Dane County School Board Consortium - Ahead of the Curve

Last spring the Dane County School Board Consortium (DCSBC) met with Dan Rossmiller, Director of Legislative Services from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) to begin our discussion on what issues the consortium could focus on for the school year. This brainstorming session led to the Waunakee Community School District's Board of Education to craft a formal advocacy letter to improve testing in our state.

Waunakee sent that letter to their state and national representatives to specifically address the issue of improved testing to meet No Child Left Behind. Currently, school districts administer the state mandated WKCE. Additional districts in the consortium are in the process of adopting a similar letter and sending it to their representatives.

It turns out however, that this past week, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction issued a press release announcing a new task force to work on this very issue. "Wisconsin needs a comprehensive assessment system that provides educators and parents with timely and relevant information that helps them make instructional decisions to improve student achievement,” said State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster [while] announcing members of a statewide Next Generation Assessment Task Force.

Representatives from business, commerce, and education will make recommendations to the state superintendent on the components of an assessment system that are essential to increase student achievement. The NGA Task Force will meet in Madison next week on the 8th of October.

One recommendation I would give the task force is to invest in new testing technologies. School districts and educators need continuous feedback mechanisms, according to a recent article in Forbes magazine. Schools should "...return to the more individualized approach..." which has been recommended by many education experts.

You can see the letter that the DCSBC is encouraging area school districts to send to their representatives. Thank you to Peggy Hill-Breunig and the Waunakee Community School District Board of Education for sharing this letter.

Dear State Leaders,

We are writing to share with you our concerns about the WKCE, or Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination - the assessment test Wisconsin currently requires all public school students take in order to comply with No Child Left Behind. We join our district’s professional educators, the Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance, and a growing number of school districts around the state in asking that the State of Wisconsin not renew its current testing contract without addressing key issues that currently make the WKCE a costly distraction to the goals we are trying to achieve in our classrooms today.

Before summarizing these issues, we want you to know we believe in holding our schools accountable for the work they do. We support the use of student assessments that provide teachers (and parents) relevant, timely and actionable information, and that guide instruction in ways that lead to individual student growth and achievement. (Note: We support proposed H.R. 3979, the Assessment Accuracy and Improvement Act, which will allow states to use adaptive assessments that include items outside of grade level for state assessments required under the No Child Left Behind Act.) We recognize the need to be held accountable to the state and federal government for student achievement. However, we believe we should be held even more accountable to our parents and taxpayers. It is a difficult decision when we are forced to approve the use of scarce resources (money and instructional time) for something we know is substandard.

Issue 1: WKCE test results lack the utility which other forms of assessment provide.

Fact: Last November, students in our district took the 2007-2008 WKCE tests. Results from those tests were released to us in late May, 2008. In November 2008, a different group of students will be tested for 2008-09 and their results will be compared to last year’s group to determine AYP (adequate yearly progress) for that subject and grade.

Concerns: The inability to provide timely feedback leaves little or no time for educators and parents to use what information they do receive to address student performance before the end of the school year. Targeted recommendations for the group of students who took the test are not possible. In addition, due to structure and design, tests like this fail to provide an accurate and complete picture of student growth and information educators and administrators can use to improve achievement. (Note: Some currently available adaptive forms of assessment measure student growth over time and can provide quick feedback using technology. Many districts administer this type of test twice a year to measure how students perform at the beginning and then at the end of the school year.)

Issue 2: The true cost to districts for the WKCE is high.

Concerns: In addition to any fees paid, administering standardized tests takes time away from instruction as well as other student support services (i.e. guidance). Each district might differ in how they handle the requirements of preparing for the test, administering the test, and then reporting results of the test to appropriate stakeholders. Whether they choose to utilize internal resources exclusively, or hire outside resources to help (substitute teachers, temporary clerical services, etc.) the work needs to be done and it all takes time and money. Although this could be said for any standardized paper and pencil test which all students take at the same time, the cost is greater for WKCE because (1) students and parents see the test as irrelevant, and (2) teachers and administrators cannot use the information which is eventually provided. As board members, we interpret this as having to waste precious district resources because the State is unwilling to seriously consider alternatives which may be more effective for everyone in the long run.

