THE
OHIO EDUCATION GADFLY
A Bi-Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Volume 2, Number 18. September 4, 2008
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Zelman reviews a near-decade as top school super
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Tave Zelman announced this week that she will become the senior vice president for education and children's programming at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting beginning Nov. 3. She had announced her resignation in May after Governor Ted Strickland attacked her performance and called for an overhaul of education policy in his February State of the State address.
Zelman and her influence on public education in the Buckeye State will be missed (as Fordham's president Chester E. Finn, Jr. noted here). We wish her all the best on her future endeavors; this influential post at CPB seems like an excellent fit for Dr. Z. We also understand that today is her birthday--and hope that she has a happy one.
Zelman--who works for the Ohio State Board of Education, not for the governor--has been state school superintendent for 9½ years. She recently reflected on her tenure in a conversation with Gadfly Editor Mike Lafferty.
Q. Nobody likes to leave like the way you're leaving, but you had a pretty good run as superintendent.
A. We've worked hard, and we're proud of our accomplishments. I understand how the governor may want his own team. I wish him well.
Q. Have you discussed education
with the governor?
A. We had discussions.... We've never had a conversation as I'm having with
you here today to clearly articulate our visions--his vision or my vision--on
education, but we both want the best in education for the children of Ohio.
Q. So you never actually sat down with him for a conversation in which he said, "Susan, what are your ideas and here are mine?"
A. In our first conversation, he
questioned me about my stance, my belief, on the No Child Left Behind Act,
which I've always believed was an important piece of civil-rights legislation,
particularly for poor-and-minority children. I still do believe in the goals
of the No Child Left Behind Act. Now, is it over-prescriptive and technical?
Yes, of course. But it certainly (has) the right goals.
Q. After the State of the State message, did you make any overtures
to the governor? Did you say, "Look, what's your beef? Let's sit down and talk
about this."
A. The State of the State announcement
was a surprise. The fact that I didn't really know about what he was saying
until a few hours before he said it...that was a good signal that the partnership
did not develop as I had hoped it would.... My board president and my board
were certainly not happy with the proposed diminished roles of the state superintendent
and state board. But, I soon understood that I really needed to work out a compromise
with my board president (and) that I would certainly step down.
Q. Was there a deal that the governor's idea of an education czar would
disappear if you would disappear?
A. I was hoping that would be the case.
Q. What would you say you accomplished as superintendent, besides raising expectations and building capacity?
A. Ohio has accomplished a lot, particularly if you look at our national data; if you look at the data from Education Week (the Quality Counts issue) and the Education Trust both on achievement-gap issues and in terms of funding and equity.... When you look at the national data, we are up there as one of the states making progress in absolute performance of our students, particularly in math. We can show that we have closed achievement gaps. So that is a good thing. The second thing is that we have made progress in school funding, particularly on measures of equity.... (And) we were the first state in the country to say we need some benchmarks of what we are doing in relation to other countries.... (Also) as state superintendent, I never just advocated high expectations. If you go back and analyze my budgets...I put together budgets...that advocated for building the capacity of the profession and the capacity for districts and schools to implement these high standards in lots of different ways.
Q. You mentioned more money. What, in particular, has that gone for?
A. I think southeast Ohio has benefited a lot...Is it enough? Probably not....We found 45 schools that were schools of promise--high-poverty, high-performing schools. We have some really good examples--examples of elementary schools that really broke down grade structures, where teachers developed methods of flexible grouping, where teachers...developed their own forms of data analysis. We are getting incredible results for kids where teachers and principals opened the schoolhouse door and did a good job of linking health and human services to schools; where teachers really worked with us and developed some community-engagement and family-involvement strategies. Teachers have used our websites and worked with parents and students together--working on literary skills and math skills. So we have some great examples of some terrific education in southeast Ohio. Of course, we have some very bad examples as well.
