Massachusetts is looking to reapply for education grants provided through President Obama’s “Race to the Top” program.  I can’t say getting the grant funding would be a bad thing but I have no confidence that getting the money will result in a net benefit to municipalities.  I’m reasonably sure based on the last round of stimulus funding that Massachusetts will cut plenty of other things because stimulus funding will cover it.

Race to the Top is part of the education portion of the ARRA Stimulus that guarantees the children educated under this farce will inherit more debt than ever before imagined.  I had thought nothing could be worse than NCLB – sadly our government proves me wrong yet again!

Apparently these stimulus packages are a 21st century version of the New Deal.  Our government has decided it can save us through extraordinary debt if they can just word it correctly:

It is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our economy, create or save millions of jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century. The Act is an extraordinary response to a crisis unlike any since the Great Depression, and includes measures to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need.

A down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges that comes with a very large mortgage added to the previous mortgages already on our futures for a current total of $12 trillion.

I didn’t really want to discuss the economy no matter how much it alternately terrifies and infuriates me.  I want to discuss Race to the Top and how this will not benefit our students one whit.

First, the President doesn’t understand the concept of having a race with winners and therefore losers.  He makes a very impassioned speech about only rewarding the most innovative states with much needed cash – thereby leaving the rest of the states to follow these “trendsetters” and somehow implement the same programs without funding; then he discusses opening opportunity evenly and equitably across the nation. From his remarks at Graham Road Elementary School:

And here’s how Race to the Top works.  Last year, we set aside more than $4 billion to improve our schools — one of the largest investments in reform in our nation’s history.  But we didn’t just hand this money out to states that wanted it; we challenged them to compete for it.  And it’s the competitive nature of this initiative that we believe helps make it so effective.  We laid out a few key criteria and said if you meet these tests, we’ll reward you by helping you reform your schools.

(snip)

We’ll open up opportunity — evenly and equitably — across our education system.  We’ll develop a culture of innovation and excellence in our public schools.  And we’ll reward success, and replicate it across the country.  These are some of the principles that drive Race to the Top.  These are some of the principles that will drive my forthcoming budget.

So which is it Mr President?  Are we giving everyone across our nation the opportunity to earn a top quality education or only those who live in the most competitive districts across our country?  Should we all move to Tennessee and Delaware to get our children into a winning system?

Second, I read the reviewer’s comments on the proposal Massachusetts laid out for the Race to the Top grants.  Even if Massachusetts succeeds in winning grant money they have indicated to reviewers that it will be spent to: invest in the data systems and technology necessary to support the Pre K -12 teaching and learning system, strengthen and expand educator training and supports for data use, and make state longitudinal data available to researchers through the EDW. (from page 3 of the above linked pdf)  Don’t count on textbooks or teachers or innovative programs or technology or tutoring – we will instead receive new data to describe how little our children are actually learning and instruction for our teachers in how to interpret and use that data.

The application submitted by Governor Patrick waxes more eloquently on the matter but at the top of page 13 they cut to the chase and say that all of their achievement “hinges on the development of a robust state data and information infrastructure.  Through RTTT we will transform our data systems so that they can efficiently deliver comprehensive, accessible, actionable and timely data to all Massachusetts K-12 educators and key stakeholders; invest in technology to support the preK-12 teaching and learning system and associated assessments an a more effective educator workforce; and strengthen and expand training and supports so that educators can use data effectively to inform instructional decisions.” Considering the amount of time our teachers already spend doing non-instructional tasks I can’t see this additional layer of data entry and evaluation as a bonus to education anywhere.  Will we be designing an extra prep period for all of our teachers so they can interpret data daily?  I get that data is important for evaluation purposes but we cannot supplant our children’s education with it.

Third, the hoops aren’t always worth jumping through.  Massachusetts has spent a lot of time and money working on plans and proposals and in negotiations with the various unions affected by the Race to the Top guidelines.  This is grant money with very hefty strings attached over how the money can be used and whether we’ve met the criteria to get the rest of the money.  Some states have already given up. Those who haven’t given up are frantically trying to up their scores by pandering to the sections of the application worth the most points instead of truly assessing the educational needs of their districts.  I found an interesting evaluation of the assessment system used for Race to the Top here. (that pdf links from here)  Massachusetts is examined on page 7 and the writer brings up an interesting point.  The “common standards” being adopted by a consortium of states may be lower than our own in state standards – and we were docked points based on the state’s willingness to allow its people to decide whether or not we wanted to lessen our standards to be more in line with the nation.  How exactly is dumbing down our curriculum considered education reform?

Finally, I cringe whenever we discuss MCAS and testing and data driven evaluations.  We’ve taken to relying too much on two subjects, Math and English, and how the results in these two subjects are portrayed in our MCAS results.  We’ve forgotten as a nation (as is evidenced by Race to the Top) that our education is based on more than regurgitating our math facts and answering essay questions based on story snippets.  We’ve cut the budgets so far that we’ve eliminated any programs which would give our students the opportunity to stretch their creative learning styles.  We’ve gimped them globally by slashing foreign language lessons.  We’ve hindered their ability to pursue careers in anything other than Math and English by offering an ever dwindling variety of courses.

Our children need a quality education today.  They can’t wait for us to argue over reform and beg for stimulus money that may never come.  We need our children to get a quality education today.  We can’t shake them in 12 years like an etch a sketch and start their educations over when something better comes along.  We need to get out of our communities and speak louder than the politicians and get government out of the education process.  Perhaps our legislators need to go back to school to remember what education truly is about?

I’ve said time and again that when Zero Tolerance is used Zero Thought is applied.  NCLB is the Education version of Zero Tolerance.  Neither of these policies make sense on their own merits and when combined as they are within our schools the results are disastrous.

