Kentucky: Statewide implementation of response-to-intervention

Reading proficiently by 3rd grade or bust! That seems to be the rallying cry in many states in recent legislative sessions. While a number of states have taken the route of retaining students who do not read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade, research and experience make clear that early identification and intervention are absolutely critical if students are to become successful readers in the early grades--retention policy or no retention policy.

Kudos to Kentucky, where H.B. 69 was enacted Wednesday to require all districts to implement districtwide use of a response-to-intervention (RTI) system for students in grades K-3. The RTI system must be be for general, compensatory, and special education students, and must provide "interventions implemented with fidelity to scientifically based research" (like the "implemented with fidelity to..." rather than simply requiring interventions to incorporate scientifically based research, since interventions are not always implemented with fidelity!) Districts are to implement RTI systems over a few years, with reading and writing to be implemented by August 2013, math by August 2014, and behavior by August 2015.

Some of the other key components of this legislation:

• The department of education must make technical assistance and training available to all districts in implementing the RTI system districtwide
• Technical assistance must be designed to improve specified components critical to the quality and effectiveness of interventions
• The department must develop and maintain a Web-based resource, to provide ongoing support to teachers in all of the targeted areas--reading, writing, math, and behavior
• The department must encourage districts to use both state and federal funds as appropriate to implement the districtwide RTI system
• The department is not going this road alone. The legislation encourages the department to collaborate with postsecondary institutions on "technical assistance and training on current best practice interventions", and is required to collaborate with specified existing entities, including postsecondary teacher education programs, and state-supported centers focused on literacy development mathematics, and instructional discipline, "to ensure that teachers are prepared to utilize scientifically based interventions in reading, writing, mathematics, and behavior."
• This is no "set it and forget it" policy--there's a reporting component. By November 30, 2013, and each year thereafter, the department is required to report specified components to the interim joint committee on education, including "data on the effectiveness of interventions in improving student performance" in schools in the state.

The aforementioned ECS report makes clear that many retention policies focused on the early grades are likely to minimally impact their goal--widespread reading proficiency by the end of grade 3--without early identification of difficulties and prompt, appropriate interventions. Kentucky's new legislation provides a promising approach to ensuring early identification plus interventions, as the bill states, "matched to individual student strengths and needs."

Delaware: Excellent coordinated state STEM plan

While labor market projections have galvanized many policymakers and education stakeholders to call for improved STEM education and a better-prepared future STEM workforce, in many cases the efforts that have resulted to date seem to be disjointed across the P-20 spectrum and across affected stakeholders (business community, various agencies and state and local policymaking entities).

Delaware's STEM Council, created a little over a year ago by Governor Jack Markell, provides one model for a coordinated state-level approach across education sectors and stakeholders. The council's first annual report, released earlier this month, concisely articulates Delaware's current state of STEM affairs, as identified by six committees - (1) business collaboration and communication, (2) women and minorities, (3) public education (P-12 education), (4) program evaluation and monitoring, (5) higher education recommendations, and (6) an advisory committee (cutting across agencies and education sectors) - as well as recommendations for 2012 action for each. Pages 16 and 17 represent a bold move, providing a March 2012-March 2013 quarter-by-quarter timeline for the council to act on its various recommendations.

The council has clearly done its homework, both in terms of (1) what the state is and isn't doing in STEM education and STEM business/education collaboration, and (2) what the state can and should be doing. The council and report together provide a fantastic model for other states to consider as they seek to improve quality, access and coordination between P-12 and higher education and the private sector on this important issue.

Georgia: Cheaters never prosper - literally

Legislation recently sent to the governor's desk in Georgia is intended to hit teachers who cheat where it counts--in their wallets. Very likely in response to the 2011 Atlanta testing scandal that made national news, H.B. 692 provides that any teacher or other certified staff member's salary increase or bonus based on an evaluation that included student assessment results found to be falsified is to be automatically forfeited. And any amount of the bonus or salary increase that the staff member already received before the cheating came to light must be repaid in full.

While states have been taking various approaches to curb cheating by teachers and administrators on student tests, I don't recall seeing states go after the salary increases or bonuses that the good or improved test scores would eventually result in. It will be interesting to see if this approach catches on elsewhere--particularly as an increasing number of states seem to be looking into teacher pay for performance, including barring pay increases for teachers scoring in the lowest tier in teacher evaluation systems.

Kentucky: Taking concussion legislation to a new level

Over the last 2-3 years, the majority of states and the District of Columbia have enacted legislation to inform student athletes and parents about the nature and risk of concussions, and keep student athletes suspected of having sustained a concussion from returning to play until they've been given the all-clear from an appropriate medical professional. Some states have gone a step further, requiring coaches and other appropriate staff to receive training on identifying concussions.

However, legislation recently sent to the governor's desk in Kentucky is the first I've seen that addresses the fact that coaches and medical staff need to have a plan to act swiftly if the condition of a student who suffers a concussion begins to rapidly deteriorate--a particularly important policy component in rural areas, where the closest hospital or clinic may be a long, life-threatening drive away. Specifically, the legislation (again, pending governor's action as of this writing) directs the state board or department of education to adopt rules requiring each school with an interscholastic athletic program "to develop a venue-specific emergency action plan to deal with serious injuries and acute medical conditions in which" the patient's condition "may deteriorate rapidly. Each such plan must, among other components, "Include a delineation of role, methods of communication, available emergency equipment, and access to and plan for emergency transportation", be "posted conspicuously at all venues, and reviewed and rehearsed annually by all licensed athletic trainers, first responders, coaches, school nurses, athletic directors, and volunteers for interscholastic athletics."

