NYSED Comm. King Paints Common Core Opponents as Tea Partiers in PBS Interview

LISTEN: John King*, Commissioner of Education for New York State [Transcript of Common Core interview below. For more on the Common Core, read my critique, "The Common Core and Gates' Education Commercialization Complex," of its Gates Foundation origins, the secretive, undemocratic manner in which it was created by non-governmental bodies and how it has serious pedagogical flaws for teaching English and for teaching social studies.]
Learning Matters Producer Cat McGrath met up with Commissioner King in June to talk about the new standards, why New York decided to test them this year and whether the “Common Core” is an act of federal intrusion.
[This interview was cited at the end of Tuesday's PBS News Hour piece on the Common Core State Standards. The interviewer asked about anxiety over Common Core's testing impact and growing opposition to the standards.
Breaking: Diane Ravitch, citing King's turgid and draconian teacher evaluation system and unapologetic prevailing over the Common Core test scores debacle, called on the Commissioner to resign.]

NYS Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, with her appointee, NYSED Commissioner John King, at the historic 8/7/13 NYS Common Core-based test score announcement. Note her straight face, despite the context of being close to people ensconced in the Education Commercialization Complex.*

JOHN KING:00:03:49:00 last year in New York, a majority of entering students in our two­year community colleges were required to take remedial courses. // 00:30:28:00 … in New York City it’s 80%! Can you imagine walking onto a college campus looking at­­ at your classmates in the freshman class and knowing that 80% of you will be taking high school courses?

JESS VO: THAT’S JOHN KING, THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION FOR THE STATE OF NEW YORK. LEARNING MATTERS’ PRODUCER CAT MCGRATH SPOKE WITH COMMISSIONER KING IN JUNE ABOUT COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS, TEACHING TO THE TEST, AND WHY HE THINKS THE TEA PARTY HAS IT WRONG.

JOHN KING 00:30:47:00 I think part of the challenge here is how do you help folks understand how urgent it is that we improve the alignment between what's happening in K­12 and the expectations of college and careers. When I talk to employers around New York State, I hear again and again we have jobs available that we can't fill because we can't find the workforce that we need. And we've got to do a better job as a state, as a country, ensuring that when students graduate, they really are ready for the next level.

CAT: SO HOW WILL CHANGING THE STANDARDS DO THAT? HOW ARE THE NEW STANDARDS DIFFERENT?

JOHN KING: 00:45:44:00 in terms of mathematics­­ the old standards­­ you­­ one could argue were­­ mile wide and inch deep. The new standards focus on ensuring that students­­ achieve­­ deep conceptual understanding of key ideas at each grade level. 00:46:05:00 // So it's very clear that students needs to know their times tables, but they need to know their times tables so that they can apply that understanding to solve real­world problems. 00:46:46:00 In English language arts­­ the old standards­­ did not place as much emphasis on writing as the new standards do. The old standards did not place as much emphasis on academic vocabulary // ­­ oftentimes students were asked to read text­­ that was not sufficiently challenging. And now we talk about a staircase to complexity, that if we want students to be ready to read challenging texts when they get to college and careers, we've got to make sure that at every grade level­­ we're pushing students towards those aspirations. // So many shifts­­ between the old standards and the new standards.

CAT: WHAT ABOUT TESTING THE NEW STANDARDS? WHY IS NEW YORK TESTING THIS YEAR, ALMOST 2 YEARS BEFORE MOST STATES?

JOHN KING: 00:07:07:00 Well­­ you know, I think at­­ at the end of the day­­ people do what's measured. // And, honestly, it wouldn't have made a ton of sense to have new standards change instruction but keep using old tests that were based on old standards. // 00:08:34:00 You know, if you want teachers to spend time in their math classes­­ having students tackle challenging, real­world problems where they have to apply their math skills, you want them to have confidence that that's the kind of thing students will be asked to do on the assessments.

CAT: THE TESTS WILL ALSO BE MEASURING THE PERFORMANCE OF TEACHERS, CORRECT?

KING: We are incorporating student assessment outcomes in how we evaluate teachers. 00:16:16:00 But I think // it's important to emphasize that it's student growth, it's not their absolute performance, it's how much growth did they make relative to other students // [and] it's a multiple measure system. 20 points state growth, 20 points based on a locally selected measure that's collectively bargained, and then 60 points based on other measures like the observation of the teacher by the principal. // So we see test scores not as the answer to evaluation, but as a­­ an important component of evaluation.

JESS: IN AUGUST, NEW YORK RELEASED TEST SCORES FOR THE STATE’S FIRST ASSESSMENT ALIGNED TO THE COMMON CORE. STATEWIDE, SCORES DROPPED 24 PERCENTILE POINTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS AND ALMOST 34 PERCENTILE POINTS IN MATHEMATICS. COMMISSIONER KING ANTICIPATED THE DROP BACK IN JUNE.

JOHN KING 00:01:55:00 So we do expect a drop­­ a significant drop. That gap is probably somewhere between 20 and 30 points depending on the grade level and the­­ and the test.

