. Trout and similarly situated teachers for whom there is little or no specific TVAAS data are held to an arbitrary standard in violation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Specifically, the suit notes: ” … the majority of teachers in the Knox County Schools … have had their eligibility for additional compensation (under the APEX bonus system) determined on the basis of the test scores of students they do not teach and/or the test scores of their students in subjects unrelated to the subjects they teach.”
The suit alleges that such a system violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment because some teachers are evaluated and receive bonuses based on the scores of their own students while other teachers are held accountable for students they do not teach and over which they have no influence or control.
In short, the entire system is flawed and should be discarded.
A spokesperson for TEA confirmed that the organization does not believe that teacher pay should be tied to TVAAS data.
On a related note, the Metro Nashville Public Schools recently announced it is putting plans to pay teachers in part based on TVAAS scores on hold indefinitely.
A TEA press release announcing the Knox County suit indicated that the organization anticipates additional lawsuits along these lines.
For more on Tennessee education politics and policy, follow @TNEdReport
Shielding our Teacher and Student Data
This article was submitted by JC Bowman, Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee (PET)
Since the passage of First to the Top legislation in 2010, as our organization has travelled across the state, we have heard from both parents and educators with concerns about the collection, use and potential misuse of student and teacher data. While it is correct that the newly adopted PARCC exams will not collect any more additional data than TCAP that is not the concern of Tennessee parents or educators.
In 2009 an audit raised concerns about the state education department vendor Tennessee Rehabilitative Initiative in Correction (TRICOR) using prisoners to count, inventory and shred various materials in bulk quantities. According to the audit, included in the files were students’ names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and test performance data, all of which was handed over without prior consent from parents. The access of highly sensitive information to maximum security prison inmates is a significant security risk according to the report. We must take steps to make sure this never happens again.
Therefore, those who are trying to make this debate about Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) are misinformed and misleading policymakers and stakeholders about the issue. The public has sent a very strong message that policymakers must make individual student data-mining in Tennessee illegal. Schools and schools systems need better policies in regard to school personnel having access to an educator’s personal summative and evaluation scores. Any legislation adopted must clearly set out the conditions and restrictions on the use of confidential student and teacher data. We must prohibit intrusive data tracking, which is an invasion of the rights of students and their families. Any data collected should be used for the sole purpose of tracking the academic progress and needs of students by education officials at the local and state level.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)[1] is a Federal privacy law that gives parents certain rights with regard to their children’s education records, such as the right to inspect and review your child’s education records. In December, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education revised its regulations governing the implementation of FERPA by schools, districts, and States. These revisions change several of the exceptions to FERPA’s consent rule. What parents and educators are seeking is a guarantee from the state that they are putting additional measures in place to protect students and educators. Some legal experts believe that according to FERPA, the district, not the state, is the controlling party for the use of personal student data.
The 2011 changes permitted schools to disclose information on students if it has been properly designated as directory information. By law, directory information includes things that would generally not be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed, such as name, address, photograph, and date of birth. Directory information may not include things such a student’s social security number or grades. State policymakers may wish to go further than federal law in protecting student information. Why would a 3rd Party need photographs of children for example? Why any individual, personalized student data is necessary is questionable, since comparisons are commonly done and are already widely available through de-identified aggregated student data.
Before a single child’s information is turned over to any 3rd party, policymakers should give assurance to parents and educators that no harm will come to Tennessee school children by adopting the following principles: The state and districts should be required to publish any and all existing data sharing agreements in printed and electronic form, and include a thorough explanation of its purpose and provisions, and make it available to parents and local school authorities statewide; The Department of Education should hold hearings throughout the state or testify before the legislature to explain any existing data agreement, and answer questions from the public or their representatives, obtain informed comment, and gauge public reaction; All parents should have the right to be notified of the impending disclosure of their children’s data, and provide them with a right to consent or have the right to withhold their children’s information from being shared; The state should have to define what rights families or individuals will have to obtain relief if harmed by improper use or release of their child’s private information, including how claims can be made; and finally, any legislation must ensure that the privacy interest of public school children and their families are put above the interests of any 3rd Party and its agents and subsidiaries.
