Superintendents Sound Off On School Reform At Harvard Conference

In the eyes of Indiana State Superintendent Tony Bennett, America's schools can only improve by taking on a number of different reforms simultaneously. Different parties to the education debate stress different measures -- charter schools, voucher programs that use public money to fund private schools, looser union protections for teachers -- but implementing reforms one at a time won't do anything, Bennett said.

"We had a robust public school choice system with charter schools in our state for a few years," Bennett said. "It didn't do anything."

So this year, Indiana passed controversial laws that created an expansive voucher system, made teacher tenure contingent on effectiveness, limited collective bargaining, ended the process of firing teachers in order of seniority and required teacher evaluations to be "significantly informed" by student performance on standardized exams.

"We built it with four big bills, we brought every special interest group together and said you can't be for just one thing," Bennett explained. "We told the charter school guys, if you start selling out on the voucher folks," he said, he'd take them to task. "We built a coalition of people who all wanted something and said we've got to be for school reform, comprehensive school reform. ... Now that we got the track built and the train starts, you'd better get on it or you're going to get run over."

Bennett spoke Thursday at a conference at Harvard University hosted by Harvard's Program on Education Policy and Governance and the journal Education Next. The conference addressed U.S. students' global competitiveness -- or lack thereof -- on exams. Panels at the conference focused on testing, standards and choice and competition in school reform.

State schools chiefs sounded off on these topics following a year of major legislative changes in education management across the country. One major theme at the conference was giving schools the ability to identify, recruit and retain better teachers.

Paul Pastorek, who until recently headed Louisiana's schools, said that he prioritized student learning over educators' collective bargaining rights. Still, when it came to devising Louisiana's new teacher evaluation scheme, he consulted teachers themselves, he said.

"We're not going to produce information by naming teachers on what their evaluation results are," said Pastorek. "What we will produce on a school-by-school basis is the number of teachers in the school" performance results, so parents can judge schools based on teacher evaluations.

Bennett, too, said he went straight to teachers -- "not to the unions, but communities," he said. "I looked them in the eye and said, 'This is what we're all about. We're about limiting collective bargaining.' We took notes."

Chris Cerf, who heads New Jersey's schools, said he learned that the most important factor in making schools better is talent.

"You've got to break all the china you need to break to maximize the leadership of your teacher force and your leader force," Cerf said. "You have to hold tight what success looks like. "

Bennett mentioned that Indiana's state government is prepared to take over local schools for the first time, due to their low performance. Pastorek, under whose watch New Orleans' Recovery School District was taken over by the state, said that the goal is to eventually produce schools that can correct themselves without state oversight.

"The problem ultimately, I think, with the model of the state coming in and saying, 'Here's how you do it,' is the people in the districts after a while get tone deaf, and when they don’t see the results, they go away," Pastorek said. "I think you can push from the top, but you're not going to be able to push them to world class."

The conference followed the release of a paper that emphasized American students' low international standing on math exams. One panel addressed just such common standards and exams.

Shanghai, had the highest percentage of proficient students on the international PISA math exam in 2009. But Shanghai High School Principal Shengchang Tang said that uniform standards and exams were only responsible for part of his students' success, noting their results were "not as outstanding" in reading and science. A major component of high performance in Shanghai, Tang said, comes from high expectations on the part of parents.

Comments

[Angie Sullivan]

01:51 AM on 08/21/2011

I can't wait to read how his stupid reforms failed - I give it 2 years. Kicking teachers in the head is not the way to improve achievement. DUH!

[akrueger]

07:07 PM on 08/20/2011

In my opinion, improving student performance via top down dictates does not work. It never has and never will.
As a teacher of "low acheivers," spending time with us in the trenches, listening to our ideas, and working with us to improve student performance is a must before any talk can commence. Constantly trying to go after what is rightfully ours, such as collective bargaining, has nothing to do with student performance.
Then, there is always the issue of the Principal and his/her ability to lead a school. The Principal sets the tone for the school...either positive or negative. I have worked in both situations. And, students' scores were up in both settings, but, markedly up in the positive setting. Wonder why?
Listening to people who have not been in the classroom for a long time, if ever, is counter productive. These people do not understand the complexities of the modern day student in the modern day classroom. It is time for them to show respect for teachers and converse with them. We want to be heard because we have so much knowledge to share.
Every day we hone our craft. We invite you to see us at work with our students. We work hard. We love what we do. But, we do not like it when we get mandates from persons who really do not know what they are talking about...and, that includes Michelle Rhee and Tony Bennett.

[noshortcuts]

05:29 PM on 08/20/2011

The primary reason why many urban Asian cities have high proficiency school rates is that the students are put into a sink or swim situation. Either they pass the university entrance exams or they become laborers. Students in many families know they must pass. It is ingrained in their upbringing. That incentive drives families and students to leave China to go other countries to enter universities. They see success as directly tied to going to college.

