EOC's and the State Budget Crisis: A Perfect Storm

Gov. Perry has a TV ad out right now where the birds are singing and the butterflies are fluttering and he's smiling so big, taking credit for Texas' great economy . . . when in the land of reality, things are a lot more grim.

There's a perfect storm in science education, as one example. Every Texas high school had to implement a fourth year of science course on their campus for all twelfth graders this year. We have new TEKS, some of which have no basis in science. We have no new textbooks. Proclamation 2012, which would have provided money for new K-12 science textbooks was not adopted by the SBOE this year. And, we have End of Course exams starting next year, with most freshman needing to pass EOC's in Biology, Algebra I, English I and World Geography, as a requirement of graduation.

But we have, at a minimum, an $18 million budget deficit  in the Great State, and the Texas Education Agency is recommending cutting $260 million in education programs including:

• eliminating money for new science labs (which are needed for the 4th year of science requirement)
• teacher mentoring
• teacher professional development
• new textbooks

How does cutting any of these key areas help get kids graduated under the new high stakes End of Course program?

If we are serious about graduating students from Texas public schools, we are going to have to find the money somewhere to ensure we have the trained personnel, facilities and instructional materials to make that happen.

This is the fundamental goal of our public school system - to provide an equitable, quality education to all Texas students. These kids don't vote and it's the responsibility of adults to ensure our education system serves them well.

On the Ground: Teaching the New Science TEKS Without Textbooks

Looks like I'm not the only one hyper concerned about the costs of the upcoming high school end of course exams (EOC's). I blogged yesterday about the less obvious costs the EOC's - costs of remediating failures, being my main point. The Statesman reports the enormous state budget shortfall may mean no new instructional materials to prepare students for the EOC's, which will be implemented next school year.

To which I say: SO WHAT? People! We have new Science TEKS this year. We are teaching these RIGHT NOW to high school students with no new instructional materials. Our textbooks are ten years old and they were inadequate for teaching the old TEKS. They sit at the back of classrooms as a class set, rarely used. 

COME ON. We are living the EOC's right now. We have no choice. While this year's freshmen have to pass four Exit TAKS in the spring of 2013 in order to graduate, teachers are in EOC teaching mode this year. We can't do a disservice to our students and lurch into action next year, doing a half ass job, scrambling to figure out how to get next year's freshmen prepared for twelve tests that determine their graduation. 

Where are we getting instructional materials to match the new Science TEKS, the basis for the upcoming end of course exams? Teachers are making their own powerpoints, devising labs, creating quick writes, exit tickets, foldables, graphic organizers, etc. We search the internet and go through our plethora of lab books, cooperative learning activities and other materials to find instructional activities that closely match the language of our new TEKS. 

Folks, we have Promethean boards (interactive white boards.) We have student response systems. We have document cameras. We have digital projectors in every room. Textbooks are old technology. Teachers are evaluated on their use of NEW technology! 

The State Board of Education spent an enormous amount of time and effort ensuring our new Science TEKS have creationist language - and probably more egregiously, adding many additional TEKS to our already overloaded list of things we have to teach - and now one of the ringleaders, David Bradley, is whining and ringing his hands:

"Either the Legislature needs to find a way to provide new instructional materials or they need to consider postponing end-of-course exams on the new standards," said State Board of Education member David Bradley, R-Beaumont. "It would be patently unfair to test students on materials that aren't available."

Please. The schedule for new TEKS development, new textbooks, and EOC implementation was has been public for at least two years. The SBOE has been too focused on their religious agenda to pay attention to what really matters with real instruction with real children. No worries. Texas teachers are smart, hard working and caring. We are already doing right by our students - without any help from the Legislature or the State Board.

What we would really like are Kindles or iPads or digital notebooks to take our instruction to the next level, with hyperlinked text and instructional videos in the hands of every kid - not to mention science lab facilities and materials to ensure the lab requirements of the new Science TEKS are met.  Skip the hand wringing over textbooks and get us what we need to go along with the new TEKS aligned lessons we are creating right now, so we can ensure every Texas student has a fighting chance to pass their twelve End of Course exams and graduate. 

