Phi Delta Kappan

The Every Student Succeeds Act changes the role of the federal government in education and raises the question of who will define the education agenda. Similar questions came to the fore in the 1980s, when A Nation at Risk gave rise to a new education reform movement. Kappan editor Rafael Heller wonders if history is about to repeat itself and, if so, which players will take the lead.

A new study shows Black boys experience less upward mobility than their White counterparts. An online calculator compares teacher salaries. Pediatricians recommend universal depression screenings. Pew identifies a new generation of young people. A meta-analysis of instructional coaching programs shows limited effects as participation rises.

The Every Student Succeeds Act gives states greater flexibility in designing educational policy, but questions remain about whether and how states will use this opportunity to design truly innovative new policies to support higher levels of student learning. The authors describe how educational leaders in four states — California, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Vermont — worked collaboratively with diverse stakeholders to design ambitious and forward-looking educational policies prior to the passage of ESSA. Policy makers in all four states described engaging in an extensive process of stakeholder engagement, which influenced policy design and fostered support for implementation.

As the Every Student Succeeds Act is returning authority over teacher evaluation policies back to the states, policy makers at the state level have the opportunity to revise their policies. But who will they listen to when it comes to potential reforms? The author surveyed education policy makers to determine to what degree teachers, education leaders, and the general public are likely to influence their decisions. Their responses revealed that policy makers value voices of constituents over those of the general public, that Democrats and Republicans respond differently to teacher preferences, that responses to individual teacher voices are different from responses to union voices, and that school leaders’ voices are valued by almost all policy makers.

The authors describe the politicization of the process to revise Michigan’s social studies standards from 2005 to the present. In 2005, critics objected to the omission of topics they considered important, even though the content expectations document was not intended to be an exhaustive list of material to be covered. The latest, more limited revision, is being criticized for its leftward political leanings. The authors suggest that critics lack the expertise in the subject matter and that it is dangerous to let politically motivated non-experts make curricular decisions.

Teacher activist groups (TAGs), which are formed both locally and through online communities, appear to be a growing force in response to the more corporate-driven reform movement of recent decades. The author explains how TAGs seek to influence education policy and practice through organized collective actions, such as protests, letter-writing campaigns, and alliances with like-minded groups. In addition, TAGs promote professional learning through workshops, book clubs, and inquiry groups.

People often think that power only flows downhill in school. The author draws on his own research observations, as well as the philosophy of Michel Foucault, to offer more nuanced insights. He explains that power is not a “thing” people can possess and that it flows in multiple directions, forming a web of influence. These insights suggest that people’s perceptions and actions can affect schools in subtle, yet important ways.

Largely led by parents of school-age children from around the country, the opt-out movement has gained momentum in resisting the overuse of standardized testing. The author, a teacher educator, former K-12 teacher, and parent, argues that the opt-out movement is raising awareness regarding standardized testing and opening the door toward policy changes.

Kappan’s editor talks with Michigan State University’s Sarah Reckhow about her research into the ways wealthy private philanthropies have influenced K-12 education in recent years. As Reckhow explains, not only have Gates, Broad, Walton, and other big foundations spent unprecedented amounts of money to support their favored reform strategies — such as expanding the charter school sector, raising academic standards, and evaluating teachers’ effectiveness — but they’ve maximized their influence by coordinating their messages, funneling their money to specific states and districts, pushing for changes in state and federal policy, and (most recently) contributing to local school board candidates.

Over the last two decades, federal and state policy makers have launched a number of ambitious, large-scale education reform initiatives —No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, the Common Core State Standards, and others — only to see them sputter and fail. In 2017, the authors convened a number of leading scholars to explore why those initiatives failed and what can be learned from them. Participants agreed that to be more successful in the future, reformers will need to balance ambition and urgency with humility, political acumen, and the ability to recognize when it’s time to slow down or scale things back.

All modern nation-states have periods of difficult history that teachers fail to address or address inadequately. The authors present a framework for defining difficult histories and understanding what makes them difficult. These events 1) are central to a nation’s history, 2) contradict accepted histories or values, 3) connect with present problems, 4) involve violence enacted by the state or large groups of citizens, and 5) create disequilibria that require changes to historical understandings that may carry a personal or social cost.

Leveled reading, in which students select “just right” books based on their assessed reading level, has become a significant part of elementary reading instruction. However, libraries remain places where students can select books to read outside their reading levels. Based on observations of 1st-grade students, the author describes how the idea of reading levels has affected students’ perceptions of themselves as readers and what they should be reading. She argues for the preservation of spaces, like libraries, where students choose what, when, and how they read, without regard for reading levels.

As children reach adolescence, peer groups gain special power to influence their behavior, and young people tend to adapt their behavior to fit group norms. When students engage in bullying, alcohol and drug abuse, and other behavior, those in their peer group are more likely to engage in those behaviors as well. The authors sought to evaluate whether having students engage in peer learning through interdependent cooperative groups might disrupt this tendency. Middle school teachers were trained in using peer learning to teach their regular curriculum, and after one year, students showed more positive and less negative behavior than those in control schools that did not implement peer learning. The effect was also larger than has been reported for traditional prevention and social-emotional learning programs.

The authors posit that the traditional grading system involving points and percentages is not the best way to prepare students to be the self-directed, independent learners they need to be. A better system would produce grades that are FAST (fair, accurate, specific, timely). To bring about these changes, school leaders need not create full agreement about new models but should, instead, create circumstances that make action more likely.

Questions about student suspension rates require educators to balance the fact that students’ misbehavior can disrupt their classmates learning with the reality that schools tend to punish Black and Latino students more harshly than White and Asian students. Joshua Starr describes how he confronted this problem in Montgomery County not by setting a numerical goal for reducing suspensions but by encouraging educators to look at the data and find ways to improve relationships between teachers and students.

Education has been an unusually busy beat for journalists in 2018. Maria Ferguson reflects on three major stories: the shooting in Parkland, Florida; the inflated graduation rates in D.C. schools, and the poor public performance of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. These stories reveal the value of dedicating time and resources to education reporting.

In Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the U.S. Supreme Court will determine whether unions can compel non-union members to pay “fair share” fees to offset the cost of collective bargaining. Julie Underwood reviews past Supreme Court cases and state law involving union fees.

PDK wants members to share their stories. PDK Education Partnerships is collaborating with the American Association for School Administrators for its first Superintendent Transition Cohort. Michael Goldman joins the membership team.

In its guidelines for turning around low-performing schools, the Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to choose interventions that have already been shown to be effective. However, other sections of the law allow investments in Tier 4 strategies: programs and practices that are informed by research but which haven’t yet been fully developed and evaluated. In short, state leaders don’t have to pick a school improvement strategy off the shelf — ESSA gives them a valuable opportunity to design, implement, and refine their own programs and practices.