Montpelier, we have a problem

The results of the latest state education tests, the New England Common  Assessment Program (NECAP), are in, and the results are not good:

Sixty-seven percent of juniors are proficient or better at reading, while only 30 percent are proficient at math and 37 percent are proficient in writing,

Or, spinning the story a little differently, 1/3 of high school juniors don't meet the standards in reading, and more than two-thirds can't write or do the math that are expected at their grade level.   And that's not including the 10-15%  of students who have dropped out of high school before they take the test.  (No one ever talks about them when it comes to test scores.)

Kudos to Education Commissioner Cate, who says

We can't let this stand.  We have to figure out what's going on and deal with it.

One of the legislature's proposed solutions is to eliminate the state Board of Education and make the Commissioner and the State Department of Education under the direct control of the Governor.  That's been a successful model in other areas, such as New York City and Chicago, but not surprisingly the State Board unanimously opposes it.

In case any of you missed it, we've written many pieces in VT about the implications of the NECAP tests and what they show (here, here, and here, (one of our earliest VT posts)  for example).

Comments

[Marion]

Take a look at the teachers! The old adage for computers is garbage in - garbage out. Kids can only learn witht they are taught. Our tax dollars at work or should I say being blown away!

[Jack Harding]

If teaching were a business the Board of Directors would 1) change management, 2) cut costs and 3) introduce a new, relevant metric system for teacher performance.

I know, I know...."our kids are not about profits.....". But that is no justification for plain old, bad management influenced by a powerful, wealthy union that can't afford for little Vermont's taxpayers to have any influence. Otherwise, they face similar assaults from much larger states that are wondering why our kids' education has been hijacked for the financial gain, currently and in retirement, by a segment of the economy that has no accountability or performance obligations.

This is the worst form of abuse of the public trust as it occurs under the banner of, "You won't criticize the teachers' union if you love your kids".

Well, at least we have one good set of data now and it doesn't look good. What will be their response other than to ask for more money and less worload? If you ran your business this way you would predict bankruptcy....guess what?

[GreggB]

Just saw a bumper sticker that read: 'It takes a school to bankrupt a village' Funny but sad.

[Karen Kerin]

THE TRAGEDY IS THE TEST IS NOT INVOLVED WITH HIGHER MATH, AS IT ONLY TOUCHES ON ALGEBRA AND VERY LITTLE GEOMETRY. SO THE PROBLEM IS REALLY ARITHMETIC. MUST BE OUR TEACHERS CAN'T DO BASIC MATH.

[David Bumgardner]

Having read with interest comments in this site by people who know what they are talking about, am saddened to opine that great revelation Pogo once said, "the enemy is us." The apathy demonstrated by the citizens of Vermont (aka Town meeting govt) - I can't use Vermonters as I firmly believe they are long gone if you believe the history book definition - is almost bovine.

We continue to vote increases mostly because we put the people making the budgets in those jobs in the first place. They are good people. What we do not have is the backbone to stand up and say: "This is what you can spend. We know costs are going up. That's unfortunate. Then make the difficult decisions that we elected you for. Cut your overhead. Increase your class size. The well is dry. Adapt." Those of us in business had to do this at times for the entity to survive. The citizens were stockholders. Apparently in Vermont, we choose to suffer inspite of irrefrutable facts to the contrary. Ethan Allen drunk or sober must be rolling in his grave.

[G. Cross]

While I do not agree with most of the education commentary on this site, I do think that the idea of eliminating the State Board of Education and creating a position of Secretary of Education is worth consideration. This would make the Governor responsible for public education in the state and the electorate would hold him/her accountable. The current Governor and his predecessor have done, or did, little to create a positive climate for preK-12 schools in the state. It may be time to ensure that the Governor is responsible and thus can not constantly wiggle out of being accountable.

[Hunter Melville]

" It may be time to ensure that the Governor is responsible and thus can not constantly wiggle out of being accountable."

Wow! It's the Governor's fault school taxes are totally out of control and test scores suck...

Amazing... I wish he'd keep businesses and children from fleeing the state, too. The unaccountable bastard!

[Retta Dunlap]

I have long felt that the Governor should appoint the Commissioner of Education. It does give the Governor a better seat at the table. However, neither the Governor nor the State Board of Education has much power over the $1.3m that is spent. This responsibility belongs to the local school boards and the local voters. I would also think that the best way to consider the elimination of the State Board would be to work with them and include them in a non threatening conversation about what is best for Vermont's children.

I am not convinced that eliminating the SBE right now in the middle of the transformation conversation is a good thing. This action at this time is saying their body of work is useless and not worth acknowledging. This is sad. What would really be sad is, board or no board, the transformation conversation to disappear completely.

The bill to turn the department of ed into the agency of ed also sets the mission statement for the new agency and the new secretary. In that mission statement the new agency must follow the “17 elements” found within the 1967 document called the Vermont Design for Education. The 8th element of the Design for Education is “people should perceive the learning process as related to their own sense of reality.”

My sense of reality is that the Design for Education needs to be updated BEFORE we pass it into law and yet here it is inculcated into a bill which passed out of Senate Education last Friday on a 3-1-1 vote.