Join the fight against Common Core

By Lindsey Burke, Heritage.org

Two competing forces are pushing on America’s K–12 education system today.

One is an effort to infuse education choice into a long-stagnant system, empowering parents with the ability to send their child to a school that meets her unique learning needs.

The other is an effort to further centralize education through Common Core national standards and tests.

Across the country, education choice options have been proliferating rapidly, including vouchers, tuition tax credits, special needs scholarships, and education savings accounts. Educational choice is a revolution because it funds children instead of physical school buildings and allows dollars to follow children to any school—or education option—that meets their unique learning needs.

• Choice empowers parents to direct their child’s share of education funding, giving them options beyond an assigned government school.
• Choice pressures public schools with a much-needed competitive atmosphere, which works toward improving educational outcomes for students who take advantage of choice options as well as students who choose to attend their local public schools.
• Choice helps kids. Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., now have private school choice programs—and more states are considering implementing choice options. Education choice represents the type of innovation and freedom that will provide long-overdue reform to the K–12 education system, and holds the potential to truly raise educational outcomes for every child across the country.

But at the same time this encouraging shift toward education choice is underway, there is a push to take education in the exact opposite direction through Common Core national standards and tests.

• Common Core is an effort to centralize education by dictating the standards and assessments that will determine the content taught in every public school across the country.
• Common Core has no evidence that it will improve academic outcomes or boost international competitiveness. But the Obama Administration has pushed states to adopt national standards and assessments in exchange for offers of billions of dollars in federal funding and waivers from the onerous provisions of No Child Left Behind.
• Common Core assumes that top-down, uniform standards and assessments—driven by federal bureaucrats and national organizations—are preferable to the state and local reform efforts guided by input from parents, teachers, and taxpayers.

States have been competing to improve their education systems by implementing education choice options and other reforms such as alternative teacher certification, transparent A–F grading systems, and a focus on reading achievement. Check out innovations in:

• Florida
• Idaho
• Indiana
• Arizona

American education is at a crossroads: One path leads toward further centralization and greater federal intervention. The other path leads toward robust education choice, including school choice and choice in curricula.

Common Core takes the path toward centralization, and state leaders should seize the moment to resist this latest federal overreach. National standards and tests are a challenge to educational freedom in America, and state and local leaders who believe in limited government should resist them.

This post originally appeared on Heritage.org.

They leave no child behind (without NCLB)

The schools that innovate are going to be rewarded. You can feel like a victim in education. This is saying, "We're going to control our own destiny." —Principal Rob Metz, Saint Louis Park High School

Does it take a village to raise a child? To paraphrase Bill Clinton, it depends on what your definition of "a village" is. In her book It Takes A Village, Hillary Clinton says, "Every child needs a champion." For the last fourteen years at Saint Louis Park High School, every ninth grader has had multiple champions, even those whose home lives were less than ideal.

Almost half (and rising) of Saint Louis Park High School's ninth-graders were failing at least one class. Lacking the funding to simply throw money at the problem, counselor Angela Jerabek decided that a team of teachers, social workers, counselors, and administration would "have the back" of every ninth grader, meeting with and about each one continually, all year long. The result?

Since the program started in 1998, the number of students in advanced classes has skyrocketed. Then, 44 percent of ninth-graders were failing one or more classes; last year, that fell to 20 percent. Cigarette use was cut in half among ninth-grade boys...It's a simple premise: more adults reaching out to a student to prevent them from slipping into anonymity, failing class and dropping out. "No student will be able to get by unnoticed," Jerabek said. ("Intense focus on 9th-graders pays off big in St. Louis Park," Star Tribune, December 23, 2011)

The school is now closed to open enrollment and has a waiting list. The program is being piloted nationally by the Minneapolis-based Search Institute under the name Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR).

When it comes to raising kids, no school or government program can replace the loving support from a team of parents, extended family, friends, a church home, and youth groups. Saint Louis Park High School's experience has confirmed that kids can overcome adversity with a group of caring adults in their corner.

New social studies standards nearing completion

According to a January 12 e-mail update from the Minnesota Center for Social Studies Education (CSSE), the latest revision of Minnesota's K-12 academic standards in social studies is nearing completion:

The state K-12 social studies standards are in the final phase of revision, with an estimated completion date of mid-February or sooner. The CSSE will send an e-blast as soon as the final draft of the standards is posted on the Minnesota Department of Education website.

The CSSE has received many questions about the possibility of delaying the implementation date. At this point, there has been no legislative action to delay the implementation of the new standards. Therefore, the implementation timeline remains in place and the newly revised social studies standards must be implemented no later than the 2013-2014 school year.

There will be a session on the new standards at the Minnesota Council for the Social Studies Conference on March 5 in St. Cloud. Please join us if you would like to spend some time "digging in" to the new standards with other teachers and curriculum coordinators!

