PS: ALSO READ THIS EDITORIAL FROM WSJ, APRIL 4, 2022:

Rapid Response for WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY, December 15 and 16, 2021

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GS

FOR GOOD OR ILL,  LOOK TO CALIFORNIA IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE FUTURE. 

Here's hoping that this takes root and flourishes nationwide.

GS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- American fourth-graders are performing better than they were four years ago in math and reading, but students four years older show no such progress, a global study released Tuesday revealed.

Although the U.S. remains in the top dozen or so countries in all subjects tested, the gap between the U.S. and the top-performing nations is much wider at the eighth-grade level, especially in math.

"When you start looking at our older students, we see less improvement over time," said Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which coordinated the U.S. portion of the international exam.

Even where U.S. student scores have improved, many other nations have improved much faster, leaving American students far behind many of their peers — especially in Asia and Europe.

With an eye toward global competitiveness, U.S. education officials are sounding the alarm over what they describe as a recurring theme when American students are put to the test. Lamenting what he described as "sober cautionary notes," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said it was unacceptable that eighth-grade achievement in math and science are stagnant, with U.S. students far less likely than many Asian counterparts to reach advanced levels in science.

"If we as a nation don't turn that around, those nations will soon be out-competing us in a knowledge-based, global economy," Duncan said.

American students still perform better than the global average in all subject areas, the study found, although students from the poorest U.S. schools fall short.

But the U.S. is far from leading the pack, a distinction now enjoyed by kids in countries like Finland and Singapore who outperformed American fourth-graders in science and reading. By eighth grade, American students have fallen behind their Russian, Japanese and Taiwanese counterparts in math, and trail students from Hong Kong, Slovenia and South Korea in science.

The results of the study, conducted every four years in nations around the world, show mixed prospects for delivering on that promise. A nation that once took pride in being at the top of its game can no longer credibly call itself the global leader in student performance. Wringing their hands about what that reality portends for broader U.S. influence, policymakers worry it could have ripple effects on the economy down the line, with Americans increasingly at a competitive disadvantage in the international marketplace.

Elevating the skills needed to compete with emerging countries has been a priority for President Barack Obama, who has pledged to train 100,000 new math and science teachers over the next decade. "Think about the America within our reach: a country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs," he said this year in his State of the Union address.

Asia continues to dominate the top echelon of scores across subject fields. The tiny city-state of Singapore takes first place in eighth-grade science and fourth-grade math, with South Korea scoring nearly as high. Singapore takes second place to South Korea in eighth-grade math, with Taiwan in third.

The results also lean toward Asian nations when it comes to advanced levels of learning. In Singapore, 4 in 10 eighth-graders achieved the "advanced benchmark" in science, which requires an understanding of complex and abstract concepts in physics, chemistry, biology and other sciences. About 2 in 10 make the grade in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. In the U.S., it's about 1 in 10.

Reading skills are a major strength for American students. Only a few points separate American students from the top-scoring students in the world. In Florida, which took part in the study separately, reading scores are second only to Hong Kong.

"We cannot rest until every child has gained the power that comes through reading," said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a prominent education advocate. "If Florida can do it, every state can and must."

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and its sister test, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, are used to measure knowledge, skills and mastery of curricula by elementary and middle school students around the world. Students in rich, industrialized nations and poor, developing countries alike are tested. In 2011, 56 educational systems — mostly countries, but some states and subnational entities like Hong Kong — took part in math and science exams. Fifty-three systems participated in the reading exam, which included almost 13,000 American fourth-graders.

"These kinds of tests are very good at telling us who's ahead in the race. They don't have a lot to say about causes or why countries are where they are," said Brookings Institution senior fellow Tom Loveless, who in previous years represented the U.S. in the international group that administers the test.

Other findings released Tuesday:

— Some U.S. states that were measured separately were clear standouts, performing on par with or better than some top-performing Asian countries. Eighth-graders in Massachusetts and Minnesota score far better in math and science than the U.S. average. But in California and Alabama, eighth-graders fell short of the national average.

