State Superintendent Campaigns Dither on SC Test Scores

First, lame-duck State Superintendent Mick Zais didn't allow districts time to get their stories straight on why South Carolina students' test scores plummeted in most subjects this year. Looks like he didn't give Molly Spearman, Republican nominee for his replacement, or her Democrat opponent a chance to prepare talking points either, for neither campaign "could be reached for comment" for the lengthy and confusing article on test results prepared by the associated press reporter.

Ever hear of a major campaign that can't be reached? Right.

If the standards by which students are tested are changed every year, who cares what the results show? It's apples to oranges every time, just as the educrats like it. They are the ones who support Common Core with all of its drawbacks. If more students test as exemplary, while most scores fall, the results suggest that the test measures more native intelligence than learned subject matter.

Our major candidates for state superintendent are hiding from the press because both of them support the implementation of Common Core, and they sense the majority of voters do not.

Chicken!

Mick Zais: Atwater for SC State Superintendent of Education

To no one's particular surprise, Mick Zais, the outgoing superintendent of education in South Carolina, has thrown his support behind Republican candidate Sally Atwater, who virtually tied with RINO Molly Spearman in the Republican primary.

Spearman, a "former" Democrat who switched parties in 1995, has contributed to opponents of school choice within the last decade, although she now claims to be in favor of  "public school choice."

Can you imagine the cronyism that will ensue if Spearman, the director of the State Association of School Administrators, tops Atwater in the primary runoff? Why, even liberal Democrat CCSD Superintendent Nancy McGinley might cross over and vote Republican in the fall!

RINO Molly Spearman Poor Choice for School Choice

If you want a Democrat for South Carolina State Superintendent of Education, vote for a real one. Don't saddle Republicans with RINO (Republican In Name Only) Molly Spearman. She was first elected to public office as a Democrat in 1992; then, seeing where South Carolina politics is headed, switched to the Republicans in 1995. As outgoing SC Superintendent Mick Zais has pointed out,

“'Once elected, there’s nothing to prevent her from leaving the Republican Party and declaring herself a Democrat again. Since 2004, 95 percent of Spearman’s political contributions have been to Democrats, many who ran against Republican candidates who were supporters of school choice.'” 

Too bad Zais didn't provide a list.

Needless to say, she now claims to favor school choice. Right.

SC Superintendent Zais No Lame Duck on Smarter Balanced

If the Democrats manage to get control of the SC Department of Education by electing Mick Zais's replacement, those opposing the imposition of Common Core and its attendant government-mandated testing will think of these as the good old days.

Retiring Superintendent Zais earlier this week used his position to withdraw South Carolina from the consortium pushing Smarter Balanced Testing for the Common Core standards. Other mealy-mouthed politicians in the state are hedging their bets with comments on how, since we started down the Common Core road (under a Democratic Superintendent) we must continue. South Carolina is not alone in its rejection of the federal take-over of education by dangling Race-to-the-Top funds in front of ignorant noses.

We're going to miss Mick.

US Department of Education's Lack of "Critical Thinking" in Dorchester 2 ACT Ruling

The request made so much sense that the U. S. Department of Education shot it down immediately. After all, who do those peons in Dorchester District 2 think they are--President Obama?

Based on the logic that ACT-developed tests make more sense for everyone involved, DD2 requested a waiver (with the full support of the S.C. Board of Education and S.C.'s Superintendent of Education) from taking the PASS. Using the ACT tests could have been a pilot program for the state, which must change the PASS in the next couple of years because of adoption of Common Core standards.

Now the logic of the refusal is that all students in a state must take the same tests, presumably so that one school may be measured against another. Of course, with the ACT-developed tests, all students taking the tests in any state could be measured against each other.

Too logical? The U.S. Department of Education is in competitor College Board's pocket? Opt-outs must not be allowed because they might set a precedent?

Herein lies the evidence of why education should not be run by inside-the-beltway educrats.

