Will PowerSchool finish strong?

The school year is ending across North Carolina,  and I'm curious about how the problem-plagued debut of PowerSchool will shape this stretch.  Will schools be able to calculate grade-point averages needed to name valedictorians and salutatorians?  Will they be able to generate timely reports on which third-graders need to take summer school to meet Read to Achieve mandates?

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction and Pearson,  the education technology company that provides PowerSchool,  say they've been working all year to resolve the problems.  Let's hear from the folks in the classrooms:  Have they gotten it right?

2013 education rally in Raleigh

I'm heading to Raleigh this week to take a turn on General Assembly duty,  First stop:  today's Moral Monday protest focusing on education  (it will be livestreamed here starting at 4 p.m.).  I'm guessing the crowd won't match the one from last July,  simply because school isn't over so it's hard for out-of-towners to make the trek.

Meanwhile,  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools boosters have started their virtual rally on social media today,  in advance of Wednesday's Mecklenburg County budget hearing. The Twitter hashtag seems to be #CMSpsf,  for the new Charlotte Mecklenburg Public School Friends group that's organizing the push.

Senate plan: Big raises, big questions

For Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the Senate's sweeping plan to raise and revamp teacher pay has officials scrambling to sort out its implications.

At a news conference less than 24 hours after seeing the plan, Superintendent Heath Morrison was quick to say he's  "very grateful"  that the Senate has proposed raises that would make a real difference in North Carolina's national standing and teachers' ability to earn a living wage.  "We certainly support that increase at the state level being as high as possible,"  he said.

Morrison

But he noted that Gov. Pat McCrory's budget and the Senate's are substantially different,  with the House version yet to come.  Both plans revealed so far contain significant changes in pay and other conditions for teachers,  and Gov. Pat McCrory is already raising challenges about the Senate's plan for education.

That means huge unanswered questions as CMS and other districts prepare for a budget year that starts July 1 and a school year that starts Aug. 25.  Morrison said he worried about the tradeoffs in the Senate plan;  CMS stands to lose 900 teacher assistants,  77 teachers,  $3.8 million in transportation money and $200,000 for central offices,  he said.

Morrison,  an unaffiliated voter who tries to stay out of partisan crossfire,  said he's not opposed to rethinking tenure  (he prefers to call it due process),  but prefers that such a discussion would have happened more deliberately,  with educators involved.  The Senate plan came out late Wednesday and is expected to be approved by week's end.

Berger

But Senate leader Phil Berger told me Thursday afternoon that he and other GOP senators have been listening for three years,  since they took control of the General Assembly.  The biggest message from educators,  parents and policymakers,  he said,  is that teachers are the most important factor in children's education,  and North Carolina's low national ranking for teacher pay threatens public education.

"We've heard loud and clear the complaints that we're in the 40s,  and not even the high 40s,  on teacher pay,  and that has become an embarrassment for the state,"  he said.  He said the Senate plan would move North Carolina up to 27th  --  assuming every teacher chooses  to give up tenure and move onto the higher pay track with year-to-year contract.  "It is critical for North Carolina to move ahead and to do everything we can to improve outcomes in public education.  Teachers are at the center of that."

Berger said his party made tough choices to make a big raise possible,  including sacrificing teacher assistants.  But he said party leaders have also made concessions,  such as letting teachers keep tenure if that's what's most important to them.   (Not all teachers are grateful;  N.C. Association of Educators President Rodney Ellis said it amounted to treating teachers like  "political pawns in an election year,"  and suggested tenure provided the protection teachers needed to speak up about the problems with low pay.)

Berger said changes in the Read to Achieve Act also show that GOP leaders have been listening and learning.   He said the revisions approved Wednesday preserve the focus on getting third-graders up to grade level in reading while responding to legitimate concerns,  such as the previous lack of flexibility in setting up summer reading programs.  "We listened to those concerns,"  Berger said.

Grundy at General Assembly

It looks like a lively summer debate is just getting cranked up.  Pamela Grundy of Mecklenburg ACTS went to Raleigh to argue against the part of Read to Achieve that requires retention for struggling third-grade readers,  which she says does little to help them.  "Berger's response: not retaining students isn't working, so they have to try something else. The measure passed, but at least the truth made an appearance,"  Grundy posted on Facebook.