— Racial and class disparities are all too real. In eighth grade, Americans in the schools with the highest poverty — those with 75 percent or more of students on free or reduced-price lunch — performed below both the U.S. average and the lower international average. Students at schools with fewer poor kids performed better. In fourth-grade reading, all ethnic groups outperformed the international average, but white and Asian students did better than their black and Hispanic classmates.

— Boys in the U.S. do better than girls in fourth-grade science and eighth-grade math. But girls rule when it comes to reading.

— On a global level, the gender gap appears to be closing. About half of the countries showed no statistically meaningful gap between boys and girls in math and science.

The tests are carried out by the International Association for Evaluation of Educational Achievement, a coalition of research institutions. The U.S. portion of the exams is coordinated by the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics.

State Sen. Stillman defends revisions in education reform package

By JC Reindl

Publication: The Day

Hartford - Democratic Sen. Andrea Stillman of Waterford spent her Sunday evening last week on the top floor of the Capitol office building, crafting what arguably has become the biggest setback to date for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's legislative agenda.

Joining her at the conference table were bill-writing lawyers and Stillman's fellow Education Committee co-chairman, Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, D-West Hartford.

If they cared to sleep that night before their morning committee meeting and vote, the veteran lawmakers had only a few hours to decide what to do about the controversial parts of Senate Bill 24 - the governor's 163-page education reform package.

Negotiations earlier that weekend between the Malloy administration and the two state teachers' unions failed to produce any grand compromise. That left the hard decisions to them.

By night's end, the pair had finished a dramatic rewrite to Malloy's bill that has since drawn praise from the teachers' unions for fairness and criticism from reform activists and school administrators' groups, who dismiss the revised bill as "watered down" legislation that better serves union members than schoolchildren.

Governor: 'A work in progress'

The Education Committee passed the new Senate Bill 24 on a 28-5 vote Monday. But as Malloy soon emphasized, the language in the bill isn't final and likely will change again in the legislative process.

The bill has until 12:01 a.m. on May 10 to be voted on by the full House and Senate. And Malloy indicated Friday that he won't sign the bill if it lacks what he considers to be real reforms to the teacher tenure system in public schools.

"This is a work in progress," the governor said last week. "I never served in the legislature, but I did make sausage for a summer job, and it's a bit like that."

Yet for the moment, the most anticipated state education bill in decades stands as what emerged from Stillman's committee.

A coalition of five education groups and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association issued a joint statement last week criticizing the revised bill. The coalition includes principals, superintendents and charter school activists who say they wrongly were left out of the process.

"The new version of S.B. 24 fails to move forward with several of the bold proposals Governor Malloy put forth, and it signals a lack of urgency to fix the fundamental issues that plague Connecticut's public school system," their statement read. "The result is a bill that reflects compromises that appear to be brought on by pressure from the teacher unions."

In an interview, Stillman denied the coalition's claim - echoed by Republican leaders and numerous editorial and blog writers - that she and Fleischmann "capitulated" to the powerful teachers' unions in the final hours.

"I don't think that was it at all," said the state senator, whose district includes New London, East Lyme, Montville, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Salem and Waterford. "I'd like to set the record straight."

A 'facilitating' role

For Stillman, the decision to scale back the governor's most ambitious proposals was born from numerous conversations with teachers and from reading their emails and hand-written letters.

"Who better to give you advice on how to run a classroom than those people who are in it?" she said.

She heard from teachers at group meetings about the bill, during and after public hearings, and some teachers even approached her in the aisles of Stop & Shop and the Waterford CVS to share their thoughts. Stillman said these teachers care deeply about quality schools and closing the achievement gap, but many felt parts of the original bill were misguided and might not work.

"I was hearing from people who are in the classroom doing the work, who are trying to handle children who come from dysfunctional homes, and disruptive children, and children who are mainstreamed into schools, and children who want to learn but can't because the teacher can't attend to everybody's need at once," Stillman said.

Some of these teachers feared losing their jobs or income if they scored a low mark one year on the new evaluations. There were other concerns as well. "I couldn't believe how many teachers spoke about the fact that principals are not always being honest in their evaluations," Stillman said.