Here in America, many of our families do not perceive education as the only way up. Certainly many of our skilled vocations do not require higher degrees. Many entrepreneurs also do well without extra credentials. However, we also have large groups of people content with their existing lifestyles and do not expect anything different for their children. I'm afraid the greatest American tragedy is our generational welfare system where those without are enabled and become satisfied.

[frdafury]

08:24 PM on 08/19/2011

Hmmmm, sounds like Bennett thinks he is Patton; he is planning an all out assault against teachers and the schools...at least that is how I read his description from the first half of this article. He speaks to the group at Harvard (of all places) as a fait accompli. I guess everyone in Indiana under his watch is supposed to lie down and just die, since he said so? And when he went to the communities and "took notes", does this mean that he kept track of who didn't agree with him? I bet it does. And of course New Jersey had to weigh in since they are doing so much to make education work better and more smoothly. The only one missing was Wisconsin in this party. What exactly does Harvard know about educating high school and elementary school students that come from poverty and lower class back grounds? Where were the teachers that would be in front of the classes and that have first hand knowledge of what is happening? And finally, it is mentioned that parents had the greatest power over making the kids successful, not the teachers, schools or anyone else...the parents were the single most important factor but these idiots ignored that completely...This is a joke, isn't it?

[levafrei]

04:41 PM on 08/19/2011

Why is Bennett threatening to take over local schools when his planned reforms aren't evidence-based? It sounds merely like a power grab. Vouchers, charter schools and dismantling union safeguards have not been shown to be effective. Instead he and he other administrators should be focusing on what works, but they don't have the knowledge and skills needed to redesign the educational pipeline, professionalize teaching, and establish the borad-based leadership that builds trust both internally within schools and among the community.

MIddle class US students perform as well as or better than the top ranked nations (or Shangai) on the PISA, and our NAEP test scores have risen dramatically in the past generation. And setting up a choice between collective bargaining rights and student learning is a straw man; they are not inherently incompaticble. Teachers deserve union representation, and interestingly, Steven Brill's Class Warfare implicitly makes the case that nonunionized charter schools exploit teachers by demanding longer hours in a way that leads to burn out.

We must instead provide a clear career path, better working conditions, effective profession­al developmen­t, significant time for reflection, planning, and invention and greater autonomy in the classroom. At the same time, establish mentoring, encourage cross pollinatio­n, honor their successes, promote collaboration and encouragement to hone their skills on an ongoing basis. This will allow us to reatin top teachers and improve teaching skills accross the board.

[YoungWarthog]

11:21 AM on 08/24/2011

The highest performing states are those with strong teacher's unions.

[eceresa]

04:54 AM on 08/19/2011

THESE are the people in charge of education at the state level? And people think things would get better if the Department of Ed was abolished? I mean, Duncan is an unqualified idiot, but I think you could throw him in a room with these guys and still not have two working brain cells to rub together.

[meperson]

04:00 AM on 08/19/2011

Errr, Shanghai is just one city in China, correct? And it's a wealthy city, correct? They're comparing a wealthy city's test scores with the entire United States? This isn't a good comparison.

Does China educate every student up to age 18? (I'm really asking, not being sarcastic here.)

[hawkseye]

02:50 AM on 08/19/2011

Bennet sounds like a Republican, hell-bent to destroy public schools.

[TINA ANDRES]

02:11 AM on 08/19/2011

Yes, let's just keep ignoring the elephant in the room. Parents are provided with FREE education. A natural human response to anything that is free is to take it for granted and not give it any effort. The only thing that can change education is to find some way to require effort on the part of parents. We can beat each other up all we want but until parents are required to be involved in the lives and education of their children, nothing will change. Parent education is the key and it doesn't happen by mere requests.

[levafrei]

05:02 PM on 08/19/2011

Yes, parental involvement is a factor. But not as large a factor as socioeconomic level. However, since we as a society clearly don't see solving poverty as a priority and are unlikely to motivate greater parental involvement in a systematic way, we still need to establish best practices within our schools.

(1) Hire and award tenure to teachers who are (a) motivated and (b) constantly evaluating their practices and enhancing their effectiveness to promote student learning. Encourage collaborat­ion among teachers; any merit pay should be school-wid­e to encourage best practices and teamwork

(2) Provide effective professional development, mentoring and support to teachers, particularly new staff, and beefing up services to underperforming ones then deny tenure based on appropriat­e assessment­s that are data informed rather than data-drive­n. Evaluations should use multiple types of data, include regular types of feedback from colleagues, students (in the older grades), parents, and administrators and be used constructively.