End of Course Exams Will Drive Students to Minimum Graduation Plan

Beginning next school year, Texas high school students will have to pass twelve high stakes tests to graduate, instead of the current four tests. This year's freshman class is the last cohort to have to pass English, Math, Science and Social Studies Exit TAKS to earn a high school diploma. This year's eighth graders will have to pass twelve end of course exams (EOC's) in Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, English I, English II, English II, World Geography, World History and U.S. History in order to graduate.

Or, will they? Not if they switch to the Minimum Graduation Plan. Texas education law states that all students will graduate under the Recommended Graduation Plan, and can only switch to the Minimum Graduation Plan when they are 16 years old (which typically occurs in their sophomore year), if a parent and school administrator signs off on it, when they have failed to promote to grade 10 one or more times, and have completed two credits in each of the four core subject areas (English, Math, Social Studies and Science.)

The Minimum Graduation Plan is going to become an increasingly attractive option - if not the only option - to get struggling kids graduated from high school. I'm talking about kids who enter 9th grade and start failing multiple EOC's right off the bat, the spring of their freshman year.

For all the talk about increased rigor, and college and career readiness standards - which, to be clear, I believe preparing kids for post high school opportunities is absolutely critical - job one in our K-12 public education system is to get kids graduated from high school.

School district leaders are pondering all of the possibilities for low performing eighth graders right now, as course catalogs for next school year will go to print this Fall. If data predicts that some students won't be successful in the 4x4, they may be steered towards a Science program that includes only two Science credits (allowable under the Minimum Graduation Plan) - Biology (with an End of Course Exam) and IPC (which will have no EOC.) These same kids would take three math courses, with only two of them having EOC's (Algebra I and Geometry). The third could be Math Models, with no EOC.

You get the picture. Is this what the Texas Legislature intended - more kids on the Minimum Graduation Plan because the End of Course system is likely to increase the drop out rate dramatically?

School leaders are wondering if they will be penalized by having increases in the Minimum Graduation Plan, but the future school accountability rating system under EOC's has not been finalized, so who knows.

For another look at unintended consequences, read my post on the unfunded mandates of the EOC's.

End of Course Exams: Another Unfunded Mandate

I am tempted to rename this blog "Education in Texas: The Land of Unintended Consequences," because there are so many examples. For starters, several aspects of the new, high stakes high school end of course exams come with unfunded mandates.

I'm in the middle of planning a 15-day out TAKS review for Science TAKS retesters at my high school. Currently, high school students have to pass four Exit TAKS tests to graduate - in Math, Science, ELA and Social Studies. Texas schools are required to remediate students who fail any of their Exit tests. It's not unusual to have multiple TAKS prep classes for senior retesters. It's usually coded for local credit - meaning the credit for the semester long or year long Exit TAKS remediation class does not count for graduation credit. Some districts get around that by coding their TAKS prep class as Environmental Science or some other legit course for graduation credit, but teach it as a straight TAKS prep class. It's not right to code it that way, but these kids now need a fourth year of science credit to graduate, as well as the mandated TAKS prep - and there is not room in these kids' schedules for both, so what do you do? Plus, usually a science Exit retester is retesting in at least one other subject, if not all four, and you have to cram all the remediation in the senior year.

How does this scenario change once we start implementing End of Course Exams next year? Well, for one, we will still be remediating Exit TAKS failures for three more school years. This year's freshman will still take TAKS, so when they are seniors - in three years - they will be remediating. At the same time, beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, we will start remediating sophomores who failed one or more of their freshman end of course exams.

