Education Week - April 15, 2015 - 17

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A Common-Core Foe, Voucher Backer,
Sen. Rand Paul Enters Presidential Race
| POLITICS K-12 |
Add one more unabashed Common Core State Standards foe to
the list of 2016 Republican presidential candidates: U.S. Sen. Rand
Paul of Kentucky.
Paul, who officially entered the race April 7, has relentlessly
tweaked former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for his support of the
standards, saying last fall that any "hypothetical" gop presidential
hopeful who likes the common core "doesn't have much chance of
winning in a Republican primary."
And earlier this year, Paul's camp put out a memo that slammed
his Republican rivals for their championship of the standards.
(There were a lot of inaccuracies about the common core in that
memo. Plus, some of the folks on the list, like Gov. Scott Walker of
Wisconsin, aren't as closely associated with support of the standards
as, say, Bush.)
In the Senate, Paul is a member of the education committee.
So far this year, he's co-sponsored legislation by Sen. Pat Roberts,
R-Kan., that would bar the feds from getting involved in standards.
He's also lent his support to a bill by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, that
would prohibit the feds from interfering with local decisionmaking
on standards, curriculum, and assessments.
In fact, the Crapo bill would prohibit the federal government
from mandating testing at all. That flies in the face of both the
current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act-
the No Child Left Behind Act-and the compromise legislation
to rewrite nclb worked out between the two top lawmakers on
the education committee, Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the
chairman, and Patty Murray, D-Wash., the ranking member. (See
related story, Page 15.)
(For those keeping score, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who also is a
sphere is unprecedented, making it
difficult for teachers to feel they're in
the driver's seat.
That sentiment is precisely what
Ms. Cotey conveyed one recent
morning during a professional-development
day.
"We don't have control over a lot
of the decisions that are made, and
a lot of times the true professionals
aren't consulted by the lawmakers,"
she said. "I know they have pressures
trying to keep other people happy, but
we are the ones who are in the classroom
every day with the students. We
have a lot of good information and
experience to contribute to these discussions,
but what we're saying isn't
being heard."
The debate over academic standards,
however, is just one aspect of
effective teaching, pointed out Carrie
Abood, an assistant professor of
education at Lipscomb University
in Nashville, which is consistently
ranked as having one of the best
teacher-preparation programs in
the country.
"If the climate is in limbo now about
common core, then in 10 years it may
be about something completely different,"
said Ms. Abood. And for that
reason, she said, Lipscomb focuses on
building skills like adaptability and
flexibility in its students.
Ms. Abood said she often gives
younger students a refresher about
what the common core is, how it was
created, and the difference between
standards and curriculum, the latter
being one of the biggest sources of misinformation
about the common core.
"I try to make sure they are paying
attention to what the truths are
versus what's on Facebook," said Ms.
Abood. "But I'm not focusing so much
about what the controversy of the day
is, rather on how I can prepare my
students for being the best."
She also pushed back against the
idea that first-year teachers are at a
disadvantage when it comes to the
standards debate in Tennessee compared
with more veteran teachers.
"To [new teachers], common core
is not a big deal because it's all a big
deal," Ms. Abood said.
Looking Ahead
Teachers in Kingsport are generally
hopeful that the state will ultimately
complete its transition to the common
core and aligned tests. That transition
may get some additional support with
the recent appointment of Candice
McQueen, who took over as education
commissioner in January.
Ms. McQueen, a Tennessee native
and formerly the senior vice president
at Lipscomb, has been a public
supporter of the standards for years.
In her new role, she has said she's intent
on making sure the state doesn't
back away from the more rigorous
standards.
Already in her first few months
on the job, she has pledged to ensure
teachers' voices are included in the
state's review of the standards and to
work to soften the impact the expected
drop in student test scores has on
teacher evaluations and compensation.
