omg. STAND. TESTING WAR STARTING IN CHICAGO! READ!

[NewOrleans]

I posted on the conflict the other night, but it has escalated.  The govt is prepared to do something unprecedented.  Please read!


A feud over student testing in Chicago Public Schools has morphed into a very high-stakes standoff, with federal officials threatening to cut off potentially $1.2 billion in state aid unless CPS backs off.



The threat came in a previously unpublicized letter to Illinois Schools Superintendent Christopher Koch from Deborah Delisle, the assistant U.S. education secretary, but also has been privately communicated in conversations that state officials are taking very seriously.



"We are greatly concerned about it," the Rev. James Meeks, the new chairman of the state school board, told me.



"We are working through the process," Meeks continued, with a "hope" that the matter can be resolved without financial loss to CPS or the state, which receives most federal school funds and distributes them to local districts.



The dispute began when CPS officials decided that a new test linked to national Common Core standards, known as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test, would only be given to about 10 percent of CPS' 600 schools.



In anticipation of that decision, Koch wrote U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, himself a former Chicago schools chief, and asked if it was allowable for a local district to "take a year off" from the PARCC exam and if other test results could be offered in its stead.



The answer, in the letter from Delisle, is pretty much "no."



'A RANGE OF ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS'



While certain waivers are available under some circumstances, those circumstances are very limited, Delisle wrote. And in states in which local districts do not comply, the department "has a range of enforcement actions it can take, including . . . suspending and then withholding" state aid.



The letter mentioned several categories of assistance that, collectively, amount to $1.17 billion to Illinois in fiscal 2015, according to the state board.



The $1.17 billion represents about 84 percent of federal education aid to Illinois, excluding school lunch and breakfast programs. Of all dollars spent in the state on grade and high schools, about one in 10 comes from the feds—so losing all of the $1.17 billion really would bite



Politically, the problem is that, given national wrangling over school standards, Duncan cannot be seen as being easy on Chicago, said one source close to the center of the flap. That doesn't mean Illinois would lose all of the money, but a sizable hit is likely.



The matter was discussed at length at last week's state board meeting, and it's being discussed today by officials at the Chicago Board of Education, which so far has backed the limited-test decision by Superintendent Barbara Byrd-Bennett.



Her office declined immediate response to the letter, and Duncan's office failed to respond to a request for comment. But insiders in Springfield and Chicago say the matter is before top decision-makers.



Here's a copy of the letter:
(must go to link to read it) www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150128/BLOGS02/150129798/feds-rattle-1-2-billion-saber-at-cps-over-lack-of-testing


USDOE Response Letter

[NewOrleans]

This blog post is insightful and hilarious, too.

Sometimes the news is so bizarre that I can't believe what I'm reading. Case in point -- the latest on Chicago testing madness. First Arne Duncan gives his more-and-earlier testing speech to the nation. The speech is an attempt to pacify the testing industry and its backers and somehow push a new version of No Child Left Behind through a Republican controlled congress.

Then, just as Duncan is trying to work something out... the Chicago school chief, Barbara Byrd-Bennett announces a one-year moratorium on administering the PARCC test because of a "lack of computers" (hold your laughter, please). BBB says the test will only be given this year to about 10% of CPS' 600 schools. The decision to postpone the test is made of course, not by BBB, but by Rahm Emanuel's hand-picked board and comes in the face of growing parent and teacher protest against Common Core over-testing and a burgeoning opt-out movement. It also comes weeks before the mayoral election.

Just as Pres. Obama is recording his endorsement ads supporting Rahm's re-election campaign, Duncan goes off on Rahm/Byrd Bennett and threatens to cut off potentially $1.2 billion in state aid unless CPS backs off and gives the test. The threat comes in a previously unpublicized letter to Illinois Schools Superintendent Christopher Koch from Duncan's deputy, Deborah Delisle....