CAT: WILL A DROP IN SCORES MAKE PEOPLE NERVOUS? WANT TO JUMP SHIP?

JOHN KING 00:02:51:00 I think it'll be critical for­­ the public, elected officials, state education­­ departments to maintain their resolve about the goal of college and career readiness.

CAT: ARE STATES ALREADY FEELING PUSHBACK?

JOHN KING 00:12:27:00 I think across the country, certainly, there has been­­ pushback to some extent from­­ Tea Party and­­ and others­­ seeing this as a federal imposition. // 00:10:05:00 And we have to keep reminding folks // that, no, this isn't a federal initiative. 00:10:24:00 This is states coming together to identify what skills and knowledge are needed for success in college and careers and 00:12:51:00 And then to ensure together that our­­ that our standards and our assessments reflect­­ those expectations.

CAT: WHAT COULD DERAIL THE COMMON CORE?

JOHN KING 00:36:02:00 At the end of the day, I think the biggest risk to the Common Core initiative as a whole is the challenge of changing instructional practice. There have been many efforts at education reform over many decades that have taken place around the classroom, but not actually affected what happens inside of the classroom. // 00:50:00:00 It's very easy­­ particularly in a large system like ours in New York for everyone to­­ say to themselves, "This is a passing fad and I'll wait it out and there'll be some other fad later." As opposed to asking: What is it students really need for college and career success?

JESS: WHETHER OR NOT COMMON CORE STANDARDS BECOME JUST ANOTHER FAD OR A SEA CHANGE IN EDUCATION IS YET TO BE SEEN. FOR MORE ON TEACHING AND TESTING THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS GO TO WWW. LEARNINGMATTERS.TV

I’m Jessica Windt, this report was made possible by The Grade Level Reading Fund of theTides Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The Wallace Foundation

*Appointed by the New York State Board of Regents, whose chancellor is Merryl Tisch, Chairwoman of Thompson for Mayor and contributor to New York City Bill Thompson's mayoral campaign. A vote for Thompson is an endorsement of Tisch/King/Cuomo's Race to the Top application, with its Common Core compliance, value-added test-based evaluations and shared student data tracking system, inBloom.
For more on Drs. Tisch and King, see "Who Is Destroying Public Education in New York State?"

Superb comment at Diane Ravitch's blog who earlier in the day called on NYSED Commissioner King to resign:

Robert Rendo says: August 14, 2013 at 12:12 pm
I’m thinking of a much more befitting consequence for Dr. John King:

Step 1: Remove him from office and replace him with a career educator who has taught in the classroom for at least 20 years, has moved on up the ladder and who thinks outside the Rhee-styled reform box.

Step 2: Offer King back his position conditioned upon the following (see following steps).

Step 3. Mandate that King teach in a testing grade for two full years in a row in a high needs, low income, high density ELL public school, and place him IN THE CLASSROOM to teach and behaviorally manage.

Step 4: Limit King’s budget to that of an average public school in New York.

Step 5: Evaluate King and his students by comparing “baselines” under the very system he has designed and enforced.

Step 6: If King does not make the grade, place him on a TIP, per RttT’s APPR (teacher improvement plan).

Step 7: If King does not improve his scores, allow the LEA (local educational agency, aka “school district”) to decide whether or not he should continue his employment.

Step 8: If King’s scores make the grade exactly according to the APPR system approved in NY State, then allow him to continue teaching or resume his post as Commissioner of Education for New York State. Remember that at least 89% of his students will ahve to achieve passing grades on the standardized tests.

Step 9: If King’s scores do not make the grade, then do not allow him to resume his post as Commissioner, but decide if you want him to keep his teaching job. If no to the latter, send Dr. King off into joblessness, where I’m sure he’ll be snapped up by Students First or the Broad Foundation or a mob of very angry, frustratede citizenry who would love to have him in their presence for a chat.

Step 10: Gather all of King’s teacher/student data and publish them in as many mainstream and non-mainstream venues that exist.

Step 11: Let the general public decide upon the merits of Dr. John King . . .
Removal from his post is simply not enough.

Yes, Rhee Did See Cheating Memo as D.C. Chancellor

(UPDATE: JOHN MERROW APPEARED ON CHRIS HAYES' MSNBC SHOW, DISCUSSING CHEATING SCANDAL - MEMO LINK BELOW) Valerie Strauss reported today that John Merrow reported that Michelle Rhee did see the January 30, 2009 memo about cheating in Washington, District of Columbia (D.C.) schools. Of course, she was well into her tenure as schools chancellor there, as her term of service began in June 2007 and ended October, 2010. So she could not pass this off as a development that began prior to her watch.

Just to be clear, because some have wondered, Rhee did see the memo, according to Merrow. He wrote in a post ["Michelle Rhee's Reign of Error"] on his blog, Taking Note:

I have a copy of the memo and have confirmed its authenticity with two highly placed and reputable sources. The anonymous source is in DCPS; the other is DC Inspector General Charles Willoughby. A reliable source has confirmed that Rhee and Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson discussed the memo in staff gatherings. Sanford came to Washington to present his findings in late January, 2009, after which he wrote his memo.

