$40,000 membership for MCPS - Club dues instead of teacher salaries

MCPS is a member of the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC).  Clients must pay membership fees to join the APQC program.

APQC uses MCPS, former Superintendent Jerry Weast, and a MCPS administrator in their advertisements.  MCPS Policy has a policy about no product endorsements, but it is ignored. APQC uses MCPS and former Superintendent Jerry Weast to endorse their products, including in the letter to the Shelby County Schools shown below. 

 How much has MCPS paid APQC annually for the last 10 years?

Don't look to anything in the MCPS Board of Education minutes to answer this question. But, thanks to the Shelby County Schools in Tennessee, we now have a hint of what the APQC products cost!  

Some APQC products are $4,000 a day, some are $40,000 for six months.  

Thanks to Shelby County Schools for giving us a hint of what Montgomery County taxpayers are paying for this vendor's product!

2012 North Star Proposal Membership Cost

How Much Will the Common Core Cost?

States face key spending decisions as they implement the Common Core State Standards, and a new study finds that they could save about $927 million—or spend as much as $8.3 billion—depending on the approaches they choose in three vital areas: curriculum materials, tests, and professional development.
The report by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, issued today, examines the net costs of three hypothetical transition routes to the new standards in mathematics and English/language arts.
The “business as usual” approach, which features buying hard-copy textbooks, giving annual paper-based assessments, and delivering in-person professional development to teachers, is the most expensive. Over the next one to three years, it would cost states $8.3 billion, according to the Washington-based think tank...
Real article at this link:  Education Week

Starr ups FY13 budget request to $46,052,899 over FY12

On January 25, 2012, Superintendent Joshua Starr released his latest FY 2013 Operating request.  The detailed memorandum to the Board of Education is below.

• In this memo Superintendent Starr asks for an overall increase of $46,052,899 over the FY 12 MCPS Operating budget 
• Starr states that there will be an increase in State aid of $28.5 million.
• Increase of $93 in per pupil expenditures.
• Alternate governance plans are proposed for Forest Oak Middle School and Neelsville Middle School 
• Additional $221,021 for prekindergarten programs
• $300,000 for a Gallup survey of staff
• $825,000 for professional development for Curriculum 2.0 (aka Pearson/North Star)

Jan 25, 2012 Starr Operating Budget Request

Exclusive: Weast cut $3.25 million from Pearson deal without Board vote

Why did Superintendent Weast do that? 
Because the cash was "no longer necessary". (See page Circle 5 of Council packet at link.)


Remember June 8, 2010 when the Montgomery County Board of Education voted to approve a surprise contract with Pearson Education, Inc. for the sale of MCPS curriculum?  That contract specified that Pearson would be paying $4.5 million in upfront curriculum development costs.  Remember how immediately after the Board voted to approve the Pearson contract they hired a whole team of high priced administrators to write the curriculum for Pearson Education, Inc.?


In May of 2011, this blog reported that it appeared that the terms of the Pearson deal had changed. We now have the documentation to show that the $4.5 million in development funds that were part of the June 8, 2010 contract were reduced to $1.25 million by Superintendent Jerry Weast on November 4, 2010.  


Below is the document that Superintendent Weast signed without a public Board of Education vote, that purports to "amend" the June 8, 2010 contract and reduce Pearson's development fund payment from $4.5 million to $1.25 million.  


Can a Superintendent simply "amend" a contract that has been approved by the Board of Education?  Where is the MCPS Press Release announcing this "exciting" change to the original contract? 


Didn't Superintendent Weast say that we needed the Pearson contract because "we are broke?" 


Here is the section of the Pearson-Montgomery County Board of Education contract that has been changed:

A. Contribution Toward Development Costs   

Subject to the Program Development Plan, Publisher shall contribute to the development costs by paying to MCPS the sum of $4,500,000 [$1,250,000]United States Dollars in the aggregate ("Development Funds"), and shall pay to MCPS, as the first installment of the Development Funds, the sum of $625,000 United States Dollars within thirty (30) days of the date hereof. The schedule of the payment of the remainder of the Development Funds shall be detailed in the Program Development Plan, and shall be payable in installments on a quarterly basis based on completion of specified milestones . As further detailed in the Program Development Plan, one-half of the aggregate Development Funds payable to MCPS shall be considered an advance on royalties (the "Advance") and recoupable by Publisher as set forth in Section 8E below.

Below is the letter from Superintendent Jerry Weast to the President of Pearson, Inc. purporting to reduce the Pearson payment to MCPS from $4.5 million to $1.25 million. 
Amended Pearson Contract

Montgomery County schools chief targets special ed, test score gap | Washington Examiner

Montgomery County Public Schools parents and staff are most concerned about special education services and the persistent achievement gap between white and minority students, according to a report from the school system...

