State Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, represents Senate District 33 in Northeast Denver.
Governor Bill Ritter’s four years saw a burst of progressive education legislation that is already beginning to pay huge dividends to the children of Colorado. I think in four short years Gov. Ritter has had a more dramatic impact on improving education in this state than perhaps any other governor.
From the creation of new accountability structures to ensure that all of our schools meet the expectations of parents and community members to the increased focus on ensuring that our educators are highly effective, Colorado has quickly become one of the nation’s leaders in pursuing much needed reforms to a foundering system.
One of those reforms, of course, is SB 191. Though there is less media attention now, the important work of the Great Teachers and Leaders law continues. The Governor’s Council on Educator Effectiveness is moving closer and closer to finalizing its work and its members will present their findings to the State Board of Education in April. There are public comment sessions at all of their meetings and once they have made their recommendations, the State Board will hold more comment sessions as they go about creating the rules that will fill in the council’s framework.
The council has made enormous strides so far and I am incredibly impressed at the way all of the members have dedicated themselves to creating the best system possible for everyone involved.
Take time to implement
Many people have asked what the big new education work is at the Capitol this year, to which I have often responded: Implementing the big work we’ve already started.
With Colorado in the middle of rolling out new standards, developing new state assessments that will replace CSAP, and overhauling our principal and teacher evaluation system, a number of the most critical components of our statewide system are in flux.
This summer I had the opportunity to talk with more than 1,000 teachers and more than 70 superintendents and their consistent message was that they are committed to getting standards, assessments and evaluations done right, but they need the time to do that before embarking on another big initiative.
Student accountability
Nonetheless, there are two critical issues for us to address. The first is student accountability. Throughout my conversations with teachers and principals this topic comes up over and over again, with educators commenting that, “we’re fine with adults being held accountable, but students need to have some skin in the game.”
I think this is absolutely true and when you look at states that have made dramatic improvements, like Massachusetts—now the highest performing state in the country—they have done it with accountability requirements for students including high stakes exit exams. Other states like Florida have implemented legislation ending social promotion that requires students to be able to read by third grade before being promoted to fourth grade.
Florida has seen striking gains in their state, nearly closing the white/Latino achievement gap so that now Latino students in Florida outperform all students in 31 states, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP).
Counting students
The second issue is our current method of financing schools based on a single October count day. As educators know, this single count day makes for a statewide production every October that results in perverse incentives to get students into the building one day of the year and no incentives to keep them there after that.
I know there are districts doing amazing work on retention efforts, but we also know we are one of 13 states in country still using a single count day because it means districts are never paid for mobile students who come later in the year, nor are they rewarded for successfully keeping students enrolled throughout the year. I am committed to working with districts and school boards to find a better way to count our students and am looking forward to the report from the commission to inform this conversation.
Unfortunately, recent legislative sessions have also brought devastating budget cuts to our school districts, hampering some of the efforts of great teachers, administrators, and board members. Unfortunately, those cuts are likely to be necessary again as the state faces a $1.2 billion budget shortfall this year but I plan to do everything possible to avoid balancing the budget on the backs of children.
Confronting the budget crisis
This next round of budget crisis should finally force a conversation about what kind of Colorado we want to live in, and what resources we need to support that Colorado. I often said during the 191 debate that this is one part of a two part process: One is implementing the reforms the state needs to better use the resources we have, and two is getting the resources we need to adequately do the job in front of us.
This means we need to find a way to increase revenues for K-12 and higher education and we must be preparing to make our case to the voters of Colorado to do this. I am looking forward to the report of the DU tax study group at the end of this month that will make recommendations for the road ahead.
Which leads us to what I believe will be the most important piece of education legislation this session and one that will unite everyone who believes in quality education for the children of Colorado. I am honored to partner with my new colleague Senator Angela Giron of Pueblo as we introduce the Colorado ASSET bill, which aims to provide in-state tuition to undocumented students who successfully complete Colorado high schools in good standing.
In-state tuition for undocumented students
As a high school principal in Mapleton, I watched as high school seniors—many of whom had never known any country but the United States—realized they could not afford their dreams of college because they didn’t have the opportunity to pay in-state tuition like all of their classmates. Even more depressing was watching as their brothers and sisters, knowing they faced the same fate, gave up on high school even earlier and joined gangs, used drugs, and squandered their brilliance because of the obstacles that we have erected.
This issue can bring in much needed resources to our cash-strapped institutions of higher education, reward those students who have done everything right in their quest for the American dream, and ensures that Colorado can continue to develop a top-flight workforce in future generations.
Standing in the MESA cafeteria and having to explain to students and parents why they couldn’t go to college like the rest of their classmates was one of the reasons I originally ran for this seat when Peter Groff, one of the great champions of this issue, left the Senate.
I believe this is one of the great civil rights issues of our time, and offers us a chance to ensure that every Colorado resident who works hard, plays by the rules and graduates from a Colorado high school has the chance to make a positive contribution to our state.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Best article I have ever read on Ednews.
Perhaps we also need to address how the exams are assessed and evaluated.?
