Kathryn Joyce at Salon has a great new article out digging deep into the Heritage Foundation’s new “report card” on education. Not surprisingly, the wild west of vouchers and charters, Florida, claimed the top spot in Heritage’s analysis. The ranking system awarded points based on expansive school voucher laws, lack of regulation for charter schools, and antipathy toward “CRT” and LGBTQ issues.
As the nation grapples with conversations around a “teacher shortage,” this item seems particularly noteworthy:
In terms of "regulatory freedom," Heritage weighs whether states enforce "overburdensome regulations … in the name of 'accountability.'" The chief concern here appears to be teacher certification credentials, since states that encourage "alternative" credentialing or that employ more teachers without teaching degrees are ranked higher than those where more educators have traditional qualifications. This section also penalizes states where a high percentage of school districts employ chief diversity officers, since, the report claims, such positions primarily exist to "provide political support and organization to one side of the debate over the contentious issues of race and opportunity."
As Christian nationalists attempt to access public money for their explicitly religious agenda - exemplified best by Hillsdale College’s efforts to open a national network of charter schools - it is important for these schools to be able to find or source teachers. Weak regulatory requirements on teacher certification make it easier for these privatizers to find the low-cost “human capital” needed to operate their schools. Plus, the lower requirement to entry means the schools can pay less - and boost profits.
Joyce sums up the long-term aim this way:
Individually and together, these education "reform" proposals tie back to larger calls to privatize education — which is sometimes acknowledged out loud, as when Rufo declared this April that increased controversy around public schools would help create the environment for "universal school choice." The Heritage report is part of a similar long game, declaring in its opening paragraphs that "America has never been closer than it is today to realizing Milton Friedman's vision for universal education choice."
Tennessee’s Third Grade Retention Law
In Tennessee, a new law requiring that third grade students who fail to meet benchmark scores on the state’s reading test be held back goes into effect this year. That means that following the April administration of the test, as many as 70% of third grade students in the state will be flagged for remediation.
If the students don’t meet the benchmark, they can only advance to fourth grade IF they complete a summer reading program. For the students who score at the lowest level on the test, there will also be mandatory tutoring during the school year. Failure to meet these requirements will result in repeating third grade.
Unsurprisingly, this law has been met with resistance from parents and educators concerned about the impact it will have on the overall educational experience of students.
As noted in Tennessee Education Report:
One middle Tennessee mom says she was devastated when she learned of Tennessee’s new third grade retention law that goes into effect this year. The law requires that any third-grade student who scores at “below expectations” or “approaching expectations” on the state’s TNReady test in reading be held back unless they complete summer school and possibly enroll in a tutoring program during the school year.
The legislature appropriated no additional funds to help schools support third grade students nor are there funds available for the necessary summer reading and school year tutoring programs mandated by the law.
Instead, it seems legislators just passed a law and hoped that change would magically happen.
The law is also based on the results of a notoriously unreliable state test.
Here’s an announcement (sent in May) from Sumner County Schools about this year’s test scores:
Dear Parents,
Earlier this week, we were informed by the Tennessee Department of Education that the TNReady scores for third, fourth and fifth grade were incorrect for several elementary schools and were scored again by the state. The new scores were not returned before final report cards were sent home on Thursday.
Notices like this went out in districts across the state as the TNReady results were not actually ready in a timely fashion. That they were corrected later is not exactly helpful when the results this year could determine whether or not a child moves on to the next grade.