There will also be multiple opportunities for training on the new standards this summer through the Minnesota Department of Education and Minnesota's social studies organizations.

The current standard for history and social studies was created to replace the Profile of Learning in 2004-2005. It was created with an unprecedented level of public input in a relatively short period of time, including public hearings that at times devolved into politically-charged shouting matches. The 2004 standards had plenty of room for improvement (earning only a grade of C from the Fordham Foundation), so after Minnesota schools lived with them for several years and a rigorous and public revision process was conducted, I am anxious to hear what teachers and outside experts have to say next month after the new standards are released.

A constitution, if you can keep it

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. —Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

The Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement announces that, pursuant to legislation passed by Congress, educational institutions receiving Federal funding are required to hold an educational program pertaining to the United States Constitution on September 17 of each year. This notice implements this provision as it applies to educational institutions receiving Federal funding from the Department [of Education].—Federal Register: May 24, 2005

There is nothing inherently wrong with observing the day the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787, but the devil is often in the details.

To some, Constitution Day represents yet another intrusion by the federal government into the affairs of the states, in this case, education. The federal Department of Education has only been in existence since 1980, yet by the Tenth Amendment, the federal Constitution leaves this vital function to the various states. The Constitution Day provision is another in an unending list of federal mandates imposed on the states.

While few would argue against "an educational program pertaining to the United States Constitution," is a federal law mandating it really necessary? Even if there are schools that are not teaching anything about the Constitution, is a one-day program really going to make a difference?

The mandate's lack of specificity is what's good and bad at the same time. Leaving the specifics about the "educational program" to the states and local school districts is a good thing, if you accept the mandate's legitimacy in the first place. Yet as with the rest of your local school's curriculum and state graduation standards, the Constitutional curriculum must be monitored and vetted by parents and the community:

• Does it teach that the Constitution to be taken as written and amended by the people, or does the Supreme Court have the power to unilaterally create provisions and invalidate existing provisions (the so-called "living Constitution")?
• Does it teach the importance of our founding principles as stated in the Declaration of Independence?
• Does it really teach the Constitution, or attempt to redefine it?

On exiting the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked what sort of government they had created. "A republic, if you can keep it," said Franklin. As Irish orator John Philpot Curran observed in 1790, "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance."

Resources:

• Library of Congress, Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention
• National Archives: Constitution Day teacher resources
• National Constitution Center: Constitution Day
• Hillsdale College: Introduction to the Constitution
• Heritage Foundation: Constitution Day Forum
• Scholar's Notebook: "(Undermining the) Constitution Day"

EdWatch succeeded by Education Liberty Watch

The prototypical Minnesota grassroots political action organization, EdWatch, was disbanded last year due to the departure of its founders to new positions. A "new" group, Education Liberty Watch, has taken its place.

I use quotation marks around the word "new" because Education Liberty Watch is more of a child of EdWatch than a brand new administration. The group's president, Dr. Karen Effrem, was a key member of the EdWatch leadership and advocacy, a well-known face at the Capitol. Dave Jones was an EdWatch board member. Constitutional attorney Marj Holsten and Polly Sorcan are long-time EdWatch volunteers. Gubernatorial primary candidate, conservative activist, and radio personality Sue Jeffers and Director of Legislative Affairs for the Republican Liberty Caucus Minnesota Greg O'Connor round out the new board.

Expect continuity of principle: the new group has adopted the old group's motto, "Education for a FREE Nation," and some observers wondered why they did not simply retain the EdWatch name and organizational structure. The group's face to the world, its web site, has a streamlined look and blog-like organization that should facilitate finding specific information. Although new, it seems like it could be kept more up-to-date than the old EdWatch site. The front page today details Effrem's urgent media and legislative testimony schedule in both houses and several radio shows.

With the state academic standards in social studies under revision, an education finance omnibus bill in committee, a multibillion-dollar budget deficit to be closed, and union bargaining rights debated on the nightly news, it is good to know that academic freedom and educational liberty again has a steadfast guardian in Minnesota.

EdWatch (1998-2010)

EdWatch, Minnesota's best-known, powerful grassroots K-12 education advocacy organization is concluding operations at the end of this month, according to co-founder Renee Doyle, in an e-mail sent to supporters at the end of November.

"We came into being in 1998 over the statewide outrage about Minnesota's radical new education system, the Profile of Learning," said Doyle in the e-mail. "Colleen Wogen, Julie Quist and I called the first meeting to order and elected each other officers. We had no idea that our newly established educational non-profit would not only go state-wide, but that five years later, under the name EdWatch, it would go national. EdWatch has stood as an advocate for children, parents and teachers and always has been on the cutting edge of educational research and information."