And state Superintendent June Atkinson,  a Democrat,  released a statement lauding a  "long overdue"  major raise for teachers,  but saying that the Senate's education budget  "continues to undercut support for teachers and for learning."

"The key to teacher recruitment and retention is pay plus working conditions,"  Atkinson said.  "Student success requires both."

Update:  A Winthrop professor just tweeted me a link to this blog post berating N.C. legislators for offering the "raises or tenure" tradeoff.  "Curmudgucation,"  by a self-described grumpy old teacher,  says the real message is that teachers can't make a career here and that North Carolina now has  "the worst legislature in all of America."

Exams and Shavuot: Let the confusion begin

If it's May it must be testing time,  and in North Carolina that has become a time of confusion and stress.  The tests,  the grading and the way the results are used seem to change like the weather.

Parent Amy Wlodyka sent me the testing schedule she got from Providence High,  accompanied by a note from the principal:   "It is different than in previous years due to NC testing requirements and how much time has to be given for each individual exam.  You will notice that A/B day exams are being given the week of Memorial Day.  You will also notice there are 2 days in the middle of exam week which are regular school days.  June 4 and 5 are Religious Holidays recognized by CMS and exams are not permitted to be given.  Since those are regular school days, all classes will meet and attendance will be taken in each class."

She and I had the same reaction:  What religious holiday?  Thank goodness for the internet:  It's apparently the Jewish celebration of Shavuot,  which marks the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai and is also linked to harvest season.

The real question,  of course,  is how teachers and students are going to handle an exam schedule broken up by two days of regular classes.

"Teachers will NOT be allowed to review since testing has begun,"  emailed recently retired teacher George Walker.  "What will teachers do for two days? What impact will it have on scores since two extra days have passed since review?  To teachers this is two days wasted at a time of the year where a lot is at stake.  ...  It seems silly and hypocritical to have class during a supposed religious observation but not allow the schools to operate once the kids arrive."

What else are you hearing about this year's exams?

We know,  of course,  that this is the year North Carolina plans to break with its longstanding four-point scale for state exams,  with Levels 1 and 2 failing and Levels 3 and 4 passing.  On the new five-point scale,  a Level 3  (passing)  covers what used to be a high level 2,  increasing the number who will be labeled on grade level and reducing the number of  third-graders will be forced to take summer school or face retention under the Read to Achieve act.

I've heard some questions about whether the state will bring back mandatory retesting.  As you may recall,  for a couple of years the state required that students who earned Level 2s on their first try take a new version of the exam a few days later.  That ended last year because scoring was delayed on new exams.  This year,  I'm told that there will be no retesting except for third-graders who fail reading.

Standardized tests: Opt out or buckle down?

As the testing season nears, the debate over the value of those exams is heating up, locally and across the country.

Bryan

On April 21,  a group of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools parents are holding a forum on  "How did testing get so out of control and what can we do about it?"  Sparked by Selwyn Elementary parents concerned about the testing demands imposed by North Carolina's Read to Achieve program,  the event will be from 7-8:30 p.m. at Alexander Graham Middle School,  1800 Runnymede Lane.  Panelists will be UNC Charlotte literacy professor Bruce Taylor,  state Rep. Rob Bryan and Pamela Grundy of Mecklenburg ACTS.

Grundy's group is taking part in the national  "Testing Resistance and Reform Spring" movement,  which encourages parents to opt their students out of exams.  You may have seen the recent opinion piece by Grundy and her husband,  Peter Wong,  about why their seventh-grade son won't take state exams.

"During nearly a decade of experience with high-stakes testing, we have become increasingly appalled at the damage we have seen it do to schools and children,"  they wrote.  "... Elected officials from both parties have failed us.  It is time for parents  –  who have the biggest stake in high-quality public education  –  to just say no."

Michelle Rhee,  former chancellor of Washington, D.C, schools, recently weighed in on the opposite side in the Washington Post.

Rhee

"Opt out of measuring how well our schools are serving students?"  Rhee writes.  "What’s next: Shut down the county health department because we don’t care whether restaurants are clean? Defund the water-quality office because we don’t want to know if what’s streaming out of our kitchen faucets is safe to drink?"