(3) reduce class size

(4) provide one-on-one skilled tutoring in reading for high-risk early elementary students and teach phonics to young readers

(5) include life skills education among middle school kids. Basics like financial literacy as well as conflict resolution, peer mediation, and emotional literacy are needed. This has been shown to boost academic performance (unlike merit-pay schemes, the removal of union safeguards, voucher systems, and charter schools).

(6) use tests for diagnostic purposes to enhance learning, not punish poor performanc­e. Use data to make instructional decisions.

[BulldogDad]

01:16 PM on 08/20/2011

I don't believe that you have ever been in a classroom. Why should a teacher's job depend upon what their students make on a test? A teachers job is to present the information to the students. You can not force them to learn. Everyone always makes the mistake in assuming that students want to learn in their own best interest. Not true. Have you ever tried to teach an advanced subject to a senior that can not even read or write and was promoted thru school just because of their ability to play football? If you demand a lot of effort from your students, they will purposely fail the standardized test to get you fired and they will tell you this in advance knowing that there is nothing you can do about it. As far as small classrooms are concerned, try telling that to a school board that was just turned down for a tax increase. Home schooling is a total failure and should be made illegal. How can you teach your child calculus, history, or physics if you don't know it yourself. I have had to deal with these home schooled kids after their parents realize they can't do the job. These kids have absolutly no social skills because they have had no contact with kids their own age. They also are way behind. Everytime you see anything about these kids on TV, they are in a spelling contest. Memorizing a dictionary is not learning.

[ttigerlilyx2]

04:38 PM on 08/20/2011

You dont get much more hands on than I was when my kids were in school, and I have to say you are wrong. Granted, all States and even schools within a State are differant. What I observed is that our schools are no longer about educating children but in supporting the huge bureaucracy that has grown up around the very big business of education.
I see excessive administration being paid huge sums while class rooms have inadequate supplies. I see good teachers afraid to speak out when kids are abused because the principals have become despots, making teachers lives hell if they dont conform. I see bad teachers having senority and staying year after year to do a at best poor job, at worst actively damage children with bullying and outright sexual misconduct. I see boring books and way to much trivial crap being force fed kids by teachers who are burned out. I've seen children with wealthy, influential parents being allowed to run rampant over teachers and students, bullying and abusing.
Parents want to trust that our kids are going off each day to a wonderful adventure, not a struggle to survive! Sure, parents are told please be part of your childs edu experience in grade school...buy donating money. Buying from the ENDLESS fundraisers at schools we already fund to the hilt! After that, they dont even pretend. So, I see and validate your complaints, but add my own as part of the over-all problem.

[changing]

10:55 PM on 08/18/2011

If you break it, you own it but who will put Humpty Dumpty back together again when these fools are through?

[Jenn May]

10:54 PM on 08/18/2011

So, basically a bunch of non-educators, got together to tell each other how to tell the educators to do their jobs. Great! :/

[LATEACHER1X]

10:07 AM on 08/19/2011

It's called an administrator.

[tkwiley44]

10:46 PM on 08/18/2011

Tony Bennett is a joke, nothing but a front for the corporate takeover of public schools. He was an unsuccessful superintendent of a southern Indiana school corporation and was fired. He and Mitch Daniels waited until they had enough Republicans in the state legislature to cram the so called "reforms" up the A $$ of every citizen of Indiana. We are using tax dollars to subsidize the Catholic church and their schools, we pay for charter schools that perform worse than their public counterparts and are forced to work under unimaginable conditions with huge budget cuts. If this is successful reform then the entire country should be worried. Be very afraid of Tony Bennett, the Republican will set him upon the rest of the country when he is drummed out of Indiana in 2012.

[IndieMG]

10:15 PM on 08/18/2011

A high school principal, from Shanghai says that parent's high expectations are a major component of student success and people listen. Teachers in America saying that for the last two decades are considered whiners. Pity America listened to the political agenda instead of it's teachers. The most frustrating part of the current reform movement is the lack of standards placed on parents and students.
Ask a successful student when they learned the rules of school success, 9 out of 10 will say before kindergarten. Inquire further and they will admit they learned to work hard, listen, do their homework, and behave from their parents.

[GlennWatson]

09:54 PM on 08/18/2011

As an old teacher told me once when I was a young teacher, "This too shall pass."

[Steve Ramsdell]

11:25 AM on 08/19/2011

This may not pass. They are building a network of private for profit schools that are being touted as better. Sort of like those private colleges that are now being sued for various reasons.

I do wish that students and parents would take advantage of the opportunities in front of them.

[SoCalifTeacher]

08:51 PM on 08/18/2011

A major component of high performance in Shanghai, Tang said, comes from high expectations on the part of parents.

No duh!

[mlaiuppa]

02:44 AM on 08/19/2011

Let's see them legislate that.