For those who need a primer, here are the twelve courses that will require an end of course exam, starting next year. Students have to pass every single one of them to graduate, and their score on the EOC counts as 15% of their course grade (making the test much more high stakes for students than TAKS):

Algebra 1
Geometry
Algebra II
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
English I
English II
English III
World History
World Geography
U.S. History

So, 14 year olds step on our high school campuses, needing to pass all these tests - or remediate. Schools are grappling with how they will deal with all of that remediation. It feels like it will require more teachers putting those remediation classes on their schedules - and needing classrooms and resources that are not provided as part of any revenue stream to schools.

So, there is the cost in personnel, physical classrooms and instructional resources to remediate twelve End of Course exams.

Another cost will be in computers to take the EOC's on a computer. Nobody in school leadership is stupid. Once students get close to graduation, they will need to take the EOC's online, in order to get quick results. The tests will be administered the second week of May, with graduation slated for two weeks after that. Nobody can wait two to three weeks for results of pencil and paper tests, if they are going to adequately prepare for graduation. So, we need more computers and more server capacity.

Also, we need to really plan well for professional development and mentoring support for new teachers. There will be zero room for new teacher to fail their students whose graduation depends on good instruction. There is a cost to all of that support for new teachers.

So, increased costs of mandated EOC remediation will include teacher professional development, more capacity for online testing, and additional instructional resources, including personnel and classrooms.

The next post will be on the effects of EOC's on graduation plans. There will be an increase in students graduating under the Minimum Plan, no doubt about it.

Gubernatorial Debate in Houston Oct 3rd?

I got this invite. I wonder if Harris County Department of Education realizes Rick Chicken Perry won't show.

You are invited to attend this very special event

Harris County Department of Education and The League of Women Voters of Texas and the Houston Area are hosting

The 2010 Texas Gubernatorial Debate

Moderated by award-winning journalist Melanie Lawson of ABC Channel 13, KTRK-TV

Sunday, October 3, 2010 | 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Doors will open at 5:45 p.m.)

at

Harris County Department of Education

6300 Irvington Boulevard 5th Floor Conference Center Houston, Texas 77022

To RSVP, please follow these steps:

1. Go to www.hcde-texas.org 2. Select “Register Now” 3. Select step (2) Search by date 4. Select “The 2010 Texas Gubernatorial Debate” on 10/3/2010;

Click (Begin Search) 5. Click on “Register Now” and follow the necessary steps to log in

6. If you are registering for your first event with HCDE please provide the necessary contact information to create an account so we may contact you with any updates about this particular event

7. If you have trouble registering please call 713-696-0790 for assistance 8. Please print your registration confirmation and bring it with you

to the event for admission No late seating | All cell phones must be turned off during event | No cameras allowed inside

Dan Patrick Wants to Increase Your Taxes

You gotta know the funding system for public education in Texas is in bad shape when you have Legislators admitting - in public - that they don't understand it, don't have the political courage to do what's right, and will raise your taxes to fix it. 

"We need to change our system so people understand it because we don't understand it," said Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, who co-chairs the special committee. . . . "We don't have the political will to change the system around to what we know is right to do," Shapiro said.

"We need to find a better system that works for all of us," said Shapiro, who also is co-chair of the Select Committee On Public School Finance Weights, Allotments and Adjustments.

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said he favors a sales tax increase to fund public education instead of property tax revenue.

Maybe we should develop a TAKS or End of Course test on our public education funding system and require that legislators pass it as a requirement for serving. If they don't pass it, they get kicked out of the Lege. The cut score should be high, with no TPM applied. Remediation would be required for those who fail, and they could retake the test up to four times to try and pass. Their scores would be published in newspapers. 

All legislators would be required to take it, not just those serving on the public education committee. It would have Legislative Career Readiness components, and there would be 55 questions. They could take all day to complete the test. If they finished early, then could put their head on their Lege desks and wait for everyone else to finish. They would be provided a calculator and formula chart. 

The Lege dropout rate would increase dramatically, but Gov. Perry would attribute that to an increase in dead Legislators.