Nathan Deal: Is he ready to move on to the state’s education problems? Read his policy paper to find out.
Nathan Deal unveiled his education plan today, but Georgians have seen a lot of it already.
With GOP legislative leaders standing behind him in the Capitol today, gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal outlined an education plan that no one will dislike.
Not even his opponent Roy Barnes.
For one thing, several key Deal initiatives already exist in Georgia, including charter high schools with a math and science emphasis, a “Move on When Ready” program for accelerated high school students and incentives to sway more teachers into math and science. There wasn’t much new in Deal’s vision, which was broad enough to be applicable to any state and any party.
I asked him about his notion that we should adapt the Move on When Ready concept to elementary school students by giving them the CRCT when they are “ready” and moving them to the next class if they pass. I asked how he envisioned schools dealing with five or six third graders who passed the CRCT in December.
Would we walk them down the hall and deliver them to the fourth grade teacher? Passing the CRCT doesn’t mean a student can drop into the next grade mid-year and succeed, but Deal contends that smart superintendents and principals will figure out the logistics of how we move young kids when “ready.”
After his presentation, I spoke to two very smart women, state school board Chair Wanda Barrs and Martha Reichrath, deputy state superintendent for standards, instruction, and assessment, who thought that a move on when ready policy, as applied to younger kids, may more likely take the form of differentiated accelerated classwork within their same classroom.
Ideally, I agree that students should not be bound by their birth dates, and that schools should be routing kids all over the building for classes depending on their abilities. So, a bright second grader may go to third grade for math and fourth grade for reading. The problem is that schools lack the scheduling dexterity to assign children by skill set rather than age, and instead we get promises of differentiated instruction within the traditional confines of age-dictated classrooms. (This is not the time or place, but I think truly differentiated instruction is a rare occurrence in today’s overcrowded classrooms.)
Deal’s other big plan was reviewing how Georgia funds schools, which was a big plan for Gov. Perdue as well. But after four years, the Perdue IE2 Commission came back with a flexibility plan rather than a new funding formula, largely because the state didn’t have the money to support a funding formula that assessed what each student needed and paid accordingly.
Deal pledged that his funding committee would be more effective because he would not let them meet endlessly, but would hold them to a deadline of June 2011. He didn’t deal with the snag that any new funding formula would likely cost a lot more since we are now underfunding even the existing QBE formula.
Afterward, I talked to state school chief Brad Bryant who pointed out that the level of detail that I wanted is not what most people are seeking in education policy.
I thought about that in the context of Roy Barnes’ grasp of education, honed by eight years of working on school issues on a national level. If you want details, Barnes has them. But does the public want an education wonk as governor or are they content with someone offering a broader, albeit vaguer, vision?
And is there any real need for the governor to even have a well-crafted, well-articulated education policy since Georgia is now following a federal script?
I talked to Hall County Superintendent Will Schofield at the event – he and Deal are neighbors. He noted that the era is over when a governor can be a Michelangelo with vast expertise across disciplines who can fashion state policies on his own. Deal would surround himself with strong people in education, Schofield said.
Saying he had surveyed teachers to draft his policies, Deal opened his presentation with the statement that teachers told him, “Just give us time to teach and don’t make us teach to a test.” I think that train torpedoed out of the station when Georgia adopted the Common Core State Standards that will bring common tests to our schools. Tests are not going away.
Deal also said teachers told him that they were delighted to be asked their views since no one had ever done so, a statement I was surprised did not lead Perdue top lieutenants Erin Hames or Bert Brantley to leap to their feet in protest since the governor did his infamous teacher survey last fall. (Hames has just joined DOE, but she was Perdue’s policy director and his education ace.)
Take a look at the Deal plan and let us know what you think.
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108 comments Add your comment
Stevie
September 9th, 2010
1:23 pm
Well, I would be really interested in knowing if they do indeed have grade-less classrooms. If so, I would be curious to know at what age they stop that practice, and how they determine when a child is ready to be moved into a graded classrooms. Perhaps it is not a nation-wide practice, but if so I would like to know about what percent of children go through that program. Do they have any data that compare children going through different programs?
