Success hinges on alignment, communication, resources

Back in April 2013, I met with the Executive Board of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents (KASS). Superintendents were concerned about the increasing challenge of balancing budgets with increasing demands for improving performance. Also, during that time a number of issues surfaced surrounding school district audits that were raised by the Office of the State Auditor and in KDE communications. I certainly can understand superintendent concerns about public perceptions and communications. I wrote about this meeting in my April 19 blog.

I have made several commitments to superintendents regarding actions that I would take as commissioner to address the concerns cited above. The purpose of this blog is to highlight a few of the steps the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has taken as follows:

--Hired a chief of staff – Recently, KDE hired Dr. Tommy Floyd, former superintendent in Madison County, as chief of staff. Tommy will be very accessible to superintendents to help resolve issues before these become major concerns. Tommy also will provide a “local superintendent’s” perspective to KDE staff to help them better understand the potential impact of KDE’s decisions and initiatives on local school districts.

--Scheduled a statewide superintendent meeting – KDE has scheduled a meeting of superintendents with senior KDE staff and me on September 5. This meeting, which is only for superintendents, will provide them with ample opportunity to offer feedback on state budget issues and key statewide initiatives.

--Regularly scheduled senior staff and commissioner’s visits to regional cooperatives – KDE has updated its liaison list for regional cooperatives to ensure superintendents have a regional connection to senior staff at KDE. Also, Tommy Floyd and I will each visit a cooperative per month to ensure we hear directly from superintendents.

--Scheduled Superintendents Advisory Council (SAC) and regional superintendent LYNC sessions – Using the Microsoft Office 365 technology, we are scheduling “virtual” meetings with the Superintendents Advisory Council and with each region’s superintendents to provide additional opportunities to hear directly from superintendents.

--Regular meetings with Kentucky Association of School Superintendents (KASS) Executive Board – Wilson Sears has committed to schedule time on the KASS Executive Board’s meetings for me to meet personally with KASS leadership.

--Weekly highlight of districts – Starting in August, KDE will highlight one district superintendent per week in the Fast Five on Friday. We want to take this opportunity to highlight the great work going on in school districts.

These new initiatives should provide numerous opportunities to improve communications between KDE and superintendents. In addition, we will continue the existing practices of sending out the Monday E-mail and Fast Five on Friday along with conducting monthly superintendent webcasts. The connection between KDE and local superintendents is extremely important to educators across Kentucky. It is our goal to ensure that every educator in Kentucky has timely information about the Unbridled Learning strategic plan, and every educator has an opportunity to provide feedback about the components that impact the day-to-day work.

We are making tremendous progress in Kentucky; however, our ability to reach the vision of “every child proficient and prepared for success” hinges on alignment, communication, and having the resources to do the work. My commitment as commissioner is to work on all three.

There is danger looming

I am constantly amazed at the terrific job that Kentucky educators are doing. In spite of numerous budget cuts and dwindling resources, Kentucky educators are leading the nation in the focus on improving student college- and career-ready rates.

This week, I had the pleasure to attend a meeting in Seattle, Washington that was sponsored by the Gates Foundation. This convening was a cross-state collaboration of Louisiana, Kentucky, and Colorado. State representatives from Tennessee and New York were also in attendance. Kentucky educators were highlighted in numerous sessions. Boone County teacher Chris Crouch helped kickoff a general session that focused on implementation of common core standards. Numerous Kentucky Department of Education staff presented on the great work of our Unbridled Learning strategic plan. Kentucky was well represented by several superintendents, principals, teachers, the Kentucky Education Association and the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

It was very rewarding to hear about great progress in other states and refreshing to hear that other states also are facing challenges. This convening reinforced for me how important it is that educators have time for sharing and learning with other educators. Whether it is a Professional Learning Community (PLC) at the school level or a national convening, learning from other educators is critically important if we are to improve student learning outcomes.

I am thankful to be in Kentucky during a time of great progress in focusing on student learning. Another highlight recently was the huge success of the Blitz to 96 campaign. As of this writing, more than 100 districts have raised the dropout age to 18.

The eyes of the nation are certainly on Kentucky; however, there is danger looming. Without additional funding and resources, our educators in Kentucky will soon burn out and student learning will suffer. As we get ready for the 2014 General Assembly, my number one priority is to share this concern with legislators. At a minimum, I will be pushing for restoration of funding to 2008 levels. Our children and educators deserve this investment.