Her [BBB's] defiance was striking in a district that has long been viewed as a national leader in test-based accountability. It was also rich in symbolism because Chicago public schools were once run by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, a huge cheerleader for both the Common Core and the new exams, developed with $370 million in federal funds.

Politically, the problem is that, given national wrangling over school standards, Duncan cannot be seen as being easy on Chicago, said one source close to the center of the flap. That doesn't mean Illinois would lose all of the money, but a sizable hit is likely.


So, the question is: Is all this just a show? Or is Obama's Dept. of Education really going to war with Rahm Emanuel over testing on the eve of Chicago's mayoral election?

michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/

[ijack]

Is Koch of the Koch brothers?

[NewOrleans]

Jan 30, 2015 11:08:51 GMT -5 ijack said:

Is Koch of the Koch brothers?

no.

[downtoearth]

I think this might be set up to become a court case with real implications - measuring metrics for schools is not as easy as testing everyone the same and seeing if things always are improving. Plus the computer-based tests for younger kids, like 1st - 3rd graders is ridiculous. I took the PARRC practice tests last year for elementary and high school and they aren't easy to manipulate on the computer and honestly, I don't think they should have as much emphasis as they get. It should be, hey, kids, don't study, but we're taking a couple days of tests. It doesn't matter how you do, it just shows our school where to improve and after you get to watch movies.

I should hope that if CPS has to stick to their guns and loose all the funding for a year or two, they would get the funding still. It would devastate that area and those students. Can we figure out a non-government way to fund CPS, as parents who are leery of Race to the Top and the other universal metrics testing?

[NewOrleans]

Jan 30, 2015 11:07:30 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

The Feds are misreading what it would mean to "look soft." No one wants those fucking tests except the corporations that profit from them and the politicians whose pockets are greased by said corporations. And as Chicago (or LA) go, so go the other school districts. Hang tight Chicago. The whole nation could get behind this.

That brings me to this!  This is huge because if Winnetka and New Trier dissent, the fight is over!


www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/01/26/school-superintendent-writes-warning-letter-on-parcc-common-core-test/


Superintendent Trisha Kocanda of Winnetka Public Schools in Illinois has written what could be called a “warning” letter to parents, community members and district staff about the PARCC Common Core exam that students in the state will be taking in March and May. She writes in part:



As we learn more about the assessment, we grow wary. We are concerned about the amount of instructional time it will displace, the impact this will have on students, and the usefulness of the results.



The PARCC test was created by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, one of two federally funded multistate consortia tasked with creating new Common Core tests with some $360 million in federal funds. (The other is the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.) In 2010, PARCC had 26 member states, but it has suffered major defections since then, with fewer than a dozen states now committed to using the PARCC exam this year. Mississippi pulled out this month, and Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest system in the country, recently decided to buck a state mandate to give the PARCC to all of its students this school year.



Winnetka, just north of Chicago, is one of the most affluent communities in the country. The Winnetka Public Schools district Web site says that the system has “led the nation in progressive education and served as model for educators who value the development of the whole child.” There are about 2,000 students in the system’s schools, most of whom attend nationally recognized New Trier Township High School.



Kocanda’s letter on PARCC discusses how much instructional time is being lost because of the test, notes that the test will make some students unnecessarily nervous and questions how useful the test will be to teachers and students. Here’s the letter she wrote, which appeared in this month’s edition of the Winnetka Wire, the school district’s monthly newsletter:



Superintendent’s Message



Dear Community Members, Parents, and Staff:



There is no doubt that this is an interesting era in public education. I am hopeful that the pendulum will swing back toward center and bring a more balanced approach to improving equity and accountability for school systems. Illinois is currently struggling to find that balance.



For instance, there has been much chatter recently regarding the new state mandated PARCC standardized assessment. These tests, which are replacing the ISAT, will be administered in our District for the first time in March and again in May. As we learn more about the assessment, we grow wary. We are concerned about the amount of instructional time it will displace, the impact this will have on students, and the usefulness of the results.