If there are indeed grade-less classrooms where children of different ages are in the same room, I’m curious to know what they actually do with the children. It somewhat reminded me of an experiment a superintendent (L.P. Benezet) in New Hampshire conducted in the 30’s in which formal arithmetic instruction was eliminated in early grades.
Vince
September 9th, 2010
3:11 pm
@ Garrett
Thanks for the voice of reason. It was a very refreshing change.
dkalb teachers.ARE "hired hand at walmart (mallwart)"ole guyy
September 9th, 2010
10:13 pm
demon politicians, continuously using teachers and the education as their false promise selling points…..he can stick his policy where the sun doesn’t shine.
Stevie
September 10th, 2010
7:43 am
Here is the article by Benezet.
http://www.ithaca.edu/compass/storyI-III.htm
It is quite interesting.
schooled
September 10th, 2010
9:05 am
It is not about the party DEM or GOP. It is about the policy, and what is right for our students, teachers, and the future of education. This state and every state in America will need to look back at history when people took pride in the country, state, and jobs. We need that same kind of person in our highest seat for the state. We have too many teachers working two or three jobs just to make up for what has been taken away. These teachers cannot spend the extra time needed to grade papers, call parents, attend after school events, and other duties. This also affects the pride they have within their day time job of education. Many teachers do not have the pride they once did with their jobs. They are not supportive of the team sports, band, spelling bees, science fairs, and other activities that build the memories of grade school. Teachers have been cut so badly that new teachers are finding other occupations, and those that have invested their education and years are just waiting for retirement. I have spoken to many teachers and I have yet to speak to a single teacher that has taken this survey Deal conducted. I would like to know the population of this survey. This would include the counties, social economic status of the students served, gender, race, years of experience, level of education, and current salary. I am not for one or the other candidate at this time. I would like to hear the debates and views on education and other state agencies from both candidates. We also need to make sure that all parties can find a common ground so we can make the changes needed for our public education. All the debates on bills with party specific agendas attached have to end. This is only hurting our education and the future of our students. Just remember it take anywhere from 4 to 12 years to see most changes take effect in any organization. That is just a fact.
teacher
September 10th, 2010
8:43 pm
Late to the blog–been too busy implementing more ideas mandated by someone who has never been in a classroom.
Here’s the problem:
“Deal contends that smart superintendents and principals will figure out the logistics of how we move young kids when “ready.”
Are you kidding? Sounds like pay for performance. No thought of how it will work, but here’s a mandate. Figure it out.
Patrick Crabtree
September 11th, 2010
9:14 am
Nathan Deal will never get my vote, why? He believes in Charter Schools. I am surprised that someone has not challenged thair constitutionality. In essence they give public money to a prive entity and call them public. Once the charter is granted, then the VOTING public no longer have a voice in that neighborhossd school (although the Charters say you do). Check out the data they are NOT performing overall as well as even the PUBLIC schools. The U. S. Department of Education (Bush and Obama) Yet both parties revel in charters. Your elected school board memberscn’t do anything obout a charter school until their charter is up? How do you know if your tax dollars are being spent wisely? Corporations run these schools and only teach them corporate ways, not teach the child to critically think to challenge the corporate mindset. Bill Gates, Broad and the like corporate leaders have poured millions into public schools and what do you get, look at APS. Bill Gat sank million into “small learning communities” anly to realize that didn’t work. It produced a bunch of upper level management with high salaries, yet the teachers we blamed for the failure as they implemented the “corporate way.” Corporate money is all tied up in the Republican Party. THey put a spin that hey are about the common many. Students ask, “Why should we study history?” Do your homework and study history and you will see what I am saying is true. THat kiddos is why we should study history. Countries where corporations run the country have the worst economies. KEEP PUBLIC SCHOOLS TOTALLY PUBLIC and that way YOU, the voter, will maintain your autonomy and controll your local school.
Patrick Crabtree
September 11th, 2010
9:17 am
Forgive my typos, I was never taught typing and my computer is slow for some rason.