Test-Based Incentive Programs Have Not Consistently Raised Student Achievement in U.S.
ScienceDaily — Despite being used for several decades, test-based incentives have not consistently generated positive effects on student achievement, says a new report from the National Research Council. The report examines evidence on incentive programs, which impose sanctions or offer rewards for students, teachers, or schools on the basis of students’ test performance. Federal and state governments have increasingly relied on incentives in recent decades as a way to raise accountability in public education and in the hope of driving improvements in achievement.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110526141507.htm
Enough said. The latest flavor of the day is tying teacher evaluations to student performance on high stakes annual standardized exit exams which don’t work. What do you think will be the next flavor of the day?
School-level incentives — like those of No Child Left Behind — produce some of the larger effects among the programs studied, but the gains are concentrated in elementary grade mathematics and are small in comparison with the improvements the nation hopes to achieve, the report says. Evidence also suggests that high school exit exam programs, as currently implemented in many states, decrease the rate of high school graduation without increasing student achievement.
Incentives’ Effects on Student Achievement
Attaching incentives to test scores can encourage teachers to focus narrowly on the material tested — in other words, to “teach to the test” — the report says. As a result, students’ knowledge of the part of the subject matter that appears on the test may increase while their understanding of the untested portion may stay the same or even decrease, and the test scores may give an inflated picture of what students actually know with respect to the full range of content standards.
To control for any score inflation caused by teaching to the test, it is important to evaluate the effects of incentive programs not by looking at changes in the test scores tied to the incentives, but by looking at students’ scores on “low stakes” tests — such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress — that are not linked to incentives and are therefore less likely to be inflated, the report says.
The study also examined evidence on the effects of high school exit exams, which are currently used by 25 states and typically involve tests in multiple subjects, all of which students must pass in order to graduate. This research suggests that such exams decrease the rate of high school graduation without improvements in student achievement as measured by low-stakes tests.
The study was sponsored by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter. The Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.
Dropout Prevention Conference, Jackson, Tennessee
| September 28, 2011 | ||
| 8:00 pm |
Franklin will be presenting a dropout prevention workshop in Jackson, TN on the topic, “Helping Students Graduate: Tools and Strategies to Increase Graduation Rates”.
Dropout Prevention Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee
| September 8, 2011 | ||
| 8:00 pm |
Franklin will be presenting a dropout prevention workshop in Knoxville, TN on the topic, “Helping Students Graduate: Tools and Strategies to Increase Graduation Rates”.
Dropout Prevention Session in Nashville, TN
| September 6, 2011 |
Franklin will be presenting a dropout prevention workshop in Nashville, TN on the topic, “Helping Students Graduate: Tools and Strategies to Increase Graduation Rates”.
Dropout Prevention Sessions in Tennessee
Franklin will be presenting a number of workshops in the state of Tennessee during the month of September. If you are in Tennessee during September, stop by.
September 6 – Nashville
September 8 - Knoxville
September 28 – Jackson
Kudos from Virginia
Franklin recently spoke in Virginia and received rave reviews. Here are a selection of them:
“Franklin sees the needs of students first, not their ethnicity and biased expectations.” S. Perrin, Teacher
“One of the best presentations I have ever attended. I wish all educators could experience this empowerment.” T. Hudgins, 1st grade teacher
“Franklin reminds us that we teach children, not subject material.” J. Riva, Math teacher
“His presentation goes to the core of our teaching system inequities. Presents very simple, common sense ideas that can be implemented with just a change in our attitude and how we perceive our students.” Science Faculty Member
“Franklin is a dynamic speaker with heart and soul! Franklin’s passion is contagious and very motivating.” C. Balderson, Principal
“The program was one of the few staff development sessions that I have attended where I truly believed the presenter understood the challenges of today’s educator.” H. Poulson, 1st grade teacher
“Lots of speakers know the theory, but Mr. Schargel has actually been in the trenches.” S.Rushing, FACS Teacher
GRANT ALERT!
As schools face financial shortages, I thought you might be interested in the following information concerning available grants:
The following grants and funding opportunities are currently accepting applicants. If you have questions about these opportunities, please follow the links provided in each item:
AASA: Educational Administration Scholarships
Fender Music Foundation: Grants
Best Buy Community Grants
Kudos from Garland Texas
Franklin recently spoken in Garland, Texas. Here are some of the written comments:
“Very motivating to help our struggling learners succeed.” C. Kent, Student Success Coordinator
“Real world application.” T. Anders, English Teacher
“Strategies with little or no impact on the budget. Great presentation” F. Rush, Teacher
“The two videos at the end were encouraging and emotionally moving.” “informative and inspiring data to prove his statements and real life experiences to back them up.” H.S. Principal
“Real strategies for real problems.” L. Fussell, Principal
“Eye opening.” Teacher
“It made me proud to be an educator.” S. Dorman,Counselor
“Real, fun and inspirational.” M. Brieske, Counselor
“The presentation was filled with excellent, valuable information. Extremely passionate, inspiring.” Curriculum Director
“Outstanding” P. Montgomery, House Principal
“What education should be about. Thanks for the refresher course.” S. Schwarz, Counselor
“Absolutely wonderful! Interesting, stimulating and motivating.” Counselor
“Franklin’s program is insightful, not to mention extremely useful.” P. Herron, English Teacher
“Franklin understands and empathizes with teachers, while giving them tools to go out and make improvements, not just changes in their schools.” B. Steele
“The best presentation in my teaching career.” L. Johnson, English Teacher
GRANT ALERT!
