Colorado Succeeds Proving the Possible

8/8/2019 Colorado Succeeds Proving the Possible

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A case study of FloridasK-12 education reformsand lessons for Colorado

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About Colorado Succeeds

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P Table of ContentsExecut ve Summary ........................................................ 2

introduct on: is Demography Dest ny? ............. 3

T C K-12 L C ......................... 3

Flor da Leads the Wayon K-12 Educat on Reforms ..................................... 5

How D d Flor da improve Learn ngfor D sadvantaged Students? ................................ 8

T A .............................................. 8

M R ........................................................ 10

S T B A P E .................................................. 12

P C P ...................................................... 12

A T C ........................................... 14

V E ................................................................... 14

Colorado Requ resBold K-12 Reform ........................................................... 16

Notes ...................................................................................... 17

A case study of FloridasK-12 education reformsand lessons for Colorado

OCTOBER 2010


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Proving the Possible 2

Execut ve Summary .

The National Assessment o Educational Progress(NAEP or the Nations Report Card) shows that28 percent o Colorado 4th graders scored BelowBasic in reading in 2009 and that Colorado had

the nations ourth largest Anglo-Hispanic achievement gap.Fortunately, Colorado policymakers can learn rom success ule orts in other states to raise achievement or all students.Florida lawmakers began a comprehensive education re orme ort in 1999, combining accountability, transparency, and

parental choice with other ar-reaching changes. In March2010, the NAEP released new results showing just howsuccess ul Floridas re orms have been, o ering hope toColorado that it can achieve the same results.

This study documents how the latest NAEP results

strengthen the case or Florida-style re orms. Some groupso traditionally underper orming students rom Florida-including that states Hispanic students-outscore similar students by over a grade level in critical early literacy exams.

This report explains in some detail how Floridas re orms,while bene ting all students, have been especially

bene cial to disadvantaged students. For example,Floridas method or grading schools looks not only atstudents overall per ormance and overall gains but alsoconsiders gains among the 25 percent o students withthe lowest scores. Importantly, the students in the bottom25 percent play the biggest role in determining the grade o a school. These students count in all three categories: theoverall scores, the overall gains, and the gains o the lowest-

per orming students.

This paper highlights the key components o Floridas K-12education re orm strategy and explains why the adoptiono the Florida re orms in Colorado would aid all children,especially disadvantaged students.

n Since 1998, Floridas 4th grade reading achievement gainswere more than three times larger than those in Colorado.

n Florida students went rom being more than a grade and a hal behind the Colorado average in 1998 to an exacttie in 2009 despite a signi cantly more challengingdemographic pro le.

n Hispanic students average scores have improved bythree points since 1998 in Colorado, but FloridasHispanic students have improved their scores by 25

points-roughly equivalent to two and a hal -grade levelsworth o progress. In 2009, Floridas Hispanics outscored Colorados Hispanics by 19 points, a di erence o nearlytwo grade levels.

n In 2009, Floridas Hispanic students outscored thestatewide average or all students in 31 other states on 4thgrade reading.

n Floridas low-income students (eligible or a Free or Reduced Price Lunch) went rom a grade level behind Colorados low-income students in 1998 to a grade level

ahead in 2009.Floridas mixture o parental choice options, academictransparency and accountability, and common sensere orms could radically improve the achievement o allstudents in Colorado, especially disadvantaged students.

Recommendat onsColorados policymakers should take strong action to:

1) Ensure that students are promoted to the ourth grade only a ter they demonstrate basic literacy skills2) Improve the Colorado Growth Model by replacing the uzzy school descriptors o Per ormance, Improvement, Priority

Improvement, and Turnaround with the letter grades A, B, C, D, and F

3) Create nancial incentives or school success by linking additional unding to improved student achievement

4) Examine programs that will strengthen school choice by creating positive, bottom up competitive pressure on districtschools to improve per ormance in order to compete or students

5) Consider opportunities to expand access to high-quality curriculum and instruction through virtual educational o erings


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introduct on: .

is demography dest ny?

I so, say some experts, states with growing minority

populations like Colorado seem doomed to ail. In this

view, these states will be weighed down with ine ectiveschool systems that chronically under serve poor and minority students. In the 2009 National Assessment o Educational Progress (NAEP or the Nations Report Card),Colorado had the nations 4th largest Anglo-Hispanicachievement gap in 4th grade reading.

At an academic con erence a ew yearsago, one demographer went so ar asto put up a map in his PowerPoint and

predict that the American Southwestwill become the Appalachia o the21st Century due to the burgeoningHispanic population, which has anenduring gap in achievement whencompared to Anglo students and thenational average. Demography isdestiny, he explained, adding:

Latinos are the fastest-growing population group in the Southwest;they will soon make up a majorityof public school students; and,

as with Appalachian residents inthe past, they have chronicallylow levels of educational achievementsomething that has hurt theeconomic competitiveness of states in the

Appalachian region for decades.

When pressed to elaborate because this dire predictionassumes that states with growing Hispanic populations willnot succeed in improving outcomes or Hispanic students,the demographer responded:

Like I said, the Southwest will be the Appalachianregion of the 21st Century. 1

I anything, this prediction proves optimistic or states suchas Arizona, Cali ornia, Nevada and New Mexico. Thesestates have already made the shi t to becoming majority-minority states. Test score results rom the NAEP showthat West Virginia, the state most closely associated withAppalachian poverty, already outscores all our o thesestates on achievement tests.

