The Kansas Policy Institute, the Koch-funded local “stink tank” affiliate of the State Policy Network which pushes the ALEC agenda including privatization of public schools recently sent a piece to legislators claiming that there is no correlation between funding and achievement in schools. There are multiple things wrong with their analysis (including their focus on the NAEP “proficient” category when people in the field understand that NAEP “proficiency” doesn’t equate to what is commonly understood as “proficient” but instead to a high level of achievement), but most troubling is the fact that they are feeding legislators the line...
Read more
Leave a Comment Blog
Panel declines action on school board conflict of interest bill
Here’s some good news. “A special legislative committee agreed Friday not to recommend any changes to laws governing conflicts of interest for school board members, effectively killing a bill that was introduced during the 2015 session… “House Bill 2345 would have prohibited anyone from serving on a school board if that person is employed by another school district; has a substantial interest in any business that works with or provides services to any school district in the state; or has a spouse, sibling or other close relative who is employed in any school district or in the Kansas...
Read more
Leave a Comment The meaning of NAEP “proficient”
We’ve heard a lot recently about how Kansas students did on the most recent NAEP test, particularly the number of Kansas students scoring “proficient” but haven’t heard anyone acknowledge that the NAEP proficiency standard is actually set significantly above what is commonly understood as “proficient”. We have talked about this article from 2011 before but it bears repeating. “Oddly, NAEP’s definition of proficiency has little or nothing to do with proficiency as most people understand the term. NAEP experts think of NAEP’s standard as ‘aspirational.’ In 2001, two experts associated with NAEP’s National Assessment Governing Board (Mary Lynne...
Read more
Leave a Comment VC Super Gibson on connecting the dots
Valley Center Superintendent Cory Gibson describes legislative requests and asks readers to connect the dots. We see merit pay for teachers, school consolidation and cuts to athletic programs but no real work on a new funding formula as we “connect the dots”. We also see a lot of administrative effort being devoted to filling out surveys at a time when they’re supposed to be getting as many dollars to the classroom as possible. http://vcsupergibson.blogspot.com/2015/11/connecting-dots.html...
Read more
Leave a Comment