It amazes me to look back over the last twelve years and realize what an education we gave each other, legislators, school boards, parents, and the public. Doyle said, "We boldly challenged the conventional wisdom regarding No Child Left Behind, International Baccalaureate, Early Childhood Education, School-to-Work, the federal curriculum, international education standards, education for world citizenship, earth-worshiping environmentalism, school mental screening and drugging, 'comprehensive' sex education, Outcome Based Education, and a centralized federal workforce system.  We reminded parents, teachers, and students that good education understands that truth exists and should first of all be about acquiring knowledge and understanding, not about inculcating government-approved values and beliefs."

I cut my political teeth during the Profile of Learning repeal battles. A friend of mine and fellow parent alerted me to the process-based Profile, which was enacted in administrative rule during the Jesse Ventura administration by the then-Department of Children, Families and Learning under its commissioner, Christine Jax. By establishing statewide academic requirements in rule rather than through legislation, the Ventura administration avoided all of those bothersome public hearings and legislative oversight. Complaints to my then-state senator yielded polite letters full of edubabble and reassurances that parents should pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, after all, the state of Minnesota knows best (summed up in the nanny state admonishment, "Just breed 'em and feed 'em").

My most memorable experiences as a member of EdWatch include:

• Organizing and conducting an EdWatch education workshop in 2001 (just after 9/11)
• Celebrating the repeal of The Profile of Learning
• Having my picture taken with Michele Bachmann at her desk on the floor of the Minnesota Senate, on the first day of her first term
• Visiting Bachmann months later in her freshman office, with the window facing into the parking garage, and seeing that photo on her bulletin board
• Visiting Republican legislators, meeting legislative staff, and learning the secret routes around the Capitol and State Office Building
• Being appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty to serve on the Academic Standards Committee to help draft new academic standards with the renamed Department of Education under commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke
• Helping to create an early version of the EdWatch web site, as well as my own web site (Minnesota Education Reform News) and blogs
• Being inspired by some amazing conservative activists and conservative Republican legislators and candidates

The EdWatch principles of parental control of their children's education, knowledge-based curricula, and individual liberty will be promoted by a successor organization led by EdWatch board member Karen Effrem. The new organization, Education Liberty Watch, is currently being formed.

Senate GOP should vet Dayton appointments the old fashioned way: on their merits

In Minnesota, as in Washington, the Senate has the duty to confirm appointments made by the executive branch. But unlike Washington, D.C., Minnesota’s confirmation process used to be about the resume and qualifications of the nominee at the beginning of their term.

Used to be? Until 2004, that is, when Steve Kelly, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee used the confirmation process to conduct a two-year job review of Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke because he disagreed with the policies she was successfully promoting on behalf of Governor Tim Pawlenty. 

No one with a straight face could argue Yecke was not qualified to be commissioner. A native Minnesotan, she was a former teacher with classroom experience. She had a Ph.D. in education policy. She had already served as commissioner of education in another state and was a high ranking official at the federal Department of Education. Minnesota had never seen anyone more qualified to run the state education department.

But her confirmation was not about her qualifications. Kelly didn’t even bring up her confirmation until halfway through Pawlenty’s first term in office. He then held two hearings spanning six hours of testimony about the Pawlenty education agenda and her part in getting it accomplished. The hearings turned into a "witch hunt" lead by Kelly.

The DFL-controlled Senate denied her confirmation at 3:00 in the morning on the last day of the legislative session, while the public was sleeping.

Governor-elect Dayton won the election, and he deserves to appoint a commissioner of education who shares his values, but former Senator Kelly’s conduct must not be rewarded with a Senate confirmation of his own. Republican Senators like David Hann, Gen Olson, and Geoff Michel who had front-row seats to the unfair scrutiny applied to Yecke should send a signal now to the Dayton administration that a Kelly nomination would be dead on arrival.

Are the winds of educational freedom blowing towards Congress?

By Karen Effrem

With the rise of TEA party movement and general voter anger at the overspending and the strangling control the federal government into more and more aspects of our lives, it was quite encouraging to read a lengthy analysis on EducationNews.org of where federal education policy is headed that included an interview of Congressman John Kline (R-MN2).

Rep. Kline is currently the ranking Republican on the US House Education and Workforce Committee. If the currently predicted Republican landslide in the US House occurs in the November midterm election, then he could well be chairman of that all-important committee and will be very influential in federal education policy. This would include how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) will be reauthorized and what will happen with the Race to the Top initiative started by the Obama administration after passage of the stimulus bill. Here are some excerpts from his remarks.

National Standards: EdWatch has warned since July of 2009 about the dangers of the Common Core Standards initiative as an effort to impose radical national/international standards on the states that will do nothing to improve student academic achievement. (Legislative testimony is available here.) The Obama administration‘s blueprint for the reauthorization of NCLB even called for tying the receipt of federal Title I money to acceptance of these Common Core Standards. Rep. Kline opposes that concept:

For instance, Rep. Kline casts a wary eye on the federal role in championing the Common Core State Standards Initiative. That effort, which resulted in the creation of reading and mathematics standards that so far have been adopted by nearly 40 states, was state-led, through the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association.