Arizona, Cali ornia, Nevada and New Mexico will notsimply ace these problems in the uture. The problem

has already arrived. Will Colorado ollow the same path?The Colorado K-12 Landscapeand ChallengesColorados success or ailure in educating poor and minority students will have a tremendous impact on

the uture o the state. Between 1997and 2007, Hispanics comprised 80

percent o the growth in the ColoradoK-12 population. The Census Bureauannounced in 2007 that Denver Countys

overall population had a majorityo residents comprised by ethnicminorities. 2 Denver Public Schools

became a majority-minority districtdecades ago, and the continued growtho Colorados Hispanic populationensures that many other districts will

ollow suit. Between 2000 and 2008alone, the number o Colorado studentsquali ying or a ree or reduced lunchunder ederal poverty guidelines

increased by sixty percent- rom 144,000students in 2000 to 231,161 studentsin 2008. 3 Is Colorado simply a decade

behind a trend that has already overcome neighboringstates? Can Colorado radically improve student learning?

Achieving a status as an educational and economicAppalachia happens gradually over time. You must knowwhere to look to nd evidence o it happening. TheAlliance or Excellence in Education has been lookingand is sounding an alarm bell or Colorado. The Allianceestimates that nearly 17,400 students o the ColoradoClass o 2009 ailed to graduate rom Colorados highschools. They estimate the lost li etime earnings or this class o dropouts alone will amount to more than$4.5 billion. The Alliance also correlates oregoneeconomic growth, higher criminal incarceration costs,higher Medicaid and other costs associated with thesethousands o students dropping out. 4 Additionally, manyo the students who do graduate rom high school areunderprepared or college coursework. I Colorados high

The Alliance es matesthat nearly 17,400

students of theColorado Class of 2009

failed to graduate fromColorados high schools.They es mate the lost

life me earnings for thisclass of dropouts alone

will amount to morethan $4.5 billion.


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schools graduated all o their students ully prepared or college, the Alliance estimates that the state would

save almost $52.1 million a year in community collegeremediation costs and lost earnings.

It is worth bearing in mind that the state produces a newdropout class every year, and minority students make up adisproportionate number o the dropouts. Table 1 below shows

high school graduation rates in Colorado by race/ethnicity:

TABLE 1: C 2006 H SG R E

Colorado N

A S 73% 69%

W 80% 76%

B k 59% 51%

H 51% 55%

Asian 81% 79%

N A 46% 50%

Source: Alliance for Excellent Educa on

Table 1 demonstrates that only 69 percent o studentsgraduate rom high school nationally, and the picture is onlyslightly better in Colorado. Colorados Hispanic graduationrate is below the already low national average and stood ata mere 51 percent. Although Colorados A rican Americangraduation rate is higher than the national average, it is also

catastrophically poor at 59 percent.

Colorados achievementgap is signi cant, and e orts to eliminate the gaphave yet to gain traction.In act, Colorados 2010Round 2 Race to the Topapplication was downgraded

by the judges or ailing toclose the achievement gap

between disadvantaged students and their wealthier

peers.

In The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gapin Americas Schools ,McKinsey & Companyquanti ed the economic cost o the achievement gaps. I the gap between Hispanic and A rican American student

per ormance and white student per ormance had beenclosed, American Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2008would have been between $310 billion and $525 billionhigher, or 2 to 4 percent o GDP. The magnitude o thisimpact will rise as Hispanics and A rican Americans becomea larger proportion o the population and work orce. Theimpact o the gap between average educational achievementin the United States and the top global competitors coststhe United States even more in the way o oregone growth.McKinsey reached a startling conclusion:

Put differently, the persistence of these educational achievement gaps imposes on the United Statesthe economic equivalent of a permanent national recession. The recurring annual economic cost of the international achievement gap is substantiallylarger than the deep recession the United States iscurrently experiencing. 5

All else being equal, we would expect Colorados dropout problem to grow as demographic change continues. Thecost to the Colorado economy will likewise surge. Atthe current rate, within ten years, Colorado will have

produced an additional 174,000 high school dropouts. Atthe same time, a Georgetown University study projectsColorado will be one o the top states in the country

or the creation o jobs requiring a university degree by 2018. 6 Colorado will require well-educated students prepared to meet the economic challenges o the 21st

Century, not dropouts.Demography need not proveto be destiny. Florida, arelatively modest spendingstate without an incometax, radically improved student achievement or even the most traditionallydisadvantaged students. In

act, Colorado and Florida

spend almost preciselythe same amount per student- $8,436 in Coloradoand $8,555 in Florida.Colorado need not acceptan inevitable decline intoeducation and economic

mediocrity i citizens and lawmakers can display the courageto re orm their system o schools.

Put differently, the persistence of these educa onal achievement

gaps imposes on the United Statesthe economic equivalent of a

permanent na onal recession. Therecurring annual economic cost of

the interna onal achievement gap issubstan ally larger than the

deep recession the United States iscurrently experiencing.


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.

Flor da Leads the Way on K-12 Educat on Reforms

Beginning in 1999, the Florida state legislature

began implementing ar-reaching education

re orms. These re orms included grading schoolswith easy to understand letter grade labels: A, B,C, D, and F. Floridas lawmakers ensured that elementarystudents were promoted to the ourth grade only a ter theydemonstrated basic literacy skills. They created nancialincentives or high school success by o ering school and teacher bonuses or students passing Advanced Placementexams. Floridas policymakers expanded school choice,creating a tax credit scholarship program and the nationslargest voucher program. Florida became the nationsleader in virtual educationo ering classes online

through the Florida Virtual School. 7 Florida lawmakersalso created multiple paths or alternative teacher certi cation. The results, as you will see, are compellingand demonstrate that while challenging, Colorado canradically improve its educational outcomes.

