Teacher of year not a fan of corporate ed reform

The new teacher of the year is Jeff Charbonneau,from Zillah, Washington, a high school science teacher and co-president of the Zillah Education Association. Much like the last teacher of the year, isn't a big fan of corporate education reform

Charbonneau said that it is not even clear if the standardized tests themselves are “completely valid or show what students know.”

“At this point I don’t think you can tie those test scores [to teacher evaluations] as it currently being done,” he said. “Could they have relevance in the future if the tests are better? Yes.”

Charbonneau also said that he disagrees with school reformers and others who say that American public education is in a crisis.

“The concept that we are a nation of failing schools I believe is false,” he said. “We are a nation of succeeding schools. I think our schools are succeeding far more and at higher levels than given credit for…. I agree that there are areas that need improvement, but at the same time, there are many things we are doing right that are not celebrated.”

Amen.

Voucher demand falls

We have previously reported how the last budget expanded the availability of vouchers from 14,000 a year to 60,000, and how little demand there was for them. This year demand for vouchers has fallen even further.

The Department of Education received nearly 600 fewer applicants to the Educational Choice scholarship this spring compared to last year
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The 16,848 students whose families submitted applications by last Friday's deadline comes in short of the 17,438 who did so a year ago and still far below the 60,000 limit on vouchers. ODE also held a second application window last fall that brought the total applications to 17,516 for use in the present school year.

Let's look at the graph

If parents in school districts that are struggling are rejecting the voucher option, why would the legislature think expansion of vouchers into districts where schools are excellent, prove to be any more popular?

School choice proponents need to begin to understand that the vast majority of parents choose public schools, and that choice deserves the same vigorous support for-profit education receives from the "choice" community and Ohio's current crop of legislators.

Voucher opposition is expanding

HB59 as introduced by the Governor and passed out of the House finance committee on a party line vote, would create a statewide voucher program, based solely on household income. Eligibility would only be limited to those with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty line ($46,100 for a family of 4). Initially only covering kindergarten, it expands to first grade the following year.

This expansion would occur even in the highest performing school districts at a time when so many are still reeling from massive budget cuts the legislature is not keen to restore. Furthermore, once a student qualifies for a voucher they will forever qualify regardless of family income.

Previous attempts to expend vouchers statewide (via HB136) met with huge community resistance across at least 400 of Ohio's 60+ school districts (see the list below). Similar opposition is now growing to this provision in the budget. The following districts have all passed a resolution opposing the voucher expansion in HB59

Adena local	Millecreek West Unity
Allen East Local	Monroeville Local
Anthony Wayne Local	Morgan Local
Athens City	Muskingum Valley ESC
Austintown Local	Oak Hill Union Local
Barnesville EX Vill	Oakwood City
Bath Local	Old Fort Local
Bellbrook-Sugarcreek	National Trail Local
Berea City	New Lexington City
Big Walnut Local	New Richmond
Bluffton EX Vill	Noble Local
Brown Local	Northern Local
Chillicothe City	Northwood Local
Columbiana Ex Vill	Ripley Union Lewis Huntington
Coshocton City	Ross Local
Crestview Local	Ross-Pike ESC
Cuyahoga Falls	St. Clairsville-Richland City
Fairbanks	Sheffield-Sheffield Lake
Fairfield Union	South Central Ohio ESC
Felicity-Franklin Local	Southern Local
Firelands Local	Southington Local
Galion City	Springfield City
Gallipolis City	Tuscarawas Vlley Local
Goshen Local	Tuslaw Local
Graham	Urbana City
Grand Valley Local	Vanlue Local
Granville EX Vill	Vantage Career Center
Green Local (Franklin Furnace)	Van Wert City
Indian Valley Local	Washington-Nile
Keystone Local	Waverly
Lancaster City	Wayne County Career Center
Licking County ESC	Wellston City
Lincolnview Local	West Muskingum
Louisville City	Wheelersburg
Lynchburg-Clay Local	Williamsburg Local
Madeira City	Yellow Springs EV
Mathews Local	Zane Trace Local

