Bad school bill premature, threat to progress

I hate to be trite but the expression “cart before the horse,” accurately and concisely captures the problems with Senate Bill 1, an onerous piece of legislation that would overhaul education and accountability standards in public schools.

Late last year Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act that changes federal government requirements for K-12 public education. The federal regulations determining those requirements have not been finalized and passed down to the states. Why change the standards before we even know how the new federal law measures school performance?

Supporters of SB 1 defend it by questioning the accuracy of empirical data that shows Kentucky has made significant progress in education over the last 15 years. They complain that Kentucky has adjusted its formula to measure graduation rates three times in six years, making it impossible to accurately determine whether more students were graduating from high school. The inference is that educators were gaming the system.

That seems insincere when you consider SB 1 represents a sweeping overhaul of all accountability standards — just the thing they railed against. SB 1 supporters can quibble about how Kentucky measures high school graduation rates, but there is too much positive data to imply the state hasn’t made remarkable progress.

Kentucky elementary and middle school students have made greater gains in reading and math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress the past decade than students in most other states. Gains by Kentucky students on the ACT far exceeded the nation in the last five years. And more Kentucky students are taking Advanced Placement tests and are scoring higher than ever before.

Bad laws come about when omnibus bills like SB 1 are rushed through the legislative process. The authors said they have been working on it since July, implying it is well-vetted legislation. That’s simply not true. This bill hasn’t been public since July. It was only introduced on Jan. 6 before again disappearing into the back room. It reemerged in a morphed form in a Senate Education Committee Feb. 11 before being rushed to a Feb. 17 Senate vote.

Some dangerous precedents could come about under SB 1.

First, it could inject even more politics into deciding what’s taught by creating an academic standards committee consisting of gubernatorial appointees and state legislators. As one newspaper editorialized, it is not hard to imagine that committee becoming a “debating society for creationists and flat-earthers.”

Second, setting of the achievement gap targets from one year to three years is a retreat on the focus that we have had on closing the achievement gap. If we are concerned about closing the gap, why would we want to change that target setting to a longer period of time?

Third, students in low-performing schools with similar demographics will have one set of academic expectations while those in higher-performing schools with similar demographics will have a different set. It reminds me of a phrase the chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush is credited with coining: The soft bigotry of low expectations.

As a retired educator, I believe schooling is about continuous improvement. Yes, we have more work to do. Therefore, give the new commissioner of education time to convene educators and other community stakeholders to review the new Every Student Succeeds Act. And let’s support them in creating a cutting-edge assessment and accountability system that will provide opportunity for every student to succeed.

This story was originally published February 21, 2016 at 6:50 AM with the headline "Bad school bill premature, threat to progress."