Issue 3: The WKCE is not as effectively aligned with the requirements of workforce readiness and higher education as other forms of assessment which are currently being used by our neighboring states.

Fact: There is research that supports this statement. The WKCE does not align as well with 21st Century Skills (a DPI initiative) as do other forms of assessment. Regarding potential alternatives, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota are among the states that have implemented statewide tests in partnership with ACT, which all students take, satisfying No Child Left Behind requirements and yielding unexpected results for students who might not have considered furthering their education beyond high school.


In closing, this is not the first time education professionals and associations from around the state have raised issues about the WKCE with our state leaders. There is, however, growing concern that the current 10-year contract may be under consideration for renewal without conducting a serious review of alternatives. As elected school board representatives, we could not let that happen without voicing our concerns with elected state representatives like you. We appreciate your leadership and support as we work to improve student achievement for all of our students.

Distance Learning, MMSD, MTI, MOU

Distance learning, virtual learning or online learning is a relatively innovative way of instructing our students and perhaps, transforming education. Recently the Board of Education discussed where we are on the long path to fully utilizing technology in our district...

Unfortunately, it was not the result of a strategic planning initiative, but was a precipitate of a bargaining agreement with labor that eventually resulted in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Madison Teachers, Incorporated (MTI).

I did not vote for the memorandum of understanding that the administration brought forward to us. However, I recognize the good work that our new superintendent, Dan Nerad, put into this MOU with MTI. Both sides negotiated toward the center line and found a somewhat workable solution. It's a fine point that most people may not understand nor care to read about in the paper. But getting this done helped both parties to walk away from the inevitablility of litigating far into the future if we had not worked together. It's difficult to decide where to start when it comes to the demands of a large, urban school district such as ours; but I trust our superintendent can lead us in the right direction.

If you haven’t been following this current board decision, take a look at the recent excerpt from Solidarity, the MTI newsletter, as union leadership interpreted the decision:

“The agreement provides that for both local and distance virtual education Madison teachers will be in control of the education; that the work will be part of the teacher’s class size and teaching load; and enable additive compensation for a teacher who volunteers to work with or correspond with virtual school students after the teachers’ contractual work day.”

Ideally, the main premise for the use of technology should be to extend the learning experience and/or individualize the learning environment for our students. Think - engagement, learning.

In sum total, our practices should be in alignment with our policies. Of concern to me in agreeing to an MOU at this time is that we have unfinished policy changes regarding educational options. One area of concern is whether to grant credit for online courses such as those offered by online providers who are not MTI employees.

This MOU may tie us to a status quo of only using MTI (bargaining unit teachers) for many years to come for any online learning. This is specifically due to the precedent set by our Collective Bargaining Agreement from the ‘70s which speaks to only MTI members providing instruction in the district. I can’t help but remind myself that this was an agreement written before the advent of online teaching technology; it’s an outdated model of where we need to go as a district for the sake of the kids.

There’s a similar take on this from a leader in the field of innovation & technology in an Education Week (June 4, 2008) commentary titled, How 'Disruptive Innovation' Will Change the Way We Learn by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn, & Curtis W. Johnson.

If the goal is to educate every student to the highest potential, schools need to move away from this monolithic classroom model and toward a student-centric model with a modular design that enables mass customization.

Computer-based learning is emerging as a disruptive force and a promising opportunity to make this shift. The proper use of technology as a platform for learning offers a chance to modularize the system and thereby customize learning.

But if this is the case, how does one explain the minimal impact computers have had in the classroom? The United States has spent more than $60 billion equipping schools with computers over the last two decades, but as countless studies and any routine observation reveal, they have not transformed the classroom, nor has their use boosted learning as measured by test scores.

That schools have gotten so little back from their investment comes as no surprise. Schools have done what virtually every organization does when implementing an innovation: Its natural instinct is to cram the innovation into its existing operating model to sustain what it already does. This is perfectly predictable, perfectly logical—and perfectly wrong.

For myself I see this agreement as something we may have to do for the short term - like the cod liver oil of systems management. But we should never take our eyes off the prize when it comes to educating kids. I hope we can have further discussions on this important topic with a focus on the long term.