Our administrative team has diligently worked to stay up-to-date on the PARCC assessment and is committed to sharing key information with our parents and staff. Below is a summary of key PARCC facts that have prompted many of our concerns:



Testing Time:

The PARCC testing experience will take approximately 13-14 hours for students in grades 3-8. By contrast, the ISAT took no more than seven hours to administer.



Test Format:

The test is computer-based and requires students to manage multiple screens, prompts, and tools while typing their responses in a timed situation. By contrast, STAR, a local assessment tool already in place, is taken online but requires a single response on a single screen. The difference in complexity is vast for students.



Instructional Impact:

1) Because only one test unit will be administered per day, this means students will be taking the test over a two-week time period. This results in a number of interrupted instructional days for our children.

2) Although we will not be teaching new content for the test, students will need to familiarize themselves with the new online testing experience and complexities. We estimate that this introduction to the test will take approximately two to three hours.

3) The test will be completed in the computer labs. Most regularly scheduled classes will not take place in these learning spaces for approximately six weeks this spring.



Testing Stress:

Every student will react to the test in a unique way. We anticipate that the length of the test, the excessive rigor, and the extended change to routine will be uncomfortable for some or many of our students.



Speed of Implementation:

PARCC is being administered statewide after a one-year pilot, and closely on the heels of the Common Core State Standards implementation. Materials, including instructions for proctors, sample questions, and technical requirements, are still being revised. Since the preparation window is relatively short, test logistics have been the primary focus of the tech staff, the administrative team, and building principals since late fall.



We recognize the need for assessments and accountability. District 36 is committed to complying with State mandates, including the PARCC. However, we believe that this test continues the over-emphasis on standardized assessments as evaluation tools for students and schools. Our concerns are not unique. In 2010, 26 states committed to using PARCC. Today only 10 states, including Illinois, remain in the consortium.



It is important that we stay informed and understand the impact of reform on our students. We often share stories about District driven goals and initiatives. I believe it is equally important to shed light on State requirements that influence local decisions and ultimately our students’ experiences.



Sincerely,

Trisha Kocanda

Superintendent

[NewOrleans]

Jan 30, 2015 11:14:52 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

I should hope that if CPS has to stick to their guns and loose all the funding for a year or two, they would get the funding still. It would devastate that area and those students.  

you mistake.  The threat is to cut funding from the state, not CPS.  They are threatening this in order to pit CPS against the rest of the schools in the entire state to make CPS choose between bringing the entire state down or complying with PARCC.  If CPS chooses to stick to its guns-- which I hope to hell it does-- the other educators will resent and hate them.  Cunning and malicious tactic, yes?  And again, like the blog post says-- Obama is publicly supporting the Chicago mayor's campaign (his former cabinet member).  The Chicago Mayor is the one who picked the CPS school board which has rejected the PARCC.  Arne Duncan-- Obama's Secretary of Ed-- is going off on the Chicago Mayor.  

It's a nice little triad of anarchy and unrest being created and again, I am really having faith it could start to bring down the system!  


 

[sparkythelawyer]

As an IL resident, this is really interesting to me. The Feds can saber rattle and threaten Chicago all they want, Chicago is much more reliant on federal funds. But New Trier? That is one of the wealthiest districts in the state. They could walk away from federal funds and give nary a fuck.

And if Naperville schools go along with this its a done deal.

And 14 HOURS of testing? Holy shit!

[chchchia]

This is heating up in NJ as well.

[downtoearth]

Jan 30, 2015 11:27:59 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Jan 30, 2015 11:14:52 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

I should hope that if CPS has to stick to their guns and loose all the funding for a year or two, they would get the funding still. It would devastate that area and those students.  

you mistake.  The threat is to cut funding from the state, not CPS.  They are threatening this in order to pit CPS against the rest of the schools in the entire state to make CPS choose between bringing the entire state down or complying with PARCC.  If CPS chooses to stick to its guns-- which I hope to hell it does-- the other educators will resent and hate them.  Cunning and malicious tactic, yes?  And again, like the blog post says-- Obama is publicly supporting the Chicago mayor's campaign (his former cabinet member).  The Chicago Mayor is the one who picked the CPS school board which has rejected the PARCC.  Arne Duncan-- Obama's Secretary of Ed-- is going off on the Chicago Mayor.  

