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ALEC's Report Card Receives Failing Marks

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Via the Great Lakes Center

EAST LANSING, Mich. (May 9, 2013) – Ranking states is a popular tool for education advocacy groups, with the goal of advancing a policy agenda based on ideologically driven pre-packaged reforms. These report cards receive considerable media attention, although few reflect research-based evidence on the efficacy of particular polices. The 18th edition of the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress, and Reform is no different according to an academic review.

Christopher Lubienski, associate professor of education policy and Director of the Forum on the Future of Public Education at the University of Illinois, and T. Jameson Brewer, a doctoral student at the University of Illinois, reviewed ALEC's Report Card for the Think Twice think tank review project. The review was produced by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), with funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.

Lubienski and Brewer find that ALEC draws its grades exclusively not from research organizations, but from like-minded market-orientated advocacy organizations.

"Furthermore, when studies are highlighted in this report, they do not represent the peer-reviewed research on a given issue, are often of extremely poor quality, and generally unsuited for supporting their claim."

In their review, Lubienski and Brewer provide two key areas – alternative teacher certification and school choice – to highlight gaps between ALEC's agenda and empirical evidence. Despite multiple claims that a "growing body of research indicates…" – the report offers absolutely no supporting evidence. Math results, which have a lower pass rate, were used to compare traditionally-certified teachers to alternatively-certified teachers. Meanwhile alternatively-certified teachers were portrayed using their reading results.

"Many of the grades given to states reflect the level to which pro-market policies have been implemented while the grades systematically ignore meaningful measurements of equality and outcomes" according to the review.

Readers of ALEC's Report Card should consider it a statement of policy preferences and not an overview of research on education reforms.

The reviewers conclude, "At best, the report serves as an amalgamation of other like-minded think tanks' assessments of states' adoption of pro-market policies, and thus offers nothing new … it provides little or no usefulness to policymakers."

Find the report by Lubienski and Brewer on the Great Lakes Center website: www.greatlakescenter.org

Education News for 04-11-2013

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State Education News

Local Education News

  • 14 were interested in Columbus superintendent job (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Columbus City Schools had 14 applicants from across the nation for superintendent when the school board voted to suspend its search on Tuesday evening, bowing to the wishes of Mayor Michael B. Coleman and others.…Read more…

  • Goggin hired as Midview superintendent (Lorain Morning Journal)

    • The Midview school board will hire current Director of Education Scott Goggin as its next superintendent at today’s board meeting.…Read more…

  • Avon Lake High School might cut credit hours (Lorain Morning Journal)

    • It may be easier for Avon Lake High School seniors to receive their diploma in 2014 as school board members consider cutting graduation credit hours from 24 to 21 credits.…Read more…

  • South Range district asks state for more funding (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • The treasurer of a Mahoning County district urged state lawmakers Wednesday to increase state funding for local schools.…Read more…

  • Boardman stadium project gets boost from Home Savings donation (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Boardman High School boosters are trying to get a new stadium project up and running, despite voter rejection of a bond issue in 2007 that would have provided funding.…Read more…

Education News for 02-28-2013

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State Education News

  • IN OUR SCHOOLS: Ohio finally releases report cards (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Ohio’s Department of Education on Wednesday released the rest of its school and district report card data for the 2011-12 school year, six months late…Read more…

  • Ohio schools' report cards shifting to new format (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • The Solon school district won't be sweating over whether it's rated Excellent or Excellent with Distinction on state report cards anymore.…Read more…

  • Yost slams how schools report data (Columbus Dispatch)

    • State Auditor Dave Yost, whose office investigated data-scrubbing among school districts throughout the state, called on the Ohio Department of Education yesterday to fix the “just-trust-me” system.…Read more…

  • School report cards finally released (Findlay Courier)

    • After a nearly seven-month delay because of a statewide investigation into attendance tampering, the 2011-12 school report cards were finally released Wednesday.…Read more…

  • Official state report cards released (Lima News)

    • The State Department of Education released the final 2011-12 report cards Wednesday.…Read more…

  • Final-Not-Quite-Final Ohio School Report Cards Released (State Impact Ohio)

    • Ohioans finally get to see their schools’ ratings in the nice, clean PDF format they’re used to, instead of the confusing and incomplete spreadsheets the Department of Education released in the fall.…Read more…

  • Ohio Department of Education releases finalized school report cards (Toledo Blade)