For more on Clayton M. Christensen's writing, go to:
Education Week: Online Education Cast as ‘Disruptive Innovation’

For a nice example of an informed discussion on Online Teaching and Learning go here for a recent online forum held by Education Week.

WASB Fall Regional Conference

Tonight I am going to the fall conference for region 12 of the WASB as the Madison Metropolitan School District's delegate. This is one of the few opportunities where board members get together, share information and discuss advocacy at a state level.

The agenda for tonight's meeting will include: recognizing the award-winning work of students in grades K-12 who submitted books in the WASB Write and Illustrate Your Own Book contest; presenting the WASB Board Governance Awards; holding our election for our WASB regional director; and, ending with a keynote presentation on Achievement Beyond High School.

I'm excited to learn from leading experts and fellow board members about what we can do to create a path to (post-secondary) success for our students. I will also be presenting on behalf of the MMSD board of education two resolutions that I recently submitted as part of our state advocacy efforts through WASB.

It should be a great meeting.


The resolutions submitted to our regional delegation are:

Proposal for the 2009 WASB Delegate Assembly Subject: Cooperative purchasing program
Submitted by: The School Board of the Madison Metropolitan School District
Resolution:
Be it RESOLVED that the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (“WASB”) shall call on the State legislature to commit resources towards the coordination and expansion of the State’s cooperative purchasing program to address the needs of school districts and other units of local government.

Rationale:
All levels of government—state, county, local, and school districts—are under pressure to use tax dollars wisely in these times of economic stress.
School Districts’ budgets in particular have been constrained by state statutes on revenue limits for 15 years, leading to many cuts in programs and employees.
The investment by the state to coordinate this purchasing service would benefit all levels of government by lowering their costs.
Leveraging the combined purchasing volume of both state agencies and local governmental units would lower the costs of acquiring goods and services and ultimately benefit the taxpayers of our state.


Proposal for the 2009 WASB Delegate Assembly Subject: Localized Purchasing in School Nutrition Programs
Submitted by: The School Board of the Madison Metropolitan School District
Resolution:
WHEREAS School Boards recognize the connection between a healthy diet and a student’s ability to learn effectively and experience success in school; and
WHEREAS School Boards recognize the school district’s role, as part of the larger community, to establish and maintain life-long healthy eating habits, to support the local economy, and to act as a good steward of community resources;
THEREFORE, be it RESOLVED that School Boards in Wisconsin shall actively promote the purchase of local products and produce from local farms in their respective county or region, based upon availability, and be it further RESOLVED that school districts should work together with CESAs and county organizations to coordinate a list of producers to increase the amount of products purchased from local farms and organic food suppliers.

Rationale:
Recent changes enacted as part of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 address procurements in Child Nutrition Programs, amending the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to encourage institutions to purchase unprocessed locally-grown and locally-raised agricultural products. Specifically, “The Secretary shall … allow institutions receiving funds … to use a geographic preference for the procurement of unprocessed agricultural products, both locally grown and locally raised.” (P.L. 110-246, Sec. 4302).
Effective October 1, 2008, the National School Lunch Act allows institutions (including school districts) to apply a geographic preference when procuring unprocessed locally grown or locally raised agricultural products. Appropriate geographic preferences would include, State, county, region, etc.
Moreover, as Woodbury (IA) County Rural Economic Development Director Robert Marqusee stated for the July 2007 National Association of Counties publication on Local Food Systems and sustainable communities, “Most people think we have to look outside of [our county] to reinvigorate our economy … We simply have to be willing to support local farmers and help them develop products that are lucrative in today’s markets rather than putting them out of business just to save a few dollars in the short term.” [http://www.farmtoschool.org/files/publications_133.pdf]
[See http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Governance/Policy-Memos/2008/SP_30-2008.pdf]

Approved by motion of the School Board of the Madison Metropolitan School District on September 8, 2008.

Parent Organizations in the News

This past week I shared an article by Sandra Tsing Loh about the importance of parents getting involved in their child's education. I believe many are involved and engaged but sometimes not recognized as true partners in a public education system.

