Education Week - March 18, 2015 - 1

Education WEEk
Awaiting Test Scores, States Work to Manage Expectations
VOL. 34, NO. 24 * MARCH 18, 2015
AMERICAN EDUCATION'S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD * © 2015 Editorial Projects in Education * $4
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Outreach aims
to temper any
backlash over
tests aligned
with the
common core
By Andrew Ujifusa
Even as states begin administering new tests
aligned with the Common Core State Standards, they
are ramping up efforts to eliminate or minimize public
backlash when the scores-widely expected to be
markedly lower than results from previous assessments-are
released later this year.
From old-fashioned fliers designed to reach parents
via students' backpacks to webinars intended for administrators
and teachers, states including Illinois
and New Jersey are using a diverse set of resources
and partnering with various groups to prepare school
communities and the general public for what's coming.
Their goal: to spread their message that the new
tests are a much more accurate and complete reflection
of what students know and can do than past
exams, and will in turn better inform classroom instruction.
The
new assessments will be far from the first time
that states have reset the bar for proficiency on tests.
Supporters of the new assessments also frequently
point to Kentucky's relatively smooth rollout of its
common-core-aligned tests in 2012 as the model for
how states can ensure the long-term survival of their
new standards and assessments.
But state education departments in many cases
might not be used to dealing with the volume and
nature of questions and criticisms they'll face in local
PAGE 26 >
Rebranding NCLB Law
A Tough Marketing Task
By Ross Brenneman
If put in front of a focus group today, the title of the nation's
top K-12 education law would be met with the kind of enthusiasm
reserved for day-old cafeteria pizza.
Congress may still be arguing about what provisions of the
current law should be extended and which should be axed. But
educators and politicians appear to agree on at least one thing:
The outdated No Child Left Behind Act needs a fresh brand.
What, though, should replace "nclb," which has been around
since 2001, as a catchy tag for the next version of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act? And how much does it
matter?
"A name is one piece of a puzzle, and it's an important piece
of a puzzle, because it's a hook," said Sasha Stack, a partner in
the strategy group at Lippincott, a Boston-based branding firm
that counts companies like Southwest Airlines and ibm among
PAGE 25 >
HELPING HAND: Parent volunteer Liliana Martinez works with 1st grader Isadora Canares on reading exercises at Lexington
Elementary School in Pomona, Calif. Parents used a state law as leverage to negotiate major changes at the school. PAGE 20
Parent-Trigger Law Used in New Ways
Strategies Aim to Broaden Influence of Contentious Statute
Former State Sen. Gloria Romero, the
By Karla Scoon Reid
Los Angeles
Five years after California parents
gained the power to initiate major
changes at failing schools, advocates of
the state's controversial parent-trigger
law are expanding their strategies to
broaden its influence.
law's author, founded a nonprofit last
year to educate parents about the California
Parent Empowerment Act. Even as
Ms. Romero launched her initiative, another
group of parent-trigger-campaign
veterans had already started working to
develop a more collaborative approach to
turning around troubled schools.
The two startups point to disparate
Book Argues All Kids
Should Be 'Our Kids'
By Sarah D. Sparks
It's hard to make schools the centers of their
communities if the communities aren't there.
In the newly released Our Kids: The American
Dream in Crisis, Robert D. Putnam, a Harvard
University public-policy professor and
longtime chronicler of the breakdown of American
civic values, gathers a flood of research
Districts Expanding Efforts
To Align Budgets, Academics
By Denisa R. Superville
When the Wiley school district in Texas crafts its annual buddirections
California's maturing parenttrigger
law may take. They could include
more contentious parent-led efforts, like
the one currently underway with Ms.
Romero's guidance at Palm Lane Elementary
School in Anaheim. The law
may also continue to become part of a
multi-layered strategy to empower poor,
minority communities in their pursuit of
educational justice.
At the same time, California's experiPAGE
20 >
get, finance officials closely consult with key academic leaders to
ensure spending decisions match up with the district's strategic
plans and goals. Michele Trongaard, the chief financial officer in
the 14,000-student district, shadows principals to better understand
their needs as she shapes the budget.
Until two years ago, Wiley, in suburban Dallas, built its
budget like many public school systems: without deep consideration
for long-term improvement goals and with little
communication between finance and academic officials. Now,
though, Wiley uses a budgeting approach that not only has
finance officials working in tandem with their peers in curriculum
and instruction, but also embraces new levels of
PAGE 18 >
on the unraveling web of formal and informal
supports that help students in poverty succeed
academically and in life.
"If it takes a village to raise a child, the prognosis
for America's children isn't good: In recent
years, villages all over America, rich and
poor, have deteriorated as we've shirked collective
responsibility for our kids," Mr. Putnam
writes. "And most Americans don't have the resources
... to replace collective provision with
private provision."
The book comes as Congress debates the future
of federal support for education to counter
PAGE 16 >
THE CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER
This special report, "The Chief Academic Officer's
Evolving Role: Powering Big-Picture Learning Goals,"
examines the challenges CAOs are facing in school
districts across the country and how they are working
to improve academics in the age of common standards
and digital teaching and learning. It features findings
from an exclusive survey of district leaders.
See the pullout section opposite Page 18.
David Walter Banks for Education Week

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Education Week - March 18, 2015

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