Washington State gets NCLB Waiver
From Ed Week and the NY Times comes word that Washington State, along with Wisconsin, have been granted waivers from some of the most "onerous conditions" of NCLB.
That brings the total number of states with waivers up to 26. That's more than half the states and Andy Porter, the dean of U of Penn Graduate School of Education asks, "The more waivers there are, the less there really is a law, right?"
From the Times:
In exchange for the education waivers, schools and districts must promise to set new targets aimed at preparing students for colleges and careers. They must also tether evaluations of teachers and schools in part to student achievement on standardized tests.
The administration said all schools would be required to show yearly improvement.
Instead of labeling all struggling schools as failing, the waivers direct states to focus most attention on the bottom 5 percent of low-performing schools. “With the waiver we can focus on those schools that really need a lot of help,” said June Atkinson, North Carolina’s state superintendent of public schools.
One of the most practical effects is that waivers will remove many schools from being branded with the tag that they had failed to make what the law deemed “adequate yearly progress” in getting more students to pass standardized tests.
Is it worth it?
Critics question whether the waivers have done much to genuinely shift the focus of federal education reform, given their continued reliance on standardized tests. The waivers “should probably make the meh list,” said Joshua Starr, superintendent of the Montgomery County schools in Maryland, which was granted a waiver in May.
“It is another example to me of how we’re not focused on the right things in the American education conversation today,” Mr. Starr said. “I have a lot of respect for Arne Duncan,” he added, referring to the secretary of education, “but it’s just sort of moving around the chairs on the Titanic.”
From Ed Week:
Washington state's waiver is conditionally approved, just for the 2012-13 school year. Washington has proposed an accountability system that meets all of the Education Department's requirements, but the state is hoping to move to a more sophisticated system that includes measures of student achievement, student progress, and graduation rates, in the 2013-14 school year. The state is still working on the details. Once Washington gets its new system in place, it will need to be approved by the department.
Washington's approval also hinges on its teacher- and principal-evaluation system. The state is piloting some new methods of measuring a teachers' impact on student growth, but hasn't yet completely finalized the system. The Evergreen State will have to submit its final guidelines to the department next year in order to keep its waiver after the coming school year, a department official said.
To get the waiver, the Washington also provided a lot more detail on interventions for priority schools (the bottom 5 percent of performers in the state). Washington also has an interesting new twist on school support. It's going to set up "innovation zones" where schools can get freedom certain state requirements. (Washington has no charter law.)
Well, look at that? We have Innovation Schools laws, Lighthouse School law for STEM and now "innovation zones" for schools. Who needs charters? Frankly, we are in a good position to lead the nation in how you bring innovation and change WITHOUT charters and their problems.
That brings the total number of states with waivers up to 26. That's more than half the states and Andy Porter, the dean of U of Penn Graduate School of Education asks, "The more waivers there are, the less there really is a law, right?"
From the Times:
In exchange for the education waivers, schools and districts must promise to set new targets aimed at preparing students for colleges and careers. They must also tether evaluations of teachers and schools in part to student achievement on standardized tests.
The administration said all schools would be required to show yearly improvement.
Instead of labeling all struggling schools as failing, the waivers direct states to focus most attention on the bottom 5 percent of low-performing schools. “With the waiver we can focus on those schools that really need a lot of help,” said June Atkinson, North Carolina’s state superintendent of public schools.
One of the most practical effects is that waivers will remove many schools from being branded with the tag that they had failed to make what the law deemed “adequate yearly progress” in getting more students to pass standardized tests.
Is it worth it?
Critics question whether the waivers have done much to genuinely shift the focus of federal education reform, given their continued reliance on standardized tests. The waivers “should probably make the meh list,” said Joshua Starr, superintendent of the Montgomery County schools in Maryland, which was granted a waiver in May.
“It is another example to me of how we’re not focused on the right things in the American education conversation today,” Mr. Starr said. “I have a lot of respect for Arne Duncan,” he added, referring to the secretary of education, “but it’s just sort of moving around the chairs on the Titanic.”
From Ed Week:
Washington state's waiver is conditionally approved, just for the 2012-13 school year. Washington has proposed an accountability system that meets all of the Education Department's requirements, but the state is hoping to move to a more sophisticated system that includes measures of student achievement, student progress, and graduation rates, in the 2013-14 school year. The state is still working on the details. Once Washington gets its new system in place, it will need to be approved by the department.
Washington's approval also hinges on its teacher- and principal-evaluation system. The state is piloting some new methods of measuring a teachers' impact on student growth, but hasn't yet completely finalized the system. The Evergreen State will have to submit its final guidelines to the department next year in order to keep its waiver after the coming school year, a department official said.
To get the waiver, the Washington also provided a lot more detail on interventions for priority schools (the bottom 5 percent of performers in the state). Washington also has an interesting new twist on school support. It's going to set up "innovation zones" where schools can get freedom certain state requirements. (Washington has no charter law.)
Well, look at that? We have Innovation Schools laws, Lighthouse School law for STEM and now "innovation zones" for schools. Who needs charters? Frankly, we are in a good position to lead the nation in how you bring innovation and change WITHOUT charters and their problems.
Comments
When I filed a complaint with the Office of the Inspector General of the NSF about the 1 million dollars spent over 5-years by the UW on a program to improve math at WSHS, Cleveland, and Garfield .... which was a complete disaster at Cleveland, I learned that accountability = Just spend the money how it was proposed to be spent. Academic results are not important.
It appears the waiver plan consists of lots of testing and record keeping (and likely Union bashing etc.). .... Given that WA fails to fund education adequately (Judge Erlich and the WA Supreme court said so) .... why should WA be given a waiver? .... Where is a viable plan to improve the classroom situation? This appears to be just more meddling around the edges. Is anyone actually expecting a significant improvement in student learning from this plan or just an improvement in vendors' bottom lines?
From the NY Times article:
In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute this year, Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican and the chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Work Force, accused the administration of using waivers “in exchange for states adopting the policies he wants them to have.”
But education officials in the states that received waivers expressed relief from the pressure of the looming 2014 deadline.
“There was a general feeling that there were these goals that no one was ever going to meet,” said Kelli Gauthier, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education. “Now we have standards that are possible.”
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Fact:: MA has the best math scores of any state .. yet 80% of MA schools failed to make AYP.
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Impose goals that are unreachable and then require compliance with Obama/Duncan whims to get waivers. Sounds like the definition of "Extortion".
extortion => noun: the practice of obtaining something, esp. money, through force or threats.
Arne Duncan is an extortioner.
Kill ALL this stuff. Keep education local!