Our results are striking; the more our education outcomes improve, the more our economy in Kentucky can grow.  I hope readers will join me in this push to restore education funding to 2008 levels or higher.

Americans’ confidence or lack thereof in institutions

Every year, the Gallup organization conducts a poll on the level of confidence Americans have in institutions. For the 4th consecutive year, Congress is at the bottom of the list with a confidence rating of 10 percent (down from 13 percent in 2012).

Pollsters stated, “I am going to read you a list of institutions in American society. Please tell me how much confidence you, yourself, have in each one—a great deal, quite a lot, some or very little?”

Here are some of the results from the 2013 poll sorted by most confidence to least confidence (based on “a great deal” and “quite a lot” percentages combined).

The Military	76%
Small business	65%
Police	57%
Church or organized religion	48%
The presidency	37%
The medical system	35%
U.S. Supreme Court	34%
Public schools	32% (up from 29% in 2012)
The criminal justice system	28%
Banks	26%
Television news	23%
Newspapers	23%
Big business	22%
Organized labor	20%
HMOs	19%
Congress	10%

                               

While the Congressional rankings are no surprise to educators given the lack of progress Congress has been able to make on reauthorization of major education bills, I do think educators should look at the rankings for public schools. It is a concern that only 32 percent of Americans polled have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in our public schools.

PDK/Gallup Poll
Another poll that has been taken for many years is the annual PDK and Gallup poll on education. For years, the results of this poll have revealed the interesting finding that public school parents and Americans grade their children’s schools and local schools very high, however, when we ask about schools in general, the ratings dip significantly.

Here are some select questions from the 2012 PDK/Gallup poll on education.

Students are often given the grades A, B, C, D, or Fail to denote the quality of their work. Suppose the public schools themselves in your community were graded in the same way. What grade would you give the public schools here — A, B, C, D, or Fail?

National Totals (shown in percentages)

	2012	2007	2002	1997	1992
A & B	48	45	47	46	40
A	12	9	10	10	9
B	36	36	37	36	31
C	31	34	34	32	33
D	13	14	19	11	12
Fail	4	5	3	6	5

Using the A, B, C, D, and Fail scale again, what grade would you give the school your oldest child attends?

Public School Parents (shown in percentages)

	2012	2007	2002	1997	1992
A & B	77	67	71	64	64
A	37	19	27	26	22
B	40	48	44	38	42
C	16	24	20	23	24
D	6	5	6	7	6
Fail	0	3	2	4	4

What grade would you give the public schools nationally — A, B, C, D, or Fail?

 National Totals (shown in percentages)

	2012	2007	2002	1997	1992
A & B	19	16	24	22	18
A	1	2	2	2	2
B	18	14	22	29	16
C	47	57	47	48	48
D	23	18	13	15	18
Fail	7	5	3	6	4

What are the implications for local schools/districts and state education agencies? The major implication is that communication about progress schools are making and the great things happening in public schools must expand beyond parents and local communities. Americans are bombarded by many of the negatives about schools -- low test scores, dropout rates, shootings in schools, and the like. We must do a better job about communicating our successes.

I'm taking a few weeks off from my blog for summer vacation.
I'll be back at the keyboard with a new blog  on July 12.

Report Card on Teacher Prep Programs

This week, the National Council for Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released the first ever national report on the quality of teacher preparation programs.  NCTQ’s Teacher Prep Review provides data on the 1,130 institutions that prepare 99 percent of the nation’s traditionally trained new teachers. That data was used to determine overall ratings of the programs based on a set of key standards.

Among the key findings of the report:

--Less than 10 percent of rated programs earn three stars or more. Only four programs, all secondary, earn four stars: Lipscomb and Vanderbilt, both in Tennessee; Ohio State University; and Furman University in South Carolina. Only one institution, Ohio State, earns more than three stars for both an elementary (3½ stars) and a secondary (4 stars) program. 

--It is far too easy to get into a teacher preparation program. Just over a quarter of programs restrict admissions to students in the top half of their class, compared with the highest-performing countries, which limit entry to the top third.

--Fewer than one in nine elementary programs and just over one-third of high school programs are preparing candidates in content at the level necessary to teach the new Common Core State Standards now being implemented in classrooms in 45 states and the

District of Columbia.