Meanwhile, Gov. Haslam has persuaded
a group of Republican state
legislators to withdraw-at least for
now-a bill that would repeal the
adoption of the common core entirely
while the state's review of the standards
is underway. The proposed legislation
would be a blow for a state
considered a leader in the standards
movement and would likely have
ramifications for other states whose
legislatures are similarly wavering
over the common core.
"Once we actually make the transition
to common core, I'll be able to
rock and roll," said Ms. Cotey. "But
get me to that point."
Alison Cotey, a first-year
teacher at John Adams
Elementary School in
Kingsport, Tenn., faces the
challenge of preparing her
5th graders for state tests
at a time when Tennessee's
standards-driven
assessments are in flux.
declared presidential candidate, is another co-sponsor of the Crapo
bill.)
Getting teachers to that point,
however, isn't a sure bet, especially
at a time when pushback against the
standards at the national level only
seems to be growing.
Case in point: At the end of February,
gop leaders in the U.S. House
of Representatives were forced to
abandon a vote on a gop-backed bill
to overhaul the No Child Left Behind
Act after a post on an anti-commoncore
blog went viral. The post falsely
stated that the bill would force states
to continue using the common core,
which caused many Republicans to
withdraw their support for their own
party's legislation.
Such incidents, Ms. Cotey said,
make her feel that she might never
get to rock and roll with the standards
she's devoted so much time and
energy to learning. Still, she's currently
planning to continue teaching.
"If I'm not here, then who else is
going to be here for my students?"
Ms. Cotey asked. "If we don't have
good teachers, then the system just
becomes more broken, so I'm going to
do my best no matter what the state
or anybody else says. I'm going to do
my best for them."
This article and the accompanying story
were produced by The Hechinger Report,
a nonprofit, independent news website
focused on inequality and innovation
in education, and written by Education
Week Staff Writer Lauren Camera.
But Alexander and Paul have been school choice buddies in
recent years, a partnership that has a clear political upside
for both lawmakers. In March of 2013, they teamed up on a
budget amendment that would have allowed Title I dollars for
disadvantaged kids to follow students to any school of their choice,
even a private school. In fact, Paul mentioned school choice in his
official presidential announcement. "We need to stop limiting kids
in poor neighborhoods to failing public schools and offer them school
choice," he said.
Paul is not afraid to use Senate rules and procedures to block
education legislation he doesn't like. In 2011, he initially introduced
more than 70 amendments during committee consideration of a
bipartisan bill to rewrite the nclb law-and put up procedural
roadblocks aimed at slowing down the bill.
-ALYSON KLEIN
'Discussion Draft' Circulated on Measure
To Better Protect Student-Data Privacy
| DIGITAL EDUCATION |
A proposed overhaul of the country's primary law protecting
student-data privacy is being circulated for feedback, offering yet
another sign of the federal government's interest in reshaping the
legislative landscape around this hot-button issue.
The "discussion draft" of a bill that would rewrite the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or ferpa, was released April
6 by the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce
Committee, U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., and Rep. Robert
"Bobby" Scott, D-Va., its ranking member. The bill is intended as
a potential complement to-not replacement for-the pending
Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act, championed by
the White House.
The draft ferpa proposal, which had not been formally
introduced as of last week, would include a number of potentially
significant changes. Among them, the definition of a student's
"educational record" would be expanded, and a ban would be
placed on using such information for marketing or advertising.
States and local education agencies would be subject to new
requirements when contracting with vendors handling sensitive
student information.
The bill would also allow fines of up to $500,000 to be levied
on educational service providers that improperly shared student
information, and parents would be given new opportunities to
access and amend their children's data and opt out of the use of
that information for research purposes.
Ferpa was enacted in 1974 and, as currently constituted,
is widely regarded as insufficient for addressing the privacy
challenges of the digital age.
-BENJAMIN HEROLD
EDUCATION WEEK | April 15, 2015 | www.edweek.org | 17
Shawn Poynter for Education Week
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