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The Law Dawg - unleashed
Good politics. Bad policy. Kicking around the federal government and claiming to protect families and "sovereign authority" will sell well in the Republican primary. But Perry and Scott are posturing for political purposes and taking our educational policy in the wrong direction. Why should we not have national standards for what kids are expected to learn? What is the concern here? Is math different in Ohio than it is in Texas? Doesn't everyone in all 50 states want their kids to learn how to read? Is the periodic table of elements different in Miami than it is in Seattle? Are we afraid that the feds will prevent our kids from learning about the Alamo? National standards make sense, as do national tests. How else can you make a meaningful comparison of student achievement? People who want to know how the kids in Texas stack up against kids from other states cannot rely on TAKS scores. Other states test in different ways, so it is an apples-versus-oranges situation. This is why so many people were skeptical when Texas began bragging about its accountability system. We began to hear accusations that Texas standards were watered down, and that too many students were allowed to take alternative tests. Then we got NCLB, which squeezed all of the states much closer together in terms of testing protocol, but states retained considerable leeway in setting standards. Thus, it is still difficult to compare student achievement from one state to another. That's why most people who want to know how our kids are doing will look to SAT scores or the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The move toward national standards and a national test became inevitable once we decided to measure student achievement by testing. If you are going to measure students by a test, you have to give them the same test. If they are going to take the same test, you have to teach them the same things. Thus, the takeover with regard to standards and testing is the other shoe dropping — the natural outcome of the accountability reform movement. Scott is right about the federal government seeking to take over public education, but he is wrong to suggest that it is just now starting.It started a long time ago. The feds took over special education in 1975. We have raised an entire generation of children with disabilities who were educated in conformity with detailed and onerous federal regulations that significantly eroded our so-called "sovereign authority." The feds took over accountability systems when President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act. Bush was so proud of the Texas accountability system that he built the federal system on the same foundation — curriculum standards and testing. Thus, it is ironic that Bush's gubernatorial successor would complain of an invasion of our "sovereign authority" simply because the other shoe is now dropping. And then there is the matter of just how we have handled this aspect of our "sovereign authority." The State Board of Education sets our curriculum standards, including those in science. If Rick Perry had his way, it would still be headed up by a man who thinks the earth is 6,000 years old. We think the feds can do at least as well. Bring it on. JIM WALSH is editor in chief of Texas School Business. Also a school attorney, he co-founded the firm of Walsh, Anderson, Brown, Gallegos & Green, P.C. He can be reached at jwalsh@wabsa.com or by visiting www.walshanderson.com. |
Gov. Rick Perry has announced that Texas is not going to play the Obama Administration's "Race to the Top" game. Robert Scott, our commissioner of education, a Perry appointee, has explained in a letter to Senator John Cornyn that the Race to the Top is "the first step toward nationalization of our schools." It represents "unprecedented intrusiveness by the federal government into the personal lives of our children and their families" and will be strongly resisted by Texas because we have "chosen to preserve our sovereign authority."