-- The “reading wars” are far from over. Three out of four elementary teacher preparation programs still are not teaching the methods of reading instruction that could substantially lower the number of children who never become proficient readers, from 30 percent to less than 10 percent. Instead, the teacher candidate is all too often told to develop his or her “own unique approach” to teaching reading.

--Just 7 percent of programs ensure that their student teachers will have uniformly strong experiences, such as only allowing them to be placed in classrooms taught by teachers who are themselves effective, not just willing volunteers.

Among the key findings for Kentucky:

High rated programs – Programs at Eastern Kentucky University (undergraduate secondary), the University of Kentucky (undergraduate and graduate secondary), and University of Louisville (undergraduate secondary) are on the Teacher Prep Review's Honor Roll, earning at least three out of four possible stars. Across the country, NCTQ identified 20 elementary programs (3 percent of those rated) and 84 secondary programs (14 percent) for the Honor Roll.

Selectivity in admissions -- The Review found that only 14 percent of elementary and secondary programs in Kentucky restrict admissions to the top half of the college-going population, compared to 28 percent nationwide. Countries where students consistently outperform the U.S. typically set an even higher bar, with teacher prep programs recruiting candidates from the top third of the college-going population. Some worry that increasing admissions requirements will have a negative effect on the diversity of teacher candidates. By increasing the rigor and therefore the prestige of teacher preparation, the profession will attract more talent, including talented minorities. This is not an impossible dream: 83 programs across the country earn a Strong Design designation on this standard because they are both selective and diverse, although no such programs were found in Kentucky.

Early reading instruction -- Just 29 percent of evaluated elementary programs in Kentucky are preparing teacher candidates in effective, scientifically based reading instruction, the same small percentage of programs providing such training nationally.

Elementary math -- A mere 19 percent of evaluated elementary programs nationwide provide strong preparation to teach elementary mathematics, training that mirrors the practices of higher performing nations such as Singapore and South Korea. A notably higher percentage -- 36 percent -- of evaluated programs in Kentucky provide such training, although most programs in the state come up short.

Student teaching -- Of the evaluated elementary and secondary programs in Kentucky, 32 percent entirely fail to ensure a high quality student teaching experience, in which candidates are assigned only to highly skilled teachers and receive frequent concrete feedback. This is a much lower failure rate than the 71 percent found nationally. No Kentucky programs earn a perfect four stars, compared to 7 percent of evaluated programs across the country.

Classroom management -- Only 10 percent of the evaluated Kentucky elementary and secondary programs earn a perfect four stars for providing feedback to teacher candidates on concrete classroom management strategies to improve classroom behavior, compared to 23 percent of evaluated programs nationwide.

Content preparation -- 13 percent of Kentucky's elementary programs earn three or four stars for providing teacher candidates adequate content preparation, 11 percent of elementary programs do so nationwide. Digging deeper, more elementary programs (9 percent) earn a perfect four stars than their national counterparts (3 percent), and only 17 percent entirely fail this standard, compared to 44 percent nationally. At the high school level, only 27 percent of Kentucky secondary programs earn four stars for content preparation, compared to 35 percent nationwide. But unlike 20 percent of programs across the country, no Kentucky secondary programs entirely fail the high school content standard.

Outcome data -- None of Kentucky's evaluated programs earn four stars for collecting data on their graduates, compared to 26 percent of evaluated programs in the national sample, although most programs do earn partial credit. In the absence of state efforts to connect student achievement data to teacher preparation programs, administer surveys of graduates and employers or require administration of teacher performance assessments (TPAs), programs that fare poorly on this standard have not taken the initiative to collect any such data on their own.

Having a highly effective teacher for every student in Kentucky is a goal of the Kentucky Board of Education. It is extremely important that our teacher preparation programs, Education Professional Standards Board, school districts, Council on Postsecondary Education, and the Kentucky Department of Education work closely to build on our strengths in Kentucky teacher preparation and improve in areas highlighted in this report.

Over the summer, I will highlight specific issues from this report, the Commission on Accreditation of Educator Preparation standards report, the Council of Chief State School Officers focus on teacher preparation and the results from our 2013 TELL Kentucky survey. All of these are interrelated and provide excellent data as we continue our work toward college- and career-readiness for all students in Kentucky.