"I think it's the most difficult job to be a teacher and manage all those young minds - especially in the public schools," the senator said. "And it's very different in charter schools - many of them - because many of them cherry-pick the kids they take."

But the Stillman-Fleischmann capitulation theory gathered force amid reports that the co-chairmen participated in lengthy closed-door meetings last weekend with the state teachers' unions - the Connecticut Education Association and AFT Connecticut.

Stillman confirmed that those meetings with union leaders occurred March 24 at an office building near the Capitol. But she maintains that she and Fleischmann generally had a "facilitating" role in eleventh-hour negotiations between Malloy administration officials and the unions regarding the two most controversial parts of the proposal: a teacher tenure overhaul and a new turnaround program for low-performing schools.

"We were just sitting there, taking notes, sharing copies of things and listening in," Stillman said.

The negotiations between the two parties ended at 1:30 a.m. without a deal, leaving Stillman and Fleischmann to reconvene that Sunday night to rewrite the bill.

"We sat down and filled in the blanks," Stillman recalled. There was no one present at that point from administration or union ranks, she said.

Up in their conference room, the committee leaders discarded Malloy's proposal for an immediate overhaul to the teacher tenure system that would have linked certification and salary guidelines to a new evaluation system.

Tenure reform

The full details of the evaluation system are still being finished by a council of teachers, principals and school board members. But the council agreed this winter to a framework that's 45 percent tied to student "learning indicators," with one-half of that based on standardized tests.

Another 40 percent is based on observations of teacher performance; 10 percent comes from peer or parent surveys, and 5 percent on student feedback or "whole-school" learning indicators.

Teachers currently gain tenure after working four years in the same district. Once tenured, they only can be dismissed for one of six reasons, including "inefficiency or incompetence."

Malloy's proposal called for a new, four-level performance scale that would make it easier to fire dismal teachers who are just coasting above incompetency. It required teachers to achieve two top ratings in three years, or a combination of three top or third-level ratings in five years.

Tenured teachers would then receive regular evaluations and could be dismissed for just one low rating or two second-level ratings in two consecutive years.

Stillman recalled her reluctance to proceed with Malloy's plan to link teacher tenure and certification to the new evaluations because the evaluation system has not yet been tried, and isn't even scheduled to be finished until late June.

"Just because a teacher might have a bad evaluation in one school, doesn't mean they should lose their license to teach," Stillman said, adding that she heard many stories of teachers who went on to great success after switching districts.

Calls were made that Sunday night, March 25, to Democratic leaders in the legislature, and Stillman and Fleischmann ultimately opted to "decouple" tenure from performance evaluations and instead have Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor head up a study about linking the new evaluations to teachers' employment status. The study must be completed by January.

"Our respective leadership in the House and the Senate suggested we just put in that we're going to study it," Stillman said. "So we thought, right now, that is the best way to write the bill." If the commissioner's study comes back positive, the legislature would have the option to act on it next year, she said.

They also significantly scaled back the proposed "Commissioner's Network" turnaround program that would have given Commissioner Pryor broad authority to reorganize 25 low-performing schools in the state.

Teachers unions feared that the program, as first proposed, would allow Pryor to break collective-bargaining contracts and could clear the way for management companies to swoop in and force teachers at those schools to reapply for their jobs.

The Stillman-Fleischmann rewrite delayed implementation of the Commissioner's Network by ordering another study. But the version of the bill that passed their committee included a last-minute amendment that allows Pryor to proceed this fall with 10 network schools, although without the authority to act unilaterally and compromise union contracts.

"That was perhaps the most interesting thing," Malloy said the day after the vote. "They apparently bought into the idea that there should be no Commissioner's Network. And then they understood that you can't go back to the people of Connecticut and say that we're going to tolerate the lowest performing schools years after year after year, so then they said 'do something about 10 of them,' but then they didn't give the tools that we need to do something about the 10 of them."

The Commissioner's Network suffered another blow Thursday when the Appropriations Committee revised Malloy's budget proposal by cutting the program's funding to $10.8 million from $22.9 million.