It's a nice little triad of anarchy and unrest being created and again, I am really having faith it could start to bring down the system!  


 

Ah, that makes more sense now. Yes, now I really want CPS to stick to their guns.  This national testing ish really took off as a metric that the national government could use to push money around with No Child Left Behind... I'm still bitter that that sounded so benign and yet was a terrible malignant tumor on the schools.

[ttt]

Is there *anyone* who doesn't hate these tests? Parents, teachers, students, the general public? It really seems like there is zero popular support outside of the "people who work for testing companies" demographic.

[darnkatz]

This made me cry a little. I'm not going to lie. I am so sick and tired of this shit ruining school for kids, and I am terrified for when it starts to ruin MY kids as far as school is concerned. I hope to god they stick to their guns.

[NewOrleans]

Jan 30, 2015 12:01:15 GMT -5 ttt said:

Is there *anyone* who doesn't hate these tests? Parents, teachers, students, the general public? It really seems like there is zero popular support outside of the "people who work for testing companies" demographic.

Republicans.  No, seriously.  They view it as a key to union-busting and ending tenure.  They also view it as the key to privatizing education, which truly is the ultimate goal of the movement.  And of course, wealthy crony corporations (read Koch, Gates, Walmart, etc) will get to open the charter schools that will flourish in the wake of privatizing education and then they get to rewrite history and teach the amazingness of capitalism.  They'll also be able to have all kinds of religious control since it won't be a public institution anymore.

[NewOrleans]

update!

The Illinois state Secretary of Education sent a letter to CPS today threatening to withhold state funding from them specifically:

"ISBE is also prepared to take recognition action pursuant to 23 Ill Admin. Code 1.20 against any district that fails to properly administer the PARCC exam to all students. As you are aware, a non-recognized district will lose General State Aid funding."

drive.google.com/file/d/0B4Bi-iePG1O6R0U4ZTdGY0xyLTQ/view?usp=sharing&pli=1

So not only are the feds are threatening to sanction IL, IL is threatening to sanction CPS.   <)  LET'S PLAY CHICKEN!  CALL THEIR BLUFF, CHICAGO!

[NewOrleans]

Jan 30, 2015 13:30:32 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Jan 30, 2015 13:12:43 GMT -5 incogneato said:

I don't think the GOP actually thinks teachers are lazy and whiney. I think they think teachers are liberal and anti capitalism. Or if not anti capitalism, at least pro-real, rather than revisionist, history (literature, science, economics, ER....). They paint them as lazy to rile up the masses and garner support for their privatization plan.

and women.  

[UMaineTeach]

Jan 30, 2015 13:12:43 GMT -5 incogneato said:

Jan 30, 2015 12:01:15 GMT -5 ttt said:

Is there *anyone* who doesn't hate these tests? Parents, teachers, students, the general public? It really seems like there is zero popular support outside of the "people who work for testing companies" demographic.

"See? Look? All those schools full of blah children just keep failing the tests! Probably because they don't want to work hard or value education!" while feeling all smug because their own neighborhood school is doing so well in comparison (because of involved, wealthy parents, access to all the resources, lack of impediments like homelessness, transient study bodies, poverty, etc.)

It's the shifting student bodies (and that other stuff, too but I have a data point for transient students). The K team worked their asses off last year and drug 98% of the K population kicking and screaming to being at or above grade level in all areas of reading. To start the 1st grade year, only 75% of the grade 1 population was at beginning 1st level. Sure, there was some summer slide, but we ran 4 (6 week) summer sessions for those students most likely to slide. It had mostly to do with the 20 move-ins that happened over the summer*.