Rep. Kline has no problem with, for instance, Minnesota and Wisconsin getting together and coming up with their own set of more-rigorous academic standards. But the federal incentives for adopting the common-core standards make him—and many of his fellow House Republicans—uneasy, he said. [Emphasis added]

States that competed for a slice of the $4 billion in federal Race to the Top grants got extra points for their participation in the common-standards venture. And, in his blueprint for an ESEA renewal, Secretary Duncan proposed tying the Title I grants given to districts to help disadvantaged students to states’ adoption of either the common-core standards or to college- and career-readiness standards developed with state institutions of higher education.

“We’re watching this very closely,” Rep. Kline said of the standards push. “If we are, in fact, putting in a de facto national curriculum, my caucus will rebel. I’m very leery when [the action] shifts over to the U.S. Department of Education providing either rewards or punishment” for adopting certain standards. “That’s dangerous,” he said.

National Tests: Rep. Kline had similar views when discussing national tests promoted by both the Common Core Standards initiative and the Race to the Top program.

Rep. Kline also has qualms about the administration’s $350 million program aimed at helping states craft common assessments, funded with Race to the Top money. He wants to ensure that it doesn’t lead to Education Department involvement in creating the tests.

Continuing the Race to the Top: Fortunately there seems to be little enthusiasm among Republicans for this.

The Obama administration also asked for $1.35 billion in the fiscal 2011 budget to continue the Race to the Top program for an additional year and extend grant eligibility from states to school districts; Rep. Kline said he wouldn’t support that plan. He thinks the program was too rigid and imposed federal policy preferences on states.

“This is the U.S. Department of Education putting [out its] view of what needs to be done. ... It’s not the states deciding. It’s not local control,” he said.

Stimulus Money to Stabilize State Education Budgets: Rep. Kline and the Republicans uniformly opposed the stimulus bill.

The former Marine colonel and helicopter pilot said he wouldn’t be likely to support the provision of more money to help steady state and district finances, since he doesn’t think the $100 billion provided for education under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the 2009 stimulus law, helped the economy.

US Senate: The article also mentioned two Republican US Senate candidates, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Joe Miller of Alaska who have called for the abolition of the US Department of Education. Given that academic achievement, freedom, and state sovereignty have done nothing but suffer since its creation during the Carter administration, lots of support would certainly exist for that idea.

As the campaign continues, please encourage candidates for Congress that understand how important it is to dismantle the federal leviathan in education, that there is no proper role for the federal government in education in the US Constitution, and that the power to set education policy must be returned to where it belongs, to the states and to the people.

Karen Effrem is director of government relations for EdWatch.

Preschool actually harms reading achievement

By Karen R. Effrem, MD
Director of Government Relations, EdWatch

INTRODUCTION - Education is a very big issue in the state of Minnesota and across the nation this election season, as it should be for comprising 40-50% of many state budgets. Using Minnesota as an example, all three gubernatorial candidates in their budget plans, debates, and speeches are discussing the importance of “investing” in early childhood education.

Democrat Mark Dayton and Independence Party Candidate Tom Horner constantly discuss the importance of early childhood, with Horner boldly calling for “cradle to grave” government education. Republican Tom Emmer, to his credit, has been emphasizing the importance of literacy and school choice regarding preschool, especially for poor children to close the “achievement gap.”

However, none of the candidates seem to understand the miserable failure of early childhood education in improving literacy or closing the achievement gap. In fact, they all seem to have been taken in by the usual suspects in the preschool cabal into believing that “kindergarten readiness,” however subjectively defined, is equivalent to improved reading performance. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Reading is the most fundamental of academic skills and if especially poor children are not taught well how to do so, they are doomed to life of failure. By 4th grade, when the effects of preschool should be most apparent, Pre-K actually at best, leaves reading scores unchanged and in the worst case scenario finds them to be lower than the national average. The news is even worse for poor children, making the achievement gap worse.

National averages and states with universal programs

Despite a huge growth in the national average of roughly 20% to 70% of 4 year olds joining a pre-k program between 1965 and 2001, 4th grade reading, math and science scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP test) have remained basically flat over roughly that same period.

Oklahoma is the state with the highest percentage of children in the nation enrolled in their pre-K program and the highest quality rating scores according to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).The program started in 1980 and went universal in 1988.  Oklahoma went from having NAEP 4th grade reading scores above the national average in 1992 to being below the national average every time the test was taken since then. The 2010 graphs from the NAEP organization showed that 72 percent of Oklahoma fourth graders are reading below their grade level proficiency.Why would Minnesota want to follow the same road for the same dismal results when there is no money?