I'm pleased that there was a mention of the Black Star Project and the National PTA. Phillip Jackson's organization (BSP) has been doing great work in the Chicago area for years. Charles J. Saylors (PTA) is also mentioned as the first father to be elected as president in his organization's history.

Here's the video showing parents and fathers getting involved in their children's education. I am hoping in the coming months our district can make greater strides in this area as well.

Science for Fun

Here's a slide show that reminds me why science is so fascinating. If you are interested in the book by Rosamond Purcell go to: Harvard University Press: Egg & Nest.

Dane County Issues & Our Future

I attended the Dane County Public Affairs Council (DCPAC) meeting last week where Superintendent Dan Nerad spoke on the future direction of the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD).

The audience was generally receptive to his observation that the job of the district is to balance the needs of kids with the needs of taxpayers. It's clear he believes that an investment in education is an investment in our future.

Nerad's style (or strategy) for his first 100 days has been to communicate, listen and learn from the community. It's about time that we have a superintendent who gets out in the community.

At the DCPAC meeting, Nerad said he would hope to begin working with the board on a new strategic plan for MMSD come January. I have to say, I find it hard to wait. Our committees haven't met for months and it seems that we are in a holding pattern until after November 4th.

Early details on the dynamic plan that's in store for the MMSD could include a number of topics, Nerad said, to be addressed:

1. Re-visiting early learning opportunities for children in our district; and hopefully, with a broad consortium including the business community.

2. The Small Learning Communities (SLC) grant could be used to start the long awaited conversation with the community about what outcomes and programs we want from our high school programs. Nerad mentioned a need to be more responsive to help more kids graduate and to focus on such ideas as workforce development.

3. In addition to academic improvements, the superintendent would like to address (perhaps with the SLC grant money) improved school safety, a response system and safety plan.

4. Review the Math Task Force Report.

5. Review the Fine Arts Task Force Recommendations.

It's great to look at these issues with a long-term perspective in mind. I am looking forward to beginning this work.

What would you want for our strategic plan?

Want Schools to Work? Meet the Parents.

Here's an excellent piece of writing on the relationship or lack thereof between our public schools and those who continue to support them when others turn away.

Want Schools to Work? Meet the Parents. - washingtonpost.com: "Sandra Tsing Loh"

Weekly Update

There's an image I get in my head that captures the feeling I sometimes get when dealing with Board of Education agenda and obligations over the course of a week. It's an image tied into that fall phenomenon of nature as birds begin their migration south.

This past week on the board I have moved in varied circles, hopefully which may lead our district in a new and better direction as we improve our connections with the broader community.

Early in the week the Madison Board of Education approved the submission of two resolutions for the state school board association's annual meeting. I was happy to be an author of one and to get assistance from the Middleton/Cross Plains board on the second.

One meeting that I'm always happy to attend is with community organizers and childcare providers working to bring quality early childhood education to all students in Madison. We met at a local business, Ground Zero coffee shop, and enjoyed much in the way of conversation and goal-setting. If you would like to learn how to get involved in this effort feel free to contact me and I will put you in touch with some great people working on behalf of young children and through an investment in our future.

In addition, I may start holding listening sessions at local businesses to better communicate with the community.

An evening meeting included fellow school board members' plans for our calendar and agenda over the next few months as we work together on behalf of all students throughout Dane County. We are the main organizers of the Dane County School Board Consortium who have been meeting for over a year now to create a movement of pro-active advocating of the work being done from a board level regarding cost-savings measures, creation of efficiencies and focused improvement of academic achievement for students in our schools.

I also had the pleasure of attending a local fundraising event that included speeches on school financing as well as support for going to a referendum this November in the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD). My sense is that many boards in our area will be going to referendums in the spring. This issue will not go away anytime soon for voters, taxpayers and educators. We would do well to continue to work together.

Later in the week, I attended as the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) as a delegate from the MMSD board. The seminar, which focused on employment law, gave me the opportunity to learn the latest in legal findings pertaining to Wisconsin school systems and bargaining issues.

Last week also led to the final draft of a memorandum of understanding with the teachers' union to address multiple grievances that Madison Teachers, Inc. has filed against the district regarding athletic director positions and online courses. The MMSD has much to clear out from the past and I'm convinced that with enough hard work we will go in a new direction.

