Bush's Plan Gets Panned in Minneapolis Star Tribune

[Mike Kluznik <mkluznik@HOTMAIL.COM>]

Published Monday, February 5, 2001
Bush's testing plan fails to win over state educators
Duchesne Paul Drew / Star Tribune

When Minnesota's education leaders look at President Bush's education
plan, they don't see an accountability system that will make schools
stronger. They see red. "The feds should let the states and the districts
decide what the best testing mechanisms are for the state," said Christine
Jax, commissioner of the state Department of Children, Families and
Learning. "They're really not players financially: We only get 5 to 7
percent of our funding from the feds."
Bush's accountability plan would require states to test students in grades
three through eight in reading and math every year.  Only 15 states,
including Texas, now do such annual testing.  Schools whose scores improved
would be rewarded. Schools whose students failed to make adequate progress
for three years would have to let students leave. The plan also calls for
vouchers that would allow the parents of disadvantaged students in
low-performing schools to use public money for private-school tuition.
Interference?
Many Minnesota education officials see Bush's focus on annual testing
as interference.  "I think we've got a good balance," Jax said, one that she
believes will be jeopardized if Bush's plan sails unchecked through Congress
Minnesota tests all students in third, fifth, eighth and 10th grades, and
additional tests probably will be implemented in seventh and 11th grades,
Jax said. In addition, Minnesota's Profile of Learning graduation standard
requires students to show that they can apply what they've learned in a
number of subjects.
MarkDavison, director of the Office of Educational Accountability at
the University of Minnesota, said he's puzzled by the president's proposal.
Davison said he thinks there are three good reasons to test annually: 1)If
the tests would be used to make decisions about whether students should go
on to the next grade, 2) If the tests identify students who need summer
school, and 3) If the tests measure individual students' improvement from
year to year. But the Bush administration's focus is on comparing schools
and school districts within states.
Minnesota already shows parents, politicians and other community
members how schools stack up against one another, publicizing scores
on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments and basic-skills tests,Jax and
Davison said.  "If you're going to add more indicators to the Minnesota
system, I don't think adding tests is Priority One," Davison said. "I think
it's just too much time spent on testing."
Davison would rather see a focus on collecting other types of information,
such as students' course work, the progress they're making on Profile of
Learning requirements and the paths they take after graduation.
Officials from the U.S. Department of Education did not return phone calls
for this article. But the new administration has argued that its plan would
help students in schools with high poverty rates. It says that annual
testing improves accountability and helps schools change as needed. It has
offered to soften the controversial voucher plan, proposing that schools
that have not met standards after one year be offered remedial aid. If the
problem continued after two years, students could transfer to another public
school or school district. The private-school option, along with the
voucher, would kick in after three years of substandard performance at any
school, as measured by the tests.
Minnesota's system
A number of school testing directors in Minnesota say that annual testing is
OK with them but that they wouldn't want to trade Minnesota's sophisticated
tests for a statewide system like the one in Texas.  For instance, the
Bloomington, Minneapolis, Osseo and Robbinsdale districts are among a
growing number in the state that use a version of the Northwest Achievement
Levels Tests. In addition to assessing students' strengths and weaknesses,
these tests provide a detailed picture of growth from year to year and can
be tailored to a student's
                           abilities in ways that best allow the student to
show what he or she
                           knows.

                           Compared with that, the simple pass-fail testing
system the president
                           oversaw as governor of Texas is a dull
instrument, some Minnesota
                           educators say. Although the president's proposal
says that states can
                           design their own tests, Jax and several test
directors say they don't
                           believe the federal government would provide the
money to support a
                           high-quality testing program.

                           "I would not like to see the state or the feds
impose an additional test
                           that would be of less quality than the one we
have," said Jim Angermeyr,
                           the Bloomington district's director of research
and evaluation. "I don't
                           think they could match the quality of the one we
have."

                           The pass-fail approach could cause a dangerous
"cost-benefit" effect,
                           said Don Pascoe, testing director for the Osseo
Area School District. It
                           would mean "that you look at the kids that you
know are already
                           [passing] and you ignore them," he said. "And
you look at the kids that
                           are so far away from passing that you know
they're not going to pass
                           and you ignore them, too."

                           Still, the recent drive for more accountability
isn't a bad thing,
                           assessment directors say.

                           "I think it's probably a good thing," said Mike
Lindstrom, testing director
                           for the Anoka-Hennepin School District. "But I
think it may take awhile
                           to sort it out and make sure it's enforced in
fair ways."

                           Davison said he's concerned that Bush's plan to
reward successful
                           schools and punish those that underperform might
force an unhealthy
                           shift in priorities.

                           "Teachers in schools will be sitting around
discussing tests; they're not
                           going to be talking about how you improve
reading," he said. "The
                           whole discussion goes off in the wrong
direction."

                           Davison also is concerned that another national
surge in testing will
                           overwhelm an already strained testing industry.
Last year's scoring error,
                           which incorrectly had almost 8,000 students
failing Minnesota's
                           basic-skills math test, occurred in part because
of the pressure on
                           National Computer Systems, an Eden Prairie
company, to meet tight
                           deadlines, he said.

                           States face similar challenges in finding people
to manage their testing
                           programs, he said, adding that the Department of
Children, Families and
                           Learning has spent several months searching for
a new assessment
                           director.

                           Jax said she fears that Bush's accountability
plan would become another
                           unfunded mandate. She said the state already has
to cover $240 million
                           a year for special-education services that the
federal government
                           requires but doesn't pay for.

                           On Thursday, Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., said
he will oppose Bush's
                           plan because it places too much emphasis on
testing. Jax, too, is
                           preparing for a fight.

                           "I haven't met anyone who's impressed with
education in Texas, so I
                           don't know that this is a slam-dunk," she said.
"We'll have a good
                           accountability system, but not what the
president's envisioning."

                           Duchesne Paul Drew can be contacted at
612-673-7111 or
                           ddrew@startribune.com .

                           © Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights
reserved.
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