This paper makes the case or enacting Floridas K-12education re orms in Colorado by comparing thecritically important ourth-grade reading scores o Colorado and Florida. You will see below why Floridasscores should inspire action in Colorado. The results only

rein orce what had already been a convincing case: Theactual proves the possible. Florida has radically improved student per ormance, especially among disadvantaged students. Colorado can and must do the same. In March2010, the National Center or Educational Statisticsreleased the reading exam results o the 2009 NAEP. O all the NAEP exams, education o cials pay the closestattention to the ourth-grade reading exam. Literacyacquisition involves developmentally crucial periods reading is broadly similar to learning a oreign languagein that it is easier to do when you are young. Educators

summarize this phenomenon with an expression: Ingrades K-3, you are learning to read . A ter third grade,you are reading to learn . By ourth grade, i you cannotread, you cannot learn.

Figure 1 presents the scores rom NAEPs ourth-gradereading exams or both Colorado and Florida between1998 and 2009. Bear in mind that a 10-point gain onthe NAEP equals approximately one grade levels wortho learning.

Notice that in 1998, the year be ore Floridas re orm e orts began, Colorados average student outscored Floridasaverage student by 14 points on NAEP reading. Floridasscore that year was near the bottom o the rankings. 8 In2009, however, the average Florida student scored the sameas the average Colorado student. During this 11-year period,Colorado made a six-point gain, while the average Florida

score increased by twenty points.Even this comparison understates the staggering nature o Floridas gains, as it ails to account or student demographics.Students eligible or a Free or Reduced Price Lunch, astandard metric or low-income status, comprise 45.6

percent o Floridas K-12 population. The same measure inColorado comes in at 34.4 percent, indicating that Colorados

percentage o low-income children is approximately twenty-ve percent smaller than that in Florida.

In addition, Florida schools have aced a much larger challenge

in overcoming the racial achievement gap than schools inColorado. Colorado and Florida have similar percentages o Hispanic students (both over a quarter o all students), butFlorida has a ar larger A rican American student populationthan Colorado. A rican Americans comprise approximatelytwenty- our percent o the Florida K-12 population, but onlysix percent o the Colorado student body.

Colorado is relatively wealthy and predominantly Anglowhen compared to Florida. Florida has a majority-minority

224

219

224

200

205

210

215

220

225

230

FloridaColorado

20092007200520031998

S 1998, F 4

C

220

206

224

218

4 G NAEP S ,C F , 1998-2009

FiGuRE 1:

226


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K-12 population, while Colorado does not (yet). The actthat Florida students per orm at an equal level on averagewith Colorado students in 4th grade reading representsan extraordinary achievement or Florida. Figure 2 below

begins to reveal the ull scale o the opportunity or improvement or Colorado, by making apple-to-applecomparisons between Colorado and Florida.

Figure 2 presents ourth-grade reading NAEP datacomparing Floridas low-income students with low-incomestudents in Colorado. In 2010, a amily o our could earn nomore than $40,793 per year to quali y or a reduced lunch.However, o those who quali ed nationwide or Free and Reduced Price Lunch (FRL), 80 percent o children were

rom amilies who quali ed or a ree lunch, which has amaximum amily income o $28,665 or a amily o our.

Be ore the Florida re orms in 1999, Colorados low-incomestudents scored twelve points higher than their Florida peers.In 2009, we nd that the shoe is on the other oot: Floridaslow-income students outscore their peers in Colorado bymore than a ull grade level. We can examine the same NAEPdata as the percentage o children reaching a certain level o achievement. NAEP has our levels o achievement: BelowBasic, Basic, Pro cient and Advanced. Figure 3 (top right)demonstrates the percentage o low-income Colorado and

Florida children reaching the Basic, Pro cient or Advanced levels on 4th grade reading between 1998 and 2009.

Take a long, hard look at Figure 3. Imagine you had to do li eover again and ound yoursel born as a low-income child.Your chances o acquiring the basic literacy skills you need tosucceed in li e are much better in Florida than in Colorado.

Figure 4 compares the academic progress o FloridasHispanic students to that o Hispanic students in Colorado.Between 1998 and 2009, Colorados Hispanic students

improved their average score by three points. Floridas

Hispanic students, however, increased their average score by 25 points. In 2009, Floridas Hispanic students outscored Colorados counterparts by almost two grade levels. Eveni Floridas Hispanic children made no urther literacyimprovement, at Colorados current pace o improvement, itwould take approximately 70 years to match their scores.

Hispanic students in Florida have made such strong progressthat they outscore the statewide averages o 31 states, asshown in the ollowing map rom the Heritage Foundation.Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once quipped that successon NAEP correlates with proximity to the Canadian border,a wry comment on the racial achievement gap. Notice,however, the large number o predominantly Anglo states tied

190

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210

215

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225

FloridaColorado

20092007200520031998

A C k 70

H F

FiGuRE 4:

201

211

215218

223

198

205 206 204 204

4 G NAEP S H ,

C F , 1998-2009

0

15

30

45

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75

FloridaColorado

20091998

F FRL B 27

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FiGuRE 3:

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P C F F R L E C S B B

4 G R NAEP, 1998-2009

180

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FloridaColorado

20092007200520031998

F FRL C FRL

1998 2009.

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4 G NAEP S F R L , C F , 1998-2009

213217

FiGuRE 2:


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C mpa s a sc f F da h pa c s ud , 4 g ad r ad nAIn 2009, Hispanic students in Florida outscored or ed the statewide reading average of all students in 31 states.

WA(221)

OR

(218)

CA(210)

NV(211)

ID(221)

uT(219)

AZ(210)

AK(211)

HI(211)

NM(208)

NE(223)

WY(223)

CO(226)

TX(219)

OK(217)

SD(222)

MN

(223)

IA(221)

Wi(220)

MI(218)

iL(219)

IN(223)

AR(216)

LA(207)

MS(211)

AL(216)

TN(217)

GA(218)

NC(219)

SC(16)

F : H A 226

WV(215)

Ri(223)

Courtesy of The Heritage Founda onSource: Na onal Assessment of Educa on Progress.