Governor (and Candidate) Haley on Common Core

From EdWatch:

South Carolina Gov. Haley Vows State Will Ditch Common Core
By Andrew Ujifusa on January 17, 2014 2:49 PM

In a clear signal that the Common Core State Standards are in hot water in South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley told a meeting of a local Republican Party women's club that she was determined to ditch the standards this year because, she said, "We don't ever want to educate South Carolina children like they educate California children."
In a speech to the Greenville County Republican Women's Club on Jan. 16, according to theAnderson Independent Mail, Haley, a Republican who's up for re-election this year, said, "We are telling the legislature: Roll back common core. Let's take it back to South Carolina standards." She added that if Senate Bill 300 (introduced last year for the state's 2013-14 legislative session) reaches her desk, she "absolutely will sign it." In that bill, there's no pause, no mandated review period—just a straightforward move to remove the standards from the state.
A few days ago, my colleague Michele McNeil discussed how in his State of the State speech, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, also a Republican, made remarks that seemed to indicate Indiana would be backing away from the standards. But he wasn't absolutely clear, and the state is officially undertaking a complicated review of the standards. There's no such fuzziness about Haley's remarks, and if you think the race to drop out of common core is a competition, then South Carolina might have just shot into the lead.
Back in 2012, South Carolina was one of the first states to actively and officially consider dropping common core, as my colleague Catherine Gewertz reported. That effort fizzled but didn't truly die, as it turns out. Remember, the common core was adopted in South Carolina in July 2010, before Haley was elected, so she doesn't have a real policy or political investment in the standards the way other governors do.
South Carolina state Superintendent Mick Zais, a common-core opponent, has decided not to run for re-election this year, but there's a decent chance that his replacement will also oppose the standards.

Now, where does Sheheen stand? 

Where Do SC Political Hopefuls Stand on Common Core?

The field of candidates for South Carolina's State Superintendent of Education expands as the surprise of Mick Zais's announcement not to run for re-election sinks in. Inquiring minds want to know where Governor Haley stands on the Common Core as well. The latest Republican hopeful, Sheri Few, known for organizing opposition to the controversial program, has joined the fray for State Superintendent.

Hold everyone's feet to the fire to make each take a position on Common Core implementation in South Carolina.

Meanwhile, Ravitch's blog reports more disturbing news regarding alignment of testing with the program:

According to a report by Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post, Maryland will spend at least $100 million for Common Core testing.

The testing is wreaking havoc in states like Néw York, where absurd failure rates have outraged parents across the states. Now we learn that the cost of all-online testing are likely to cause fiscal strain, larger classes, and cuts to necessary programs and courses. Los Angeles alone has committed $1 billion to buy iPads for Common Core testing even though class sizes are growing and the arts programs have been decimated by previous budget cuts. 

Who had the brilliant idea that all testing had to be online? The vendors? Ka-Ching.

This may turn out to be the innovation that ate American education.

No doubt the Bill Gates Foundation, one of the major players behind Common Core, finds such developments just dandy. Wonder where SC will find its $100 million.

EdFirstSC Finally Comes to Its Senses over CCSD's BRIDGE

Blame Bill Gates and the Obama administration.

Even though EdFirstSC finally sees the train headed for the wreck, its spokesman tries to blame SC Education Superintendent Mick Zais for the genesis of value-added teacher compensation. Zais visited the Charleston County School District to discuss Superintendent Nancy McGinley's plan to change the way teachers are compensated. EdFirstSC's members must lean heavily towards teachers who are Democrats. Yes, Republicans want teachers to be accountable, but the machinations behind BRIDGE must be laid squarely on the shoulders of the edublob and the Obama administration, especially U.S. Education Department head, Arne Duncan. They're all liberal Democrats.

Blame McGinley for applying for Race to the Top funds and accepting them. Federal money always comes with strings attached, and she knew full well what they would be. As a result of winning the grant, the district must follow Common Core standards AND implement a teacher evaluation system based on the fatally-flawed value-added model pushed by the Gates Foundation and Arne Duncan. In preparation McGinley sent Audrey Lane to the Broad Institute just to learn all about the new teacher-evaluation system and then rewarded her with a nice fat retroactive raise. And the edublob, in the form of Mathematica, got a nice $2 million (of Other People's Money) contract to figure out how to make the system fair, a goal that even those mathematicians must know is impossible.