Georgia's preschool program began in 1993 and went universal in 1995.  It overall ranking for quality and access is 3rd in the nation according to NIEER with 58% of their children participating in the government program.   Before, during and since this massive and expensive 15 year preschool expansion, Georgia’s 4th grade reading NAEP scores have remained below the national average. State data through the first grade showed that children involved in a private program or those who were raised at home did the best academically.

Poor children

Since the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Educational Act and Head Start back in 1965, the difference in achievement between poor and minority and middle class children, the achievement gap, has been talked about and measured. Billions, if not trillions, of state and federal dollars have been spent on millions of poor children across the nation over the last 45 years and nothing has worked. Minnesota is notorious for having the largest or among the largest gaps in the nation. Data show that preschool seems to exacerbate the achievement gap in poor children.

National Head Start - A Congressionally-mandated national evaluation of Head Start released in May of 2010 followed the progress of three- and four-year-olds entering Head Start through the first grade. The program had little to no positive effects for 4 year old children granted access to Head Start after the first grade year. There was actually harm to the math skills of three year old children in Head Start compared to those who did not participate. An investigation in the Spring of 2010 by the Government Accountability Office resulting in a congressional hearing found fraud at selected Head Start programs where false income data was not verified or was doctored and families were committing fraud and encouraged by the Head Start programs.

Georgia – State data, (p. 70 of PDF) showed students enrolled in the [Georgia] Head Start program “consistently tested below the national norm and significantly behind their peers” by the end of first grade.

Oklahoma – In this high quality, high access, universal preschool state, a 2010 national study reported by the Tulsa World found that “more than four out of five children from low-income families fail to reach the proficiency level in the 4th grade reading, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress.”

New Jersey – That state has been offering court ordered preschool to low income children since 1998. Yet, the number of poor children scoring below basic on the 4th grade reading NAEP test, meaning that they were illiterate, increased between 1992 and 2007.

What does close the achievement gap?

According to Researcher Dr. William Jeynes at the University of California at Santa Barbara, there are three sets of factors that actually erase or significantly improve the achievement gap:

• Intact Families and Religious Faith – Dr. Jeynes found, “data from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey to examine the impact of student religious commitment and living in intact families on academic achievement among black and Hispanic 12th graders. Students with intact families and high levels of religiosity scored as well as all white students on most achievement measures and higher than their black and Hispanic counterparts without intact families or high religiosity. “(Emphasis added). Believe it or not, these two combined ERASE the achievement gap and is the only thing known to accomplish that feat. For all the billions and billions, if not trillions, of dollars spent on education at the state and federal levels, this is the only thing that actually accomplishes that noble goal. When we discuss welfare reform, we need to not penalize Dad’s involvement as families wean of the program and we will reap many other important benefits.
• Phonics Instruction – There are significant improvements in reading scores for poor and minority children taught with phonics. This has been known for a long time from many other additional studies and is just common sense, but unfortunately for our nation’s poorest children, is not being adequately implemented.
• Real Parental Involvement - The positive effects of parental involvement hold for both White and minority secondary children on academic performance. We do need to empower parents as much as possible.

The future ability of our children to read and become responsible, freedom minded citizens in the global economy combined with the peril of our economic state cannot allow us to believe the lies and empty promises of invasive, ineffective, harmful, preschool programs. We must urge our policy makers and candidates to reject early childhood programs and support ideas that actually work such as:

• Cutting taxes so that one parent can afford to stay home and raise children
• Support intact families in welfare and divorce policy, which as Dr. Jeynes data points out ERASES the achievement gap and much other research prevents many other childhood and adolescent social and emotional ills.
• Teaching children, especially poor children, to read early and well in elementary school using intensive systematic phonics,
• Promote authentic parental involvement.

This post originally appeared on the EdWatch web site.

Alternative licensure need not mean "lower standards"

Education Minnesota teachers union president Tom Dooher is speaking out in television ads against an alternative licensure proposal for teachers now before the Minnesota Legislature. Dooher says that the proposals would "lower standards to become a teacher in Minnesota." While alternative licensure would certainly challenge the status quo, "alternative" need not mean "lower" standards.

The bill, SF 2757, "Alternative Pathways for Teacher Licensure," would provide qualified, trained reinforcements to existing teachers, from the ranks of recent college graduates and experienced workforce veterans. Nonprofit efforts like Teach for America have proved that this can reap significantly improved educational outcomes for students in even the toughest environments. According to its web site, "We believe that the best hope for ending educational inequity is to build a massive force of leaders in all fields who have the perspective and conviction that come from teaching successfully in low-income communities."

Alternative licensure is supported by Republicans and DFLers in Minnesota and the Obama administration.

