June 2022
“And with each passing year, the district’s 6,600 students — many from lower-income households that struggle as it is for educational opportunities — have paid the price. They have been shortchanged.”
Angelika Schroeder, chair, Colorado State Board of Education, The Denver Post, June 8, 2022
The eight-hour meeting of the
State Board of Education on April 14 gave us a better understanding of the
behind-the-scenes conflicts between Adams 14 and its ex-managing partner, MGT.
We learned a great deal from the new superintendent, Dr. Karla Loria, and the
chief academic officer, Shelagh Burke. Dr.
Loria stressed that she believes the district has been judged unfairly. To the
best of my knowledge, though, neither she, nor Burke, nor the director of communications,
Robert Lundin, nor the two Adams 14 school board members who spoke, suggested
they believe the district has been or is being “punished” by the state. That
was left to Joe Salazar, chief legal counsel.
He hammered home this theme. He even
warned the board, should it take any “punitive action.” Whether this argument
helped Adams 14, whether this approach helps any district, is an open question.
“I must create a
record for potential court review should the state board take punitive
action on the district. As I begin
let us not forget what the legislative declaration of the accountability act
directs and mandates that the public accountability system move ‘from a
punitive accountability system to one that is positive and focused on
learning and achieving high levels of academic performance.’[i]
As I will argue, the way that the accountability act has been applied to Adams
14 by both the CDE and the state board fails to live up to this legislative
declaration.”[ii]
I will skip over some of other Salazar’s
claims that can be read as “punishment” (“retaliation, pure and simple”;
“The accountability act does give you the authority to retaliate against
Adams 14”; “threatened with the loss of accreditation”; “claiming that
you can use data from years ago to justify attacking Adams 14 today is
dubious,” etc.). I only quote here his words derived from to punish.
·
“In fact the accountability act mandates that
you refrain from punitive action… “
·
“We ask that you pull back on any planned punitive
action against Adams 14.”
·
“I ask what message you are sending to the
children of Adams 14 if you decide to reject the evidence we have submitted …
and you render a punitive finding against Adams.”
·
“The video record of state board hearings in
this quasi-judicia case shows that Adams 14 has been under the constant threat
of punitive action by this state board in violation of the
accountability act.”
At times Salazar appeared to
speak not of the “potential” for any punitive action against Adams 14, but to
argue that the state had already done so.
·
“I ask all of you what message it sends to Adams
14’s children when you refuse to follow your own policies and take punitive
action against Adams 14’s leadership when we follow your policies?”
·
“Some on this state board believe that punishing
Adams 14 in 2022 for the decisions of past Adams 14 boards and past
superintendents is warranted.”
Who is the victim here?
Former state
Representative Judy Solano followed Salazar in much the same vein. “Standardized
tests are unfair and discriminatory,” she insisted (as she has for over a
decade[iii]).
She told the board that districts like Adams 14 with a high percentage of: 1) students
on Free and Reduced Lunch, 2) students of color, and 3) students who are
English Language Learners, “are victims to an accountability system that is not
fair, not balanced, not objective…”
Now that the p word had been
used so freely by legal counsel, Solano employed it too. She concluded, “I ask
that you take a different approach, one that’s not punitive, something
that’s helpful, and that you honor the leadership, this new wonderful
leadership, in Adams 14 School District.”
Later, during discussion between the
state board and the representatives for Adams 14, Salazar again suggested the
state board had already punished the district. This is his take on the
external partnership by MGT. I do not find it easy to follow, but here, I
believe, what he said.
“This was a trial run of
the full management of an entire school district by the state board…. This was
an experiment to see what could work, and I think that just the machinery itself,
that there are things legally that did not work. For the state board to tell a
local school district: you turn over everything - and then punish
if that school district fought back because there are contractual problems….”
Responsibility
and consequences
Although Mr. Salazar raised important issues about MGT, he “doth protest too much.” Of course he is hardly alone in this perspective.[iv] But if we put aside issues of MGT and an external manager, and look at Colorado’s accountability act, Salazar’s argument misses a central point. —about students. As I read it, a fundamental principle of the act is that adults must take responsibility for the central job of schooling, to help students learn. Adults—school boards, a superintendent, district personnel, principals, teachers, and staff--are responsible for student achievement. And so it is adults who need to answer for a lack of progress. And it is adults who must face consequences for unsatisfactory results. Do we believe that?
Or do we
think consequences equal punishment? Or, far worse, that consequences are “retaliation”?
(One recent superintendent, at least, did not. See Tom Boasberg: “Accountability
is not about punishment.”[v])
Let’s
keep our focus on the students
From Dr. Karla
Loria to the state board on April 14:
“We are in turnaround not because of the students. We are in turnaround because of the adults – and I am not saying the adults in my building, or in the central office - all of us. The system.”
It would be too
harsh to say we have “punished” the students these past 12 years–or more–who we
have failed. But students, for a host of reasons, have not been well served, far
too often. Can we at least agree, as Dr. Loria suggests, that we have
failed them? And as a result, they have suffered. We talk of two years of Covid
and learning loss. This pales to the impact on 6,000 students a year, in
this one Colorado district, for over a decade. This is tragic. (An
overstatement? See Addendum.) If so, wouldn’t we do better to focus on
who has been hurt the most all this time–the students of Adams 14–and do better
by them from now on?
I do not think we are well served
when adults representing Adams 14 point fingers at a process, at the Colorado
Department of Education, or at the State Board of Education, and play the
victim.
If we have
victims, we know who they are.
Addendum
Tragic – An overstatement?