Read more here: http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2014/04/why-our-son-wont-take-eogs.html?showComment=1396400619199#storylink=cpy

N.C. Deputy Superintendent Rebecca Garland recently sent a memo to superintendents reminding them that the state does not allow opt-outs.  Students who refuse to take state exams will receive failing grades,  the memo says,  and those who stay home on testing day will be given a makeup exam when they return.

Survey: Lawmakers are in the doghouse

People who answered a recent UNC Wilmington online survey are plenty mad about the N.C. legislature's recent changes to education, according to a recent report.

With the 2014 session looming,  we seem to be getting a poll a week,  and most of them show what the sponsors go in looking for.  So let's be clear up front:  This was a self-selected group of more than 2,350 people who responded to links shared by PTAs and social media,  including,  apparently,  the Observer's Facebook page.  Participants were skewed toward middle-class women who have kids in public schools and/or have worked in public education.

Respondents trust teachers ...

Still,  it's always interesting to hear what folks have to say.  More than 95 percent said they trust teachers and principals to make decisions about education,  compared with just over 60 percent who trust their local school board and just over 3 percent who trust the governor and state legislature.

... a lot more than they trust these guys.

More than 90 percent said North Carolina is headed the wrong direction when it comes to public education.  Especially unpopular: Increasing class sizes,  decreasing per-pupil spending,  giving schools letter grades,  cutting pay for advanced degrees,  providing private-school vouchers and lowering the percentage of certified teachers required at charter schools.  Among people who have never worked for a school system,  there were mixed reviews for Teach for America,  the Read to Achieve program and the controversial  "25 percent plan"  to replace teacher tenure.

About 30 percent of the parents who responded said they've considered private or charter schools for their children. “We are actively searching for private school options to escape the ridiculousness that has become the NC school system!”  one reported.

And,  of course,  the overwhelming majority think teachers need a raise.  It's looking like the only debate on that point is going to be who gets how much  (and that debate will be a doozy).

The survey by UNCW Professors Robert Smith and Scott Imig follows one that tallied educators'  reactions to the legislative session in December.

The latest twists in testing

Charlotte-Mecklenburg third-graders will have a broader menu of reading tests to help them earn promotion without summer school,  assuming the snow-crossed school board approves at a meeting this morning (after snow canceled the Jan. 28 meeting,  tonight's regularly scheduled meeting has been bumped up to 11 a.m. to avoid a repeat).

As you may recall,  districts around the state are trying to put the Read to Achieve law into practice without sending thousands of children to summer school or drowning them in exams. The goal is ensuring that students who move up to fourth grade have grade-level reading skills.

More than 2,500 of this year's CMS third-graders can relax:  They tested at third-grade level on new state reading exams given at the start of this year,  so they don't have to worry about being retained or sent to summer school based on an end-of-grade reading score. The rest,  about 78 percent of the class,  will have these options to demonstrate proficiency:

* MAP tests being given in most elementary schools.

*  Discovery Education reading tests being used at Project LIFT schools.

* Reading 3D tests created by Amplify  (where former Superintendent Peter Gorman went to work).

*  Or the state's "portfolio"  reading tests,  which sparked controversy because they require students to pass quizzes on 36 passages.

Students who don't make the grade on any of these options will have to see if they pass the End of Grade exam.  If not,  they'll have to take summer reading camp to be promoted.

The state granted the request of CMS and 15 other districts,  including Cabarrus,  Gaston,  Hickory,  Kannapolis,  Mooresville and Union County,  to have additional testing options.  But you can see why testing is such a thorny topic in the state,  with Gov. Pat McCrory saying the volume  "borders on the absolute ridiculous."

But former Gov. Jim Hunt, hosting an Emerging Issues Forum focused on teachers, warned against a knee-jerk reaction to overtesting.  He recalled a day when too many were oblivious to how little students were learning.

"The whole issue of testing is one that we've got to do a lot of hard thinking about,"  Hunt said.  "We must figure out whether students are learning and how to help them learn more."

Third-grade reading: Less testing, more flexibility?