This new system will never be fair to teachers or students. Look at the abundance of research on just this topic that Duncan, and McGinley, choose to ignore. Going after these funds and implementing the value-added compensation system in CCSD is McGinley's personal effort at her own "race to the top."

If you think testing is overrated and too important now, wait till teachers' jobs hang on these unfair results.

P&C Reporting Bias over Zais's Class-Size Proposals

When a newspaper has an agenda, watch out. Not only do opinions wander into straight news reports, but bias leads to omitted facts. Such is the case with our local paper, The Post and Courier. Now apart from a few editorials and opinion columns, its approval of the liberal Democrat agenda becomes more obvious daily.

How many stories about shocking proposals from Mick Zais has the paper run? Too many to count. Their focus has centered on his proposal to devolve power from the State Board of Education. You might think that is the last action an educrat would desire. You would be correct. Zais is a Republican dedicated to devolving power closest to home, in this case, local school districts.

We have been deluged within its pages with horror stories of 50+ sized kindergartens and one counselor per 2000 students from the rest of the edublob, including EdFirstSC and what passes for a teachers' union in the state. Zais is the first Republican elected to the office of State Superintendent in decades, maybe ever. They are determined to get rid of him in the next election.

It's not hard to figure out that our local paper wants the same. What it has neglected to report is important to the entire issue. In fact, if the paper had reported all the facts in the beginning, there would have been no controversy. But the P&C wants to create as much bad press as possible surrounding Superintendent Zais.

For the last four years on a yearly basis, the state legislature has given exactly the power to the districts that Zais proposed to make permanent. As Zais has pointed out, "the state hasn’t heard any complaints from teachers, school boards or parents about misuse of that authority, and local leaders are better equipped to make staffing decisions than those in Columbia."

"'This misinformation is motivated simply by pure, partisan politics.'”

Welcome to your local Democrat newspaper. It's wondering why its paid subscriptions are falling.

SCEA: Mayhem Meet Chicken Little, aka Jackie B. Hicks

As president of the South Carolina Education Association, Jackie B. Hicks, a math teacher from Clover, can't stand Mick Zais. No doubt she's still puzzling over the election of a Republican to the post of State Superintendent of Education, one usually claimed for Democrats. Her latest salvo appeared in the local paper today as an op-ed. Interestingly, she strongly resists the devolution of power from the State Board of Education to local school districts. Of, course, that's not how she characterizes it!

Don't you wonder why? Easy--she's a big-government fan. She believes that the state should tell local districts what they can and cannot do. She doesn't trust local voters, but she does trust state educrats, almost all Democrats, that end up on the unelected State Board of Education. 

That's why, in an Obama-like fashion, Hicks tells us that sending power back to local school districts means the end of effective education in South Carolina. We'll have 50-student kindergarten classes as the sky falls. 

Hicks picks on two provisions of the 40 that she calls "essential." Don't you wonder about the other 38? 

Hicks sees Zais as attempting to destroy the state's schools. She also calls his recommendations "a thinly-veiled attempt to pave his way to re-election." Logically, she is suggesting that destroying the state's schools appeals to the majority of voters.

Well, nothing about this op-ed is logical anyway.

Common Core: What Were Sanford and Republicans Thinking?

How did we get into this mess?

In Friday's op-ed, Dillon Jones, policy analyst at the South Carolina Policy Council, a conservative think-tank in Columbia, makes the same points regarding Common Core that I enumerated in previous posts. His most salient point, and mine, is that federal money arrives with strings attached--and right now one of those strings is adoption of the Common Core. He correctly points out that the Charleston County School District has received Race-to-the-Top millions with that string attached.

Jones points out that in 1998 in the waning days of Governor Beasley's term, the state legislature handed policy-making power to the Education Oversight Committee and the State Board of Education. In South Carolina, education bureaucrats represent the last bastion of the Democrat Party, repository of liberalism and centralization of power. Until Mick Zais's election in 2010, the Democrats had a hammer-lock on the SC Superintendent of Education's job, so why did that ill-advised power transfer occur?