..."What we're doing internally right now is reorienting my team's work to improve instruction for every child, with a clear need to go deeper school by school," Starr told The Washington Examiner. He plans to analyze the variation in the achievement gap at each school before taking next steps...

...To that end, Starr pledged to hold a districtwide forum on special education in the spring semester, atop parents' concerns that special needs students -- about 12 percent of the school system -- were receiving services that varied by school...

...Another concern was the implementation of Curriculum 2.0, an integrated learning approach adopted by kindergarten and first-grade teachers, as well as some second-grade teachers, this school year...

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/education/2011/12/montco-schools-chief-targets-special-ed-test-score-gap/2041726#ixzz1hwB2tU49

Pearson Junkets for D.C. Superintendent Make Print Edition of Washington Post

In today's Washington Post print edition there is a story about the D.C. State Superintendent of Education.  As part of that story, reporter Bill Turque details the two Pearson Foundation funded trips taken by the D.C. State Superintendent.  But if a Montgomery County Public Schools superintendent takes the same trip the story ends up on a Post blog after the superintendent leaves.


Same situation, different reporting. 

D.C. education agency’s progress questioned

...This year, Mahaley has taken week-long trips to Brazil and China for conferences to explore teaching methods. The trips, sponsored by the nonprofit Council of Chief State School Officers, were not made at public expense. 

But the mid-September Brazil conference was paid for by a grant from the Pearson Foundation, a philanthropic arm of the giant textbook and educational testing company. The company won an $860,000 contract from the agency in September 2010 — three months before Mahaley’s appointment — to provide alternative standardized tests for students with significant cognitive challenges, according to OSSE officials. A $700,000 option under the contract was renewed for this school year.

Mahaley and a Pearson spokesman said that although company executives joined school officials in Brazil, no agency business was discussed...

$3.25 Million Gone From Pearson - MCPS Deal

Here's what Superintendent Jerry Weast told the Board of Education on June 8, 2010:

"In accordance with the Agreement, Pearson will contribute up to $4,500,000 and its expertise in assessments, professional development, and publishing. One-half of these development funds will be considered an advance against future royalties."

But the Draft Program Development Plan obtained by the Education Chair of the Civic Federation this month states:

7.2  Two payments of $625,000 each (totaling $1,250,000) were paid to MCPS in June and December of 2010. This represents the total cash payments to MCPS that are required by the contract as amended November 4, 2010.  Further payments to MCPS will consist of the royalty distributions as defined by section 8.D.ii of the June 8, 2010 contract.

Fact Check:  Amended Contract with Pearson Education, Inc?  Was this ever on the Board of Education Agenda?  


Why was the contract amended in November 2010? How much has this deal changed? How much are taxpayers out?  What happened to the $4.5 million in development funds from Pearson Education, Inc?


According to the Draft Program Development Plan, MCPS isn't going to get any more money from Pearson Education, Inc. until they start selling the MCPS brand curriculum.


More on the Pearson - MCPS deal changes in Part 2.

After Council adds Administrators to MCPS, then what?

On March 7, 2011, the County Council's Education Committee will discuss approving a $4,999,634 grant to MCPS. Odds are very good that the grant funding will be approved. 

And why not approve this grant funding? It's $4,999,634 for "education." Isn't that a good thing? 

In actuality, this is $4,999,634 for 12 administrators for MCPS. (See page Circle 9) A whole new office has been set up to fulfill the terms of this grant. But the grant funding is only for 3 years. 

So what happens to those administrators after 3 years? Do they go back to local schools and teach in classrooms? Do they disappear? 

Grants are great. But when they are creating more administrators instead of classroom teachers is that really something that MCPS can afford long-term? Will the County Council actually discuss the implications of their actions on this Agenda item? 

How many grants for more administrators can MCPS afford? 

Board of Education and public kept in dark on Pearson deal

Grant application reveals that Superintendent Weast collaborated with Pearson on curriculum in 2009

Analysis of the MCPS Investing in Innovation (i3) grant application reveals that Superintendent Weast and Pearson, LLC had collaborated since 2009 to design the North Star project, contrary to previous reports.

With no advance notice to the public, the deal between MCPS and Pearson was added to the Board of Education meeting agenda as a consent item in June.  With little time to study the contract, the BOE voted to approve the deal and sell the MCPS curriculum to Pearson.

The Washington Post reported in June that the "school system had independently embarked on developing the curriculum" and that the "school system did not submit the curriculum contract to a competitive bidding process and made it public only on the day before the Tuesday vote."