To be clear, the safety plan doesn't single out concussion victims--it applies to any and all "serious injuries and acute medical conditions" for student athletes "in which the condition of the patient may deteriorate rapidly." The legislation has the potential not only to save lives, but reduce the potential severity of an injury--concussion or otherwise--if an injured student might have to travel a long distance to a hospital or clinic.

Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia: Using end-of-course assessments to identify grade inflation

States are showing greater interest in transitioning to end-of-course assessments (EOCs) at the high school level, as identified in an ECS report released earlier this month. While many cite a common list of benefits of EOCs--holding students accountable for grade-level expectations, ensuring common, statewide, rigorous expectations for courses bearing the same name ("Algebra I") being among those most commonly noted--another benefit of EOCs is their potential to identify and address grade inflation.

Arkansas legislation establishes a process whereby districts, upon 30 days of a student's completion of a course with an EOC, must submit each student's name and course grade to the Division of Public School Accountability in the state department of education. The division is then responsible for matching each student's name with the student's score on the EOC, reporting to the district each student's EOC score matched with the student's letter grade in the course, and creating two reports--one indicating the percentage of students who earned a "B" in the course and who did not pass the EOC.

The legislation then requires the division to annually report to the legislature and the state board the name, address and superintendent of any high school in which more than 20% of students received a "B" or above on a course but did not pass the corresponding EOC on the first try. The report must also indicate the number of students per high school receiving at least a "B" in a course but who did not pass the corresponding EOC on the first try.

The department must then investigate the classroom practices of any district in which more than 20% of students earned a "B" or higher in a course but did not pass the EOC on the first try, and provide written recommendations to the superintendent and local board on "changes that would improve classroom instruction and student performance on" EOCs. (A.C.A. § 6-15-421)

Tennessee, meanwhile, requires that when a school's mean of teacher-assigned grades and mean of EOC scores are "significantly different as determined" by state board policy, "the school must develop and implement strategies in the School Improvement Plan to ameliorate such differences. Until such time that the State Department of Education recommends, based upon an appropriate statistical analysis, and the State Board of Education approves an acceptable measure of disparity, schools and school systems should consider differences between [10] and [15] or more points to be too large and develop and implement strategies through the School Improvement Plan to ameliorate such differences." (Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0520-01-03-.06 (2)(d))

While it is not clear that Georgia has a specific policy to identify grade inflation via its EOCs, the Governor's Office of Student Achievement did commission a report in 2008 to analyze how EOC results measured up against district grading practices. The comparison at the bottom of this chart of the percentage of students statewide who failed their EOC vs. students who failed the corresponding course is particularly telling. In Economics, for example, more than 35% of students failed the EOC, while less than 6% failed their economics course. In no subject area were there more students failing the course than failing the EOC, although the analysis suggests that did appear to be the case in isolated districts. The full set of reports from this analysis is at the bottom of this page.

Results such as these from Georgia reinforce the importance of including EOC scores as a portion of a student's final grade in a course. While everyone can have a bad day and perform poorly on a test--and consequently, EOC scores should not overshadow other factors in student final course grades--completely leaving EOC scores out of final course grades may open the doors for grade inflation, which by many accounts is on the rise in U.S. high schools. And the results from Georgia districts where there seemed to be a concentration of tough graders also point out the importance of identifying and reining in stringent grading practices, that may hurt students' chances of earning merit scholarships and college admission that take GPA into account.

Virginia: Making career-readiness count for high schools

Virginia recently enacted legislation intended to increase high schools' focus on getting CTE students truly career-ready. H.B. 642 directs the state board to adopt regulations requiring an adjustment of the formula for calculating high school accreditation (for schools that have met minimal accreditation requirements). The revised formula must add a minimum three-point increase to the completion index total points calculation for each student in a CTE program who earns a diploma along with an industry certification, industry pathway certification, state licensure, or occupational competency credential, when the certification/licensure/credential is approved by the state board as fulfilling the student-selected end-of-course assessment requirement for high school graduation.

Virginia has already taken great strides to ensure the quality and rigor of high school-level CTE programs. This latest policy action may create even greater incentives for CTE instructors to elevate their game, to bring students to a level of readiness to achieve certification/licensure/credential in their field, as well as motivate adults in schools to encourage greater numbers of CTE students to pursue certification/licensure/credential.

Foreign language: Issue to watch in 2012?

As a true believer in the benefits of learning a foreign language, I have been very excited by recent proposals and enactments to highlight K-12 foreign language instruction.

In his 2012 state of the state address, Delaware Governor Jack Markell declared that the First State will be moving forward with the World Language Expansion Initiative, creating partial immersion programs in 20 schools in which "students will spend half the school day learning in another language."

Foreign language has gotten a toehold as an accountability indicator with recently-enacted Illinois legislation that requires school accountability report cards to report on foreign language offerings (at the state superintendent's discretion, this indicator may also be included in district report cards).

Meanwhile, Louisiana legislation enacted in 2011 outlines criteria for "Certified Foreign Language Immersion Programs" and directs the state board to designate as as a certified program any foreign language immersion program that meets the criteria. The legislation makes clear that the purpose of the certification process is not only to put the Good Housekeeping seal of approval on high-quality programs, but to support schools and districts "in establishing and maintaining high quality, highly effective foreign language immersion programs." And in an October 2011 post I highlighted California legislation to create a State Seal of Biliteracy on high school diplomas and transcripts, the first such state-level initiative in the nation.

In a time when the Wall Street Journal is reporting on the growing demand for American workers who speak foreign languages (particularly Spanish and Chinese), and the expansion of online and blended learning programs has the potential to connect ever more students with learning experiences in foreign languages, let's hope that more states work in 2012 to increase student access to high-quality foreign language instruction.