On July 6, 2011 the U. S. Department of Education made available applications for planning and implementation grants for Promise Neighborhoods. You can access the grants online at http://www.grants.gov
While the closing date is Sep 06, 2011, the deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply is July 22, 2011.
As aids to those interested, there will be Pre-Application Webinars:
> Planning Applications: July 14, 2011 and August 2, 2011.
> Implementation Applications: July 19, 2011 and July 28, 2011.
For detailed information regarding these webinar times, see http://www2.ed.gov/programs/promiseneighborhoods/index.html
Here is a brief excerpt from the press release:
“The U.S. Department of Education released today the application for the second phase of the Promise Neighborhoods program, including new implementation grants and a second round of planning grants, totaling $30 million. Nonprofits, institutions of higher education and Indian tribes are eligible to apply for funds to develop or execute plans that will improve educational and developmental outcomes for students in distressed neighborhoods.
The Department expects to award first-year funds for four to six implementation grants with an estimated grant award of $4 million to $6 million. Implementation grantees will receive annual grants over a period of three to five years with total awards ranging from $12 million to $30 million. Remaining 2011 funds will go toward 10 new one-year planning grants with an estimated grant award of $500,000.
Promise Neighborhoods grants will provide critical support for comprehensive services ranging from early learning to college and career, including programs to improve the health, safety, and stability of neighborhoods, as well as to boost family engagement in student learning….
The new implementation grants will support communities in their efforts to enlist and coordinate better education, health and safety services, as well as provide young people the opportunity to be successful at the key stages of their lives. Specifically, funds can be used to improve learning inside and outside of school, build support staff, secure additional and sustainable funding sources, and establish data systems to record and share the community’s development and progress. Like round one, planning grants will continue to support the creation of plans for providing high-need communities with the groundwork for building cradle-to-career services with great schools at the center….
In fiscal year 2010, the Department launched the first round of the Promise Neighborhoods competition, making available a total of $10 million for one-year planning grants. More than 300 communities from 48 states and the District of Columbia submitted applications. Currently, 21 communities across the country are developing plans to create Promise Neighborhoods.
Because of the great potential for Promise Neighborhoods to catalyze the revitalization of communities in significant distress, it is closely linked to the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, which seeks to align federal housing, education, justice, financial asset building and health programs with the overarching goal of transforming neighborhoods of concentrated poverty into neighborhoods of opportunity.
Applications will be due on September 6, 2011. Winners will be selected and awards will be made no later than Dec. 31, 2011. Officials from the Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement will conduct several webinars for potential applicants. All webinars require participants to register in advance. Registration and additional information about the Promise Neighborhoods program will be available at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/promiseneighborhoods/index.html
Here is a brief excerpt from the grant description:
“The purpose of the Promise Neighborhoods program is to significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of children and youth in our most distressed communities, and to transform those communities by
(1) Identifying and increasing the capacity of eligible organizations (as defined in this notice) that are focused on achieving results for children and youth throughout an entire neighborhood;
(2) Building a complete continuum of cradle-through-college-to-career solutions (continuum of solutions) (as defined in this notice) of both educational programs and family and community supports (both as defined in this notice), with great schools at the center. All solutions in the continuum of solutions must be accessible to children with disabilities (CWD)(as defined in this notice) and English learners (ELs) (as defined in this notice);
(3) Integrating programs and breaking down agency “silos” so that solutions are implemented effectively and efficiently across agencies;
(4) Developing the local infrastructure of systems and resources needed to sustain and scale up proven, effective solutions across the broader region beyond the initial neighborhood; and
(5) Learning about the overall impact of the Promise Neighborhoods program and about the relationship between particular strategies in Promise Neighborhoods and student outcomes, including through a rigorous evaluation of the program.”
Politicians – What’s Wrong With These People?
I have returned from a trip to Texas, where the Governor of the state (who might run for president) has just slashed educational spending. This has resulted in the laying off of thousands of educators. But it is not just happening in Texas. All across the country, education and educators are under assault. From New York State, through Wisconsin to California, substantial cuts are being made in education without regard to parents, students, and educators. Whatever happened to the cries for a globally competitive school system? Where are the teacher unions, The AFT and NEA? Where is the business community? Where are the voices of sanity?
I believe, and pray that I am wrong, that with the reduction of adults in schools and the consolidation of classrooms and schools, we will face increased school violence. At that time, we will hear from the media, the business community, the teacher unions, and the politicians who will say, “how did this happen?”