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FloridaColorado

20091998

O - F FRL H B

CFRL H

FiGuRE 5:

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P F R E H CC F S B B , 4 GR NAEP, 1998-2009

or outscored by Floridas Hispanic students- Iowa, Michigan,Minnesota, Oregon and others (Colorados statewide averagescore or all students, 226, lies narrowly above the average

or the Hispanic students in Florida.) Floridas Hispanicswere not alone in outscoring or tying statewide averages:Floridas A rican American students outscored or tied the statewide average or all students in Alaska, Arizona,Cali ornia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and NewMexico, and narrowly missed several others.

Finally, Figure 5 takes both income and race into account by comparing the reading achievement o Free and Reduced Lunch eligible Hispanics in both Colorado and Florida.

Again, even i low-income Hispanics in Florida made nourther improvement, at Colorados current gradual rate

o improvement, it would take Colorados low-incomeHispanics over three decades to match the achievement o their peers in Florida.

Fortunately, we have every reason to believe that Coloradocan, in act, accelerate what has been a relatively glacialrate o improvement.


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.

How D d Flor da improve Learn ngfor D sadvantaged Students?

Transparency and Acco ntab l ty

Floridas policymakers advanced a multi aceted strategy, which has bene ted a wide range o students in that state. Notice, however, thatdisadvantaged students have gained the most

rom these re orms. Furthermore, ewer chronically low per orming students in the classrooms bene ts all students.

Floridas system o accountability grades schools with asimple letter: A, B, C, D, or F. Florida determines schoolsgrades in equal measure between overall academicachievement and academic growth over time. In addition,the state divides the growth part o the ormula equally

between the gains or all students, and the gains or the 25 percent o students with the lowest overall scores.

Importantly, the students in the bottom 25 percent play thebiggest role in determining the grade of a school . Thesestudents count in all three categories: the overall scores, theoverall gains, and the gains o the lowest-per orming students.

Note the elegance o that system. On the other hand, theederal No Child Le t Behind Act (NCLB) allows schools

not to count subgroups depending upon the size o thegroup. NCLB divides student bodies into various subgroups

based upon race, ethnicity, income, disability status, etc.,and requires an increasing passing threshold rom eachgroup. State o cials determine the exact size o the groups

be ore they countand some exempt ar larger groups o students than others do.

The Flor da Portfol o of ReformsFlorida did not achieve these results with any singlere orm, but rather with a multi aceted strategy. Re ormhighlights include:

n Florida grades all district and charter schools based uponoverall academic per ormance and student learning gains.Schools earn letter grades o A, B, C, D, or F, which

parents easily can interpret.

n Florida ensured that students were promoted to the ourth

grade only a ter they demonstrated basic literacy skillsi a child cannot read, the de ault becomes that he or she willrepeat the grade until he or she demonstrates basic skills.

n Florida lawmakers created an incentive program or schools and teachers, which provides bonuses or each o their students who pass Advanced Placement exams

n The Step Up or Students Tax Credit program assists23,000 low-income students in attending the school o their

parents choiceboth private (tuition assistance) and public(transportation assistance or district school trans erees).

n The McKay Scholarships or Students with DisabilitiesProgram stands as the nations largest school voucher

program, sending more than 20,000 students with specialneeds to the public or private school o their parents choice.

n Florida has an active charter school program, with 375charter schools serving more than 131,000 students.

n Florida created multiple alternative teacher certi cation paths in which adult pro essionals can demonstrate

content knowledge in order to obtain a teaching license.Hal o Floridas new teachers now come throughalternative routes.

n Florida has the largest virtual-school program in thenation, with more than 80,000 students taking one or more courses online.


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The Florida system, meanwhile, is ar more direct: Every school has a bottom 25 percent o students. Regardless o why those students have struggled academically, Floridasgrading system will not grant schools a high grade unlessthose students make progress.

In Florida, state o cials post schooland district level in ormation about

per ormance and grades, and schools arerequired to send a school report card to

parents. Tough love is still love: Floridasschools began to improve, both on theFlorida Comprehensive Assessment Test(FCAT) and NAEP (a source o externalvalidation or the state exam).

A small but noisy group complained the system was cruel to schools with

predominantly minority student bodiesand claimed that it is un air to teachers

and to students. It would prove di cultto be any more tragically mistaken. To be sure, ratingschools A through F in Florida represents tough medicine;the state called out underper orming schools in a way thateveryone could instantly grasp.

Did Floridas D and F schools wither under the glare o public shame? Quite the opposite: Those schools ocused their resources on improving academic achievement.Made aware o the problems in their schools,communities rallied to the aid o low-per orming schools.People volunteered their time to tutor struggling students,

improving academic per ormance, and thus the schoolsgrade, became a ocus.

In 1999, 677 Florida public schools received a grade o D or F, and only 515 an A or a B. Figure 6 (below) tracksthe trend or those sets o grades; the three dotted arrows

represent a raising o the standards,which made it more challenging toreceive a high grade. In 2009, only 217schools received a D or F, while 2,317schools received an A or B.

It is worth noting that Florida did notachieve this progress by lowering thecut score o the state FCAT exam (thecut score is the minimum passingscore a student can achieve). Harvard Pro essor Paul Peterson has demonstrated that Florida has indeed maintained theintegrity o the FCAT. Fortunately, the

same study shows that Colorado hasimproved the standing o the Colorado Student AssessmentProgram (CSAP) exam, going rom a grade o D in 2003to a B- in 2009. 9

Floridas students have improved both on the FCAT and onthe NAEP. Floridas improvement on NAEP also dispelsthe concern that schools are teaching to the test. NAEPexams have a high degree o security, and ederal, state, and local authorities do not use them to rate schools or teachers.Teachers lack both the ability and the incentive to teach tothe questions on NAEP exams.