"That is a problem," Mark Ojakian, the governor's chief of staff, said Friday. "They clearly have made a statement as to where their funding priorities are."

Stillman said she believes her committee passed a good bill, yet she agrees with the governor that it likely will change between now and May. She noted how her committee doubled to 1,000 the new number of early childhood education slots in needy districts, and sped up the termination process for bad teachers from a maximum 155 days down to 115 days.

She acknowledged the bill contains less funding for alternative schools than first proposed, but still increases the state per-student funding levels. Some of that charter schools money was redirected to early education, she said.

Despite her role in diluting the governor's reform plan, Stillman said she and Malloy remain on good terms. They recently saw one another in the Capitol complex cafeteria. "We were very cordial with each other. He didn't show any animosity or anything, but he said 'we'll get it done.'"

Don't scapegoat teachers

By Paul Choiniere

Publication: The Day

State's chance to improve education

New London's courageous reading and writing policy

The most surprising thing about the New London Public Schools' new policy that will require high school graduates to demonstrate proficiency in reading and writing is that it wasn't required already.

How is it possible that students at New London High, or any high school in the state for that matter, could obtain a diploma without demonstrating their English literacy ability? It would appear a basic assumption that high school graduates be able to write complete and coherent sentences and speak intelligently and logically.

As it turns out colleges and universities across the country, including even the most prestigious, are forcing some freshmen into remedial classes before allowing them to participate in the usual higher education curriculum because they cannot read or write at a high school level. Too many high school graduates are not prepared for college, or the workplace. And educators and employers know that.

That sad reality is in part what prompted the Connecticut General Assembly to pass a sweeping reform of the state's secondary education laws last spring - legislation that is now stalled because of a shortage of funds. New high school graduation requirements - including end-of-senior-year proficiency tests - were supposed to take effect with the class of 2017. The state is now delaying implementation, possibly until 2020.

Students can make their way through the school system unable to read or write, but lawmakers are going to wait nine years to fix the problem? That's unacceptable, and fiscal constraints should not be an excuse for allowing the mediocrity to continue.

Thank goodness New London is forging ahead.

Concerns that high school graduates were not ready for the workplace or higher education prompted the district's new policy, said the city's superintendent of schools, Nicholas A. Fischer. The school board approved the policy May 12, starting with the graduating class of 2015.

"As I have listened to employers and colleges and community colleges and vo-tech schools, the message is clear," said Dr. Fischer. "Our kids need to be coming in with a higher level of skills.

"I think our expectations need to be higher, and we need to be more demanding," he said.

New London's new literacy policy will be a district-wide effort, focused on the necessary reading and writing skills for every class at every level with a goal of helping students to become proficient at the 10th-grade level. There will be various testing options and mechanisms, including a separate evaluation for special education and English Language Learners, and students will have to prove they meet the criteria to get a diploma.

Support in this effort will be available for every student up to age 21. For some students that might mean taking online courses or attending adult education, whatever is necessary to reach the new standard.

Connecticut is a home rule state where local districts can implement their own tougher standards without a state mandate. That is what New London is doing with its new literacy policy.

"It is going to be more work," said Dr. Fischer. "But obviously we need to do it because we're not where we need to be.

"But with this policy, if we send students out there with diplomas, what we'll be saying to the community at large is that these students have the skills that will help them to be successful as adults."

Now that's a very good policy.

• "The 'Highly Qualified Teacher' Dodge", Editorial of the NYTimes Friday, Nov. 13, 2009;
• "The Edsel of Education Reform", Editorial of the WSJ Tuesday, Nov 17, 2009;
• "No Child Left Behind", Editorial of the WSJ Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009