A copy of the resolution can be found here, and reads as follows:

WHEREAS, Governor Kasich’s biennial budget (HB 59) proposes to expand the EdChoice Scholarship Program through two new options that will significantly increase the number of publicly-funded vouchers for students to attend private or parochial schools; and

WHEREAS, one of the programs provides private or parochial school tuition vouchers to any entering kindergarten student of a family with a household income less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, to be used at the parent’s choice of participating private or parochial school; and

WHEREAS, the following year, such vouchers would be expanded to include students in both kindergarten and first grade, totaling $25 million over the biennium; and

WHEREAS, such vouchers would be granted without regard to the academic performance or quality of the public school that the student is assigned to attend; and

WHEREAS, the second voucher expansion proposed by the Governor in HB 59 expands eligibility for the EdChoice voucher program to Kindergarten through 3rd grade students enrolled in buildings that received a “D” or “F” in the new K-3 Literacy component of the New Report Card in 2 of the 3 most recent report cards; and

WHEREAS, the operation of the proposed programs would effectively reduce funds from the already financially beleaguered local public school districts, resulting in fewer resources for the education of remaining students;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT, AND IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, that the ____________ Board of Education does hereby express its opposition to these provisions in HB 59; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the _________ Board of Education expresses its opposition to any legislation that seeks to transfer public dollars to support private education; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Treasurer be directed to spread this resolution upon the minutes of the Board of Education and that copies of the resolution be forwarded to the Governor and members of the Ohio General Assembly.

Below is a list of the districts that opposed HB136

HB136 Voucher Expansion Opposition

Graph of the week

We hear a lot from the Governor and his legislature about the need for students to be "college ready", which is laudable. But there's the rhetoric of "being ready" and the reality of a legislature that is making college harder, especially for students from poor families.

Exhibit A is this graph sent to us by a reader, regarding the states disinvestment in the Ohio College Opportunity Grant

Is an $81 a year tax cut really worth it?

Lawsuit filed over unfair teacher evaluations

The Washington Post is reporting on a lawsuit being filed by Florida teachers, that cold shake the foundations of a lot of teacher evaluation systems both in Florida, but across the country, including here in Ohio

A group of teachers and their unions filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Florida officials that challenges the state’s educator evaluation system, under which many teachers are evaluated on the standardized test scores of students they do not teach.

The seven teachers who filed the lawsuit include Kim Cook, who, as this post explains, was evaluated at Irby Elementary, a K-2 school where she works and was named Teacher of the Year last December. But 40 percent of that evaluation was based on test scores of students at Alachua Elementary, a school into which Irby feeds, whom she never taught.

Kim Cook's story is very unneverving

Here’s the crazy story of Kim Cook, a teacher at Irby Elementary, a K-2 school which feeds into Alachua Elementary, for grades 3-5, just down the road in Alachua, Fla. She was recently chosen by the teachers at her school as their Teacher of the Year.

Her plight stems back to last spring when the Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 736, which mandates that 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation must be based on student scores on the state’s standardized tests, a method known as the value-added model, or VAM. It is essentially a formula that supposedly tells how much “value” a teacher has added to a student’s test score. Assessment experts say it is a terrible way to evaluate teachers but it has still been adopted by many states with the support of the Obama administration.

Since Cook’s school only goes through second grade, her school district is using the FCAT scores from the third graders at Alachua Elementary School to determine the VAM score for every teacher at her school.

Alachua Elementary School did not do well in 2011-12 evaluations that just came out; it received a D. Under the VAM model, the state awarded that school — and Cook’s school, by default — 10 points out of 100 for their D.

In this school district, there are three components to teacher evaluations:
1. A lesson study worth 20 percent. In the lesson study, small groups of teachers work together to create an exemplary lesson, observe one of the teachers implement it, critique the teacher’s performance and discuss improvement.
2. Principal appraisal worth 40 percent of overall score.
3. VAM data (scores from the standardized Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores for elementary schools) worth 40 percent of the overall score.

