Clearing up confusion between resolution and 15 percent deferment

As districts have been notifying TASA of their support of the Resolution Concerning High Stakes, Standardized Testing of Texas Public School Students, it has become evident that there’s some confusion between this resolution and districts’ decisions regarding the deferment of the 15 percent rule.

To be clear, the resolution drafted by TASA is a philosophical statement that, among other things, challenges the notion that standardized testing should be the single measure of a district and endorses more engaging student learning experiences. As of Wednesday afternoon, 271 districts had passed the resolution. It has also been endorsed by at least one chamber of commerce, a school board in Queens, New York, and sparked national attention, including coverage from the Washington Post. Our goal is to draw attention to the transformation that needs to happen in Texas public schools and to speak with a clear and unified voice to Texas lawmakers about the concerns - not just of educators but also business leaders, parents and students – regarding the current accountability system.

The 15 percent deferment is a Texas Education Agency matter and districts that want to take advantage of it must notify the agency by May 1. As of Wednesday, TEA had heard from 788 districts.

Commissioner Robert Scott announced in February that for the 2011-2012 school year only school districts can defer implementation of the statutory provision that requires performance on an end-of-course (EOC) assessment to count as 15 percent of a student’s final course grade. No board action is required. The superintendent or another district-level administrator authorized by the superintendent only needs to notify TEA of the district’s decision by May 1, 2012 by sending a brief email to the commissioner at: at: commissioner@tea.state.tx.us.

Testing Resolution continues to gain steam

In her blog for Education Week Diane Ravitch once again focuses on the revolution that's caught fire in Texas and resonated with so many school leaders, teachers, parents and students.

Ravitch posted a blog post Tuesday titled "Stalking the Vampire in Texas" where she not only talks about the Resolution Concerning High Stakes, Standardized Testing of Texas Public School Students, but also touts TASA's visioning work and the attempt by superintendents across the state to transform public education in Texas.

The blog reads in part:

The Texas revolt was seeded by the efforts of nearly three dozen district superintendents who began meeting in 2006 and produced a joint statement about their vision for the future of education. The superintendents recognized that the state's relentless focus on standardized testing was not advancing their vision of the future. Their vision has inspired their colleagues, including Commissioner Scott.

Ravitch quotes liberally from Creating a New Vision for Public Education in Texas, links to it on TASA's website and urges her readers to read it in its entirety.

At last count, we were at 232 districts that have let us know they've passed the resolution and many more have it on their agendas in April. Remember, there is no deadline. Our goal is to get as many districts to pass the resolution as possible, so communities across the state are speaking with a loud, unified voice. At least one chamber of commerce has passed a similar resolution, and we're planning to draft a sample resolution for chambers and perhaps other groups soon. 

Beginning Wednesday, we're also going to begin posting the districts that have passed the resolution by region and come up with some "what now?" steps for districts to take once they've passed the resolution.

Please follow us on Twitter @tasanet and like us on Facebook for more updates on Mission: School Transformation.

Superintendents featured at Save Texas Schools Rally

Two superintendents joined a long list of lawmakers Saturday as featured speakers at the Save Texas Schools Rally. The march to the Texas Capitol and rally on the steps drew roughly 2,000 supporters, all delivering the message to lawmakers that they need to find a way to increase funding for public education.

John Folks from Northside ISD in San Antonio kicked off the rally telling those gathered he wasn't willing to accept "the new normal," a catch phrase bandied about by lawmakers last year referring to economic conditions and the fact that schools will have to do less with more.

Dr. Folks also reminded those gathered that the upcoming elections (early voting is May 14-24 and primary elections are May 29) are incredibly important.

"The fight begins now with elections," he said. "Not when then the legislature comes in."

John Kuhn, superintendent of Perrin-Whitt CISD and author of last year's "Alamo Letter" that compared the plight of Texas schools to the odds faced by William Travis and his forces at the Alamo, also a spoke.

Kuhn compared education to football, with the educator as quarterback and lawmakers as the offensive line.

"Give us time to stand in the pocket and complete these passes," Kuhn said.

Washington Post writes about Texas resolution

Valerie Straus, writer of The Washington Post's phenomenally popular education blog The Answer Sheet, just posted a lengthy entry about the debate surrounding high-stakes, standardized testing here in Texas and how that debate may influence the rest of the country.

Here at TASA we are getting notifications on an hourly basis from districts that have approved the Resolution Concerning High Stakes, Standardized Testing of Texas Public School Students. As of 11:40 a.m., we'd heard from 145 districts that have passed it. Many more have let us know the resolution is on their agenda for upcoming meetings.