February 19, 2009 - Amorality, thy name is becoming America.  Thanks to the studied "value neutral" public education system pursued over the last 40 years, one of so many failures of our "educators", we now have adults and children who don't have a clue about right and wrong.  A-Rod and his ilk, Raymond Burris, Wall Street, kids who routinely cheat in class, kids who don't think that the steroid users did anything wrong....  See the rrecent Daily News cartoon advising  Rodriguez to "TRY TRUTH SERUM NEXT".  Meanwhile, craven politicians throughout the country, most recently in Florida, and their stupid supporters continue to block any efforts at Choice in Education.  See "A Charter Setback in Florida", WSJ Editorial, Wednesday Jan 7, 2009.  See also the recent article by Nicholas Kristof entitled "Our Greatest National Shame".  (NYTimes Sunday, Feb, 15, 2009).  Here the author is rightly referring to Public Education...but he wrongly considers the "stimulus package", with yet more massive money thrown into that massive sink-hole, to be the solution.  The only solution will be when our poorest families, totally dependent on that system, begin to demand that their Democratic Party, a wholly - owned subsidiary of the Teachers' Unions, legislates Choice and Vouchers and teacher accountability...initially and throughout their teaching careers.

The start of a new school year brings no good news for public education.  In Connecticut, the government is suing the No Child Left Behind Law, while two national civil rights leaders published stinging rebukes in the Hartford Courant (see "The Connecticut Stakes", WSJ Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005, Opinion, pA10).  Citing a recent study reported by the liberal Center for American Progress: '"Compared to other states", says the study, "Connecticut ranked 51st on the achievement gap between low-income students and non-poor students in 4th grade reading".  In other words, Connecticut is doint an excellent job of educating mostly white privileged kids, but few others are learning.  Any wonder it opposes a law called No Child Left Behind?".  And there's always more on this shameful topic.  See "Starving Charters: How states short-change alternative public schools" (WSJ Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2005, Opinion, pA8).  So, when do we stop talking about all the wonderful teachers and give human form to that faceless ogre called "teachers' unions". Right about now!   And when will the Black and other minority communities realize that their blind loyalty to the Democratic Party has been tragically misplaced?  Right now!
GS

Poor Public Education...and that Great Sucking Sound, GS

Public Education and 'Education Research'...An Oxymoron?, GS

Teachers' Unions, GS

To the Students of Public Schools, in New London and Elsewhere, GS

Public Education in America, GS

Attack Disease, Not Symptoms, GS

Additional Education Issues, GS

New London County School Test Scores, GS

Public Education in New London, CT and Elsewhere in 1997 and Beyond, GS

School Shootings, GS (as Published in The New London Day on Wednesday, April 11, 2001)

MORE ON OUR NATIONAL DISGRACE.   GS\

Report: States set low bar for student achievement

By LIBBY QUAID, AP Education Writer Libby Quaid, Ap Education Writer – Thu Oct 29, 3:16 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Many states declare students to have grade-level mastery of reading and math when they do not, the Education Department reported Thursday.

The agency compared state achievement standards to the more challenging standards behind the federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress.

State standards were lower, and there were big differences in where each state set the bar.

The Obama administration said the report bolsters its effort to persuade all states to adopt the same set of tougher standards for what students should know.

"States are setting the bar too low," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. "We're lying to our children when we tell them they're proficient, but they're not achieving at a level that will prepare them for success once they graduate."

The federal government can't impose a set of standards, because education is largely up to states.

But Duncan noted he is offering millions of dollars in grants to encourage states to accept a set of standards being developed by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. The grants come from the federal stimulus law, which set aside $5 billion to push Obama's vision of educational reform.

While the standards are not yet final, every state but Texas and Alaska already has committed to work toward adopting them.

The head of the department's Institute of Education Sciences said the biggest concern should be the wide disparity in standards among the states. A student who is proficient in one state might not be proficient in another, the report said.

"Why are these performance standards so far apart, and why are expectations set so widely from one place to another?" IES director John Easton said.

House Education Committee chairman George Miller said a child's education should not be determined by zip code.

"If we are serious about rebuilding our economy and restoring our competitiveness," Miller, D-Calif., said, "then it's time for states to adopt a common core of internationally benchmarked standards that can prepare all children in this country to achieve and succeed in this global economy."

The report by the department's statistics arm compared state achievement levels to achievement levels on NAEP. It found that many states deemed children to be proficient or on grade level when they would rate "below basic," or lacking even partial mastery, in reading and math under the NAEP standards.

