Starr to Meet with MSDE re: ESEA Waiver Request

According to his Twitter message this morning, Superintendent Joshua Starr is headed to an all day meeting today at Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) concerning the state of Maryland's  Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Waiver Request.


You can read the DRAFT of Maryland's ESEA Waiver Request HERE.


Here's hoping that Superintendent Starr gets a word in edgewise about the futility and waste of time and money that is known as the ALT-MSA.

Should Community Superintendents sit in a dunking booth?

How's that universal proficiency thing workin' out for ya?

NCLB (No Child Left Behind) required everybody to be proficient by 2014. Lately there's been some grousing. Apparently proficiency is not a reasonable expectation for some demographic groups in some school systems. So the idea is to get rid of the requirement, so systems won't be identified as failing and then actually have to do "whatever it takes."  See Tougher Standards Mean More Schools 'Failing'

I feel bad.  Maybe the systems didn't realize a decade ago that this would be a big job.  Maybe they thought the mere incantation of "equity" or "whatever it takes" would do the trick.

Part of the NCLB idea was that, when parents saw that their schools weren't making AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), they would make a stink, and school Boards and Superintendents would do whatever it takes to fix things. MCPS, just to pick an example, has many schools not making AYP, but I don't hear much complaint from parents. How come? They don't think it matters that lots of kids in their schools aren't even "proficient?" They're confident that MCPS already is doing "whatever it takes" to get these schools and demographic groups proficient?

Here's another thing. Pursuant to NCLB and Maryland regulations, principals are losing their jobs when their schools have failed long enough. It's the principals' fault. Different principals would achieve AYP. But the odd thing is that these bad schools, with their bad principals, are located in the red zone. Isn't it odd that MCPS makes bad principal choices only for schools in the red zone?

I'm thinking that the principal is important, but not sufficient, in doing whatever it takes to attain equity and AYP. The red zone concentration of failure suggests to me that more Carver resources will be required. I recently suggested to a pretty high ranking fellow that the Community Superintendents show more leadership in the school; but the fellow told me that it's not done that way in MCPS: that would undermine that (short-tenured) principal. And it's magnifying the principal's authority that's important, even as demographic groups fail to make AYP year after year.

I think that if a principal loses his/her job, a Community Superintendent should sit in a dunking booth, or stand in the stocks, for a day. I'd buy a ticket. Funds go to the failed school. 

Whatever it takes.

Frederick Stitchnoth

National History Day: Best. Event. Ever.

The national finals of National History Day (NHD) were held this past week at the University of Maryland. Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD is a strong supporter of NHD, offering an annual prize at our local competition, which is run by the Montgomery Coounty Historical Society. This year we were honored to be invited to the opening ceremonies, final judging, and closing reception. Many thanks to Alison Armentrout for coordinating for this wonderful event. As a result, I got to meet the amazing Cathy Gorn, Executive Director of NHD, and saw the submittals of work from students around the country. This year, all 50 states were represented, as was Guam, DoD School of Puerto Rico, American Samoa and -- wait for it -- Shanghai. I also met and spoke with Ken Behring, who has done so much for the study of History, including his support for the National Museum of American History (NMAH), and NHD. In his opening remarks, Mr. Behring said, "you have to look at history to see where we're going tomorrow." Jon Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service, also gave opening remarks, saying that, "by participating in NHD, you develop a sense of responsibility and get involved in civic engagement." NMAH Director Brent Glass was also in attendance, telling me how much the museum supports NHD each year. Cathy Gorn told us that this year was the program's largest ever, with 2,718 students involved. And, for the first time, NHD is sponsoring a unique research program, with 15 student and teacher teams traveling to Normandy to study WWII. The emphasis on primary sources is, to me, one of the most important things about NHD.

Of course I had the opportunity to to speak to the amazing kids who work on these topics throughout the year and made it to the final competition. NHD is not really a 'day,' as the MCPS and private school students and teachers, and homeschoolers who participate can tell you; it is a year-long program that requires focus, stamina, and perserverance. At the opening reception, two middle schoolers from William Monroe MS, Greene County, Virginia, Samantha Hammer and Yancey Harrison, presented their dramatic work on the development and opening of Shenandoah National Park, "The Mountain Folk's Story: Debating the Displacement in Shenandoah National Park." They told me they had spoken to someone in the CCC about the Park's beginnings. Their presentation focused on the over 2,000 residents of the communities whose homes and land were condemned in the 1930s, and who were forcibly removed by the US Government in order to create the 'pristine' park we enjoy today. And at the closing reception, Lily Shoretz, who attends Ramaz HS in New York, presented a dramatic interpretation of her topic, "The Immigration Act of 1924: Shutting the Door," about the debates leading up to the Act, which ended mass migration to the US, and the devastating effects it had on the lives of potential immigrants waiting to go through our 'golden door.' The Act was not repealed until 1965.