0

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D and F SchoolsA and B Schools

20092008200720062005200420032002200120001998

F k (

FiGuRE 6:

Source: Founda on for Excellence in Educa on

677

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8451,004

1,447

1,809 1,802 1,844

2,0771,952

2,125

2,317

401307 249

173 233308

143

299199 217

R F A+ P S G F 1999-2009Number of A & B versus D & F Schools

To be sure, ra ngschools A through F in Florida represents

tough medicine;the state called out underperforming

schools in a way that everyone could instantly grasp.


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Floridas schools improved their rankings because their students learned to read at a higher level and became more

pro cient at math. Those who wanted to continue to coddleunderper orming schools, while perhaps well intentioned,argued in avor o consigning hundreds o thousands o Florida children to illiteracy. Although, they did not realizeit at the time, one cannot avoid the conclusion now.

In Colorado, a per ormance ramework assigns both districtsand schools into categories based on the attainment o per ormance indicators. Districts arelabeled by their accreditation and schools

by the type o plan they are required to adopt and implement. Pursuantto statute, schools are categorized asrequiring one o the ollowing our typeso plans: per ormance, improvement,

priority improvement, or turnaround.The Colorado Department o Education

evaluates elementary and middle schools based on three per ormance indicatorsincluding: academic achievement (25%),academic growth (50%), and gaps inacademic growth (25%). High schoolsare evaluated based on our per ormanceindicators including: academic achievement (15%), academicgrowth (35%), gaps in academic growth (15%), and

postsecondary and work orce readiness (35%). Based on2009-10 scores, approximately 60 percent o schools werelabeled per ormance schools and are required to adopt the

corresponding per ormance plan. The next quarter received the improvement plan. The next 10 percent must adopt and implement the priority improvement plan. The bottom 5

percent must adopt and implement the turnaround plan.

Colorado has been a pioneer in developing an academicgrowth model and school per ormance ramework; however,an opportunity exists to more clearly and accurately labelschools. Colorado should replace uzzy descriptors such asper ormance with school grades. Parents can much moreeasily understand grades, which convey a ranking scale in away that a collection o descriptors will not. Many parents maynot be too concerned i their child is going to an improvementschool; however, they will likely not be satis ed with a schoolthat has earned a grade o C. Colorado should also examine therigor o its criteria. A state in which 28 percent o the 4th gradestudents scored below basic on the NAEPs 4th grade readingtest ought not to only be labeling 15 percent o its schools inthe bottom two categories. Without a doubt, there are manyschools labeled improvement that have ailed to impart basicacademic skills to signi cant numbers o students.

Move on when Read ng Nothing better exempli es the tough-minded determinationo Florida lawmakers to improve literacy skills than the3rd grade move on when reading policy. Begun in 2003,the Florida policy requires students to exhibit at least basicliteracy skills by the end o the 3rd grade. I the studentsare unable to do so a ter multiple attempts, the policy

requires that they repeat 3rd grade. It is important tonote, however, that Floridas move onwhen reading policy contains a number o exemptions. 10

The rationale or such a policyis summarized by McKinsey &Company: students who ail to learnhow to read in the early grades all

urther and urther behind grade levelin advancing years. This goes back to

the expression: In grades K-3, you arelearning to read. A ter third grade, youare reading to learn. McKinsey put itFor many students (but by no meansall), lagging achievement evidenced as early as ourth grade appears to

be a power ul predictor o rates o high school and college graduation, as well as li etime earnings. 11 The

policy may seem cruel to some; however, the researchdemonstrates that it is only cruel to those students exempted from the policy .

An analysis by Manhattan Institute scholars compared the academic progress o retained students to two groupso similar students (those who barely scored high enoughto avoid retention and those who scored low enough or retention but received an exemption). The Manhattanteam reported that a ter two years retained Floridastudents made signi cant reading gains relative to thecontrol group o socially promoted students. 12 Theresearchers ound that the academic bene t increased a ter the second year: That is, students lacking in basicskills who are socially promoted appear to all urther

behind over time, whereas retained students appear to be able to catch up on the skills they are lacking. 13 A RAND corporation evaluation o a similar retention

policy in New York City also ound academic gainsollowing retention. 14

The retained students learned how to read, whereas the promoted students continued to all behind. Schools did not do the exempted children a avor. They continued to all

urther below grade level, which is the normal academictrajectory or children ailing to learn basic literacy skills.

Colorado should replace fuzzy descriptors suchas performance withschool grades. Parentscan much more easily understand grades,

which convey aranking scale in a way

that a collec on of descriptors will not.


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Once again, the students at the bottom proved the biggestwinners rom Floridas tough-minded re orms.

The Colorado Basic Literacy Act (22-7-501 507) callsor individual literacy plans and home reading plans or

students ailing to demonstrate basic literacy skills. Thelegislative declaration o the Act states, It is the intento the general assembly that, a ter completion o the third grade, no pupilmay be placed at a grade level or other level o schooling that requires literacyskills not yet acquired by the pupil.The Act urther speci es, In no caseshall a school district permit a pupil to

pass rom the third grade to the ourthgrade or reading classes unless the pupilis assessed as reading at or above thereading comprehension level established

by the state board. Un ortunately, this policy is not en orced. The exemptionscreated by the State Board o Educationinclude children with disabilities and

English language learners (ELL).Conversely, Floridas retention policy contains much morenarrow exemptions or special needs and non-Englishspeakers. Florida exempts non-native English speakers whohave been in the state English language learner program or less than two years. Floridas policy also exempts specialeducation students or whom standardized testing is not

possible (a very small minority o cases) and speci es that aspecial needs student shall not be retained more than one year.The vast majority o ELL and Special Education students

in Florida, however, are subject to the retention policy. The policy also allows the student to demonstrate basic literacyskills through a port olio assessment, which requires the

ormal approval o the parent, teacher and principal.