We must be committed to protecting student and teacher data. There are several pieces of pending legislation being considered by the General Assembly that can be used to accomplish this task. Representatives Kevin Brooks, Bill Dunn, Vance Dennis, Jeremy Faison and Senators Dolores Gresham and Farrell Haile have been leading on this issue. We strongly support these efforts, and encourage passage of legislation to address parent and educator’s concerns.
Footnote: [1] For more information about FERPA, please see “FERPA General Guidance for Parents” on the Family Policy Compliance Office Web site: www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/
For more on Tennessee education politics and policy, follow @TNEdReport
MNPS Defers Plan to Pay Teachers Based on Test Scores
Joey Garrison has the story on MNPS deferring previously stated plans to base future pay raises for teachers on test scores and the TEAM evaluation model.
District officials suggest they need more time to determine how best to incorporate the TEAM evaluations into a pay plan for teachers. TEAM includes both TVAAS scores and teacher observations to create a 1-5 ranking for teachers (1 being the lowest ranking, 5 the highest).
Some have suggested teacher resistance to the proposal played a role in the delay, but MNPS says they simply want to take the time needed to develop the best plan.
MNPS also offered no timeline for revisiting the TEAM-based portion of the pay plan.
For now, there’s more work to be done to devise a pay plan that meets new state requirements.
The MNPS decision may foreshadow similar action by other districts as teachers express concerns about pay being tied to student test scores, especially TVAAS data.
TREE to Host Testing Forum
Tennesseans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (TREE) will host a community forum on the use of testing in Tennessee schools this Saturday, March 1st at 2:00 PM at New Song Church in Nashville.
The forum will feature speakers Dr. Jim Horn and Dr. Denise Wilburn, scholars who have been critical of TVAAS and the overuse of testing in schools.
The forum comes at the end of a week that so far has seen the TEA call for a moratorium on the use of the PARCC tests for Common Core at the same time legislative committees put off key votes on legislation dealing with Common Core implementation.
Metro Nashville School Board members Amy Frogge and Jill Speering have also raised concerns about the amount of testing in schools and the cost of that testing to the school system.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
TEA Calls for Moratorium on PARCC
The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) issued a statement today calling on the State of Tennessee to reconsider participation in PARCC – a consortium of states administering a Pearson-designed test to assess Common Core skills.
The statement indicated that TEA supports the Common Core State Standards but has concerns about the PARCC test. Neighboring Kentucky, an early Common Core and PARCC adopter, recently chose to stop using PARCC.
Here’s the TEA Release:
The Tennessee Education Association issued a statement today calling for the state to put the brakes on its plans to use the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment in conjunction with the Common Core State Standards.
“TEA believes Tennessee needs to reconsider the use of the
“TEA supports the more rigorous standards that are included in Common Core, but the implementation must provide adequate time and resources to be effective. Tennessee teacher involvement in standards development and implementation is critical to ensure the standards are developmentally appropriate for all students,” added Summerford.
“While thousands of teachers and administrators have received training, more support and resources are needed,” the TEA president said. “Many school districts lack the necessary technology for student access to the PARCC.”
“Teachers do not oppose testing and accountability. Teachers do oppose an over-reliance on summative standardized test results above all other indicators of student learning, particularly on a test that has not been properly vetted,” emphasized Summerford.
For more on Tennessee education politics and policy, follow us @TNEdReport
Cameras in the Classroom?
Schools Matter has a series of posts up on the Measuring Effectiveness in Teaching project sponsored by the Gates Foundation.
Of note is the use of video cameras to record Tennessee classrooms and transmit the data for use in analyzing teaching behavior. According to information obtained by Schools Matter, 120 schools in TN are using or have used the cameras to record classrooms.
The cameras were obtained and installed thanks to a grant from the Gates Foundation in the amount of $3.2 million.
