Kids can read during test time

There's a new N.C. twist to testing this year:  When students finish early, they can read books or magazines until the whole class is done.  State Superintendent June Atkinson sent a memo to superintendents this week reminding them of the change.

One might wonder why the state's top educator would bother calling attention to a relatively minor change buried deep in the state's 158-page testing manual.  The answer:  It's part of a complex negotiation between state officials and parents who plan to refuse to let their kids take exams.

Atkinson

As I reported earlier,  Deputy Superintendent Rebecca Garland wants to make it clear that North Carolina doesn't consider testing optional.  Parents may want to protest what they view as misuse of testing to rate teachers and schools,  but kids who refuse to answer questions will get a zero,  which could drop their class grade and bring other consequences.

After Garland's  "no opt-out"  memo went out,  parents with Mecklenburg ACTS met with Atkinson to argue that even if the kids get zeroes,  they shouldn't be forced to  "sit and stare"  if they're protesting.  The group suggested that Atkinson provide guidelines that note state disapproval of opting out but offer districts  "child-centered"  ways to handle refusals.

The message that went out doesn't specifically address test protesters,  but it's understood that some of the kids will be finishing very early.

"This is a good thing not just for students who are refusing the test,  but for those who finish the tests early.  Previously,  they had also been forced to sit and stare,  sometimes for a couple of hours,"  says Pamela Grundy,  one of the organizers of the opt-out push.

Duncan at EWA

North Carolina is part of a national testing resistance movement.  In New York City more than 30,000 students opted out this spring,  high school principal Carol Burris told education reporters at the Education Writers Association national seminar in Nashville earlier this week.

The uses and misuses of testing were a big topic there.  U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan emphasized the importance of setting high standards and using rigorous tests to measure student progress:  "We had so many states that dummied down standards to make politicians look good."  The Obama administration's  Race to the Top grants have pushed the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers,  but he acknowledged that some states have gone overboard on testing.

"Where there's too much,  we need to have the honest conversation and scale it back,"  Duncan said,  without citing which states he referred to.

Tennessee officials were quick to credit tougher tests with the state's significant math gains on recent  "nation's report card"  tests.  Several speakers,  including Gov. Bill Haslam,  noted that the state went from a state testing system that labeled 90 percent of eighth-graders proficient in math,  earning the state an F in truth in advertising from the national Chamber of Commerce,  to one that more accurately reflects a bleaker reality.

Dennis Van Roekel,  president of the National Education Association,  said misuse of student scores to create  "value-added"  ratings of teachers has created rebellion among teachers and families.  "Teachers are not opposed to tests,"  he said.  "We invented them."

Tommy Bice,  Alabama's state superintendent,  talked about his state's rollout of a testing system for grades 3-12 based on the ACT.  The series of exams measure everything from basic reading and math skills to college and work readiness.  But Bice said Alabama has made a decision that sets it apart from many states:  It uses the scores only to shape instruction,  not to rate schools,  teachers or even students.

"Once we begin to use this powerful assessment tool for something other than what it was designed for,"  he said,  "it becomes something else."

Comfort index: Another way to parse teacher pay

North Carolina's average teacher pay may be among the lowest in the nation,  but when you figure in the cost of living it rises to low average,  according to a "salary comfort index" created by the web site TeacherPortal.com.

Yesterday's post about teacher pay got a lot of discussion going. It highlighted a chart based on a National Education Association report that puts North Carolina dead last on a ranking of how inflation-adjusted teacher salaries have changed over the past decade.  Just ranking average salaries,  that study puts us at 46th.

Reader Wilton Carter Jr.,  who describes himself as a retiree and a taxpayer,  said he thinks the comfort index provides a more realistic picture of working conditions.  A teacher might make more money in another state,  he notes,  but see it eaten up by higher living costs.

TeacherPortal,  which is run by the online marketing firm QuinStreet,  rates North Carolina 35th on the comfort index,  with South Carolina 32nd.  Connecticut is rated as the most financially comfortable state for teachers,  and Hawaii the least.

