We Should Travel To Jupiter! Now! And, You’ve Got To Go To War Against The Law You Have…

Today’s Washington Post op-ed calling for growth models ignored a pretty relevant part of NCLB’s accountability requirements: The percentage of kids required to pass state tests rises over time so just focusing on kids likely to pass the test in any given year, as the author says teachers are*, is a time-limited strategy. So, “triage” might make sense for individual teachers but is not going to work school-or district-wide. You can argue that the rising floors are unrealistic, as many do, but they do address the central critique of the article. In fact, it’s state accountability systems that often focused on fixed percentages of kids passing the tests not the federal system…

Also, the op-ed says: “When students improve on their previous performance but don’t clear the passing threshold, schools still deserve credit.” If we’re trying to teach kids to standards, do they? And at what point is just improving performance not enough? Those are not abstract questions with growth models and the pretty tight parameters that the Department of Education put on their growth model pilot means they likely won’t do everything people want them to do or address the core complaint in this op-ed because floors will still rise so just progress won’t be enough. Besides, while there is an obvious dual client issue here, schools serve kids, are we ultimately concerned about schools or kids? Too often the former…

Finally, the author notes in passing at the end that, “the mechanics of a growth-based accountability system are tricky.” Yes, they are! And few states can implement one, which is why the Dept. of Ed. pilot includes just two states right now. That’s why calling for them as a universal cure right now is like calling for a manned mission to Jupiter this year or an immediate cessation in the use of gas-fueled cars. Instead, some sort of tiered system (pdf) is likely where we’re headed for the near future and that raises some tricky policymaking questions.

*Worth noting, does one anecdote here really cut it? There is a fair amount of literature on this issue and it’s not cut and dry at all.

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