Cook received full points on her lesson study: 100 x .20 (20%) = 20 points
Cook received an 88/100 from her former principal: 88/100 x .40 (40%) = 35.2 points
On VAM data — points awarded by the state for the FCAT scores at Alachua Elementary School: 10/100 x .40 (40%) = 4 points
Total points that she received: 59.2 (Unsatisfactory)

Here's a video of Kim speaking on this issue

We imaging this to be the first, not the last legal action against many of the provisions corporate education reformers are trying to cram into teacher evaluations.

Substitute HB59 (budget bill) Analysis

The House finance committee moved their substitute budget bill out of committee yesterday along a party line vote. Few changes were made to the education funding and policy piece, leaving the House budget bill underfunding Ohio's public schools by about $200 million less than the Governor's widely panned funding plan.

The House budget bill continues to hand gifts to the private school and for-profit charter school movement. There is a massive expansion of vouchers, only limited by household income needing ot be below 200% of the federal poverty line (currently ~$46,000). This means that for the first time, high performing districts could lose students and dollars to private schools that likely underperform their public school counterparts.

Steve Dyer has a good run down of the giveaways to charter schools, and especially the catastrophically bad eschools.

Permits an e-school that serves at least grades one through eight to divide into two schools as long as the sponsor agrees and the division is accomplished in either the 2013 – 2014 or 2014 – 2015 school year.

My hunch is this will allow one or both of two things to happen: 1) e-Schools to separate out their higher and lower performing schools and 2) e-Schools to collect more money. I'm becoming more and more impressed with William Lager -- the head of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow. He is fast becoming the state's new David Brennan, giving big checks to politicians accompanied by nice budget carve outs.
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Provides that an e-school is eligible to receive career technical education funding in addition to the core opportunity grant and special education funding.

Once again, kudos to William Lager for getting e-School hands into another pot of public money! While Career-Tech money only constitutes about $120 million over the budget cycle, it will only add to e-School profits. I mean, what better way to learn woodworking than over a computer! I know watching those YouTube demonstrations of how to cut outside mitres have really helped my carpentry. Ask my wife!
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Permits a community school to charge tuition to a student who is not an Ohio resident.

The addition to the Houses's budget bill that caught the most attention however was a move to criminalize the teacher of sex education

The sex education amendment would ban instructors from endorsing anything other than abstinence as acceptable behavior.

The measure also would prohibit handing out contraception on school property.

A parent could sue an instructor who violates the provision and receive damages and attorney fees. And a court could issue a civil fine against the instructor of up to $5,000.
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Moments before taking a vote on the amended bill, committee Chairman Ron Amstutz assured the budget was not about ideology.

When asked what motivated GOP lawmakers to propose the sex education changes, Amstutz said he didn't "have much to offer," adding that he would have to take another look at the bill's language.

"There's been a lot of questions about that," Amstutz said.

The amendment's language prohibits instruction by those who endorse "non-abstinence" or "gateway sexual activity." It defines "gateway sexual activity" by citing the Ohio Revised Code's definition of "sexual contact" listed under the section on sexual offenses. It describes such activity as any touching of an erogenous zone for the purpose of sexual satisfaction.

Innovation Ohio has a good rundown of this ridiculous piece of legislation.

The language also states that class instruction in Ohio may not provide materials that condone sexual activity among unmarried students. It even allows a parent to sue if an educator violates the restrictive provisions in the law.

In short, the state budget now mandates that Ohio adopt an abstinence-only approach to sex education program.

But abstinence education doesn’t work. Research shows this. Teen pregnancies are highest in states with abstinence-only sex education. By contrast, teens who have had comprehensive sex education are 60 percent less likely to become pregnant.

In a state budget that already defunds Planned Parenthood and directs tax dollars to Crisis Pregnancy Centers that lie to women, Ohio lawmakers are moving the state in the wrong direction for Ohio’s women and young people.

Here's the Ohio Legislative Service Commissions document that compares the House version of the budget bill to that of the Governor's , in somewhat plain English

HB59 Comparison Document House