One positive aspect of the MOU is that it begins to lay the groundwork for more formalized connections for our students in the high schools through the positions of full-time athletic/activities directors. In addition, the distance learning portion may lead to continued conversation on the importance of embracing new ideas and technology in this district.

Let's hope that our staff and the union can continue to open the window to 21st the century. We need to plan for the future as stated in an excellent document from Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning, A Review of State-Level Policy and Practice, 2006 by John Watson and Jennifer Ryan of Evergreen Consulting Associates.

“Many analyses looking at the growth of online education have concluded that online learning will have, or is having, a tremendous impact on the evolution of education. The proliferation of the Internet is challenging the limitations of education’s traditional methods of teaching and learning.”

“Many online programs began in response to the need to transcend limitations of time and place and increase availability of courses to students in rural and urban schools. With the growth of online learning across much of the country, virtual schools are expanding options for students in a way that no other delivery model can, allowing for focus on student needs and supporting school reform and redesign efforts. In addition to these valuable benefits, practitioners are increasingly noting an additional, largely unplanned, advantage of online learning: promoting 21st century skills and global citizenship.”


I like what the Superintendent recently said at a presentation on the state of the schools and the need for a referendum. I think many in the audience of business professionals, local industry executives, alternative education providers and parents were impressed by Dr. Nerad's honesty and openness.

He said toward the end of his speech and I'm paraphrasing, "I can’t turn the hands of the clock back but we can move forward…"

I guess that's why I've been looking up lately. Scanning for winged migrations. It's time to take flight and I'm ready to move.

School Begins

This past weekend, members of the Board of Education were able to celebrate a substantial success in our district -- the dedication ceremony of the Paul J. Olson Elementary School on Madison's far west side in Linden Park.

District administrators mingled with school staff, parents and local media. Mr. Olson's family members gave speeches honoring their father. Various dignitaries shared words of encouragement to students and substantial pride. Music was performed intermittently, and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by the 4th and 5th grade students.

It is not often in public school districts that there are opportunities to enjoy such a celebration.

And yet this was all possible because of a majority of citizens voted for a substantial investment toward what is always good for a community -- building a new public school.

As an elected official, I can honestly say that when citizens vote to increase taxes on behalf of educating OTHER people's children it is a wonderful outcome of democracy.

I hope readers in the metropolitan area are able to visit Paul Olson Elementary. It is really beautiful and one of the state's best environmentally-sound school buildings. As one parent expressed to me, he never expected it to be this amazing, not in a school at least.

We can all breathe a sign of relief this year. Are better times ahead? Not if we keep waiting for the state to fix funding public education. For a in-depth look at how others in the country have started out their school years, take a look here: ABC News: Schools Open With Fewer Teachers, Sports, Buses.

Blogging as 1 of 7

For close to a year now, I have been working on my podcast/weblog over at liberated syndication called Maya Cole Schoolcast. Here I try to provide members of the community an in-depth look on the myriad of education issues affecting school districts.

The Madison Metropolitan School District is like many districts around the country with growing pressures to educate all kids for 21st century living, dwindling federal resources for local communities, and a growing disconnect in the community. Our board deals with many of the same issues as others throughout the country.

At my schoolcast, I have interviewed local city council members about their schools and how they impact their neighborhoods and brought attention to examples of good board professional development. Some topics require several hours to research, formulate, and edit into a "show." It takes a bit of time to explain to the average person how the complicated process of school budgets works, or doesn't work, for school districts and the kids they serve.

I have also attempted to explain wide-ranging, but nevertheless complicated, national issues such as No Child Left Behind.

I've posted research and opinions on single issues such report cards (our district has been changing how it reports to parents over the past few years) and policy issues (we asked a task force to look at our policy on Equity as well).

One thing I find missing on my podcast web page is the continuous flow of communication and insights into the day to day struggle of those of us serving on boards of education in America today.

I have always felt that public education and democracy can only work for the vast majority of us if we are willing to participate in the dialogue and embrace the struggle.

This blog represents the daily musings of one board member on a Board of Education (of 7). I hope it will inspire you to think about education and to risk getting involved.