Baby It's Cold Out There! Thoughts on the State's decision to switch to the SAT.

Last week while many of us were busy monitoring road conditions and watching wind chill temperatures we were hit by a storm that the best meteorologist could not have predicted, and it is was a doozy!  The winds of change are once again blowing in the State of Michigan and it has left many of us in education feeling numb.  In a joint announcement from the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and the department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) We were told that the SAT will  replace the ACT as the college assessment in Michigan. That's right, Beginning in the Spring of 2016 11th graders in Michigan will no longer take the ACT. Rather, for at least a three-year period, the state will be administering the SAT.

I believe I speak for all of us in education when I say that this news came as a surprise and has left many of us feeling left out in the cold.  While we were aware that the college entrance portion of the state's high school assessment was out for bid there was little reason to expect a change.  After all the ACT has served served the roll since 2007.  Then, approximately 45 minutes before this press release a rumor began to circulate that news was forthcoming on assessment.   Still nobody saw this coming.  Cold!

According to the press release the College Board, the "corporation" behind the SAT, won the three-year competitively-bid contract because "The College Board’s bid was $15.4 million less over the three-year contract than the next bidder and scored 10 percentage points higher by the Joint Evaluation Committee (JEC)".  

Who was on this JEC?  Well In addition to staff from MDE and DTMB, this "evaluation committee"  also " included members representing the education community, including a high school principal; a local school superintendent; a testing and assessment consultant from an intermediate school district; and a vice president from a Michigan community college."  It appears none of the leading organizations in our field, including the MASSP, were consulted or invited to be part of the conversation. In other words a decision was made that will impact hundreds of thousands of students based on the opinions of a group of bureaucrats,  four individuals loosely representing the "education community"  and a bottom line. Brrrr!

Am I shocked by this?  Not really!  Educational policy in our state is a lot like the weather...you never know what you are going to get from day to day.   In twenty five years in public education I have seen many decisions made for the masses by a few that were politically and/or financially motivated.  Unfortunately we live in a world where the bottom line or political gamesmanship often trumps what is best for our kids and the opinions of those of us who know best.

Am I disappointed by this? Absolutely,  and here is why   First, this is not about the test.  Like the ACT, the SAT is a globally recognized college admission test.  Unfortunately my school and district, like most in Michigan has made significant financial and time commitments to the ACT. For the past seven years much of our professional development and professional dialog has centered around the ACT, and for good reason.  The ACT has long been recognized by the Colleges and Universities in our state as the measure for admission.  Because of this our students and families know the ACT and recognize the importance of the assessment.   Our students are motivated, they work hard at it and they have grown. We know you can't place a value of that level of "buy in" when it comes to student performance.

We also can't place a value on the information we have garnered from the ACT.  The ACT with Explore and Plan have provided us true longitudinal data and allowed us to "compare apples to apples"  when assessing student growth in grades 7-12.  The creation of ACT Aspire for grades offers great potential to do the same with grades 3-12.  As a result in the past seven years we have become data driven.  The information and insights we have garnered have promoted changes and improvement to our practice. I am concerned concerned about the lack of carry over and consistency in data- we've shown growth on the ACT every years since its inception in 2008…now we start over in terms of building longitudinal data.

I am also disappointed with the timing. These winds of change have been constant in Michigan for several years. I have written before about the challenges we face planning for the implementation of Mstep this Spring which required 7 hours of additional testing and now we will need to gear up for the SAT starting in 2016.  It does not give us much lead time to prepare our current 9th and 10th graders who we've been prepping for the ACT.  Additionally, the SAT is being "retooled" for 2016 so as MASSP Director Wendy Zdeb-Roper pointed out "essentially Michigan has bought a new car that hasn't driven off the assembly line".  Add to this the adoption of the Common Core Standards; ongoing changes to the Michigan Merit Curriculum and changes to our educator evaluation system and you have some blustery conditions.