Figure 7 (above le t) demonstrates that a blanket exemptionor ELL students proves to be a mistake. Other policies

certainly infuenced the success o Floridas schools in getting ELL studentsto acquire basic literacy skills (especiallythe ormula or grading schools), but

the move on when reading policycertainly contributed to Floridassuccess. Floridas 4th grade ELLstudents were precisely twice as likelyto score basic or better in Reading onthe 2009 NAEP compared to Coloradostudents. Exempting special needs and ELL children in Colorado is not helpingthem; rather, the policy is harming their long-term prospects.

Furthermore, Florida students have

shown sustained improvements in later grades since the advent o the retention policy. Figure 8(above right) shows FCAT reading scores or sixth througheighth graders be ore and a ter the cohorts o studentsimpacted by the retention policy entered middle school(designated by the dotted line). Scores continue to improveover time, a nding also refected in the trends in Floridas8th grade NAEP reading scores.

It should be emphasized that the objective o the moveon when reading policy is universal literacy. To that end,

0

15

30

45

60

FloridaColorado

F 4 ELL k B 2009

FiGuRE 7:

26%

52%

E L L S B B ,4 G R NAEP, 2009

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Level 1Level 3 and Above (On Grade Level and Above)

200920082007200620052004200320022001

P e r c e n

t

F 6

(

FiGuRE 8:

Source: Founda on for Excellence in Educa on

48

30

49

29

51

27

51

27

51

26

57

20

58

19

61

17

62

16

M S FCAT R , G 6, 7 8

For many students(but by no means all),lagging achievement

evidenced as early as fourth grade appears

to be a powerful predictor of rates of

high school and collegegradua on, as well as

life me earnings.


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the number o students retained under Floridas policyhas also decreased over time as student reading improved in earlier grades. In 2002, the year be ore the policy wasimplemented, 27 percent o Florida 3rd graders scored atthe lowest level o the reading portion o the FCAT. By2010, only 16 percent o 3rd graders did so, a reductiono 41 percent. Floridas move on when reading policycreates positive pressure or schools to emphasize early

literacy, and or parents to take greater responsibility or thereading skills o their children. Florida enacted tough loveon literacy. Colorado should do the same.

School and Teacher Bon sesfor Advanced Placement ExamsWorking in partnership with the College Board

beginning in the year 2000, Florida sought to increasethe academic achievement o their students, particularlythose underrepresented in universities.

The comprehensive plan included pro essional development or teachersand counselors and ree PSAT exams

or students. Florida o cials created APPotential a web-based tool to identi y

promising students or AP coursework.

The program relied heavily onincentives, creating an AP Teacher Bonus $50 or every passing score,up to $2,000. The program also created an incentive or the school, paying theschool a bonus o $650 per student

passing an Advanced Placement exam. Florida provided an additional school bonus o $500 per student passingan AP exam in schools rated D or F. The idea wasto set high expectations and to reward success. Floridao cials care ully wrote this bonus into the unding

ormula so that it went to the school, not to the schooldistrict. The number o all Florida students who have passed an AP exam increased by 206 percent between 1999 and 2009. Similarly, Figure 9 demonstrates that the number o Floridas Hispanic and A rican American students passingone or more Advanced Placement exams more than tripled

between 1999 and 2008. In ormation rom the NationalMath and Science Initiative regarding Hispanic AP passingrates (presented in Figure 10) shows that Florida had thehighest passing rate or Hispanics in the country. FloridasHispanic passing rate is approximately three times higher than Colorados.

A ballot measure requires Colorado to increase K-12unding on a regular basis. Floridas success in getting

minority students to test out o college credit shows thatit is best to condition additional unding on better student achievement.

Parental Cho ce ProgramsFlorida has gone urther than any state in expanding

parental options-through charter schools, tuition tax

credits and virtual education. Florida has an activecharter school program, with 375 charter schools servingmore than 131,000 students. Floridas private schoolchoice programs allow children with disabilities and low-income children to receive assistance to attend

private schools o their parents choosing. Florida has both the largest school voucher program (the McKayScholarship Program or children with disabilities) and the largest scholarship tax credit program (Step Up

or Students, which assists low-income children attend private schools) in the country.

McKay Scholarship Program allows parents to apply or a school voucher

or a child with a disability attending adistrict or charter school. The program

began in 2001, and last year, almost21,000 special needs students utilized the program, approximately 6 percento special needs students. The programallows the unding associated withthe special needs child to ollow themto a public or private school o their choice, and the average scholarship

amount was $7,144 or the 2009 school year. Over 950 Florida private schools participated in the McKayProgram in 2009.

The Step Up or Students Tax Credit program also began in 2001. It provides a dollar or dollar tax creditto corporations or donations to non-pro t ScholarshipFunding Organizations (SFOs). Only children with amilyincomes low enough to quali y or a ree or reduced

price lunch under ederal guidelines may use a Step Up

or Students scholarship, which averaged approximately$4,100 in 2009. The program saves the state money byhelping to provide an education at a lower cost to the state.School districts lose state unding when children decideto go elsewhere, but retain local unding to cover xed costs. Almost 29,000 students utilized the program or the2009 school year, approximately 2 percent o low-incomestudents, and the program has drawn strong bipartisansupport in the Florida legislature in recent years. In 2010, asubstantial expansion o the Step Up or Students program

The number of all Florida students whohave passed an APexam increased by

206 percent between1999 and 2009.


