January 26, 2012

Harder at the core

School is about to get harder for students – a lot harder. And it has nothing to do with budget cuts, assignment debates or individual teacher decisions.

Classes will be more difficult because of an initiative known as the Common Core State Standards. Adopted by 43 states, the initiative is designed to bring state standards into basic alignment with each other so schools throughout the country have a clear and consistent understanding of what students are expected to learn.

But the standards chosen by the states are far more rigorous than the ones used today. No matter how good you think your school might be, chances are excellent test scores will drop significantly when the new standards are formally launched in 2014-2015.

While that might seem a ways off, schools are scrambling now to retool lessons that will meet the higher expectations. School board members began to get a sense this week of how much change is coming during a presentation that focused on math.

For example, the concept of place values in a number will begin in kindergarten, regrouping will be a second-grade skill, decimals to the hundredths will be content for fourth graders. Statistics will be a part of the middle school curriculum and at least one-third of today’s Algebra I content will be taught to all children by eighth grade.

In high school, familiar names of classes will be replaced by Common Core Math I, II and III. The ways in which mathematical concepts are related to one another are stressed instead of teaching subjects such as algebra, geometry and calculus in isolation.

Similar changes on a similar timeline are proposed for new English standards.

“This is not just another set of standards,” said Jere Confrey, a professor of math education at NC State who has worked closely with those involved in the initiative. “It is not about the numbers anymore,” she told board members. “It is about interpreting the numbers.”

In loose terms, that means no more cramming, memorizing and hoping for the best. Common Core will demand that students apply content and demonstrate reasoning skills. In quite a few areas, it calls for less content but requires a deeper understanding to bring U.S. education practice more in line with top international standards.
“This is a huge shift for us,” Ruth Steidinger, Wake County’s senior director of middle school programs told the board. “It is a huge shift here, for North Carolina and the nation.”

Stuck in the middle

In a country where student tests scores are typically average to mediocre on international exams, North Carolina’s schools fall right in the middle of the pack, according to the annual Quality Counts report card released this month by Education Week.

This year’s version of Quality Counts focused on global challenges, making the case that educational progress and economic progress are inseparable. It also explores the degree to which international test results are driving U.S. education reform.

“But analysts and researchers caution that while self-examination is a good thing, American elected officials and educators need to take a nuanced approach to interpreting test scores and lessons from abroad,” according to the report’s overview, “one that considers the full basket of educational, societal, and cultural factors that shape school practices in top-performing nations, and in the United States.”

In addition to the global analysis, Education Week accompanied the report with its annual offering of state report cards. Overall, North Carolina earned a “C” with notable exceptions in standards, where it earned high marks. In spending it was given an “F.”

This message on the best use of data, while restrained compared to the sometimes heated political debate about how U.S. schools compare internationally, was consistent with a separate event held last week in Washington by the Data Quality Campaign.

Hoping to bring attention to a seventh and culminating report on how to best use data in driving school improvement, the organization held a summit to discuss “game-changing priorities” for all schools using data – which is just about all schools today, including those that don’t use it well.

Among the repeated themes was the phrase that “data should be used as a flashlight and not a hammer” if it is going to be effective. That includes measuring teacher quality, which cannot be done with a single standard or test, according to the group’s work.

Measuring the pull of a magnet

The first round of numbers measuring magnet school applications for next year was released last week to school board members as part of the new school choice assignment plan.

Understandably, the first reaction among many was to try and compare them to last year’s numbers, which can be done – sort of. The challenge that became immediately apparent to board members is that comparing last year’s applications to this year’s leaves everyone wanting for a keener understanding of what it all means.

With several months still to go before final 2012-2013 projections are in for every school, today’s figures are preliminary. But an overwhelming majority of the magnet seats were filled during the December application period, which means certain observations can be made. For example:

The pull of magnet schools was strong.

• Parents filed just shy of 4,300 applications.
•  About 1,900 students were assigned.
• All but four magnet schools have waiting lists at some grade level. More than 2,600 students were placed on those lists.

The number of overall applications was down.

• In addition to the 4,300 applications, another 1,800 students were automatically assigned to magnet programs. Those automatically assigned would have been required to apply in past years. But the total of those two groups – about 6,100 – is less than the 8,469 applications filed last year.

Staff members cited several reasons for the differences and some of the reasons suggest the two years cannot be directly compared. For example, many students who used to apply to magnet schools no longer need to apply. They have a better chance of being accepted because they live nearby. In addition, this year’s process allowed parents to see how many seats were available, a piece of information never available in past years.

The new assignment rules also mean parents no longer have the option of returning to a “base school” after being accepted at a magnet. In the past, it was possible to hold a seat at both a magnet and a base school and decide later which one to attend. The staff also noted that 85 percent of families in past magnet surveys said stability was important to them. The current plan promises not to reassign students in non-magnet schools.

More important discussions are pending as the staff and school board continue to review applications that are coming in during the current registration period for non-magnet choices. Because many families that live close to magnet schools can select them based on proximity – or get them automatically based on new feeder patterns – the overall academic mix of the schools is not yet known.

Board members made it clear – and Superintendent Tony Tata agreed – that continuing to keep magnet programs attractive will require closely monitoring that academic mix as student assignment selections continue.

Magnet school handouts from the discussion can be found here. Visit the school district’s web site for full information about the current registration process for non-magnet schools, which runs until Feb. 24.

Noteworthy

…Results from the longest-running early childhood study in the United States show that quality preschool education can have positive effects well into adulthood. The project by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at UNC-Chapel Hill has followed two groups of babies since 1972 based on the early childhood care they received. Those with quality care had already posted better scores on reading and math tests. They are also more likely to attend college and be employed. But differences in criminal activity and wages are insignificant. A project summary can be found here and in a recent N&O article.

…School administrators revisited the topic of the hiring freeze announced two weeks ago to make clear the decision is meant to tightly control school hiring in the coming months rather than suggest the district is out of money and likely to make further cuts. With enrollments expected to increase again, it’s quite possible the district will employ more teachers in 2012-2013 than they have today. However, per pupil spending and average class size could still increase once the final numbers are in.

…The state Department of Public Instruction released its first survey of teacher effectiveness last week based on responses from school principals. Its release, however, came with the caveat that the information is incomplete and skewed toward first-year teachers where evaluations are required. Eventually, veteran teachers will be included.  Every school in the state is surveyed, including those in Wake.

Wake Education Partnership is a 501(c)(3) non-profit created in 1983 to support public schools, in part by educating the community on current school issues and serving as a strong advocate for student achievement and world-class academic standards. Most of its financial support comes from individuals and local businesses. Please send comments or questions to Tim Simmons, VP of Communications, at tsimmons@wakeedpartnership.org or visit our website at www.wakeedpartnership.org.