A panel of educators and parents studying North Carolina's Read to Achieve program will ask lawmakers for fewer tests,  more flexibility and a one-year reprieve in mandated penalties for kids who fail exams,  the state Department of Public Instruction announced today.

The Read to Achieve Advisory Group's recommendations will go to the state legislature when it convenes in May.  Meanwhile,  the state Board of Education will consider proposals to relieve the testing burden on many local school districts at Wednesday's meeting.

The program is designed to make sure third-graders can read well before moving up,  a goal almost everyone supports.  But the specifics have proven problematic,  especially a  "portfolio"  option designed as an alternative to passing a one-time state exam.  In its current version,  students who want to demonstrate reading proficiency through the portfolio have to pass 36 small reading assessments between now and year's end.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Hickory, Kannapolis, Mooresville and Union County schools are among the 16 districts seeking approval this week for alternative testing approaches  (read their proposals here; click item II-B2 for a link).

In the longer run,  the advisory panel is asking the legislature to scale back portfolio testing,  give school districts more flexibility in school calendars and summer reading camps,  and count the current year as a trial run for Read to Achieve.

Lynn Bonner at the News & Observer reports that Senate leader Phil Berger, the law’s champion, doesn’t like that last part.

“No,” Berger said in a statement. “It’s wrong to let another class of third graders slip through the cracks. Passing them along unprepared has not solved the problem before, and it is not a solution now.”

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/04/3590879/berger-pops-read-to-achieve-trial.html#storylink=cpy

Read or flunk: It's way more complicated

In a summer headline,  I dubbed North Carolina's  "Read to Achieve"  program the  "read or flunk plan."  The mandate from the state legislature does threaten third-graders with retention if they can't pass reading tests.  But six months later,  as state and local officials grapple with options,  it's becoming clear that the route from third grade to fourth grade is more like a maze than a forked path.

The first branch,  as it turns out,  has already happened.  Soon after this school year began,  third-graders took new Beginning-of-Grade reading exams  (yes, we now have a BOG test).  Late last week,  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools learned that students who scored at third-grade level on that test will be eligible for promotion without having to worry about the barrage of tests they encounter during the rest of the year,  spokeswoman Kathryn Block said.  CMS is working on a count of how many children cleared that hurdle.

Students who pass the End-of-Grade reading test in May will also be cleared for promotion.  But last year fewer than 50 percent of third-graders in CMS and North Carolina cleared that bar.  That means some 6,000 students in CMS alone are at risk of getting bad news at the end of the year,  and it's impossible to be sure which students might fall short.

That's why districts like CMS and Wake County are planning to make sure all students who might be at risk have a chance to get onto another path to promotion by demonstrating grade-level skills on a series of smaller  "portfolio"  tests.  The current plan means those students will have to read 36 passages and answer questions on them between now and May.  CMS is going to the state Board of Education next month to seek approval for an approach that involves fewer tests.

Another fork comes for students who fall below grade level on the portfolio and the final exam.  They'll be offered the chance to attend summer reading camps,  which by state mandate will be three hours a day for six weeks.

If parents decline to send the kids, they'll be held back.

Think about that one for a minute.  As a working parent who doesn't get summers off,  I know how hard it would have been for me to get my son to a three-hour program,  then find another place for him to be for half the day and get him there.  If parents can't or won't do it for whatever reason,  their children don't move up to fourth grade.

CMS is seeking state permission to substitute a three-week,  six-hour camp,  a schedule officials hope will be more practical for parents and more attractive to the skilled reading teachers they want to hire for those sessions.

For those who do go to summer reading camp,  there is  (what else?)  another chance to take a test.  If they pass, great.  If not,  they can be assigned to a combined third/fourth-grade class or to an "accelerated learning"  class with extra reading instruction.  Those kids can be deemed ready for mid-year promotion to fourth grade.

And if all that isn't complicated enough,  there are also exemptions for students with disabilities or limited English proficiency.  And here's the one that had steam coming out of some CMS leaders' ears:  Charter schools have more flexibility about participating in the Read to Achieve maze.  Read the CMS presentation here or view the school board's discussion here  (because of a problem with video archiving,  the recording starts in the middle of the staff report on Read to Achieve,  but the full follow-up discussion is available).