I also spoke to Julia Burton, from Rome, Georgia, whose website submittal focused on the Vietnam War and the debates at home, especially its effects at Kent State in Ohio; Ryan Nolan, Stephen Savoy, Raphael Lima, and John Iacovino, students at Kennedy MS, in Somerville, Massachusetts, who created a webpage on the Cuban Missile Crisis ("Eyeball to Eyeball: Diplomacy in the Cuban Missile Crisis"); and Camille Balhorn, student at Robbinsdale MS, in Minnesota, whose presentation on "The Boundary Waters Treaty: Sustained Diplomacy" was on view at the NMAH during the closing events. All these kids, and the parents and teachers who attended the NHD competitions are involved and passionate about history, and it was a wonderful thing to see. ESEA (aka 'NCLB') is being debated right now in Congress -- it is important to make sure that teaching history is included in the final bill. Please contact your representatives in DC, and the administration, and tell them: keep history in the law.

Duncan sees problems with exams for kids with disabilities

Duncan sees problems with exams for kids with disabilities

“To have a child taking a test that it is literally impossible for them to pass and having that humiliation, and holding schools accountable for that, that doesn’t make sense,” Duncan said in an interview with the Associated Press.

More Montgomery schools fail to meet state standards | Washington Examiner

More Montgomery schools fail to meet state standards | Washington Examiner

More than a quarter of Montgomery County elementary and middle schools failed to meet the "No Child Left Behind" achievement standards this year, according to results released Tuesday by the state education department.

Five middle schools entered a probationary "school improvement" phase, after failing to have met the federal "adequate yearly progress" standard, or AYP, for two years in a row. Nine of the county's 38 middle schools are in improvement, along with Daly Elementary School...

Johns Hopkins Panel on NCLB Legislation

JHU School of Education hosts panel on No Child Left Behind

The Johns Hopkins University School of Education will host a panel discussion titled “What’s Next After No Child Left Behind” in anticipation of next year’s reauthorization of the legislation. The program, which is the culminating event in the school’s 100th anniversary celebration, will be held on Monday, Dec. 7, at 6:30 p.m. in Shriver Hall Auditorium.

The event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are encouraged and can be submitted online at http://www.education.jhu.edu/shaping-future.

Panel members include Martha Kanter, undersecretary of education, United States Department of Education; Nancy Grasmick, Maryland state superintendent of schools; Andres Alonso, CEO, Baltimore City Schools; Joe Hairston, Baltimore County school superintendent; Robert Slavin, director of JHU’s Center for Research and Reform in Education; James McPartland, director of the Center for Social Organization of Schools, and Mariale Hardiman, former Baltimore City principal and chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at the School of Education. A question and answer sessions will follow the presentations.

This program is the first in a series titled Shaping the Future, a series of discussions addressing the most challenging issues in education. For information, call 410-516-5588.

In one door, out the other: Longview & Gateway

In 2008, MCPS announced that two special schools for high school students had exited school improvement by meeting Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years: the Gateway to College Program and Longview.

The 2008 announcement is shown to the right.

On September 22, 2009, MCPS announced that those same two schools, Longview and the Gateway to College Program, are now back on the AYP list as "requiring local attention".

No Child Left Behind Act leaves Gifted Children Behind

Today's NY Times (8/28) has an interesting Op-Ed piece from Tom Loveless and Michael Petrilli on the Federal No Child Left Behind Act and Gifted Education.

Loveless and Peterilli claim that by focusing on the high stakes testing, many educational systems are actually leaving many children out of the equation. Closing the gap is not enough. A better measure of whether education is improving is the National Assessment of Educational Process.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/opinion/28petrilli.html

Here is my favorite part of the article:

We are closing the achievement gap between our top and bottom students! But is that our only national goal in education? What might happen if federal law encouraged educators to improve the performance of all students? Our analysis of the federal data identified tens of thousands of high achievers who are black, Hispanic or poor. They are excelling at their studies, often against great odds. Shouldn’t we be addressing their educational needs?

Perhaps we should make Drs. Loveless and Petrilli honorary members of our MoCo advocacy efforts?