Knox school board supports tougher standards

[Lola Alapo]

By Lola Alapo
Posted October 8, 2009 at midnight

The Knox County school board Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution affirming their support of more rigorous academic standards that were implemented statewide this year.

Board Chairwoman Indya Kincannon said it was a "call to action" for the community and state legislators.

The resolution urges state education officials and lawmakers not to walk away from the tougher requirements despite an anticipated initial drop in student test scores as they adjust to the changes, which are part of an effort to align state curriculum with national standards.

"It's going to be painful" at first, board Vice Chairman Thomas Deakins said after the meeting.

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[Vic Spencer]

Lola, did the Board have any choice in this state mandate under the American Diploma Project?

[Ginevra]

Vic, did you see this article by Thomas Sowell? Thought it would interest you. It would be worth a discussion here -- he touches on the issues of standards and how time is spent in schools, to what purpose, and jobs going to better-trained foreigners.

http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/10/07/article/thomas_sowell...

[Vic Spencer]

Thanks Gin. I observed the same things as this author.
As to Knox Schools supporting tougher standards, this is just a PR move to show that they are trying so hard.
1. They have not tried for decades before. I wonder why?
2. This is mandatory. Knox County schools had nothing to do with originating it, AND they have to do it. There is no choice to water it down.
So I don't know why someone is eager to blow smoke up our rear to put it bluntly.

[Heather Marshall]

I am all for tougher standards! But is it a PR move or are we really seeing it implemented in every classroom in Knox County? How will we know? Who is checking on it? Does every classroom have a great teacher will high expectations?

It is one thing to say we support tougher standards. It is a much more difficult thing to implement. My question to the school board would be: How are we implementing these higher standards? And how do we know it is going on in every classroom, in every school?

[Karen Carson]

Vic,
Your assertion that Knox County Schools had nothing to do with originating the changes is wrong. Change seldom happens when everyone is content. KCS, the Knox Board of Educaiton, the Knox Chamber Partnership and East TN Public School Forum have been at work for a number of years pushing for a change to higher, more meaningful standards.
Your other statement that "there is no choice to water it down" is also incorrect. The state has not yet set the "cut" scores for the testing. One of the points of our resolution is to have these cut scores set prior to testing to avoid any possiblility of watering it down.

[Vic Spencer]

Karen I may be wrong. As far as I know the American Diploma Project was the initiator of this program to which 26 states agreed not including TN some time ago. Subsequently TN also signed up and we now have 35+ states signed up representing about 87% of the students in our country. I believe that the programs are extremely close if not identical in each participating state. That is a requirement within the American diploma project if a state signs up. To the best of my knowledge there is no such thing like a different TN Diploma project, outside the American Diploma Project requirement.

Any watering down by any state is and was a concern within the American Diploma Project, since that was the most destructive local decision under the NCLB act, in which TN was one of the worst. The ADP people are not stupid. Therefore a school district saying this late in the game that we must keep up the standards, after dumbing down the tests under NCLB during the Bush administration more than other states minus one or two, does not ring like a genuine effort to me. If you all (including practically all school districts) really wanted to improve the downward spiral in education achievement, you could have done it a long time ago. You didn't want to do that because tests would have shown the much worse results all of a sudden, like they will soon. It felt much better to dumb down our kids and show higher scores. None of you had the courage to stand up and stay standing to improve the situation until it was forced upon you now. I don't mean just this Board, but all Boards and superintendents for about 3 decades. And here we are.

[Cathy McCaughan]

Okay. Here we are. Can we PLEASE move forward now?

[Vic Spencer]

Karen I have a question. The ACT is the best end of pipe-line measure of our kids' achievement in school, and I think we all agree.

Knox County achieved a consolidated average of 21.9 on the ACT. What is the ACT goal for this first year of the five year plan? Where can I find it? In addition, since the ACT measures in 11th and 12th grade, are there consolidated school district goals in the plan for other grades like 4th, 8th and perhaps 10th? I could not find them.

For the above, I imagine that we have per school goals as well in the plan. for its first year. Could you tell me where I can find those?

I am sorry but I cannot find these goals. Can you help me?

[Indya Kincannon]

Currently only 62% of KCS students who take the ACT score a 21 or higher. Our goal is that by 2020 at least 90% of students get a 21 or higher. This is not a KCS-derived standard - the ACT researchers say that earning a composite score of 21 higher is a main indicator of future success.

You can find this information at knoxschools.org's main page, under Strategic Plan. Click on the Strategic Plan, and then click on Performance Targets. You'll see the title page called "Performance Targets". Flip to the next page and you'll see the ACT performance targets. You can read the information I mention above, as well as the interim ACT goals.

Keep reading to learn about more specific performance targets for high school and k-8, including goals for PLAN and EXPLORE, the precursors to the ACT. Read on to learn about how we plan to reach these performance targets. Towards the back is a time-line so you can see what steps are planned for year 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. It's a great plan - detailed and ambitious yet completely doable.

Having recently visited all the schools in the 2nd District, I see that we're already implementing initial steps and gaining momentum daily.

Indya

[Vic Spencer]

Thanks very much Indya.

[Vic Spencer]

Indya, just a note. In operational planning the coming year is 75-85% important. The 2nd-4th year is the balance. There are so many possible changes by year five that it is not worth the effort. It is meaningless. And so is any year beyond that. So having 2020 in a plan is not the best of recommendations and one who is experienced with such things would start thinking about the validity of the assumptions for even year 1. Don't look at this as criticism, but it may be a good idea to think about it. Clearly the first year in the plan requires the most well thought out key indicator goal(s) which the ACT would be, and secondary goals to be measured during the year so that one can make adjustments in plan and budget to hit the goal originally planned or raise the alarm and reduce costs. These are not ideas that apply just to business. They apply to planning at any level. Naturally the larger the dollars involved, the more important they become on the dynamic management side to hit a planned operating goal that is a key indicator of the primary activity: education achievement at the end of the pipe line.

[Jamey Dobbs]

I think this action is commendable:
"The resolution urges state education officials and lawmakers not to walk away from the tougher requirements despite an anticipated initial drop in student test scores as they adjust to the changes, which are part of an effort to align state curriculum with national standards."