Rhee, however, did not push for a thorough investigation and instead, repeatedly, publicly minimized the extent of the cheating.

No, the memo doesn’t prove that cheating took place, but it does suggest there was more going on than investigators have so far uncovered. There have been several probes, but two — one by a private testing firm and the other by the D.C. Inspector General — were limited. Another, by the U.S. Education Department’s Inspector General, resulted in no action taken, though the extent of the investigation is unclear.

If the memo isn’t enough to spark a new investigation, this should be: My colleague Emma Brown reported in this new story that teachers in 18 D.C. classrooms cheated last year on high-stakes standardized tests during the chancellorship of Henderson, Rhee’s successor in the post, according to the results of an investigation released Friday by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.

This confirmed cheating took place after security was tightened as a result of the earlier suspicions. All in all, a new probe — by investigators with real subpoena powers, which is how the Atlanta cheating scandal was uncovered — is clearly warranted.

Here is the bombshell 2009 memo, as reported at Merrow's Learning Matters website. At that time, the brewing scandal already had a name, euphemistic we might add: Erasure Study.

All of this reverses the long standing official story on the erasuregate scandal, that it was limited to 2011, that it was limited to one school. Yet, as this recent April 11, 2013 story by Greg Toppo at USA Today attests, the memo shows that the cheating was more widespread than previously understood.

District of Columbia Public Schools officials have long maintained that a 2011 test-cheating scandal that generated two government probes was limited to one elementary school. But a newly uncovered confidential memo warns as far back as January 2009 that educator cheating on 2008 standardized tests could have been widespread, with 191 teachers in 70 schools "implicated in possible testing infractions."

The 2009 memo was written by an outside analyst, Fay "Sandy" Sanford, who had been invited by then-chancellor Michelle Rhee to examine students' irregular math and reading score gains. It was sent to Rhee's top deputy for accountability.

The memo notes that nearly all of the teachers at one Washington elementary school had students whose test papers showed high numbers of wrong-to-right erasures and asks, "Could a separate person have been responsible?"

It recommends that DCPS contact its legal department "as soon as you think it advisable" and ask them to determine "what possible actions can be taken against identified offenders."

DCPS officials have said they take all cheating allegations seriously, but it's not immediately clear how they responded to Sanford's warnings. Only one educator lost his job because of cheating, according to DCPS. Meanwhile, Rhee fired more than 600 teachers for low test scores — 241 of them in one day in 2010.

The cheating issue first came to light in 2011, after USA TODAY reported that, between 2008 and 2010, 103 schools had test-erasure rates that surpassed districtwide erasure-rate averages at least once.

So, with those mass firings Rhee did, we wonder, was the wrong person (Michelle Rhee) not fired?
* * *
Another matter that arises is in Merrow's account how Rhee catapulted to the top of education supervision with flimsy credentials. She was aided by elite school pedigrees, a B.A. at Cornell University and a Masters in public policy from the Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. She then went on to teach her three year minimum in the elite Teach for America program in Baltimore. She never served as a principal or as another other sort of education administrator. She had no training or certification in educational supervision. Instead, she coasted along her stint supervising 120 teachers in the New Teacher Project (TNTP). She got the D.C. Chancellor position upon no standard credentials, instead by the recommendation of New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. She billed herself as a student performance wonder in her bid as chancellor, yet her actual personnel file that would document her claims of supposed spectacular student performance were unavailable. (See the June 30, 2007 Washington Post article, "Council to Challenge Rhee's Résumé.") When someone did uncover her files, they indicated that her students' scores increase during the 2nd and 3rd years, but the gains were less than half what Rhee had claimed. (See February 8, 2011 Washington Post article, "Michelle Rhee's early test scores challenged.")

Furthermore, she practiced some cronyism. She hired her best friend, and that was just the start. Merrow wrote:

She surrounded herself with people with no experience running a large urban school system. Her deputy would be her best friend, Kaya Henderson, another former Teach for America corps member who was then Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at TNTP. She would be managing the District’s 11,500 employees.

Her Chief of Data and Accountability would be Erin McGoldrick, whom Rhee had met at Sacramento High School some years earlier and who was an avowed fan of Rhee. A classics major at Notre Dame, McGoldrick also studied public policy at UCLA. Although she was in charge of data analysis at the California Charter Schools Association when Rhee offered her the job, McGoldrick had no experience in Rhee’s ‘data-driven decision making,’ according to several reliable sources.

Rhee selected Jason Kamras, the 2005 National Teacher of the Year and a veteran of seven years in the classroom, to lead what she called her ‘Human Capital Design Team.’ Kamras’ assignments were to design a teacher evaluation system and create a model union contract.

That no one in her inner circle had any experience managing an urban school system did not seem to concern Rhee.