Schools in my area trade low income families back and forth as families get evicted, jobs are lost, boyfriends are kicked out, moms decide they want to be back in the picture...  Rough lives these children lead.

*something that does bother me though, is that these 20 kids went to other schools, where they were taught to the test. Then they come to our school, where they are given a different test. They might be able to read, but can only preform on 1 type of reading test and not others because of the lack of transferable skills that teaching to the test causes.


Lack of technology access is what the teachers are most worried about this spring. We have 1 computer lab with 25  10-year old laptops. Students can't use them on a daily basis, only one class at a time can use them, the students are unlikely to have a computer in the home... And the computer programing for the tests is not intuitive like the touch screens they do use. It's like asking someone who is used to putting in a disk and the program boots to use a manual code prompt to tell the computer to boot the disk.

For example: if you wanted to teach a student to put the sequence of sentences in order to re-tell a story, most teachers would write each sentence out and have the students build them in a list going down. One sentence per line. The SBAC (the other test that's not the PARCC) gives a paragraph sentence format of mixed up sentences that you have to highlight, drag, and drop into a new window to re-order, complete with text wrap around.

BUT the government says technology won't bring the kids down, stop worrying about that and do you damn job. If you teach them they will pass.

If anyone wants to play around: login4.cloud1.tds.airast.org/student/V85/Pages/LoginShell.aspx?a=Student&c=SBAC_PT&logout=true you don't need an ID, just hit sign-in with the fields as they are and select a grade level.

alt link sbac.portal.airast.org/practice-test/ and click on the green picture that says Student Interface

[sparkythelawyer]

Jan 30, 2015 13:40:01 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

update!

The Illinois state Secretary of Education sent a letter to CPS today threatening to withhold state funding from them specifically:

"ISBE is also prepared to take recognition action pursuant to 23 Ill Admin. Code 1.20 against any district that fails to properly administer the PARCC exam to all students. As you are aware, a non-recognized district will lose General State Aid funding."

drive.google.com/file/d/0B4Bi-iePG1O6R0U4ZTdGY0xyLTQ/view?usp=sharing&pli=1

So not only are the feds are threatening to sanction IL, IL is threatening to sanction CPS.   <)  LET'S PLAY CHICKEN!  CALL THEIR BLUFF, CHICAGO!

Again, let them play Chicken with Chicago all they want.

If New Trier ain't happy, shit is not proper over at Illinois Dept of Education.  Wait until the other wealtheir suburbs start weighing in too.  Schools that can survive losing the kind of funding at play here (New Trier/Winnetka, Naperville, Wheaton/Glen Ellyn, etc).  Hell even an Aurora or Elgin school district rejection of these tests could cause a massive panic attach at the state dept of Ed due to nothing more than the sheer size of their populations.

[sunterp]

I am not in CPS but I hope they win, these tests waste time and money. Several parents in our small district are trying to opt out of the new Georgia Milestones test and it is not looking pretty.

[sparkythelawyer]

Chicago Tribune Article

Well shit, ISBE didn't just send it to CPS.  They sent it to every school in the state.

[NewOrleans]

Jan 30, 2015 16:01:23 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

Chicago Tribune Article

Well shit, ISBE didn't just send it to CPS.  They sent it to every school in the state.

eh, it doesn't matter.  They're trying to scare everyone into compliance.  I can't read the article you posted, though.  It is only for subscribers.

[sparkythelawyer]

Jan 30, 2015 16:21:54 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Jan 30, 2015 16:01:23 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

Chicago Tribune Article

Well shit, ISBE didn't just send it to CPS.  They sent it to every school in the state.

eh, it doesn't matter.  They're trying to scare everyone into compliance.  I can't read the article you posted, though.  It is only for subscribers.

Dammit.  I hate when my article links are thwarted!

Yeah, ISBE is trying to flex.  I'd love to see some of the non-CPS towns play chicken with them. Should be interesting!