Why sue? Just tweet

The frontiers of social media expanded just a little during Tuesday's school board meeting,  when three public officials tweeted plans to solve a problem that was still under discussion.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board was getting a staff briefing on the challenges of the state's  "Read to Achieve"  mandate.  A flood of new testing for third-graders and rules that give charter schools more flexibility than traditional public schools drew strong criticism from board members.

I was tweeting from that discussion.  State Rep. Tricia Cotham,  a Democrat and former CMS educator,  and state Rep. Charles Jeter,  a Republican who serves on the House education committee,  were following from a distance.  So was school board member Rhonda Lennon,  from her computer at the dais.

At one point,  board member Ericka Ellis-Stewart asked if the board was willing to sue to block the most onerous portions of the law.

I tweeted Superintendent Heath Morrison's response: Morrison on legal action: Better to work with legislators, who seem receptive to revising #ReadtoAchieve. Lawsuits are last resort.

Jeter

Jeter responded: Absolutely willing to work together to resolve these issues. If something needs fixing, let's do it together.

Lennon

Lennon: Charlie let fix this ... Read to Achieve creating chaos for traditional LEAs, charters not burdened by same laws

Jeter: Rhonda, I'm in, let's fix it.

Cotham

Lennon: @triciacotham will you join us to fix this #readtoachieve?

Cotham: Of course!!

Lest someone think that Lennon should have been voting instead of tweeting, let me note that there was no action required. In fact, a reasonable person might conclude that staff reports about controversial state mandates, such as Read to Achieve and teacher tenure changes, are more of a public performance than a chance for the board to get up to speed. Members get the details in advance, and the staff presentations tend to be followed by board members' remarks about hardship to CMS and the importance of mobilizing the public to weigh in.

I'm not naive enough to think Tuesday night's Twitter flitter will solve a very complex problem. But I am hopeful enough to think there are officials on both sides of the aisle, at the state and local level, who want to work past the significant snarls in last summer's state mandates to tease out the valuable goals.

Before our lawmakers return to Raleigh in May, it's a smart time for parents, teachers and others who care to get up to speed on the issues and let their representatives know what they want. It's easy to look up contact info at the N.C. General Assembly web site (if you aren't sure which district you're in, look up your voter registration).

I'd suggest you also check out the CMS presentation on Read to Achieve, but oddly, the version posted online eliminates six crucial pages on testing and other "challenging points" from the version that was presented to the board and reporters that night. (Update: A full version has been posted.) Even more perplexing: The video of the meeting starts well into the session, with one of deleted pages on screen and Chief Learning Services Officer Valerie Truesdale reviewing summer school requirements.

No second chance on 2013-14 exams

N.C. students won't get a second chance if they flunk state exams this year, Vanessa Jeter of the Department of Public Instruction told me this week.

Before the new exams rolled out in 2012-13,  students who fell short were required to take the tests again  (different questions on the same material). If they passed on the second try,  it counted toward school proficiency rates, a significant bump for many struggling schools.

This year,  the only students who will be retested are those who fail third-grade reading exams.  The state's new Read to Achieve program spells out a series of actions that are triggered by failure on those tests,  starting with retesting and potentially leading to summer school and retention. (See the process on page 4 of this guide.)   Based on this year's results,  a lot of children aren't clearing the bar at the end of third grade.  See elementary school proficiency rates,  including the percent who passed third-grade reading,  on this new results map.

A second year of one-shot testing could be bad news for schools facing state-issued letter grades in 2014 (see 2013 results for all Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools and Mecklenburg charter schools in the rail at right).  The same goes for CMS high school students,  who will see 25 percent of their final grades in math I, English II and biology shaped by their score on the state tests.

But Superintendent Heath Morrison argues it will be good news for people trying to monitor how much progress schools make this year.  Before the state made it clear whether retesting would be revived this year,  he argued against it for the sake of having two consecutive years of comparable results.  In 2014-15,  the state is slated to switch tests again,  introducing Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium exams designed to reflect national Common Core standards and provide a consistent testing system among participating states.

"We would prefer to keep the testing as similar as possible,"  Morrison told the school board.