While such a system would release new energy and expertise to struggling schools, it could also dilute Education Minnesota's influence over all things K-12 in the state, including teacher training and compensation, tenure, and statewide education policy. Lawmakers and voters do have a choice to make: doing what's best for our children, or continuing to do what's best for the teachers union.

Tim Pawenty: Education Governor, 2010

I started this blog in 2003 when I was appointed to Governor Tim Pawlenty's Academic Standards Committee, under the leadership of then-Education commissioner Cheri Pierson-Yecke. That newly-appointed Commissioner Yecke restored her department's name to Education from the "Department of Children, Families, and Learning," and replaced the fuzzy, process-oriented Profile of Learning with the more knowledge-oriented state academic standards, is a testament to the sweeping, high-velocity changes made possible by the 2002 elections. In 2002, Pawlenty beat DFL candidate Roger Moe by eight points, with 80 percent of Minnesotans voting. Republicans held an 82-52 majority in the state House, while the DFL held a slim 35-31 majority in the Senate. Since then I have documented on this blog Pawlenty's persistent advocacy for meaningful education reforms.

Under a year to the end of his administration, Pawlenty this week unveiled another sweeping education reform agenda. Some of his initiatives are new, some are dusted off from previous legislative sessions, and some are being touted by the governor as an attempt to attract federal education funds, but all are consistent with his ongoing commitment to innovative education reforms. They include:

Expanded Q Comp Minnesota's Quality Compensation for Teachers — Pawlenty's signature education reform includes professional development, teacher evaluations, and a performance-based alternative pay system. In 2010, Pawlenty proposes an extension of the program to include principals and strengthening teacher preparation.

Alternative teacher licensure — providing jobs for mid-career professionals and providing "real world" prospective to classrooms would be a win-win from this proposed new pathway to teaching. If you have any doubts about how well this could work, take a look at a similar approach used by Teach for America.

Easing the expansion of successful charter schools — nationally-proven programs like KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) would be encouraged by Governor Pawlenty to expand in Minnesota by streamlining the charter school application process for them.

In a statement, Pawlenty said, "The national education reform landscape is changing and leading reform states are adopting these kinds of changes. Eventually these measures will be enacted here, too. The only question is whether Minnesota will lead or be late to the game."

Race To The Top: same song, different tune

In case my last post left you with the impression that this blogger and conservatives in general are swooning over the Obama education initiative Race To The Top because it throws us a few reform bones, our friend Dr. Karen Effrem, M.D. of EdAction and EdWatch reminds us that the thing about federal education funding is that ultimately, who pays the piper calls the tune.

As Effrem explains, Race To The Top (RTTP) is pretty much an encore of No Child Left Behind, with a quieter, more pleasing melody:

With the nearly one trillion dollars spent for the stimulus as well as the trillions spent or proposed for the federal budget, health care, and cap and trade legislation one might reasonably wonder why a few billion dollars for more federal education spending is any big deal. The answer is that federal government is using this program to bribe states to accept even more federal control of education, a constitutionally and traditionally state function.

This dangerous trend of more federal control of education was greatly accelerated by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. However because of the intense opposition engendered by NCLB from all points on the political spectrum and the difficulty that the Obama administration has run into trying to implement its expansive and statist domestic agenda, RTTT is accomplishing more of that same federal control without having to go through the messy process of reauthorizing the controversial NCLB.

This most recent education bill follows the same big-government statist tune that has been sung by Democrats and Republicans for decades. The parties may change, but the song remains the same: as government expands, liberty contracts.

Pawlenty challenges Minnesota to lead rather than "get dragged"

On Tuesday, Governor Tim Pawlenty simultaneously stood up for meaningful education reforms and tried to position the state to win second-round federal Race to the Top education reform dollars.

"The only question in this room is going to be 'Do you want to get dragged there, or do you want to lead to that point?'" said Pawlenty. "I suggest we lead because this is going to happen. It will happen some time in the next 3-10 years."

Sometimes politics makes for truly odd bedfellows. The Pawlenty administration and education reform advocates are finding themselves supporting some of the significant aspects of the Obama administration's Race to the Top initiative, while many Democrats and the teachers unions, strong supporters of candidate Obama in 2008, oppose them, including:

• Alternative teacher licensure - allowing non-traditional candidates like mid-career professionals alternative paths becoming licensed teachers
• Pay for performance - linking teacher pay to student performance, even more than Minnesota's current, optional Q Comp program

Conservatives generally and the Pawlenty administration in particular have been advocating for these types of reforms since at least the late 1990s. From the nation's first charter school laws to replacing the process-oriented Profile of Learning with knowledge-based academic standards, to Q Comp, Minnesota has often led the way in education reform, rather than let itself be dragged by Washington, D.C. educrats to improving its public school system.