The site uses the NEA data as a starting point but also uses  "job surveys and private data analyses"  to calculate average salaries,  which are weighed against cost of living.  The pay numbers are slightly different;  the NEA pegs North Carolina's average at $45,947 while TeacherPortal puts it at $46,605,  with 10 states lower.  TeacherPortal also lists starting salaries;  North Carolina is 45th at $30,779.

I don't know enough about living elsewhere to have a reading on whether the comfort index matches reality.  Northeastern states that I think of as expensive ranked better than North Carolina:  New Jersey is 15th with an average salary of  $66,612,  New York 24th at $72,208.  Even California is a couple of notches above North Carolina at 33,  with an average salary of $67,871.  The worst on the mainland were Arkansas ($46,500),  Vermont ($50,141) and New Hampshire ($52,792).

The dueling lists show what we all know:  Numbers can be sliced and diced a lot of different ways.  It's always helpful to know if the folks doing the analysis have an agenda.  NEA obviously favors higher teacher pay.  QuinStreet's purpose seems to attracting readership from current and aspiring teachers,  who may then click through to sponsoring schools of education.

N.C. teacher pay: Worse than Mississippi?

There's a chart that's making the rounds showing North Carolina as a dead and dismal last on teacher compensation,  even before last week's vote to withhold raises for 2013-14.  Bill Anderson of MeckEd sent it to Superintendent Heath Morrison,  who's been mentioning it at every opportunity.

The graphic presentation comes from a North Carolina teacher's blog, Teaching Speaks Volumes,  but the numbers come from a National Education Association report on state rankings.

You're probably more familiar with another list from that report, ranking our state 46th in average teacher salaries,  about $10,000 below the national average (and $1,500 below South Carolina).  That's nothing to boast about,  but heck,  we're ahead of West Virginia and Mississippi.

The chart highlights another way of looking at it.  The NEA calculated salaries in inflation-adjusted dollars and charted the change over the past decade,  from 2001-02 to 2011-12.  Teacher salaries across the nation declined almost 3 percent by that measure,  while North Carolina's dropped almost 16 percent.  Indiana had the next-biggest decline at 10 percent.

You can quibble over whether we're last or almost last,  but either way it's a picture that's raising questions about the state's commitment to teachers, students and public education.

At a forum last week on the state's Read to Achieve program, moderator Mike Collins asked Morrison and top officials of three other nearby districts whether North Carolina is a good place to teach.  "No!"  called several people in the audience of about 200 educators and advocates.

Crystal Hill,  executive director of elementary education for the Mooresville Graded School District, said the daughter of Superintendent Mark Edwards recently chose a teaching job in Tennessee over offers from her home state because she can make $11,000 a year more.

"My personal feeling is that clearly there is an attack on public education,"  Hill said.

The administrators were all polished speakers,  but my favorite quote of the evening came from an audience member who identified himself only as a grandfather whose mother had been a teacher.  He talked about the push for accountability in the face of cuts.  "They want you to build a house,"  he said,  "but they won't give you no plywood,  no nails,  no saws,  no hammers."

NAACP chief to talk on school resegregation

Officials from the National Education Association are headed to Charlotte this week, and they want to talk about school resegregation, a dynamic they see as one of the most troubling trends on the American education scene. As part of the CIAA tournament, the NEA's minority community outreach office is sponsoring a "Salute to Educators" lunch on Friday. Keynote speaker? the Rev. William Barber, the N.C. NAACP chief who has been railing against resegregation in Wake County.

"We thought it was important to have someone from the local area who has been working on the resegregation issues we're concerned about," said Becky Pringle, the NEA's secretary-treasurer. "Our vision is great public schools for every student...We acknowledge that achievement gaps exist, and resegregating public schools only exacerbate that."

Given all the debate over issues of race and class swirling through Wake and Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools these days, it's a timely topic. Unfortunately, NEA officials say the lunch isn't open to the general public. (Some teachers have been invited, though).

Pringle said the NEA wants to make sure what's happening in Raleigh doesn't spread across the country.

What do you think? Are should we be concerned today if schools are resegregating? Or have we reached the point where such concerns are outdated?