As we deal with the wreckage of the recent and deeply destructive budget deal, one of the last things we need is for the Obama Administration to twist the knife and worsen the collapse of public services in California. Unfortunately that is precisely what is poised to occur as President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan threatened to withhold funds from California schools unless we embark on a questionable and reckless education "reform" the administration is championing:
President Obama singled out California on Friday for failing to use education data to distinguish poor teachers from good ones, a situation that his administration said must change for the state to receive competitive, federal school dollars.
Obama's comments echo recent criticisms by his Education secretary, Arne Duncan, who warned that states that bar the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers, as California does, are risking those funds. In an announcement Friday at the Education Department in Washington, Obama and Duncan said the "Race to the Top" awards will be allocated to school districts that institute reforms using data-driven analysis, among other things.
"You cannot ignore facts," Obama said. "That is why any state that makes it unlawful to link student progress to teacher evaluations will have to change its ways."
The remarks escalate a disagreement between the Obama administration and California education leaders. While a 2006 law prohibits the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers on a state level, it does not mention local districts, where state officials say pupil data can be used to judge instructors. A handful of districts currently are doing that; L.A. Unified is not.
There's so much wrong with this White House attack on California's schools that it is difficult to know where to begin. As anyone with any passing familiarity with the state's budget crisis knows, the main problem facing our schools isn't accountability, but cuts. It's so simple a 12 year old can explain it:
Timothy Dominguez was surprised to hear he'll have six more classmates in his seventh-grade classes when school resumes.
"Wow, 31 students? That's too many kids for one adult," the 12-year-old said.
I am curious to hear how Arne Duncan and Barack Obama believe California test scores will rise when you have classes of 30-35 students. When instructional days are being cut. When school buses are being cut (meaning many students will have a harder time getting to school, or will have longer travel times, leaving less time to study and do homework).
There is a very rich and deep discussion in the educational community on the value of focusing on test scores as a method of improving education. I fall squarely in the camp of those who are skeptical. I've taught college courses in two states with a heavy emphasis on testing - Washington and California - and in my experience, it hasn't done a goddamned thing to help students learn to write, to study, to think.
Still, even if I am wrong and it were true that focusing on tests is a great way to improve education, it is extremely difficult to imagine how scores will rise when the basic elements of education in California are under a sustained assault. Teachers are going to have their hands full maintaining the existing level of educational quality with larger classes and fewer assistants and resources. I cannot see how Arne Duncan and Barack Obama can reasonably expect California teachers to improve test scores in such an environment. If they know how it can be done, by all means come here and teach us.
This isn't the first time Obama has shown a stunning disregard for the education crisis in California. At his Southern California townhalls back in March Obama made similar remarks and appeared to not have been briefed on the massive school layoffs facing California's students.
As Paul Rosenberg remarks at Open Left, this appears to be motivated by ideological concerns:
Of course, as I blogged recently, there's no evidence that charter schools "work"--they do not differ dramatically in performance, but rather slightly underperform standard public schools. Nor is there any substantial research showing that merit pay tied to test scores is an effective way to improve educational outcomes. Thus, Obama's competition is based entirely on ideology--an ideology that is primarily about shifting control of education as far out of the classrooms and into America's boardrooms as possible.
Rosenberg also showed that the $4.3 billion total being offered by the Obama Administration in this "Race to the Top" program is not nearly enough to patch the $10 billion hole blown in our education budget by the legislature and the governor this year. Since the $4.3 billion sum must be split among all the states and territories, it is difficult to imagine that California will get much more than a couple hundred million at best.
California's schools are facing a severe crisis. Without an educated population it is difficult to imagine how we will have economic recovery, either in the near or the long term. Numerous studies have shown that students who finish high school, and who attend college, earn more money and have fewer run-ins with the law than those that do not.
Fueled by ideology, and seemingly ignorant of the dire realities about to be experienced on California campuses, the Obama Administration needs to take a time-out and reconsider its entire approach to education policy. A program like "Rise to the Top", leveraging desperately needed funds to impose merit pay, might have some intrinsic value (though I am doubtful). But not now. Not when California's schools face a much more fundamental crisis.
The president would be doing education a much better service if he spoke out against the mania to slash school spending instead of cluelessly chiding California for refusing to saddle teachers and students with an unbearable burden. Let's hope that the White House figures this out sooner, not later, and in time to help save education in our state. |