There is no reason for Minnesota to wait for yet another federal subsidy before implementing more nation- and world-leading education reforms. According to the U.S. and state constitutions, education is a function of the various states, not the federal government. With the right leadership, Minnesota can close the achievement gap, lower costs, and put more control of the schools in the hands of local school boards and parents. That would be change we could all believe in.

It was never about the speech

"I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn." —President Barack Obama, address to schoolchildren, September 8, 2009

President Obama's speech today and the revised Department of Education "engagement resources" do not change the federal government's ever-increasing control of education, to the detriment of local control by the states and local school boards, and a cultural shift away from individual achievement toward a general dumbing-down to ensure equal outcomes for all.

The nationalization of education began in 1965 with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) with its funding to states (not families) to educate low-income students. It took a giant step forward in 1979, when President Jimmy Carter signed the law that created the U.S. Department of Education. It took a major leap forward in 2002 when Edward Kennedy's No Child Left Behind Act (a reauthorization of the ESEA) was signed into law by President George W. Bush.

Q: Should it be the federal goverment's role to "fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn?"

A: See the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Why Obama is speaking directly to schoolchildren on September 8

The philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next generation.

—Abraham Lincoln (attributed)

Diffusion of authority among tens of thousands of school districts is a safeguard against centralized control and abuse of the educational system that must be maintained.

—Dwight D. Eisenhower, New York Herald Tribune, February 9, 1955

President Obama will address the nation's schoolchildren directly in their classrooms on Tuesday. More than just a speech, the event will be broadcast on C-SPAN, streamed from the Internet, and be accompanied by downloadable "classroom engagement resources," with thought-provoking content like this:

As the president speaks, teachers can ask students to write down key ideas or phrases that are important or personally meaningful. Students could use a note‐taking graphic organizer such as a “cluster web;” or, students could record their thoughts on sticky notes. Younger children could draw pictures and write as appropriate. As students listen to the speech, they could think about the following:

• What is the president trying to tell me?


• What is the president asking me to do?


• What new ideas and actions is the president challenging me to think about?

Why does the Left in America insist on ever more centralized control of the schools and oppose charter and homeschools, taking control away from parents and local communities?

When an opponent declares, "I will not come over to your side," I calmly say, "Your child belongs to us already... What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.

He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.

—Adolf Hilter

Take away a people's heritage and they are easily persuaded.

Give us the child for eight years and it will be a Bolshevik forever.

—Vladimir Lenin (attributed)

Under federal control of education and soon health care, all that's left for us parents is "breed 'em and feed 'em." The government will take care of the rest, from cradle to grave.

How west metro schools stack up

Now that the Minnesota Department of Education has released the 2009 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments II results, I pored over the high school data to compare the test results among west metro school districts. I added per-pupil spending and enrollment data from School Data Direct to see if I could find any relationships among test data, spending, and district size (the latter two are the most recent published data).

District	Math (11)	Reading (10)	Science (HS)	Per Pupil Spending 05-06	Enrollment 07-08
Hopkins	66.0	84.7	48.1	$10,253.00	7,672
Minnetonka	64.4	92.5	76.0	$8,311.00	7,974
Orono	60.8	92.1	73.9	$7,850.00	2,662
Osseo	41.8	75.9	50.5	$9,287.00	21,859
Robbinsdale	41.7	69.0	43.1	$9,126.00	12,891
Wayzata	71.5	90.5	72.7	$8,189.00	9,990
Minnesota	41.6	74.2	50.0	$9,159.00	840,565

MCA-II scores are not the only indicator of school performance, but they are one way that you can compare all districts in the state. Another is composite ACT scores: students in all of these districts are performing comparably well.

Although Minnetonka, Orono, and Wayzata score above state averages on the MCA-II standardized tests, contrary to what you might expect, they spend significantly less per pupil than the state average. Part of this is due to the fact that these districts receive less money from the state due to, well, politics. One glance at Minnesota School Finance, a primer for legislators on K-12 education finance, confirms this. The funding formula and plethora of categorical aids are ostensibly in place to ensure equal outcomes for all students, but is there a direct link between spending and performance?

It used to be that our independent school districts (and local governments) were funded by local property taxes, until the so-called "Minnesota Miracle" largely shifted these burdens to the state, which collects sales and income taxes. Because sales and income taxes are more sensitive to economic conditions than property taxes, they are subject to wildly varying levels of collection. The system also relocates much accountability from the school district and city hall to the corridors of power at the state capitol.

Although the Minnesota Miracle of wealth redistribution supposedly jibes with Minnesotans' sense of fairness (any law that robs Peter to pay Paul will always have the support of Paul), it has the effect of making government less transparent and responsive to taxpayers.

Not only math is "integrated" in Wayzata district

When I heard this year that the Wayzata School District had recently adopted the textbook, Vocabulary from Classical Roots by Norma Fifer and Nancy Flowers (Educators Publishing Service, Cambridge and Toronto), I was pleased.