Making the Grades: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Grades-Misadventures-Standardized-Industry/dp/098170915X
Sen. Johnston, I challenge you to show how SB 191 isn’t just another law that scapegoats teachers as the culprits for the failure of certain students to achieve at grade level. Also, I challenge you to show that SB 191 doesn’t codify and perpetuate cronyism in the retention of teachers and selection of new ones. Nowhere in SB 191 is poverty recognized as a handicap for disadvantaged students. Why did you ignore the advice of teacher/legislators such as Mike Merrifield and Judy Solano among others? Certainly, with less that ten years teaching and administrative experience, you don’t consider yourself as an educational expert. “Reformers” such as yourself, frequently refer to the educational achievement of Finland all the while ignoring that Finland’s poverty rate is less than 3% while this country’s is at 23% and climbing. You and your supporters also ignore that all of Finland’s teachers are unionized and well respected while you demonize teachers’ unions as being obstacles to reform. I would suggest that you and other “reformers” fail to recognize what reform really is. Legitimate reform begins at the community level, is democratic as opposed to the authoritarianism you advocate and brings all the stakeholders to the table. What you advocate is not knew. I recognize the rhetoric from the 1960s then articulated by southern politicians and in the 70s, 80s and 90s by conservative Republicans. If you want to really reform public education, begin at the community level. Until SB 191 is repealed or vastly changed, reform at the state level is dormant.
So much for the new tone of the blog.
Your points about the role of unions in Finland are important and should be considered. However, your ad hominem attacks and blatant generalizations and falsities drown them out.
I agree with Mark that Ed’s comment is right on the edge of unacceptable. I’m feeling my way here, folks, and don’t want to employ too heavy a hand. Ed, next time try making your points without attacking Johnston’s expertise. Your definition of what qualifies someone as an expert — seat time — is highly debatable at best.
I don’t want to comment on either Ed’s message or on Senator Johnston. I have never met either of them and have no real interest in the disagreement.
I want to comment on expertise. By translating the basis of one of Ed’s complaints into “seat time”, I think Alan over reaches in extending an argument about a process (learning) to a related condition (expertise).
I think most people will agree that in the process of learning, “seat time” (especially as represented by Carnegie Units) does not provide a reliable measure of learning and it has some real limits as a tool for structuring what goes on in schools. Some people learn fast and others learn slow and at either speed, retention can vary pretty wildly from learner to learner, especially when the majority of learning takes place out of practical context.
However, I think using that shortcoming to claim that the connection between experience and expertise is “highly debatable at best” really goes too far. We seem to have developed the notion recently that anyone with good intentions and a lot of information is as good as an expert. I strongly object to that idea.
Having a lot of information about something is not the same thing as really knowing about it. This is an epistemological position I realize many will disagree with but then, that’s the nature of philosophy, isn’t it. I believe that we construct knowledge socially and, therefore, in context. No amount of reading about something can substitute for direct, real-world, reflective experience in the domain of claimed expertise.
Would you rather have a straight A law student intern or a paralegal with 10 years of very successful experience working on your case? How about a high-flying MBA just coming out of a prestigious school or a liberal arts major with years of proven financial success in both up and down markets – who would you want advising you on what to do with your money? Some people would rather avoid teaching hospitals because, as my grandfather used to say, they’re really are “practicing” medicine.
Experience matters. If someone claims expertise, then it matters a lot.
Again, I make no claim about Senator Johnston. He seems like an interesting guy and I’ll bet I’d enjoy talking with him if we ever meet. But I have no idea if he qualifies as an education expert or not. 10 years is certainly enough time to get his 10,000 hours in (Gladwell). And he obviously knows how to get legislation passed but that’s a very different domain of expertise.
The discussion of SB 191 is basically meaningless. I seriously doubt it will change a thing. The most important issue is the compensation of teachers, in my opinion. Teacher pay here – and in most states – is going to just get worse and worse in the near future (anyone noticed how all public employees are now the bad guys no matter what your job title?). Next on the agenda will be either cutting PERA and equivalent retirement plans around the US or having the teachers add more and more of their pay (and the state/schools less and less) until that also has the effect of lowering our salaries.
As pay gets lower and retirement gets worse, anyone with the capabilities to go into higher paying fields will do so leaving only the lesser students to become educators. (or perhaps those with spouses who make a decent first income). I’ve only been a teacher for 14 years, but I see public education sputtering – suffocating – slowly into oblivion unless something big changes in the way we choose, educate, and pay teachers at all levels.
Key points, Mark & Chad. Though we talk a lot about “incentivizing” teachers and principals by offering bonuses for increased test scores, we often fail to talk about all of the other incentives–good, bad, and otherwise– that affect professionals’ behavior. I’m one of those people who could afford to choose a relatively low-paying career to try to make a difference, and I’m also one who was fortunate enough to be able to stand up to immense pressure to do the wrong thing for students, because I didn’t have to worry about losing a home or not being able to pay my bills if taking a stand meant losing my livelihood (which, unfortunately, did happen).
Most people aren’t in that position. So they often end up taking shortcuts and making unethical compromises (teaching to the test, short-changing the neediest students to target the “bubble” kids, cheating, fudging numbers and statistics at a testing company, etc.) because we work in a short-sighted, under-funded system that demands something for nothing. When people who have few options are asked to accomplish a demanding task, without additional support, we’re all but begging them to game the system– what else can they do, if they lack the capacity to do the job right and they can’t afford to be fired or jump ship?
I really hope we can manage to muster up (or, as the case may be, realign) the resources that will be necessary to change these conditions, and fast. It’s stressful, inhumane, and oh-so-counterproductive.
Someone above referenced Finland. Where you get your education paid for if you become a teacher; teaching is highly respected as a profession; and perhaps most importantly–teachers have true professional status– making decisions in the best interests of their students based on their professional judgement. While here we have more and more scripted curriculum and top down management.
The lower pay we are seeing and will continue to see for teachers if part of the problem, but the lack of being treated as a professional is even more concerning.