    • The Ohio Department of Education released finalized school report cards today, after a months-long delay prompted by a statewide investigation into allegations of data manipulation by school districts.…Read more…

  • Justices’ questions leave fired science teacher hopeful (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Attorneys for Mount Vernon schools fidgeted in their seats and dropped their heads yesterday as they listened to Ohio Supreme Court justices discuss the case of fired teacher John Freshwater.…Read more…

Local Education News

  • Local districts fair well on state report cards (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • The Ohio Department of Education has found that Akron-area school districts performed higher than state performance averages.…Read more…

  • Report cards for Ohio schools unchanged from preliminary results, but Cleveland among districts still (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • Your school district's rating on final report cards issued Wednesday hasn't changed since the state released preliminary ratings in the fall.…Read more…

  • Hilliard schools top new state ranking (Columbus Dispatch)

    • For years, Hilliard students consistently have accomplished more than a year’s worth of learning during the school year. …Read more…

  • Linden students collect 750 books for hospital (Hamilton Journal-News)

    • Linden Elementary’s Friday morning book club — The Morning Glories - set out to do something special for the school's participation in the 26 Days of Kindness initiative.…Read more…

  • Ohio releases final school report cards (New Philadelphia Times-Reporter)

    • Sixteen school buildings in the Tuscarawas Valley earned the ranking of Excellent With Distinction in the latest Ohio school report card data released Wednesday.…Read more…

  • No surprises as school report cards are finally released (Newark Advocate)

    • About six months later than usual, the Ohio Department of Education released final school report card data on Wednesday.…Read more…

  • Final school report card results released (Springfield News-Sun)

    • Local school districts maintained their preliminary report card ratings Wednesday when the state released final results for the 2011-12 school year.…Read more…

  • Youngstown schools stay lowest ranked in Valley (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • Final school report cards released Wednesday by the Ohio Department of Education look a lot like those issued last October.…Read more…

  • ScholArts charter school to close today (Columbus Dispatch)

    • A charter school in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood is giving up its legal fight to stay open and will hold its final day of classes today.…Read more…

  • Sequester could cut local Head Start (Marion Star)

    • As Friday’s sequester deadline looms, 47 children in Marion, Morrow, Crawford and Richland counties remain caught in the cross hairs.…Read more…

  • Clark to hire school deputies (Springfield News-Sun)

    • Clark County commissioners plan to spend more than $96,000 this year and $118,000 next year to hire deputies to boost school security, but concerns have been raised whether the county can afford the program.…Read more…

  • Schools Scramble To Submit School Safety Plans To State After 10TV Probe (WBNS)

    • Three central Ohio schools left to submit their safety plans to the state filed them within the past week after being probed by 10TV’s Jerry Revish.…Read more…

  • CrimeTracker 10 Analyzes School Safety 1 year After Chardon HS Shooting (WBNS)

    • Last year’s tragedy at Chardon High School was a painful reminder of how vulnerable places of learning can be.…Read more…

  • Chardon Healing Fund helps victims' families after school shooting (WEWS)

    • The people of Chardon have opened their hearts to help victims’ families of the Chardon High School shooting. They've also opened their wallets and the generosity has been felt from coast-to-coast.…Read more…

  • Chardon school shooting victims' families suing T.J. Lane, his family (Willoughby News Herald)

    • Families of the three students who died in the Chardon High School shootings filed a wrongful death suit Wednesday against the gunman, his parents and his legal guardians.…Read more…

Education News for 02-13-2013

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State Education News

  • CPS could lose $40M over data 'scrubbing' (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Cincinnati Public Schools could lose up to $40 million in state funding in the current fiscal year because state officials say it thumbed its nose at rules about reporting attendance…Read more…

    


  • State report card on Columbus schools won’t come with rest (Columbus Dispatch)

    • With a statewide investigation of student-data rigging done, the Ohio Department of Education now will release complete versions of the long-awaited school report cards.…Read more…

    


  • School district to fight lawsuit trying to remove Jesus portrait (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Rather than relent to a lawsuit, Jackson City Schools officials are going to court to defend the ongoing display of a painting of Jesus that has hung in a school hallway for 66 years.…Read more…

    


  • School district’s report card rating, federal funding at risk (Dayton Daily News)

    • The state auditor on Tuesday presented his report on the statewide attendance investigation to the State Board of Education to determine whether adjustments should be made to the report card ratings of Northridge Local Schools and eight other districts…Read more…