See Section (G)(1) (page 23) in the i3 Grant Application for details about the collaboration that began in 2009.

[Update:  September 2010:  Maryland State Board of Education Slams BOE for Pearson deal.]
MCPS i3 Grant Application

"No detailed information" in North Star proposal

Did you know that Superintendent Jerry Weast's North Star project proposes a quasi-experimental study? The comments from the Department of Education grant reviewers give the Montgomery County public a peek into what Superintendent Weast proposed when he applied for the $5 million  i3 Grant. 


Do Board of Education members even know what the North Star project involves? Apparently the grant proposal doesn't give a lot of detail and one reviewer was left with a lot of questions. So exactly what is the Department of Education going to get for the $5 million that it is turning over to Superintendent Weast? 


Here are some excerpts from one review (see pages 34-35 of link) of the MCPS North Star grant proposal. This reviewer gave MCPS a score of 4 out of a possible 15 points. 

450,000 students will thank Montgomery Co. taxpayers

MCPS is no longer just in the business of educating 140,000 county residents. Oh, no! 
450,000 students across the nation will now have MCPS to thank for their "next generation college-ready elementary curriculum."


Read that again - it's a college-ready elementary curriculum.


Has your 2nd grader selected their college major yet? Better work on that this evening.

Included in those 450,000 will be students in "rural" school districts. (That's what the MCPS i3 Grant application says!)


Below is the description for the North Star project. Development of this project already began with the hiring of at least a dozen administrators by MCPS.

The North Star project has now been named as a winner of a Department of Education i3 Grant.  And that's good news for 450,000 elementary students across the nation!


Here's what's coming:

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

"Project North Star will be the next generation of elementary instruction. In a quest to raise expectations for students of all colors, broaden instruction to include science, social studies, and the arts while exceeding AYP, and to save teachers and students valuable instructional time, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and Pearson, LLC are partnering on a one-of-a-kind, research-based project. MCPS is requesting $4,999,633 in i3 funds to develop a curriculum and online professional learning community designed to nurture the skills and mindset that will guide children towards the north star of college readiness. The project includes development of a unique college-ready elementary curriculum aligned to the Common Core Standards. Integration of content and processes is key to the innovative and time-saving design of this curriculum. Critical and creative thinking skills, and academic success skills form the nucleus around which reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies, and the arts are carefully planned by marking period. The power of making connections among contents will help unleash the natural curiosity of young children and the habits that mark the academic mind - persistence, questioning, and collaboration - will be developed beginning in Kindergarten. In addition to $1,000,000 in matching funds, Pearson will bring its considerable assets and expertise to help develop the first generation of post-NCLB assessments that measure achievement of challenging academic standards alongside the skills that develop advanced learners. The final key design feature of this project will be curriculum-aligned, just-in-time professional development offered in a collaborative Web 2.0 environment. Teachers will be able to harness the power of instructional experts and their peers to solve complex and commonplace teaching challenges. When fully scaled-up this project will reach over 450,000 students and will be standardized for use across the nation."

More Administrators! MCPS wins up to $5 million i3 Dept of Ed Grant!

Great news! MCPS has won an i3 Grant from the U.S. Department of Education! That means that Superintendent Weast will be able to move ahead with his plan to hire lots of administrators to write curriculum for Pearson Education, Inc!


North Star here we come! The MCPS "brand" of education is launched. One day we will all be famous because our children were the first to be educated under the North Star "brand" of education. 


(You didn't think this grant funding would go to local classrooms to pay for teachers did you? It's the "brand" that is important, not your child's classroom.)

Education Week:  49 Applicants Win 'i3' Grants

By Michele McNeil on August 4, 2010 5:22 PM

The U.S. Department of Education—a day earlier than it had intended—today mistakenly unveiled on its website the 49 winning applicants for the Investing in Innovation, or i3, fund. These ranked the highest of1,698 entries in a mad dash for $650 million in grants.

Four groups won scale-up awards worth up to $50 million, 15 won validation awards of up to $30 million, and 30 won development grants of up to $5 million. But there's a big caveat before these groups can cash in: They must secure their 20 percent private-sector match, unless they've gotten a waiver from the department, by Sept. 8 or they risk losing the grant. Waiver decisions are still pending. In addition, the department has to confirm that all winners met eligibility requirements: that they are who they said they are, that their official partners are in line, etc. Once all those ducks are in a row, then we'll know exactly how much each applicant won...

...The development winners are: Advancement Through Opportunity and Knowledge; Bellevue School District; AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation; Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools; American Federal of Teachers Educational Foundation; Bay State Reading Institute; Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee; Beaverton School District 48J; Board of Education of the City of New York Office of School of One; Boston Plan for Excellence in the Public Schools Foundation; Plymouth Public Schools; Los Angeles Unified School District; The Studio in a School Association, Inc.; Take Stock in Children; Saint Vrain Valley School District Priority Schools; The Achievement Network; Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools...