This all being said the decision has been made and as educators we will do whatever it takes to get our students prepared for the challenge.  In our profession we don't always have the luxury of time to respond to change, to grieve.  There is no hand wringing allowed.  The reality is that none of us got into education because we had a passion to administer the ACT or any other standardized test to our students rather we got into education because we believed in the importance of public education.  As my fellow MASSP board member Steve Carlson said in a communication to his staff  " No decisions today or tomorrow about standardized testing should change our personal educational philosophies, nor should they make us question the positive impact we have on our students' lives".

So Bundle up Michiganders!  The weather is changing.  But than again, we are used to that!

Grand Ledge Named to the 5th Annual AP Honor Roll

 

Grand Ledge Public Schools is one of 28 school districts in the State of Michigan; and one of 547 school districts in the U.S. and Canada being honored by the College Board with placement on the 5th Annual AP® District Honor Roll for increasing access to advanced placement (AP) course work while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams. 

This is the 3rd time, in the past 5 years that Grand Ledge Public Schools has been recognized on this Honor Roll!! Reaching these goals indicates the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are ready for the opportunity of AP. Since 2012, Grand Ledge Public Schools has increased the number of students participating in AP while improving the number of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher. 

Last year 244 GLHS students completed 331 AP exams.  Of those, over 70% earned scores of 3 or higher!

Proud To Be A Comet!

The complete 5th Annual AP District Honor Roll can be found at:

http://professionals.collegeboard.com/k-12/awards/ap-district-honor-roll

Thoughts on M-STEP and Beyond

On November 13, 2014 the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) released long awaited details on the spring 2015 student assessment.  The MDE heralded the release as “great news for our local districts” because “they have been very anxious to hear what the new assessment will be”. What we heard is that the that the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) is a combination of Smarter Balanced Assessment test items and some state developed items and for 11th graders, the test will also include ACT+Writing and WorkKeys. What we heard is that for the first time most districts will be required to administer the assessment on line.  What we heard did little to ease my anxiety as a high school principal. 
 

In fairness to the MDE the M-STEP is a reaction to changes in Michigan law. You may recall that the need for a new assessment arose when legislators halted the MDE's original plan of adopting the Smarter Balanced Assessment this year thus diverting what the department and some local districts had been working on for three years.  In short, the M-STEP is stopgap assessment created in response to a legislative directive that forced MDE to come up with a retooled state-developed assessment for the spring of 2015. That same legislative directive also mandates MDE put out a new request-for-proposals for a more long-term solution beginning in the 2015-16 school year. The results of that request and the “long-term” solution remain to be seen.

While, according to the MDE’s press release,  “the new assessment meets all of the requirements put into law by the legislature” I have to wonder at what cost.  As mentioned, this will be the first time that all statewide assessments will be administered online.  The MDE says not to worry, that 80 percent of schools in the state meet the minimum technology requirements and for those who don’t there will be a paper-and-pencil version of the test.  But I do worry. In theory, my district does meet the minimum technology requirements for the assessment.  On paper, we have the hardware and bandwidth capacities to administer the test.  In reality that hardware and bandwidth is used daily for instruction.  There is not a computer lab that goes unused. To devote these resources to testing for 11^th graders results in a disruption to instruction for all grade levels during the testing window.   

This disruption is made greater by the length of test.  The entire M-STEP will take longer for districts to administer than the old Michigan Merit Exam (MME); all tolled, the 11th grade assessment comprises 8 partial days of testing or approximately 16 hours.  Initially, it was said that some some portions of the ELA and math exams were optional, that schools could cut out roughly 5 hours of testing by only completing the mandatory portions. Since, the MDE has "reconsidered" and has made it clear that the entire test is mandatory, that there will be "consequences"to those schools that choose not to administer all portions of the M-STEP.  Regardless, no matter how you slice it, the M-STEP signifies a substantial increase in testing time for students; an increase of 5 partial days and up to 8 hours.  Again, The result is a significant disruption to the educational process for ALL students in a school.

There are other concerns too; the effect of increased time spent on “high stakes” testing for 11^th graders, an issue magnified in many school throughout the state by the number of students who will be taking AP tests in May; The impact of the new online testing format on student performance; the impact on school and district scores and rankings; the apparent devaluing of the ACT.  The list goes on. All of this begs the question “is this good for kids”? My answer is NO, for all of these reasons.  Yet this spring, we, like every other high school in the state will administer the M-STEP.  Between now and then we will continue to prepare our students the best we can.  That is all we can do…for 2014-2015. 