The goal of the project is to take into account various measures of teaching practice and then use that information to determine what makes an “effective teacher.”
While not explicitly stated, it seems likely that the project will ultimately match up teachers with high value-added scores and their videotapes so as to determine which practices are most effective. Teachers will then be encouraged to adopt the model practices as captured on video.
While this in itself is not bad practice, it is important that any data collected in this way is put to good use. That is, it’s not enough to tape the lessons. Will the TNDOE use the information to help coach struggling teachers? Will the TNDOE invest funds to provide early career mentoring, a method proven to increase teacher retention and improve teacher performance?
And, while at the outset, the idea behind the project seems to have some merit, the folks at Schools Matter raise some serious concerns.
Do teachers consent to have their classes taped? Are parents informed when a camera is used to tape their student in class? Is the use of this data made clear to both teachers and parents?
According to this piece, the cameras are turned on and off by the teacher and uploaded to the teacher’s account for sharing to appropriate parties. Certainly, that would include an administrator and also the data collection group. So, it seems the teacher does have some control over when or whether the camera is on — unless there is a district or building policy dictating otherwise.
While the MET project may yet yield some interesting information, it’s not clear what will be done with that information. And it’s not clear that the implementation of this project in Tennessee has been carried out with full disclosure to both teachers and parents.
If the basis of the project is to match teaching practices to value-added scores, I’d urge at least some caution.
Districts participating should inform parents about the collection of this data and how it may be used.
And, if the project DOES yield useful information, Tennessee should dispatch that information with an investment in training and support of its teachers.
For more on Tennessee education politics and policy, follow @TNEdReport
Silencing the Opposition
Joey Garrison has the story about some legislators who wish that local school boards didn’t hire lobbyists to represent their interests before the legislature.
To that end, they’ve filed legislation that would allow County Commissions to revise a School Board’s budget as it relates to lobbying expenses (HB 229/SB 2525).
Many school boards in the state are members of the Tennessee School Boards Association, which hires a lobbyist to represent the interests of school boards at the General Assembly. Additionally, some local boards hire contract firms and/or in-house government relations specialists to monitor state policy.
Of course, many County Commissioners are members of the Tennessee County Commissioners Organization, which employs a lobbyist to represent the interests of County Commissions at the General Assembly. And many local government bodies also contract for or hire government relations specialists.
And of course, if local citizens don’t like how their School Board spends money, they can speak out at public meetings, talk to Board members directly, or even vote in new Board members.
None of this seems to matter to sponsors Rep. Jeremy Durham of Franklin and Sen. Mike Bell of Riceville.
This legislation would give County Commissions unprecedented authority over School Board budgets. In districts that hire in-house lobbyists, the Commission would theoretically have staffing authority over that position.
In Tennessee, School Boards propose budgets and determine how funds are spent, County Commissions either fund all or part of the proposed budget. But, Commissions have no authority over how school dollars are spent. Their only recourse is to reject a budget and suggest amendments or improvements – which the School Board can adopt or not.
However, it seems likely that resistance to recent reform efforts by School Boards is at the root of this issue. Recently, groups like TSBA and some prominent local School Boards have been vocally opposed to school vouchers, a state charter authorizer, and even portions of the state’s new teacher evaluation plan.
And, outside groups like StudentsFirst and the deceptively-named Tennessee Federation for Children have been spending significantly to push a pro-reform agenda.
From Garrison’s story:
Out-of-state organizations StudentsFirst and the Tennessee Federation for Children — both of which want a voucher system to let public dollars go toward private schooling — have ramped up lobbying again this fiscal yearafter spending some $235,000 to $455,000 in lobbying-related efforts the year before. The Tennessee Charter School Center is armed with eight lobbyists this session.
So it seems that rather than looking out for local taxpayers, Durham and Bell are looking out for outside special interest groups seeking to influence how local tax dollars are spent in Tennessee.
For more on Tennessee education politics and policy, follow @TNEdReport