What if this were
your child, attending these schools from 2009-10 (3rd grade) to
graduation (2018-19)
A look at the School Performance Framework over 10 years.
What if your son or daughter were in 3rd grade at
Central Elementary in the fall of 2009? And he or she attended Central
for three years, in grades 3,4, and 5.
|
Attending |
|
Performance Indicator |
Rating/Plan |
% of Points earned out of points
Eligible |
|
Grade 3 |
2009-2010 |
Academic Achievement |
Does Not Meet |
25% (6.3 pts out of 25 pts) |
|
Grade 4 |
2010-2011 |
Academic Achievement |
Does Not Meet |
31.3% (7.8 / 25 pts) |
|
Grade 5 |
2011-2012 |
Academic Achievement |
Does Not Meet |
31.3% (7.8 / 25 pts) |
What if he or she then attended Adams City Middle School for
the next three years, in grade 6,7, and 8.
|
Attending |
|
Performance
Indicator |
Rating/Plan |
% of
Points earned out of points Eligible |
|
Grade 6 |
2012-2013 |
Academic
Achievement |
Approaching |
43.8% (11.0 pts
out of 25 pts) |
|
Grade 7 |
2013-2014 |
Academic
Achievement |
Does Not Meet |
33.3% (8.3 / 25
pts) |
|
Grade 8 |
2014-2015 |
No SPF – Pause in Accountability during shift to CMAS,
etc. |
||
What if he or she then went on to the district’s high
school, Adams City High School, for grades 9-12?
|
Attending |
|
Performance
Indicator |
Rating/Plan |
% of
Points earned out of points Eligible |
|
Grade 9 |
2015-2016 |
Academic
Achievement |
Does Not Meet |
32.6% (9.8 pts
out of 30 pts) |
|
Grade 10 |
2016-2017 |
Academic
Achievement |
Does Not Meet |
31.3% (9.4 / 30
pts) |
|
Grade 11 |
2017-2018 |
Academic
Achievement |
Does Not Meet |
25.0% (7.5 /
30 pts) |
|
Grade 12 |
2018-2019 |
Academic
Achievement |
Does Not Meet |
25.0% (7.5 /
30 pts) |
Over those four high school years, perhaps your son or daughter was among the small number of students able to meet the standards and graduate college and career ready. If so, three cheers! But on the whole, whether we look at CMAS in 2016 and 2017 or PSAT scores in 2018 and 2019, average scores were well below expectations. The chances of graduating college and career ready? Pretty slim.
DNM = Does Not
Meet - for each of these academic achievement categories, each year
|
|
2016 - CMAS |
2017- CMAS |
2018 - PSAT |
2019 - PSAT |
||||
|
|
English |
Math |
English |
Math |
English |
Math |
English |
Math |
|
All students
– Percentile
Rank |
DNM 11 |
DNM 10 |
DNM 9 |
DNM 5 |
DNM 3 |
DNM 3 |
DNM 5 |
DNM 4 |
|
English
Learners |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
|
F/R Lunch
Eligible |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
|
Minority
Students |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
|
Students w/
Disabilities |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
DNM |
Endnotes
[i] “The
general assembly hereby finds that an effective system of statewide education
accountability is one that: Provides more academic performance information, and
fewer labels, to move from a punitive accountability system to one that is
positive and focused on learning and achieving high levels of academic
performance."
Col. Rev. Stat. -
22-12-102 - https://casetext.com/statute/colorado-revised-statutes/title-22-education/general-and-administrative/article-11-accreditation/part-1-general-provisions/section-22-11-102-legislative-declaration
[ii]
I apologize for any errors/misquotes. Transcription is mine, based
largely on closed captions at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P6XMacjoaA&ab_channel=ColoradoDepartmentofEducation
[iii] 2011 – “Rep. Judy
Solano, D-Brighton and the legislature’s leading critic of CSAPs, isn’t saying
yet if she’ll propose any testing legislation this year, as she has done in
several past sessions. But she said she’ll continue to raise questions about
high-stakes testing.”
“A Solano-sponsored bill to cut back the CSAPs received bipartisan
47-16 support in the House last year before dying in the Senate in a flurry of
parliamentary maneuvering during the 2010 session’s closing hours.
[iv]
From Advocates for Public Education Policy (Edgewater, CO).
STOP THE INSANITY!
Support our 2022 resolution on accountability.
"Insanity is repeating the same mistakes over and over and expecting different results."
Our accountability system, adopted in 2009, has failed. High-stakes testing with punitive sanctions imposed on those schools scoring poorly on the mandated standardized tests has not improved student learning, nor has it closed the achievement gap.
It’s time to stop the insanity
of testing over and over, year after year, and expecting different results.
it’s time to adopt a system that uses multiple measures for evaluation and
provides needed supports to meet the needs of all children.
Please
click here to read our 2022 resolution to redesign
the
Colorado Education Accountability System and click 2022 Resolution Supporter if
you agree.
[v] From The 74, Nov. 13, 2017, by Anne Wicks and William McKenzie:
“The
‘A’ Word: Tom Boasberg — ‘Accountability Is Not About Punishment’”
How
do you define accountability?
“Accountability is
being clear on your performance goals and standards.”
Has
that changed or evolved as you’ve had time under your belt as
superintendent?
“I don’t think it
has. Fundamentally, accountability is not about punishment. That is very
important. Accountability is being clear about what you’re seeking to achieve,
being transparent about when and how you are going to achieve those goals, and
being willing to make changes to get there when you haven’t reached your goals.
“Accountability is
not about punishment. Accountability is about change and improvement to reach
goals.”
https://www.the74million.org/article/bush-institute-tom-boasberg/
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