Q. Where has money had the least impact?
A. I think that we haven't done a good job on how the money can be used effectively and efficiently.... America spends the most for the education of our children and the reality is that other countries are getting better outcomes and spending less. In America, for example, we advocate for reduced class size, but...you see that in certain countries the class size is much larger, but teachers have more time to work on lesson-plan development....They also organize the schools in more flexible ways so that they do more grouping. So I just think there are things that we should be doing to benchmark ourselves against a variety of different practices, and to go deeper into our work and (on) how to better organize our schools.... We have to reconstruct and change our mental model about what we want high-quality instruction and teaching and learning to look like in our schools. One thing I do love about the governor's vision is that he talks about creating learning environments, and what I like about that is that it takes us away from our traditional mental model of school.... I've always said that when we have standards, what we really...(are) advocating is for our children to have the skills and the abilities they need to live and create a better humanity than they found.
Q. What's the role for charters in the next decade?
A. I think that charters can be the R&D for the educational system and should be used to test ideas...and be able to (break the mold).... I feel that choice should be given to poor parents and they should have the same option that rich and middle-class people do. However, I don't support vouchers or charters at the expense of killing public education.... I believe in the notion of the common school.... The beauty of going to the common school was that it was a melting pot for people from different ways of life.... They had access to high-quality instruction to live the American dream. I think that is a very important fundamental tenet.
Q. There are set rules on how to close a poor-performing charter school. Why shouldn't we apply those rules to district schools?
A. I've always advocated for a level
playing field. And what is good for the goose is always good for the gander.
I think we have a moral responsibility to put our children in systems in which
they are going to grow and thrive. And it is true of teachers, also. No teacher
wants to work in a dysfunctional system.
Q. What if a school grades an "F" three years in a row?
A. Here is the real issue. The school that grades "F" three years in a row, (you need to) go into that school and diagnose the problems. Are good teaching and learning going on? If not, why not? Why are the teachers not able to improve the quality? What about the educational leadership of that school? Are the resources being applied appropriately? Is there a coherent reading curriculum grade-to-grade? Do the teachers understand what the expectations are? What are the standards? Do the teachers know how to engage parents? What we've done is to develop a set of diagnostic tools which would (be used in) schools (including charters)...needing it most.... People will be able to get better support and technical assistance. Just don't restructure a school if it gets an "F." What does that mean? It's the same thing in terms of students failing a test or subject. It is important for us to figure out why and to come with a diagnosis, and, with that diagnosis, come up with a prescription.... I think the same thing is true for districts. If they are not performing well, we need to figure out why not.
Q. Do we need a state high-school graduation test?
A. I've never been a fan of the OGT. I hope that the vision for a high-school assessment in the future would be a subject-matter (test). I personally like that because I think it says that Algebra II in Morgan County is the same as Algebra II in Chagrin Falls or Upper Arlington or Bexley or Columbus. For me, this has always been about curriculum equity, ensuring that there is an alignment between what we expect, how we teach, how we assess, and making sure that all children have access to high-quality curriculum and instruction.
Q. Do you ever see charters receiving the same funding as public-district schools?
A. I think that there is some very interesting work being done, nationally, around weighted-student funding.... What I think is so important about that is that it ensures that the money for different kids is...going to the kids needing it the most. So, I'm a really strong advocate for weighted-student funding. The money follows the child. And I also think it would allow for better devolution of the funding...from the state to the central office to the school level and empower principals to have more resources while managing their schools.
Q. Can you look at anything since charters have been operating in this state and say, "This is an improvement?"
A. One is you have some really good and innovative charters that (show promise) for different types of kids who don't want to go to a traditional high-school setting. That's a good example of kids having the ability to learn within the community, having community mentors, having important internships.... It has implications for how we may want to structure high schools. I do believe that our urbans have done incredibly well over my tenure. I think that there are many reasons for that, but one is they face competition from charters.
Q. Are charters going to be around in 10 years?
A. I think, nationally, charters will be around because I think we are moving into this notion (of) individualization, customization of education. I think public schools working in collaboration--partnerships with charter schools--can, perhaps, better meet the needs of more diverse learners. I'm optimistic that these partnerships can lead to some very interesting experimentation with good research, planning, and evaluation.
Q. How has your relationship with the state board changed over your nine years?
A. I don't have a contract. I serve
at the pleasure of the board. Governors run every four years. I run every month.
You are only as good as your last board meeting. I have great respect for my
board--I love my board because it is so diverse. It is like a mini-legislature....
We've always had some very open, honest, and interesting debates, and I think
we are better able to make recommendations to the legislature and to the governor
because of the diversity.