But, Will Pearson Prevail?

MCPS drops in state ranking

Ranking of MCPS vs. the 24 School Districts in Maryland on percent achieving proficiency using the 2010 MSA results just published.

Math
********************
3rd grade - 11th of 24
4th grade - 17th of 24
5th grade - 12th of 24
6th grade - 13th of 24
7th grade - 11th of 24
8th grade - 11th of 24

Overall MCPS ranked 12th out of Marylands 24 school districts in Math, down 2 positions from last year.
 

Reading
*******************
3rd grade - 8th of 24
4th grade - 8th of 24
5th grade - 7th of 24
6th grade - 7th of 24
7th grade - 6th of 24
8th grade - 6th of 24

Overall MCPS ranked 7th out of Marylands 24 school districts in Reading, down 2 positions from last year.

Navigating by North Star, Weast hits Algebra Iceberg

Weast misses Algebra target.


In February of 2008, Superintendent Jerry Weast proclaimed that the "North Star" was guiding MCPS to a goal of 80% of students college and work ready by 2010. 


One of the "North Star" goals was to have 80% of students successfully complete Algebra by 8th grade in 2010.


That "North Star" goal has now been crossed out in the MCPS Strategic Plan.

Maybe the "North Star" goal has been crossed out because in 2009 only 65.5% of the Grade 8 students had successfully completed Algebra 1.


According to what Superintendent Weast told the New America Foundation on March 30, 2010, the new "North Star" goal is now 80% of students successfully completing Algebra by 2014. 


Have to watch that "North Star", it may not always point in the same direction.

Deliberate Excellence: Weast's Five Stages

Read all about it! Five stages to school system maturity.

Seven Keys to College Readiness.

The North Star (that would be North Star Number ONE, here, as opposed to the North Star project, what MCPS seems to be calling the Pearson deal).

Curricula with less choice about what is being taught.

Jerry Weast Explains It All To You in a current feature article in the June 2010 issue of The School Administrator, published by AASA,(No. 6, Vol 67) HERE: and sums up Montgomery County Public Schools by saying:

"A Stage 5 organization relies on its team to interpret these next steps. In Montgomery County, our professional learning communities have suggested some of the following solutions to common concerns:

• When there is too little time to teach all topics as discrete subject areas, we can create an integrated curriculum aligned with our goals but sensitive to our time.

• When students understand our high expectations but don’t value the work to get there, we can provide engagement strategies such as real-world applications or interest-based courses, programs and projects.

• When teachers need more content training but our face-to-face model is costly and time-consuming, we cannot only use technology, but implement job-embedded professional development.

• When staff is overwhelmed by too many monitoring tools, we can develop a gateway that integrates access to information through a single portal."

Read the whole article yourself HERE. And then ask yourself whether it reflects your child's experience.

We are saved! We have found the North Star!

Once again, a MCPS employee has given a testimonial for an outside vendor.  See the image on the left highlighting the statement from Dr. Michael Perich of MCPS.  In this testimonial MCPS' Dr. Perich sings the praises of C. Jackson Grayson's APQC organization. Dr. Perich is quoted as a "leading administrator". (Who is Dr. Perich?)

What brought about this testimonial? MCPS has apparently been saved by C. Jackson Grayson's "North Star".

Remember C. Jackson Grayson?  His APQC organization gave Superintendent Weast an award in 2008.

C. Jackson Grayson's product is the "North Star" approach to school reform.  Grayson assures that his North Star product works! Why? Because it has already "yielded substantial changes in outcomes" in school districts, including Montgomery County, Maryland.  The white paper (see bottom of page 4) on his success says so!

What the white paper doesn't say is APQC is a membership organization and MCPS is a member (see page 4) of APQC.  That's right, Montgomery County taxpayers have funded MCPS' membership in this organization.

How much does MCPS' membership cost ($6,000 for some companies) per year? Where has the data on the use of this product been reported to the Board of Education?

Here is what the public knows:

• MCPS is a member of APQC.

• APQC gave Superintendent Weast an award.

• "North Star" approach used on Board of Education retreat.

• MCPS administrators tell Harvard writers that they are using APQC's "North Star" product.

• MCPS "leading administrator" gives testimonial for APQC's product.

• Results from use of the APQC product are not found in Board of Education minutes, but are touted in promotional materials for APQC.

If we have found the "North Star" it would be nice to know what that means, how much we paid for it, and to see the data that proves we have been rescued!