No qualms would have vibrated from Education Superintendent Jim Rex. However, then-Governor Mark Sanford had to sign off on these standards before the bureaucrats could adopt them. Of course, they did.

As it stands, South Carolina school districts are rushing willy-nilly ahead with implementation.

Priority Schools in Charleston County: McGinley Blames Teachers

"Priority" schools, by definition of the state Board of Education are South Carolina's lowest-performing, high-poverty schools. Being named a Priority School is not a compliment; in fact, that sobriquet is reserved for the lowest performing five percent. Only 26 schools statewide are on the list, and five of them are in the Charleston County School District. Richland County has none; Greenville County has only two. Think about that for a moment.

Not too long ago, such schools would be taken over by the state, but state takeovers in the past, such as in Allendale-Fairfax. have not been terribly productive. Now such schools must offer parents the option of transferring to higher-performing schools or intensive free tutoring.

North Charleston's Lambs Elementary featured in a local story states that it is getting poorer every year, a claim based presumably on applications for free and reduced meals. Since this is its second year on the list, perhaps more non-poverty students than poor students have taken the transfer option. Lambs previously drew more students from the military base, but where are they living now? What percentage are bused in from other neighborhood districts? As usual, asking questions regarding details of its decline never occurs to the reporter.

Principal Jamalar Logan took over the school in the middle of last year, but the reporter doesn't ask why. Logan was originally made principal in November 2011 but then had been shifted elsewhere. Perhaps, as in so many of CCSD's poorly-performing schools, Lambs has been the victim of revolving door principals. Certainly Superintendent McGinley and her associate Jim Winbush weren't going to volunteer that information to Mick Zais, especially since both are part of the administration they claim responsible.

In her remarks McGinley seemed to blame lower scores on the higher percentage of Hispanic students; however, that would make sense if the lower scores were in the language arts area. Instead, math and science are the areas of concern. The reporter also forgot to ask if any teachers had left or not had their contracts renewed and if any new teachers were inexperienced.  In addition, since the school will be using a "new math curriculum," would it not be of interest to find out what it is, what has been dropped, and what are perceived as the weaknesses of the old curriculum? And if teachers weren't focused enough on teaching math, whose fault was that?

Despite the reporter's years of reporting on CCSD, she still has little curiosity beyond what the superintendent tells her.

P & C Editorial Skirts "Poor" Issue at Meeting Street Academy

Mysteriously to some, State Superintendent Mick Zais unintentionally insulted parents at Meeting Street Academy by suggesting that the school shows that the children of the poor can succeed academically in the right school climate. Apparently, the parents are not poor.

In Wednesday's editorial, the writer suggests, "MSA parents can’t afford private school tuition, but that doesn’t mean they’re poor. They are, rather, very proud of their children’s achievements."

Classic non sequitur.

Remaining  unclear is that Meeting Street Academy has any means or residency tests. If not, why does this private school have a special deal from the city, renting the land for $10 per year?

Curiouser and curiouser.

CCSD? You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

One hot topic across the nation is the idea of performance pay for teachers. Does anyone dispute that a great teacher can make more of a difference in a child's learning than an IPAD or a brand-spanking-new classroom? Of course, the devil is in the details: how does a school district or principal measure teacher performance fairly when so many variables affect student achievement? Educrats from Arne Duncan to Mick Zais are struggling with implementing such programs.

But wait! Superintendent Nancy McGinley of the Charleston County School District has a totally new answer for them: instead of performance pay for teachers, CCSD proposes performance pay for administrators!

Brilliant thinking outside the box, Superintendent! Why hasn't anyone else thought of this approach; after all, it seems so obvious. She even managed to persuade the majority of CCSD Board members to vote for this plan. Unfortunately, only 43 directors can be "incentivized" in this fashion, but it's a start.