We'll be updating our online list of school districts this afternoon.

Twitter is also abuzz with tweets from around the nation about the movement going on in Texas, thanks in large part to promotion from education historian and writer Diane Ravitch, who has almost 28,000 Twitter followers.

Texas resolution goes nationwide

The total confirmed number of Texas districts that have adopted the board resolution concerning high stakes, standardized testing of Texas public school students is now 122. But the effort is spreading beyond Texas. The Community District Education Council 30 in Queens, New York unanimously passed a nearly identical resolution at a board meeting last night – essentially substituting New York for Texas. The council said they hope other New York City area districts will adopt similar resolutions.

Resolution on high-stakes testing causing a stir nationwide

So, far we’ve heard from 46 school districts across Texas that have adopted the board resolution originally drafted by the North Texas Regional Consortium, tweaked by TASA and posted on our website for use by districts statewide.

Another 20 or so have contacted me to let me know it’s on their agenda for later this month or early April. And I’m sure there are more out there we haven’t heard from.

But already, the resolution is causing a stir. The Houston Chronicle ran a story about the resolution and backlash to standardized testing on its front page Monday and Diane Ravitch tweeted about the resolution Monday night to her 27,000 plus followers on Twitter. That caught the attention of Valerie Strauss, education writer for The Washington Post and author of the widely read blog The Answer Sheet. Strauss emailed last night asking for details about the resolution.

Texas school districts are taking a bold stand against the over-reliance on standardized tests and what it’s doing to our public schools. Below is the list of districts that have adopted the resolution so far. Please email me at jcaputo@tasanet.org if we need to add your district to the list.

Blue Ridge ISD 

Coppell ISD 

Lewisville ISD

Hereford ISD 

Manor ISD 

Community ISD 

McKinney ISD 

Clear Creek ISD 

Plano ISD 

Northwest ISD

Richardson ISD

Allen ISD

Highland Park ISD (Dallas) 

Frisco ISD

Goliad ISD

New Boston ISD 

Longview ISD 

Hillsboro ISD 

Mineral Wells ISD 

Union Grove ISD 

Friendswood ISD 

La Feria ISD 

Klondike ISD 

Poth ISD 

Mercedes ISD 

Clarksville ISD 

Burleson ISD  

Spearman ISD 

Palmer ISD 

Boles ISD 

Royal ISD 

Kaufman ISD 

Granbury ISD 

Seminole ISD 

Wall ISD 

Alvin ISD

Bland ISD 

Chisum ISD 

Channing ISD 

Palacios ISD 

Mesquite ISD 

Burkburnett ISD

Bloomburg ISD 

Iowa Park ISD

Stockdale ISD 
Shamrock ISD

Mission: School Transformation highlighted at SXSWedu

TASA staff shared information about Mission: School Transformation Monday at a pre-conference event for SXSWedu. SXSWedu focuses on innovations in learning and is part of the hugely popular SXSW music, film and interactive conference.

Executive Director Johnny Veselka and Associate Executive Director Susan Holley gave attendees background on how the document “Creating a New Vision for Public Education in Texas” and the Texas Visioning Network came to be and how the vision has morphed into Mission: School Transformation.

Holley called the mission “incredible work by some very courageous educators.”

Veselka gave on overview of Senate Bill 1557, which gives the Texas Commissioner of Education authority to create the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium for the purpose of informing the governor, legislature, and commissioner about ways to transform public schools to improve student learning through the development of innovative, next-generation learning standards and assessment and accountability systems. The bill permits up to 20 school districts and eligible open-enrollment charter schools to apply to be included in the consortium, and those selected must include a representative range of district types and sizes and diverse student populations.

Final rules for the consortium and the application process should be out soon and districts are scheduled to be selected in July.

“This legislation certainly was driven by the work of our visioning institute,” Veselka said. “We have the foundation here for building the future for education in this state.”

Texas Education Agency associate commissioner Anita Givens, who led sessions on TEA’s Project Share, said every time she hears about Mission: School Transformation, which has a goal of Student-Centered Schools, Future-Ready Students, she realizes more and more what an exciting opportunity it is for public education in Texas.

Givens and colleagues from TEA discussed Project Share, a portal through which teachers and students can communicate, collaborate and access 21^st century digital content, at the pre-conference. Project Share leverages several technology platforms to provide multiple levels of access and flexibility for educators and students.