Q. You plan to write a book about your experience as superintendent,
but what are your other plans?
A. I don't know. Actually within the past several weeks, I've turned down two jobs. I love being the state superintendent of public instruction. I love my job, I've learned a lot. I am really trying to figure out what's my next large challenge. I'm certainly looking for a job that will take what I've learned here and...apply it and improve the educational lot of poor children in our country.
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A tale of two cities: student achievement in Dayton and Columbus
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...." Charles Dickens' line about Paris and London in the 18th century applies aptly to the state of public education in Columbus and Dayton in 2008.
After the release, recently, of the latest state report-card data, it may seem more like the best of times for Columbus and its district schools, which continue on an upward climb and the worst of times in Dayton for its district schools.
This is not to say that both districts don't share some challenges. Dayton Public Schools' enrollment has contracted by almost 18 percent in six years and Columbus City Schools' by more than 16 percent. Both districts have lost students to charter schools and both are educating a large percentage of needy and minority children. Both, also, are seeking to pass an operating levy in November, and each has made clear that, should their levies fail, painful cuts will be made to academic programs. But this is where similarities end.
The Columbus City Schools have been making steady academic progress. The district has seen its Performance Index Score (a weighted average of student achievement across all state tests) steadily rise (from 67.5 in 2002-03 to 81.7 in 2007-08). The district was rated in continuous improvement (a "C" on the state's designation system) in both 2007 and 2008, and it has seen the number of its students passing all or parts of the state's achievement tests increase. In 2007-08, Columbus's district children out-performed the average of the state's Big Eight districts. They also slammed local charters.
And it is not only on measures of student achievement that Columbus has been delivering results. The district is adding value--building on the previous learning of its students--according to the state's new value-added score, which shows how much progress students made in reading and math over the course of the school year. In the Columbus City Schools, 60 percent of students attended a school that met or exceeded expected growth targets. This contrasts to the Big Eight average of just 48 percent and the Columbus charter average of a meager 34 percent. This may not be educational nirvana but, clearly, Columbus is absolutely trending in the right direction.
And then there is Dayton and the Dayton Public Schools. Dayton is considerably poorer than Columbus. Even so, from 2002 to 2006, the Dayton Public Schools made real academic progress. In four years, the district pulled itself out of academic emergency (where it had been mired) to make continuous improvement in 2006. Then the wheels fell off. In the last two years the district rating has dropped to academic watch, and the district may now be the worst in the state.
In Dayton, charter schools still serve as a life-line for many children. The city's top-10 performing schools (top performing is a relative term) are either charter schools or district schools with charter-like operational freedoms. Whereas 47 percent of the district's 15,000 or so students are in schools rated in academic emergency, the 6,300+ charter students fare better with only 28 percent of students attending an F-rated school. The district is also struggling to help its students make sustained academic gains as measured by the state's value-added indicators. In this department, Dayton charter schools seriously outshined the district, only 37 percent of district students were in schools that met or exceeded the state targets while 68 percent of charter students were. Dayton charters also surpassed the gains made by students across the Big 8 and even those in the Columbus Public Schools.
What are the lessons of this tale of two cities? There are many, but three jump out. First, Ohio's accountability system works. It shows us what is working and what isn't. It is uncovering educational truths in each city. Second, charter schools are neither inherently good nor bad. They are tools for improving children's learning. Those that work should be encouraged and supported, and those that don't should lose their right to educate (and they should lose this right more expeditiously than they currently do). Third, Ohio's school-funding mechanism should be redesigned through the concept of "weighted student funding" so that every state dollar is targeted to the actual needs of children in individual schools as opposed to the whims or politics of a central office.
By Terry Ryan
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Fordham teams with Whitman to explore inner-city achievement
The most exciting innovation in education policy in the last decade is the emergence of highly effective schools in our nation's inner cities, schools where disadvantaged teens make enormous gains in academic achievement. In his new book, Sweating the Small Stuff (published by Fordham), freelance journalist David Whitman, a former senior writer for U.S. News & World Report, takes readers inside six of these secondary schools and reveals the secret to their success: they are "paternalistic."