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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

AZORNMWAPAMACACOTXILCTNJNYGAVAFL

Math, Science and English AP Passing Test Scores per 1,000 students for Stateswith 7,000 or more Hispanic Junior and Senior Students, 2006

78.171.3

47.138.1

30.6 30.5 30.1 28.6 26.3 25.0 24.2

Source: Foundaton for Excellence in Educaton

informa on from the Na onal Math and Sc ence in a veregard ng H span c AP pass ng rates shows that Flor da had the

h ghest pass ng rate for H span cs n the co ntry. Flor das H span c pass ng rate s approx mately three mes h gher than Colorados.

FiGuRE 10:

Between 1999 and 2008, the n mber of Flor das H span c and Afr can Amer can st dents pass ng one or more Advanced Placement exams more than tr pled.

FiGuRE 9:

02,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

African-AmericanHispanic

2008200720062005200420032002200120001999

5,611

1,314

6,400

1,503

7,234

1,655

9,061

2,214

10,702

2,450

12,754

2,794

14,002

3,059

15,822

3,326

17,697

4,080

18,882

4,401

Florida AP Passing Scores Hispanics and Americans, 1999-2008

Source: Foundaton for Excellence in Educaton

24.221.2

17.513.1

10.1


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a very large di erence. Tom Vander Ark, the rst ExecutiveDirector o the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also seesa undamental trans ormation o education on the horizon:

Were headed for radical choicenot just school choice but choice to the lesson level. Well soon haveadaptive content libraries and

smart recommendation engines that

string together a unique playlist for every student every day.

These smart platforms will considerlearning level, interests, and best learning modality (i.e., motivational

prole and learning style to optimizeunderstanding and persistence).Smart learning platforms will be used by some students that learn at home,by some students that connect throughhybrid schools with a day or two

onsite, and by most students throughblended schools that mix onlinelearning with onsite support systems.

Choice between physical schoolswill increasingly be about thelearning community they createin terms of the application and extracurricular opportunities and guidance and

support systems. In some states, families will gain theability to construct a series of learning experiences that

t family needs, schedules, preferences, and interests. 20

Christensens and Vander Arks visions may be slowin arriving, may happen more quickly than mostexpect, or may never ully happen. Regardless,hundreds o thousands o students already bene it

rom online learning opportunities, including a greatmany students attending traditional district schools.

Many schools around the nation lack Advanced Placement programs and

advanced math and science courses-especially in small districts and inrural areas. All schools by necessityhave limited oreign languageo erings. The possibilities or remediation through online coursework should excite everyone.

Florida leads the nation in online K-12opportunities. The Center or DigitalEducation ranked state online policies inOnline Learning Policy Survey: A Surveyof the States . Colorado ranked 13th bestoverall, and Florida ranked as the topstate in the nation. 21 The key re ormthat Florida has embraced that othershave not is to allow student unding to

ollow the child down to the course level,not simply to the school level. Having

adopted such a nancial model, online learning in Floridais nancially scalable. The demand o students, not annualappropriations or arti cial caps, should determine the rateo growth or online instruction.

The key reform that Florida has embraced that others have not is to allow student

funding to follow thechild down to the

course level, not simply to the school level.

Having adopted such a nancial model, online

learning in Florida is nancially scalable.


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.

Colorado Requ res Bold K-12 Reform

Colorado adds to a legion o high school dropoutsevery year. In the 2009-10 school year, 28 percent

o Colorado 4th graders scored Below Basic onthe reading section o the NAEP. In other words,more than a quarter o the Class o 2017 is already in thedropout pipeline. Their schools ailed to impart essentiallearning skills at the developmentally critical age. Eachyear, more and more o them will all urther and urther

behind grade level. During the 2011-12 school year, thesestudents will be 6th graders staring at science textbooksthey cannot read . In 2012 and 2013, many will becomedespondent and disruptive. Never imagining themselvesattending college, many will begin to wonder why they are

bothering to go to school. In 2013, as 8th graders, the rsto them will begin dropping out o school.

This is a social and economic disaster or Colorado.Colorado has the evidence and the tools to stop this trend.

In December 2006, the New Commission on Skills and theAmerican Work orce released a report titled Tough Choicesor Tough Times. The commission included a bipartisanmix o education luminaries, including two ormer U.S.secretaries o education. The report warns, I we continueon our current course and the number o nations outpacing

us in the education race continues to grow at its currentrate, the American standard o living will steadily allrelative to those nations, rich and poor, doing a better job. 22

Commenting on the report, Jack Jennings told the ChristianScience Monitor, I think weve tried to do what we can to

improve American schools within the current context. Nowwe need to think much more daringly. 23 These and other

observers have reached an unavoidable conclusion: Thetraditional model o delivering public education requires adrastic overhaul, not incremental re orm.

Floridas example shows that it is possible to improvestudent per ormance by instituting a variety o curricular and incentive-based re orms, placing both top down and

bottom up pressure on schools to improve.

Indeed, we cannot achieve global competitiveness throughminor tweaks o a largely underper orming system.Floridas broad e orts and resulting outcomes provethis. Fortune avors the bold, and a brighter uture awaitsColorados students i Colorados adults will take strongaction. Colorados students need it, her taxpayers deserve it,and her economy requires it.

Academic atalists will quickly jump up to argue that somestudents simply cannot learn . Florida and the success o others in substantially improving the scores o poor and minority children should put this so t bigotry o lowexpectations into the shame ul dustbin o history that it sorichly deserves.

Moreover, Floridas success in helping poor and minoritychildren to read at higher levels compared to similar students in Colorado crushes such arguments. Bottomline: Tough love or schools means big gains or kids,especially disadvantaged kids. Appropriately, the childrenwith the least have gained the most.

