ACSA President Chuck Weis presented expert testimony on standards, assessments and accountability at last week’s Assembly Committee on Education informational hearing on Race to the Top.
The hearing was held in conjunction with the fifth extraordinary session of the Legislature dealing with California’s competitiveness for $4 billion in federal RTTT grants.
The RTTT grant program challenges states to develop innovative reform strategies that focus on high academic standards by using data to inform instruction, develop highly skilled teachers and leaders, and turn around struggling schools. The first Assembly hearing last month presented an overview of the program and California’s efforts.
Current draft guidelines for RTTT call for states to work in consortia to develop and adopt common, internationally benchmarked standards aimed at producing high school graduates ready for college entry or the work world.
This second hearing of the education committee, convened by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, focused on developing common standards and assessments, the accessibility of data and using data to improve instruction.
Weis, Santa Clara County superintendent of schools, is considered an expert in these areas, having worked on the state Public Schools Accountability Act Advisory Committee. He is currently leading ACSA’s task force efforts on assessment and accountability.
At the Oct. 28 hearing, Weis stressed that the state should not be afraid to recreate its accountability system to make it truly world class. The current fiscal crisis should be considered a short term setback in the bigger picture of designing new assessment tools and methods, as well as new ways to measure growth of subgroups, schools and districts.
Weis’ presentation included many of the points outlined in a draft report by the ACSA Accountability and Assessment Task Force, including:
• Internationally benchmarked and nationally benchmarked standards do not have to compromise rigor in California. Actually, it can ensure a fair comparison with other states and a level playing field when it comes to knowing what all students should know and be able to do. Almost all states are already participating in the “common core” movement began by the National Governor’s Association and Chief State School Officers.
• The current work is on the performance standards for what constitutes rigorous mathematics and English language arts that all students should master by the time they graduate. This is a positive effort to move away from the barriers states have put up between career technical education and college entry.
• The second phase under way through the NGA is drafting actual grade-by-grade standards. Of course, California should carefully analyze how these grade level standards match or do not match with our own.
• With a proper and transparent state review process to gauge comparability between common core standards and California’s standards, we can ensure and protect the quality of our grade level standards.
• By putting into place a structured and transparent state standards review process, we can accomplish two goals: 1) review the common core to ensure they meet our goals for students, and, 2) reflect upon our own standards after 10 years of implementation to ensure we are on the right track. A lack of true performance standards may have hampered our ability to develop deeper assessments.
• Content and performance standards should include all academic areas and provide clear and focused guidance to teachers about the knowledge and skills that students should master at each grade level. The standards should be balanced between cognitive knowledge, problem solving, and application of academic skills. The standards should have limited repetition across the grades or grade spans whenever possible.
Weis also presented key recommendations for ensuring rigorous standards and support for teachers and students, including reintroducing in special session Assembly Bill 97, Torlakson, D-Martinez, which aims to create a process for a public and transparent review of California’s K-12 content standards. Weis said a review of science and history/social science should be added.
Additional recommendations to law-makers include:
• The standards review process should be structured to engage the Legislature, the State Board of Education, the state superintendent of public instruction and stakeholders. We need a process with full engagement; not relegated to just one arm of education policymaking.
• Revise the instructional materials adoption process so that all materials focus on key standards and better benchmark assessments. Standards must be organized to ensure that teachers can deliver instruction that starts with key standards, to ensure mastery of what is expected at each grade level.
• Provide ongoing sustainable teacher and principal professional development, including SB 472 and AB 430 training, but also on K-12 curriculum frameworks that would reflect any revisions to standards and assessments.
• Improve and expand how standards can be taught to students with disabilities and English learners.
In preparation for California’s application for Race to the Top funds, leaders from the governor’s office, State Board of Education and California Department of Education are engaging with stakeholders across the state to share information and gather feedback. For information on regional meetings and webinars, visit California‘s Race to the Top Web site at www.caracetothetop.org.