So let’s turn our attention to 2015-2016 and beyond. As school leaders we have the right and the responsibility to speak up.  It is vital for us to have a voice on issues such as standardized testing, accountability and the like.  As the legislature considers a direction and a “long term solution” for student assessment in Michigan it is imperative that we as school leaders play a role. We know what is best for kids.  We need to be part of the process!  We need to be heard!  If not, not we have only ourselves to blame!

Talking Baseball!

Last week Major League Baseball (MLB) unveiled its post-season awards.  Once again I found myself drawn to the discussion about who should be named the American League Most Valuable Player (MVP).  For the third year in a row a member of my beloved Detroit Tigers was a finalist.  This year it was Victor Martinez, and for the third year in a row the Angel’s outfielder Mike Trout was the primary competition for one of my beloved Tigers! 

Truth be told, I didn’t care who won.  For me, the debate was not about who is the better player.  Both are among the best in the game at their respective positions. Both had great season.  Both are valuable to their teams.  As a Tiger fan I would love to have Mike Trout on my team.  My guess is that many Angels fans wouldn’t mind if their team had Victor Martinez. The true debate was around the measure.   What is the best way to determine a player’s value? What are the truly important stats? 

Martinez’s supporters, like Miguel Cabrera’s in 2012 and 2013 tend to be traditionalists They would argue that he deserves the award because he had the better year based on the statistics we are all familiar with.  He had better offensive numbers; more runs batted in (RBI’s), more home runs (HRs) and he hit for a better average (BA). To them, these stats tell the story.

Trout’s supporters are “new school”.  They argue that there is more to the story than homeruns and batting average.  They say that Trout’s “value” cannot be measured by “typical” statistics alone.  They say that there are many factors that should be considered when measuring a player’s effectiveness.  They cite Sabermetrics, a term coined in 1980 by renowned baseball author and researcher Bill James.   James and others created new statistics with which to measure players' productivity other than the traditional batting averages and ERA.  In this school of thought “new” statistics such as batting average on balls in play (BABIP); wins above replacement (WAR) and equivalent average (EqA) are just as valuable when it comes to assessing a player (or a team) as the traditional stats.

A similar debate revolves around schools in our state.  What is the best way measure the effectiveness or “value” of a school or district?  Each summer, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) unveils its “post season awards”.  Schools are ranked and labeled.  “MVPs” are awarded and lauded.  The awards are based on traditional statistics including:  Student participation in state assessments, student proficiency on state assessments, graduation or attendance and district reporting on school improvement plans (SIP) and teacher effectiveness.   At the high school level the key indicators include:  Proficiency on the MME, ACT scores, graduation rates.  Improvement or Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in student proficiency is also taken into account.

Unfortunately, the system is flawed.  The fact is schools that demonstrate higher proficiency on the state assessments are rated less effective than schools that demonstrate lower proficiency.  Schools that show improvement in their scores are ranked lower than schools that see their scores drop.  To have a system that so fundamentally miscommunicates to the public, to parents, to school staff is misleading.  Many assume, incorrectly, that schools with yellows are worse than schools with green and that schools within yellow are all the same.  Unfortunately many assume this is the whole story.  Of course those of us who work in schools know this is not the case. 

With this in mind, I wonder what “stats” should be kept for schools each season?  What is a true measure of a school or district’s worth?  Like those that subscribe to Sabermetrics, I would argue that there are many factors that should be considered when measuring the effectiveness of a school.  The “traditional statistics” are important however they do not tell the whole story.  Some Districts in Ohio recognize this and have begun publishing their own “Quality Profiles” in conjunction with, or in spite of, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). They provide stats on National Merit Qualifiers, scholarship offers, performing arts awards, etc., in an effort to tell the whole story.  Maybe its time we do the same in Michigan.  Maybe we should talk about SIECA’s (students involved in extra curricular activities), or perhaps OFAS (opportunities for advanced studies) when we consider our post- season awards.