The schools teach youngsters how to act according to traditional, middle-class values, set and enforce exacting academic standards, and closely supervise student behavior. But, according to Whitman, unlike paternalistic institutions of the past, these schools are warm, caring places, where teachers and principals form paternal-like bonds with students. Though little explored to date, the new paternalistic schools are the most promising means yet for closing the nation's costly and shameful achievement gap.
You may purchase Sweating the Small Stuff here. (For review copies, please contact Christina Hentges.)
For a national Education Gadfly
piece by Checker Finn and Marci Kanstoroom, see here.
For an EdNews interview with Whitman, see here.
For George F. Will's review, see here.
For Cory Bunje Bower's review, see here.
For David Whitman's response to Cory Bower, see here.
Poop plan eyed to pay for scholarships
AKRON, Ohio--Voters will decide Nov. 4 if leasing the city sewage system to a private contractor and using the money to finance college and technical-school scholarships for Akron public high-school grads is a good idea (see here).
Wits have dubbed the idea "stools for schools," according to the Associated Press's Thomas J. Sheeran. But Mayor Don Plusquellic said he's giving the city the straight poop when he estimates Akron, eventually, could realize $200 million from the idea. The mayor believes the money could help arrest a "brain drain" of educated Akron residents from the city, which has suffered from the decline of the rubber industry and other manufacturing sectors.
The plan is a spinoff from programs such as one in Kalamazoo, Mich. (see here). The idea is to provide scholarships to students in the city to attend the University of Akron or an Akron trade or technical school with the idea they would remain in the community to work.
Participating schools would have
to be in Akron and be approved by the city, Akron Service Director Rick Merolla
told The Gadfly. Akron's city website indicates that district-school
and parochial-school graduates would be eligible to participate (see here).
Graduates of Akron school-district-sponsored charter high schools would be eligible.
The city has one of those. He also said charters sponsored by non-profit groups
might be eligible but graduates of so-called "for-profit" charters would not.
So students at schools like Life Skills Center apparently wouldn't be covered.
It's also unclear how students attending e-schools would be treated.
Excluding graduates of some charters is unfair and may be illegal, said the
head of the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools. "This somewhat mystifies
me. There really is no such thing as a private charter school. There are district-run
charter schools and there are charter schools that are run by non-profit boards,"
said William Sims, executive director for the group. "To discriminate among
public schools, I would suggest, is unconstitutional. They are sometimes managed
by for-profit or non-profit management companies but they are ultimately accountable
to a non-profit board."
Graduates would have until they're 25 to take advantage of the program. Members of the military would have even longer, according to the Akron Beacon Journal (see here).
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Herrmann to join Fordham-Ohio policy team
Dr. Suzannah Herrmann will join the Thomas B. Fordham Institute as Director for Ohio Programs and Policy on Sept. 8.
Herrmann, a Vermont native, has a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of Vermont. Her Ph.D. is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She comes to Fordham from the American Institutes for Research, where she evaluated national programs funded by the U.S. Department of Education. These studies have included the National Longitudinal Evaluation of Comprehensive School Reform, Enhanced Reading Opportunities Project, Mathematics Professional Development Impact Study, and the Adult ESL Literacy Impact Study. Prior to joining AIR, she worked as a consultant with RMC Research Corp. on early and family literacy projects. She has served as a project coordinator of the Carolina Family Literacy Studies, a series of research studies on North Carolina family literacy programs as part of the National Center for Early Development and Learning at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center. She was also a fellow of Putting Children First, a summer fellowship in child-and-family policy offered by the Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, Columbia University, through funding from the William T. Grant Foundation.
Herrmann will be based in Fordham's Columbus office.
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In our August 6 issue we misstated some requirements of the Ohio Core curriculum. Ohio high school students entering ninth grade after July 2010 will be required, among other things, to take four years of math, including Algebra II, and three years of lab-based science, including an upper-level course like chemistry or physics. See the full Ohio Core requirements here.
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Nationally and in Ohio, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, along with its sister organization the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, strives to close America's vexing achievement gaps by raising standards, strengthening accountability, and expanding high-quality education options for parents and families. As a charter-school sponsor in Ohio, the Foundation joins with schools to affirm a relentless commitment to high expectations for all children, accountability for academic results, and transparency and organizational integrity, while freeing the schools to operate with minimal red tape. The Foundation and Institute are neither connected with nor sponsored by Fordham University.