Hank Bounds speaks on raising expectations

This just released by the Mississippi Department of Education:

Mississippi's expectations for students now on par with other states

By Dr. Hank M. Bounds
State Superintendent of Education

If you pull out just about any education study that ranks the states from top to bottom, Massachusetts will be in the top five and Mississippi will be in the bottom five. Is that because the boys and girls in Massachusetts are just smarter than our children? Absolutely not. Our boys and girls are just as smart as children in Massachusetts or any other state.

Our ranking in many of these studies is not a reflection of our children's intelligence or our teachers' ability to teach the material. Rather, it is a reflection of low expectations. For decades, we have taught to a level far below what our students are capable of reaching. However, this is a new day for the boys and girls of Mississippi.

We have raised our expectations, which will lead to raising student achievement. Over the past couple of years, our teachers have begun implementing a new curriculum. Last Spring, we implemented a new assessment to reflect the increased rigor of the curriculum. After the tests are given, an important part of the process begins.

Teachers from across the state, who were each nominated by their district superintendent, gathered to review each test item and determine where the standards needed to be set. These standards set the scores that must be attained to reach minimal, basic, proficient and advanced categories. National experts were also brought in to review their findings.

Both the teachers and the national experts looked at each item and analyzed what level of knowledge the questions demanded. They have set the level of what is expected of our students on par with the expectations that other states have for their children. The Mississippi Board of Education approved these standards at their meeting today in Jackson.

This is a great day for children. By raising expectations, we will reduce the dropout rate and enable our students to be career and college-ready. Our students will be better prepared to complete on national assessments like ACT and SAT and perform well on skilled certification exams. In addition, it will improve our ranking on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams, which business and industry use as a key indicator of academic achievement when considering where to locate and expand.

We have expected this year's scores to be below last year's scores.
It would be foolish to expect our students to perform as well on a much more rigorous assessment the first year of administration. However, when we have raised the bar in the past, the first year always showed a drop in student performance as the teachers and students adjusted to the increased rigor, followed by marked improvement in the following years as students reached the new level of increased expectations.

It's time to expect more of Mississippi's children. We now have the correct standards in place. We have great teachers and great school leaders to implement the curriculum and prepare our students for the 2009 assessments.

Certainly, Mississippi has challenges that Massachusetts does not face.
We have a far greater percentage of our population living in poverty. We know that children in poverty have fewer opportunities for exposure to educational experiences and materials outside the classroom. However, we cannot allow this or any other excuse to hold us back.

We know Mississippi's children are as capable as any of reaching for the stars and we have set the standards to a level that is high, but reachable. One thing is clear: If Mississippi is going to move forward, it begins with education and with having high standards for our boys and girls and ourselves.

SB 2149: Parent's Campaign Update

I received this from Nancy Loome and the Parent's Campaign on Senate Bill 2149 right after my earlier post. Here is the text:

Dear Jeff,

The House of Representatives today passed Senate Bill 2149 calling for the removal of any superintendent in a school district that is determined to be underperforming for 2 consecutive years under that superintendent’s leadership. The bill was amended, however, to remove the language requiring that affected elected superintendent posts become appointed. While elected superintendents in underperforming districts will be prohibited from running for reelection, their successors will be elected under the amended version of the bill. I will email you the votes on SB 2149 tomorrow.

The bill will now go back to the Senate where that body can concur with the current language or invite conference. It is likely that the bill will go to conference, in which case 3 members from the House and 3 members from the Senate will negotiate compromise legislation.

We at The Parents’ Campaign believe this is an important move toward significant education reform in Mississippi. We are disappointed that the amended version of the bill means that children in districts with elected superintendents will continue to have their leaders chosen from a limited pool of candidates, but we are hopeful that this can be addressed in conference.

I am very grateful for the many calls and emails to Legislators generated by members of The Parents’ Campaign. They made a difference. Many of our members wrote me to say that they believe this is the most significant bill to come before the Legislature this session. Parents across the state have expressed their gratitude that school leaders will be held accountable for the quality of education provided our children.

We will continue to update you on other education legislation as we move through the Legislative Session. You can see the progress made on other education bills on our website at bill status.

We took a big step forward for our kids today!

Many, many thanks,

Nancy

Mixed Bag on SB 2149: A Step Towards Accountability, but Representative Perkins Guts Key Part of Bill with Amendment

Senate Bill 2149 passed the house today after being amended. With the vote still unavailable as of this post, I have no way of telling you the details of either tally. If you are a supporter of public education, the news is a mixed bag. On one hand there lies a victory for accountability. Local school boards will now be able to remove underperforming superintendents after a period of two years. One the other hand, they will not have the ability to choose the most qualified candidate to fill the role. A special election would be held. The superintendent removed would be barred from running for reelection for a period of four years.

Coming out of committee in the House, SB 2149 was exactly what the Mississippi Department of Education, the very people charged with improving our public schools, supported. However there was an amendment proposed that absolutely gutted the intended effect of the bill. As I noted on Cotton Mouth here and here, Mississippi must eliminate elected superintendents. Out of 17,000 superintendents, only 165 are elected. Of those 165 districts, 65 are in Mississippi.

The amendment changed the bill from the version that came out of committee in a key area. Before the amendment, the superintendent position would be appointed in the case of a board removal due to underperformance. The amendment struck this from the bill and replaced it with language allowing for the return to the standard electoral means of choosing a superintendent, after the expiration of the original term of the removed superintendent. Basically the board of trustees would get to remove an underperforming superintendent, but would not get to choose the replacement.

This does provide a measure of accountability, but it does not address a key problem. The position of superintendent is a professional position, and needs to be filled by the most qualified candidate. The field does not need to be narrowed to the residents of the electoral district. Why “hire within” when your schools have been chronically underperforming?

The really pathetic part of this whole story is who proposed the amendment. Representative Willie Perkins, a Democrat from Leflore County, did a tremendous disservice to the children of Leflore County, the delta, and Mississippi with his shortsighted amendment. His amendment helps to preserve a failed system that has long been abandoned by the rest of the country. He should listen to the Mississippi Department of Education, and leaders like Nancy Loome and Hank Bounds. We need to listen to our leaders in education when they make proposals to improve the worst schools in Mississippi.

The bill now heads back to Senate, where it could be passed as is, or if not sent to conference. We will keep you posted...