I am a technical writer by profession, I love language, and insist that my own children learn to communicate effectively in writing and speech. So the study of Greek and Latin roots seemed to me a back-to-basics, classical approach to English instruction.

I was half right.

Classical Roots does indeed teach word strategies and etymologies, but I can also see how world views are being "integrated" into language arts as they have been in integrated math. These word usage examples are from the Fifer and Flowers Classical Roots book (the boldface word is the vocabulary word being studied):

• The perseverance and hard work of Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrants were responsible for the prosperous economy of the Southwest in the nineteenth century.
• History shows that although men have often expected women to be subservient, many women have resisted domination.
• Historian Elizabeth Longford writes that "as playthings or household slaves, women were distorted the world over."
• During his presidency, Jimmy Carter mediated disagreements between Israel and Egypt.
• Although twice elected prime minister of Great Britian, Sir Winston Churchill was considered an academic mediocrity as a schoolboy.
• Environmentalists say that at this juncture we must protect rain forests around the globe to prevent harmful atmospheric changes.
• Because of stringent budget cuts, some schools could no longer finance programs in music and art.
• The Jamestown settlers were long on visionary schemes but short on funds and common sense.
• The repertoire of folk singer Joan Baez includes songs in both Spanish and English.
• The Mexican rebel Emiliano Zapata advocated the rights of peasant farmers against powerful landlords.
• Recognizing the need to build new schools, the community assented to the higher property tax.
• Although the later works of the English writer John Dunne are sermons and serious religious verse, his youthful creations are witty and profane love poems.
• You profane a mosque by entering it with shoes on.
• Her friends and neighbors in the favelas, or slums, didn't realize that Carolina Maria de Jesus was a literary prodigy whose diary would become Brazil's all-time bestseller.
• Although she was a loyal Republican, her views on taxation differ ideologically from party policy.

We've come a long way from "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen." These statements may be worthy of debate, but notice how they remain unchallenged since they appear in a language arts, and not a social studies textbook. Is the intent here to teach language, or something else?

Beacon Academy "bursting at the seams"

Beacon Academy, a Core Knowledge-based charter school, has outgrown its current building in Plymouth. I have been following the creation and evolution of this charter school since it was just an idea. Hearing about Beacon's growing pains and then growing successes from Beacon's director (and my friend), Jordan Ford, has been heartening.

As reported by the Sun Newspapers ("Beacon Academy interested in leasing Pilgrim Lane in Plymouth," February 12, 2009), Beacon is interested in leasing (or buying) Pilgrim Lane Elementary, one of three Robbinsdale District 281 buildings scheduled to close at the end of the school year due to excess capacity:

Tamara Harken of Crystal, chair of the Beacon Academy board of directors, sent a letter to District 281 Board Chair Tom Walsh on Jan. 9, expressing her school's interest in leasing Pilgrim Lane beginning this fall.

"Our five-year plan to mature into a K-8 school has come to fruition, and we are currently searching for a location to house our 2009-2010 student body of 400 children," Harken's letter stated.

"It's nice to be bursting at the seams versus dealing with declining enrollment," said Ford.

The Sun Sailor reported that "District 281's policy until 2007 was not to rent or sell its surplus buildings to other schools that potentially would compete for the district's students."

The attitude that puts protecting one's turf ahead of serving the families of our community could be one reason that enrollment in some school districts is declining, while enrollment in charter schools like Beacon Academy is rising. Public school districts should not be afraid of school choice. In Sweden, public education funding follows the child, with the support of even the Swedish Teachers Union:

Sweden's school choice system was introduced in 1992. It is based on a virtual "voucher" which is equivalent in value to the average cost of educating a child in the local state school.

Parents can use this "voucher" to "buy" a place at the school of their choice. The idea is that funding follows the pupil and, in this way, the state supports the schools that are most popular with parents.

—"Swedish parents enjoy school choice," BBC.com

John McCain on school choice

Education is the civil rights issue of this century. Equal access to public education has been gained. But what is the value of access to a failing school? We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice, remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work.

When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it to them. Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have that choice and their children will have that opportunity.

Senator Obama wants our schools to answer to unions and entrenched bureaucracies. I want schools to answer to parents and students. And when I’m President, they will.

—John McCain, acceptance speech for the Republican nomination for President, September 4, 2008

Minnesota Education Reform News (1999-2008)

I have shut down Minnesota Education Reform News, the web site that existed at various URLs and on various web platforms since about 1999. I will continue to maintain this blog, but my main blog has been and will be North Star Liberty. Thanks to everyone for your support, particularly of my popular articles on integrated math.

If you have any bookmarks that point to scholarsnotebook.info, they will no longer work.

Regards,

Matt Abe

P.S. A side effect of this is that the URL is incorrect in the banner at the top of this blog. I will correct it soon.