Our Colors are Blue and Gold!

Do you know what makes a school great?  The Michigan Department of Education believes they know.  In August, the state of Michigan released its latest "school accountability" report. This year's version is called the "scorecard." Calling it a "scorecard" suggests that the state has the ability to identify school winners and losers. After all, isn’t that why we keep score, to see who wins?  In each of the past two years the winners and losers were identified by a color:

·       Green (Best)

·       Lime Green

·       Yellow (Average)

·       Orange

·       Red (Worst)

Additionally, schools were given a label: “Reward”, “Focus” and “Priority” and ranked from top to bottom against all schools in the state. The reward label is given to the highest ranked schools and/or schools that have demonstrated substantial growth. The focus label is assigned to schools needing improvement and the priority label is designated for the schools considered to be among the worst in the state. The top to bottom list ranks all schools, regardless of the grade level served.  In other words, elementary schools are ranked against to high schools. High schools are ranked against middle schools, etc.

The scorecard and rankings are based on several factors including:  Student participation in state assessments, student proficiency on state assessments, graduation or attendance and district reporting on school improvement plans (SIP) and teacher effectiveness.   At the high school level the key indicators include:  Proficiency on the MME, ACT scores, graduation rates.  Improvement or Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in student proficiency is also taken into account.  

My guess is that you know exactly which color is better than the other.  Here are scores from two high schools in Michigan.  One is “Green” a “Reward” school and ranked among the top 20 percent of all schools in the state.  The other is “Yellow” a “Focus” school and ranked in the bottom 36 percent of all schools in the state.

School A	2014
MME	20.4%
ACT Mean	20.7
College Ready	23.3%
Graduation Rate	92.4%
Drop Out Rate	3.1%

School B	2014
MME	13.2%
ACT Mean	19.7
College Ready	15.1%
Graduation Rate	80.9
Drop Out Rate	10.6

Can you guess which is which? Which school has a higher rating than the other?  That's right! Despite having lower test scores, School B is the better school according the State of Michigan. To make the point clear, the school that demonstrated higher proficiency on the state assessments is rated less effective than the school that demonstrated lower proficiency.  The colors evidently have very little to do with actual performance. 

Lets look at another example.  As mentioned, the state values improvement from year to year and rewards schools that show improvement (AYP) within the key indicators from one year to the next.  Both of these schools are “Yellow”.  Knowing that, how would you rank these two schools?

School A	2013	2014
MME	21.4	20.4%
ACT Mean	20.5	20.7
College Ready	22.0%	23.3%
Graduation Rate	88.4%	92.4%
Drop Out Rate	7.4%	3.1%

School B	2013	2014
MME	18.7%	11.2%
ACT Mean	20.1%	19.5
College Ready	17.4%	12.9%
Graduation Rate	86.7%	89.6%
Drop Out Rate	8.4%	7.5%

So which School is deemed “better” by the state?  If you chose School B, you are right again!  Despite having lower overall scores AND having their MME and ACT indicators decrease, School B is a “Reward” school and ranked in the top 17 percent of all schools in the State.  School A demonstrated overall improvement in their ACT/MME indicators and had higher overall scores, yet it is a “Focus” school and ranked in the bottom 36 percent of all schools in the state.  Makes sense right?  I don’t think so either.

I have been told that the new "color coded" system is not designed to compare schools. The state would say that it is based on goals met and goals not met.  But each school is different.  Each school has different goals based on subgroups.  If you have few subgroups you have few scores.  There is a nuance to the system that clearly gets lost in translation and is not communicated to the public. 

To have a system that so fundamentally miscommunicates to the public, to parents, to school staff suggests that it is broken.  This is unfortunate because the reality is that the system is used to compare schools. Every year newspapers across the state announce the scorecard release with front-page coverage and it was the lead story on many television and radio broadcasts in the days immediately following the release.  Schools and districts are named along with their colors and their rankings. The reality is parents and community members do look at the color and ranking of their schools and the do compare it to the color and ranking of other schools.  Many assume, incorrectly, that schools with yellows are worse than schools with green and that schools within yellow are all the same.