Local Education News

  • Six honored for commitment to schools (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Cincinnatus, 3-C awards honor educators, administrator, volunteer.…Read more…

    


  • Kettering Schools to pull levy from May ballot (Dayton Daily News)

    • Kettering City Schools Superintendent James Schoenlein announced Tuesday that the district will withdraw its levy from the May 7 ballot due to an improved funding outlook in the new state education budget.…Read more…

  • Medina City Schools refinances bonds to save tax dollars (Sun News)

    • The Medina City Schools recently financed a $45 million bond taking advantage of the current low interest rates. The bond was originally obtained in 1999 to finance the expansion and renovation…Read more…

  • Lorain community likes plans to rejuvenate schools (Lorain Morning Journal)

    • A well-developed community vision is needed to change the direction of Lorain City Schools, Superintendent Tom Tucker said at last night’s special board meeting.…Read more…

    


  • Chardon High School unveils plans to commemorate 1-year anniversary of shooting (Willoughby News Herald)

    • A carefully planned agenda has been arranged to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Chardon High School.…Read more…

    


  • Springfield High opens first school store (Springfield News-Sun)

    • Springfield High School opened its first school store this year with a group of students learning life and employment skills while operating it.…Read more…

    


  • North Ridgeville Middle School students collect jeans for the homeless (Sun Newpapers)

    • he North Ridgeville Middle School Student Council is collecting jeans that will be given to shelters and distributed to homeless teens. The Student Council set a goal to collect 225 pairs of jeans…Read more…

Michelle Rhee's Failing Report Card

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Michelle Rhee gained notoriety as the chancellor of DC's public schools under Adrian Fenty's administration from 2007 to 2011. Her conduct in this position was one of the main reasons he was not re-elected. Among other things, she publicly took pleasure in firing large numbers of teachers and administrators. Incredibly, she also claims not to have realized that high stake testing would provide incentives for teachers or administrators to cheat on the scoring of exams.

Since she left the DC school system she started a new organization, StudentsFirst, which was created to push for the sort of changes to the school system she sought to implement as chancellor. The organization received considerable media attention for a report card it issued on the public school systems in the 50 states earlier this week. While most of the items on the report card were part of an educational agenda of questionable merit (see Diana Ravitch's blog for specific critiques), one item had nothing to do with education whatsoever.

Rhee's report card gave schools a failing grade if teachers received a defined benefit pension (worse if it was backloaded). The school system gets an "A" in this category if teachers only had a 401(k) typed defined contribution plan or a cash balance account.

Pensions are now and have historically been an important part of teachers' compensations. Teachers, like most public sector employees, are paid less in wages than workers in the private sector with comparable education and experience. They make up much of this gap with a better benefit package, including better pension benefits, than workers in the private sector receive.

Given this reality, it is difficult to see how students are helped if a school system replaces a defined benefit pension that guarantees teachers a specific level of income after they retire, with a defined contribution plan, where retirement income will depend on the teachers' investment success and the timing of the market. Since state governments don't have to care about the timing of market swings, only overall averages, assuming timing and investment risk is an important benefit that governments can provide their workers at essential zero cost. A defined benefit pension will make a job more attractive to workers than if the state gave teachers the same amount of money in the form of a contribution to a 401(k) account.

In short, Rhee's report card means that states get credit for making their teachers more financially insecure without saving the government a penny. This position might coincide with a business agenda to eliminate defined benefit pensions, but it is very difficult to see how it will improve our children's education.

Via.

The Higher the StudentsFirst grade, the lower the academic performance

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StudentsFirst released their "education policy report card" which they describe thusly

StudentsFirst created the State Policy Report Card to evaluate the education laws and policies in place in each state. We hope this helps reveal more about what states are doing to improve the nation’s public education system so that it serves all students well and puts each and every one of them on a path toward success.

They give each state a GPA based upon how much of StudentsFirst policy prescriptions have been implemented. We thought it would be interesting to look at the correlation between StudentsFirst "GPA" and the NAEP scores to see how well the policies StudentsFirst wants legislators to pursue stacks up against actually academic results.

The results are quite clear and unambiguous - following the policy prescriptions of StudentsFirst is bad for academic performance.

As you can see, in both 4th and 8th grade reading and math, the higher the StudentsFirst grade the lower the students performance. Yet more proof that StudentsFirst is not an education reform organization, but instead an extreme right wing anti-tax group funded by billionaires.