For example: I understand and support the HHS policy banning cell phone usage in school.  There is far too much distraction and opportunity for cheating to allow phones to be used.  I also hope that should an incident arise where a child walks out of the school bathroom sobbing hysterically with a cellphone in hand because she’s just received news that someone in her family is in some kind of peril – that day the phone usage by that student would be forgotten in the wave of support she would receive in dealing with her crisis.

What I can’t understand or support is any policy which negates the ability of those in charge of enforcement to make a judgment call regarding the situation before them nor can I abide by those who hide behind the policy when making poor decisions.  Was it truly necessary to have a 12 year old girl taken from school in handcuffs because she wrote on a desk?  What happened to the days of detention and having the offender wash all the desks?

Of course those who make the policy on a national level do so as a knee jerk reaction to widely publicized incidents instead of actual data! “The truth is that there is no comprehensive, mandatory federal school crime reporting and tracking of actual school crime incidents for K-12 schools. Federal school crime and violence data consists primarily of a hodgepodge collection of over a half-dozen academic surveys and research studies. This data is often mistakenly perceived by policymakers, the media, and others as a reflection of the number of actual crime and violence incidents, and as credible trend indicators of school crime and violence occurring in our schools.” So why should we expect our local policy makers to act differently?  This is mirrored by the recent actions of the local School Committee in making immediate changes in their transportation policy in response to one incident which made the local TV news despite the repeated success of their previous policy on a daily basis.

Then I read this article about the relationship between the Zero Tolerance legislation and the NCLB legislation and the combined effects on our students.  You’re going to want some time before you open that link as the pdf is 56 pages.  The pdf report made, much more eloquently than I ever would, many of the points I’ve tried to discuss since I’ve been learning about our education system.  Here is one such point: “Rather than viewing schools as places where young people should be nurtured, supported and developed to their full potential, zero tolerance treats students as adversaries or threats to be suppressed or even discarded in the quest for good schools.  High-stakes testing regards our youth as products to be tested, measured and made more uniform.  Each of these policies has too often been inappropriately substituted for meaningful education reform.”

As a society, we have allowed our fear to overwhelm us.  Our schools are slowly turning into miniature prison like environments complete with security cameras and metal detectors and we are expecting our children to respond positively to this!  Then we add more rigorous and more frequent standardized testing with ever higher penalties for failure for both the student and the school and we expect our children to respond positively to this as well!

Again from the pdf report: “The impact of high-stakes testing on the classroom has been well-documented.  Test-driven reforms have had a significant narrowing effect on school curricula, leading to untested subjects like science, social studies, art and physical education being excluded or de-emphasized.  Because so much is riding on the outcome of standardized tests, meaningful instruction that supports the development of higher order skills like critical thinking is suffocated and often replaced by “drill and kill” techniques, rote memorization exercises and teaching to the test.” We’ve seen this locally with the budget discussions where the “encore” programs (Gym, Art and Music) are reduced and Social Studies textbooks are pushed to the bottom of the priority list every year because “Social Studies is not yet on the test.”

When you thrust groups of students into an environment which gets more confining and allows less interaction and expression and then bore them with curriculum which has taken the discovery enthusiasm out of learning you are setting students up for failure.  Look at private sector employment – think of the “water cooler” moments where adults are allowed to get up and stretch and socialize.  Consider how much of one’s day involves taking a minute for a personal email or checking out a favorite blog or shopping site or facebook.  Now look at a student’s day and think about how cooped up and stir crazy our children must feel with less opportunity for those “water cooler” moments like recess or art or gym in addition to the immense pressure of grades and testing.  Imagine if at the end of every week your boss administered a two hour exam to determine if you were going to get the paycheck you worked all week for!

And how has all of this impacted graduation rates?  Have we achieved increased proficiency?  Are we really doing right by our students?  No.  Graduation rates are falling and more people are choosing to obtain a GED instead of a High School Diploma.  Again from the pdf report with additional links:  “recently-released data show that the nation’s graduation rate in 2006 – 69% - was the lowest it has been since before NCLB was passed.  Of particular concern is that the rates for Black and Latino students – 51% and 55%, respectively – dropped significantly from 2005 to 2006.  Additionally, in 2008, the number of persons taking the GED test was at its highest level since before NCLB.” Can we please stop legislating our children’s education into the abyss and enact some education reform that is perhaps actual reform and includes actual education?

With the controversial and delusional piece of legislature known as No Child Left Behind up for renewal – educators across the nation look to Washington to see how changes in this law will affect how our children are taught in the upcoming years.  More importantly changes also affect how our children’s learning will be assessed going forward and whether the system of penalties only will yield to one of incentives.

Everyone knows leadership is important.  Good leaders inspire those who follow them through respect and dedication and hard work.  The “because I said so or you will be punished” mentality that doesn’t work on small children also doesn’t work on grownups and fails even more spectacularly when applied to education reform.  The NCLB law as written under the Bush Administration required 100% proficiency for all children by 2014 or else the districts would be punished in a variety of ways.  Districts who met their goals weren’t punished but they weren’t praised either … they simply were ignored.  Unfortunately the closer we come to 2014 the more districts fell into the punishment category.  By 2014 the dream of 100% proficient children will be gone but the reality of 100% of school districts under duress will be realized.  Congratulations on that stellar piece of leadership President Bush.

President Obama has outlined changes to the law that give school districts some much needed funding and support.  The Race to the Top initiative also works to give struggling districts help with tutoring children and professional development for educators – if you meet the federal guidelines.  Haverhill’s application went in about a month ago.  I cannot stress enough how our Superintendent is proactive in these initiatives.  He has consistently worked to be first at getting our district and our children assistance from every possible source.  If only he truly had the support of a School Committee who worked as diligently as he does – imagine the wonderful things Haverhill could accomplish.