Education Week - July 10, 2013 - 30

30 EDUCATION WEEK
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JULY 10, 2013 www.edweek.org
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States Divided
In Considering
Waiver Twist
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
enforce the new policy.
Some states have welcomed the
extra leeway, which they say will
give schools and educators time to
get adjusted to the higher expectations
of the Common Core State
Standards—and, especially, yetto-be-unveiled
assessments being
developed to go along with them.
Other states say their efforts to
overhaul evaluation already are
on track. And a handful of state
schools chiefs find the federal department’s
actions could undermine
their education redesign
plans.
In making the announcement
June 18, Mr. Duncan said he didn’t
want the leeway to be perceived as
a relaxation of accountability for
states that have received waiver
flexibility under the NCLB law.
“To be very clear, this is not a
pause or a moratorium,” the secretary
said. And he doesn’t think
every state will take the department
up on the added flexibility.
But some state chiefs worry
that the Education Department
has effectively signaled a go-slow
approach on implementing the
teacher-evaluation systems. They
note that the department had a
press call to announce its decision,
rather than quietly sending a letter
to state chiefs letting them know
they could ask for extra time to put
their systems in place .
“The manner in which this was
executed did put the thumb on the
scale in favor of delay,” said New
Jersey Commissioner of Education
Christopher Cerf. While he doesn’t
believe that was Mr. Duncan’s
intention, “you’ve got people all
across the country who are saying,
‘See, even the secretary says you
have to slow down.’ ”
And Hannah Skandera, New
Mexico’s secretary of education,
said in a statement that pushing
back the timeline would be the
wrong move.
“We are committed to putting
kids first,” she said of her state.
“Delaying the implementation of
reforms proven to make a substantial
difference for students would
HI
be a mistake.”
Meanwhile, other states are
eager for the breathing room.
“We’ve got an evaluation plan
that’s being worked on now, but
we think this will be helpful and
give us more time to perfect it,”
said Dale Dennis, the deputy education
commissioner in Kansas.
“Most of our people agree that we
need more time.”
Timeline Tinkering
So far, waivers from provisions
1/2 Col Horiz
of the NCLB law have been granted
to 39 states and the District of
Columbia. Under the newly offered
flexibility, states that had
applied for their waivers by the
summer of 2012—all but five of
the 39—would have until the
2016-17 school year to begin using
the evaluation systems to decide
which teachers are promoted,
given bonus pay, receive extra professional
help, or are dismissed.
The additional time is intended
to give states and educators the
opportunity to get used to the assessments
aligned with the common
standards, which are slated
to be rolled out during the 2014-15
school year.
Right now, states have a range
of timelines for using the as-
sessments to inform personnel
decisions. Delaware, Florida,
and Rhode Island, for instance,
planned to begin using their systems
in the 2012-13 school year,
while Indiana, Louisiana, Tennessee,
and Washington state aimed
to get implementation going by
2013-14.
Connecticut, the District of Columbia,
and Georgia, among others,
had agreed to begin in 201415.
And other states, including
Arkansas and Colorado, were
shooting for the 2015-16 school
year.
But at least five states already
have their teacher evaluations
set in state law. That means they
couldn’t take the Education Department
up on its offer without
big changes to their own statutes.
The department also is offering
states flexibility to avoid “double
testing” of students as they begin
to test-drive the common-corealigned
assessments.
Under the new flexibility, any
state could make a request to the
Education Department to use just
one test in schools—either a field
test designed to help work out the
kinks in the new assessment system,
or the regular state assessment.
State officials pointed out
that offering both tests would eat
up valuable instructional time and
had asked for additional leeway.
Responding to Concerns
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The decision to offer flexibility
didn’t come out of nowhere. Groups
representing educators have expressed
concerns that the federal
department may have been prodding
states to move too fast on
teacher evaluation, and that the
added pressure on educators could
hinder implementation of the common-core
standards.
The Council of Chief State School
Officers recently asked for unspecified
flexibility in accountability
systems as states make the transition
to the new standards.
Randi Weingarten, the president
of the 1.6 million-member American
Federation of Teachers, which
called for a limited moratorium on
the use of the new tests for highstakes
decisions, said she was
heartened that the Obama administration
appeared to be heeding
teachers’ concerns.
“There is no shame to a mid-
course correction when you have
ambitious goals and you see you’re
not getting there in the timetable
you wanted,” she said.
The 3 million-member National
Education Association, which has
been urging some leeway when it
comes to using the tests for highstakes
personnel decisions, is
happy with the move, the union’s
president, Dennis Van Roekel, said
in an interview.
“This was the culmination of a
long, long conversation,” he said.
“The common-core standards are
too important not to do this right.”
But on Capitol Hill, both U.S.
Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the
chairman of the House education
committee, and U.S. Sen. Lamar
Alexander of Tennessee, the top
Republican on the Senate education
committee, immediately questioned
the move. Both lawmakers
have expressed big concerns about
the waivers in the past.
“If anyone is looking for further
proof that our education system is
congested with federal mandates,
the education secretary is now
granting waivers from waivers,”
Sen. Alexander said.
Rep. Kline said in a statement that
“more waivers and bureaucratic rigamarole
can’t address the challenges
facing our nation’s schools.”
A Senate GOP aide noted that
California’s bid for a waiver was
rejected by the federal department
because the Golden State didn’t
want to embrace the teacher-evaluation
component of the waivers.
“This is outrageous and without
any intellectual coherence,” said
the aide, who requested anonymity.
“States that grudgingly submitted
[waivers] are now getting relief, but
states that took a principled position
are still screwed. Every member
of the California delegation
should be demanding a waiver for
California overnight.”
SEEKING FRESH
FLEXIBILITY
U.S. Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan has offered
states that received No
Child Left Behind Act
waivers in the first two
rounds the opportunity
to shift by one year
their timeline for tying
teacher evaluations
to such decisions as
firing, promotions, and
compensation.
An Education Week survey
of the 34 eligible states, plus
the District of Columbia,
gauged interest in this new
flexibility.
SOURCE: Education Week
CA
AZ
NM
TX
AK
NV
UT
CO
WA
MT
OR
ID
WY
NE
KS
OK
AR
MS AL
LA
FL
GA
Yes (or likely to apply) n
No (or likely not to apply) n
Undecided n
Not eligible n
No waiver n
IA
IL
MO
IN OH
KY
TN
WV
SD
ND
MN
WI
MI
PA
VA
NC
SC
NJ
MD
DE
DC
NY
VT
NH ME
MA
RI
CT
clear, this is not a
pause or a
“
moratorium.”
ARNE DUNCAN
U.S. Secretary of Education
To be very
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Education Week - July 10, 2013

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