For the record, Grand Ledge High School is School A in both examples.  As the High School Principal, I am often asked how I interpret the results.  Is Grand Ledge High School truly “Yellow”?  My answer is simple; our colors are Blue and Gold. Let me explain.  I don't care what the state "scorecard" reveals because it does not tell the whole story. I know the whole story.

I know that Grand Ledge High School is a good High School.  In many areas we are great.  The fact is our students learn. Our faculty and staff care.  We offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses, dozens of after school clubs and activities, highly qualified and certified staff, new technology, successful athletic programing, community partnerships, support systems to combat drop outs and help struggling learners, alternative education programming, job shadowing, and employment internships.

I know that each year we have National Merit Semi-Finalists and Finalists and we have had a National Merit scholarship winner in two of the past four years. We have Advanced Placement (AP) Scholars and this past year we were one of only 477 schools in the United States and Canada (one of 31 in our state) to be named to the Advanced Placement Honor Roll.  This is the second time in the past four years we have received this honor.

I know that our students and staff produce nationally recognized musicals. Our bands and choirs earn the highest marks at solo and ensemble festivals.

I know that our athletic teams are competitive and, at times, the best in the state. We have coaches who challenge students to improve but more importantly we have coaches who care about each student.

I know that we do well on the objective measures of success and other key indicators that the state seems to care a great deal about.  Results from the ACT/MME and Advanced Placement (AP) testing rank us above the state average and in some instances among the highest performing districts in the state.  We have one of the highest graduation rates in the state. Our student attendance rate is exceptionally high.

I know that Grand Ledge students graduate with the skills the need to be successful in life.  Our students are accepted into the top colleges and universities in the State and Nation.  The Class of 2013 received over $2,000,000 in academic and athletic scholarships offers.

I know that we have wonderful diversity in our building.  Our school serves the Communities of Grand Ledge, Delta Mills, Delta Center, Eagle, Mulliken, and Wacousta.   As a result we have over 1700 students from a wide range of backgrounds.  Every year we have dozens of foreign exchange students attend our school and our exchange program with our “sister school” in Lohne, Germany is entering its 33^rd year.  This diversity provides an opportunity for our students to experience the world that they will live and work in and gain experiences that will give them confidence as they go off to college and enter the world of work.

I know that Comet PRIDE is more that a slogan to our students and staff.  We strive to be Positive be Responsible, have Integrity, be Determined and be Engaged in everything we do.  As a result, our school is a clean, safe and welcoming place.

I also know we can do better.  We do have achievement gaps between the bottom 30 percent of our students and our population as a whole.  Some of these gaps are quite large. We have put in place a variety of supports to address these gaps. We have created year-long courses for students who struggle in Math and English. We have created conceptual courses for students who struggle in Chemistry and Physics.  We have made adjustments to curriculum and classroom instruction that is based on our data and research on best practices. We have Intervention rooms and intervention coaches in Math, English, Science and Social Studies. We have reading support classes and ACT skills classes.  We have created a “Check and Connect” program at the high school to connect students in smaller groups with a teacher who cares and who can help focus them academically.  We have teachers who run help rooms before school, after school and during their lunches.  We have teachers who come in early and stay late to tutor. We have teachers who call parents and encourage students every day.

We are creating a rich, internal accountability system that will allow us to us to focus attention not only on the state measurements but also our own internal assessments to give parents a clearer and more accurate picture of their child’s achievement.

So do I care about the state "scorecard?" Not really, because I know our school. I know the whole story.  I know the students, teachers and the staff.  I know that we are making progress and that a state "scorecard" cannot truly capture the good things that happen in Grand Ledge High School every day. 

Grand Ledge High School is a wonderful, rich, vibrant, and exciting place to learn.  It has been the focal point and a source of community pride since 1886.  Many adults living in our community graduated from Grand Ledge High School (myself included).  In fact, it is not uncommon to have several generations from a family graduate from GLHS. 

Our goals will continue to challenge us to help each student make a year's growth in a year's time and perform at a high level. We accept that challenge and together we are working hard to ensure that each student is challenged to reach his or her potential.

Proud to be a Comet!