Among the findings:

• Thirty-one states deemed fourth-graders proficient in reading when they would have rated below basic on NAEP. Mississippi's standards were lowest, and Massachusetts' were highest.

• Seventeen states deemed eighth-graders proficient at reading when they would have rated below basic on NAEP. Tennessee's standards were lowest, and South Carolina's were highest.

• Ten states deemed fourth- and eighth-graders proficient at math when they would have rated below basic on NAEP. Tennessee's standards were lowest; Massachusetts had the highest fourth-grade math standards, and South Carolina had the highest eighth-grade standards.

In addition, the report said more states lowered standards than raised them from 2005 to 2007.

North Carolina state education official Lou Fabrizio said states face a dilemma because of No Child Left Behind, the 2002 federal law that prods schools to boost test scores to meet annual improvement goals.

States can set easier standards that ensure schools will meet the federally mandated goals, or they can set more challenging standards that help kids improve.

His state chose the latter, but Fabrizio said it was tough to explain that higher standards meant lower scores.

"That was a really difficult job for us to do and communicate to the public that students did not all of a sudden become very ignorant," he said.

North Carolina still has below-basic achievement standards for fourth- and eighth-grade reading.

New Pledge, Unknown

Here is a bird's eye view of public education during the last 150 years, and of one reason why we are now in this swamp.  GS
"Bong Hits 4 Jesus - Final Episode" by Daniel Henninger, WSJ Thursday, Jund 28, 2007, Opinion, pA12.

"Save New London Schools from Mediocrity," by Charles Frink, The Day, Sunday, November 16, 2003, Voices and Views, Education, p. C3

"Cut on the Bias," by Diane Ravitch, the Wall Street Journal, Opinion, Tuesday, July 1, 2003.

"The Helping Hand," by Wallace Terry, Parade Magazine, Dec. 22, 2002.

"Reconstruction," by Charles Frink, The Day, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2002, in Perspective, pp. D1-4.

"S.O.S. - Save Our Schools," by Sol Stern, the Wall Street Journal, Opinion, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002, p A18.

"Let These Pupils Go," the Wall Street Journal, Dec 2, 2002, Opinion, Review and Outlook, p A18.

"Crisis In Halls of New London High School," by Morgan McGinley, The Day, December 1, 2002.

"Reading, Cheating and 'Rithmetic", by Tucker Carlson, That's Outrageous, Readers Digest

"The Next Voucher Battleground," the Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2002, Opinion, pA14

"Vouchers Have Overcome," the Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2002, Review and Outlook, pA12

"Choosing Integration", the Wall Street Journal, Monday, July 8, 2002, Opinion, pA22

"Kids Will be Able to Transfer at 8,652 Schools," by Tamara Henry, USA Today, Tuesday, July 2, 2002, p. 1D

"The Liberal Voucher Opportunity," by Matthew Miller

"Will the Extreme become Mainstream?," by Michele Ridolfi

"Chokehold On Charters", the Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2002, p A10

"School Associated Violent Deaths in the United States, 1994-1999," by Mark Anderson, MD, MPH, et. al.

"Why Grade Inflation is Serious," a New York Times editorial

"Getting Tough is Good for Schools in New London," by Charles E. Potter

"Teachers' Pets," by William McGurn

Bullying: Not Only Assault and Battery, but Also a Public Health Problem...

"AMA Recognizes Bullying as Public Health Problem," by Victoria Stagg Elliott

"Cleveland Chooses," a Wall Street Journal editorial and its Footnote

"New London Schools Can Meet The Tests," by Mary Ellen Jukoski

"A Year in the Trenches," by Jacqueline Goldwyn Kingon

"Teddy Takes George to School," by Paul A. Gigot

"What Teachers Really Think," a Wall Street Journal editorial

"Author: Schools have failed kids in the name of reform," by Richard Whitmire

"Why Johnny Can't Read, Write, Multiply or Divide," by Kate Zernike

"U. S. Education Receives Failing Grade," by Cal Thomas