Recommendat onsColorados policymakers should take strong action to:

1) Ensure that students are promoted to the ourth grade only a ter they demonstrate basic literacy skills2) Improve the Colorado Growth Model by replacing the uzzy school descriptors o Per ormance, Improvement, Priority

Improvement, and Turnaround with the letter grades A, B, C, D, F

3) Create nancial incentives or school success by linking additional unding to improved student achievement

4) Examine programs that will strengthen school choice by creating positive, bottom up competitive pressure on districtschools to improve per ormance in order to compete or students

5) Consider opportunities to expand access to high-quality curriculum and instruction through virtual educational o erings


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Notes 1 Mary Jo Waits, Heather E. Campbell, Rebecca Gau, Ellen

Jacobs, Tom Rex, and Robert K. Hess. 2006. Why SomeSchools with Latino Children Beat the Odds and Oth-ers Dont , http://www.asu.edu/copp/morrison/LatinEd.

pd . Quotation rom p. 9. The exchange occurred betweenMary Jo Waits and one o Kentuckys leading demogra-

phers at a con erence with members o Kentuckys Coun-cil on Higher Education.

2 Finley, Bruce. 2007. Minorities a majority in Denver: Now,50.01 percent o the countys population is non-white, sta-tistics show. Article in the Denver Post, available online athttp://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_6577663.

3 United States Department o Education Common Core data,available online at http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/bat/.

4 The Alliance or Excellent Education. 2009. The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inad-equate High Schools . Available on the internet at http://www.all4ed.org/ les/HighCost.pd .

5 McKinsey and Company. 2009. The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in Americas Schools . Report available on-line at: http://www.mckinsey.com/app_media/images/page_ images/o ces/socialsector/pd /achievement_gap_report.pd

6 See Georgetown Public Policy Institute at http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pd s/Appendices.pd .

7 For details on the widely admired Florida Virtual School,see Bill Tucker Floridas Online OptionVirtual school offerstemplate for reform in the Winter 2009 edition o Education

Next , available online at http://educationnext.org/foridas-online-option/.

8 Passage o the No Child Le t Behind Act in 2002 made participation in NAEP a precondition or receiving ederaleducation dollars. All states began participating in NAEP

beginning in 2003. 9 Peterson, Paul E. and Carlos Xabel Lastra-Anadn. 2010.

State Standards Rising in Reading but Not in Math. Articleappearing in Education Next , available online at http://educationnext.org/state-standards-rising-in-reading-but-not-in-math/

10 The six good cause exemptions to the Florida law:

Students with limited English pro ciency (LEP) whohave less than two years o instruction in an English or Speakers o Other Languages (ESOL) program.

Students with disabilities or whom participation in thestatewide assessment program is not appropriate.

Students who demonstrate an acceptable level o per or-mance on an alternative standardized reading assessment.

Students who demonstrate, through a student port olio,that they are reading on grade level (based on mastery o the Sunshine State Standards).

Students with disabilities who were previously retained ingrades K-3.

Students who were previously retained in grades K-3 or a total o two or more years.

1 McKinsey and Company. 2009. The Economic Impact of the

Achievement Gap in Americas Schools, page 5. Report availableonline at: http://www.mckinsey.com/app_media/images/page_ images/o ces/socialsector/pd /achievement_gap_report.pd

12 Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters, Getting Farther byStaying Behind: A Second-Year Evaluation o Floridas Policyto End Social Promotion, Manhattan Institute Civic Report

No. 49, September 2006.

13 Greene and Winters, Getting Farther by Staying Behind,2006.

14 McCombs, Jenni er Sloan, Sheila Nataraj Kirby and Louis T.Mariano

Ending Social Promotion Without Leaving Children Behind:The Case of New York City. RAND Corporation, availableonline at http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG894/.

15 East, John. 2010. House sends Tax Credit Scholarship bill togovernor with strong bipartisan vote. Step Up or Students

press release, available online at http://www.stepup orstu-dents.org/cms/House%20passes%20Tax%20Credit%20Schol-arship%20bill.pd

16 See Figlio, David and Cassandra Hart. 2010. Competitive E -ects o Means-Tested School Vouchers Report o the National

Bureau o Economic Research, available online at http://www.stepup orstudents.org/cms/10%20Public%20school%20im-

pacts%20 rom%20Tax%20Credit%20Scholarships.pd . Alsosee Greene, Jay P. and Marcus Winters. 2009. The E ect o Special Education Vouchers on Public School Achievement:Evidence From Floridas McKay Scholarship Program. Re-

port o the Manhattan Institute, available online at http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_52.htm.

17 See Center or Education Re orm Charter School Law Rank-ing and Scorecard 2010 , available on the internet at http://www.charterschoolresearch.com/.

18 Christensen, Clayton and Michael B. Horn. 2008. How DoWe Trans orm Our Schools? Use technologies that competeagainst nothing. Article in Education Next, available onlineat http://educationnext.org/how-do-we-trans orm-our-schools/

19 Lohr, Steve. 2009. Study Finds That Online Education Beatsthe Classroom. Article in the April 19, 2009 edition o the

New York Times . Article available online at http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study- nds-that-online-education-

beats-the-classroom/?emc=eta1.20 Education Sector. Online Discussion: School Choice a la

Carte. October 7-8, 2009, http://www.educationsector.org/discussions/discussions_show.htm?discussion_id=1030563.

21 The Center or Digital Education. 2009. Online Learning Poli-

cy Survey: A Survey of the States available online at http://me-dia.convergemag.com/documents/CDE09+REPORT+Nacol_ Short_V.pd .

22 National Center on Education and the Economy, ToughChoices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commissionon the Skills of the American Workforce, 2006, see http://www.skillscommission.org

23 Amanda Paulson, To Fix U.S. Schools, Panel Says, StartOver, Christian Science Monitor , December 15, 2006. Avail-able online at http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1215/p01s01-ussc.html.


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