Let the peons (excuse me, teachers) do all the work improving student achievement; then let their masters (oops, inhabitants of the Taj Mahal) reap the results! What could be fairer? Why didn't Arne Duncan think of this? Maybe McGinley should be Secretary of Education instead.

As I said, you can't make this stuff up.

IPADS, not Teachers? Blame the State Legislature

When will reform come to the funding of school districts in South Carolina? Apparently when hell freezes over.

Thanks to almost unlimited ability to spend money on capital improvements (that would include IPADS for every student in his or her Taj Mahal of a school building), the Charleston County School District must search for ways to spend capital funds.

Someone who doesn't understand how salaries are funded will ask why CCSD doesn't create smaller classes instead or pay teachers higher salaries.

Isn't it time for a change? Where is Mick Zais on this issue?

Unintended Consequences at North Charleston High

Brian Hicks's column Friday outlines the basic problems at CCSD's North Charleston High School. Never mind that merely 88 of a potential 251 graduates made it to a diploma: the school's problems have been exacerbated by district leadership over the last decade.

First of all, any parent of a student reading at or above grade level has wisely chosen to enroll that student (if at all possible) at one of the many magnet schools that are in--wait for it--North Charleston. Total enrollment at NCHS has dropped by half in the last few years.

Second, in her wisdom, the superintendent has been unable to keep her hands off the principals she has appointed. Grimm is new to the job this year--why? Because McGinley took a principal who had good rapport with the NCHS community and appointed her to oversee Head Start. Go figure.

Third, the district claims that the percentage of non-readers (i.e., reading below the fourth grade level) has dropped from 20 to 12 percent. Wouldn't you like to see the actual numbers of students involved? Not many. We should be asking what percentage read below the sixth grade level (the lowest level for which high school materials are published).

If it weren't for NCLB, district administration wouldn't even bat an eyelash at the dropout rate at NCHS. The statistics keep the superintendent honest. We wouldn't be hearing about the school from Hicks except that under NCLB rules, after all else has failed, the school faces a potential state takeover.

Here's the reality. Following the same model of schooling used for other high schools does not work in a dire situation. It's time for the superintendent and the state superintendent to "think outside of the box." Keep a section of students reading more or less on grade level, say sixth and above, to follow the traditional curriculum. Make sections of the rest based on reading ability and teach them to read. They may take five years to graduate or more. Maybe once they can read, they can catch up with on-line courses in the summer. Maybe someone else has a better solution. I would suggest to start by asking the teachers at NCHS what would work.

Chances are that they know and would love to do what ever it takes.

Balog's Column Attacks Zais for Teachers' Union

Did you wonder what the "South Carolina Education Association" was when you read Melanie Balog's Thursday column attacking Mick Zais?

This Jackie Hicks,  whose opinions Balog treats as the gold standard, is president of what is called South Carolina's "union representing public school teachers in the state [which is] affiliated with the National Education Association" (NEA), an organization that never met a fiscal conservative it liked.

To say that Balog uncritically swallows the union line doesn't put too fine a point on it.

Apparently she's been taking lessons from Brian Hicks.

Some Needed Common Sense on SC Education Grants

Round up the usual suspects--the tax-and-spend party rallies against Republican State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais.

Why? Because Zais refuses to apply for federal grants that then turn into unfunded federal mandates.

His opponents don't see anything wrong with that.

Duh.

Zais's Proposals a Mixed Bag

While irate teachers may focus on the loss of the National Board Certification bonus, (highest in the nation, by the way), South Carolina's state superintendent of education, Mick Zais does have a few ideas that sound sensible. Some focus on local school boards.

One proposal is that school board meetings must be posted on the district's website at least 48 hours prior to the meeting, a change from the 24 hours now required.

A more interesting proposal is that the minutes of such meetings must be posted there within five days, not the present 10 and posted on the district's home page.  Interestingly, the most recent minutes posted on the Charleston County School District's website are from mid-August.

My personal favorite is the proposal that districts that don't post on their websites the cost of administration will be punished, perhaps by withholding state money.

Zais also feels the need to propose that districts transfer state money to the charter schools within their districts more quickly. Gee, I wonder why that proposal is needed.