open letter to colorado state board of education

8/8/2019 Open Letter to Colorado State Board of Education

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An Open Letter to the Colorado State Board of EducationPaul Richardson

October 27, 2010

Contents

1. Description of the new National Academies Press report,Rising Above the

Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5, including

commentary on the districts part in the crisis and what the problems are.

2. Appendixa. Exhibits re Colorado performanceb. State Standards Comparisonsc.NAEP-State Comparisonsd. Comparing NAEP math stds to Singapore math stdse. Regression Analysis of D11 Reading scores re. free and reduced.

Typical of large Colorado districts.

3. On Money

4.

References


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The National Academies Press just published an update to their 2005 report The

Gathering Storm. You can download the report online at www.nap.edu. Norman

Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed Martin, Colorado native and Princeton

engineering graduate chaired the committee. In the earlier report they

recommended a list of actions but the top priority was to bring K-12 math andscience education to first position globally. The new report after 5 years

acknowledges that we have basically plodded along in a circle getting nowhere

while our competitor nations have been swiftly improving their childrens

educational experience. While we have shown very small improvements, they

have shown large ones meaning we are falling further behind where we need to be.

A sampling of factoids listed in the report: Only listing those directly related to

education.

y The World Economic Forum ranks the United States 48th in quality of

math and science education.

y In 2000 the number of foreign students studying physical science and

engineering in United States graduate schools surpassed the number of

United States students.

y In the 2009 rankings of the Information technology and Innovation

Foundation the U.S. was in sixth place in global innovation-based

competitiveness, but ranked fortieth in rate of change over the pastdecade.

y Sixty-nine percent of United States public school students in 5th through

8th

grade are taught mathematics by a teacher without a degree or

certificate in mathematics.

y Ninety-three percent of United States public school students in 5th

through 8th

grade are taught physical science by a teacher without a

degree or certificate in physical science.

y

The United States ranks 27th

among developed nations in the proportionof college students receiving undergraduate degrees in science or

engineering.

y The United States ranks 20th in high school completion rate among

industrialized nations and 16th

in college completion rate.


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y According to the ACT College Readiness report, 78% of high school

graduates did not meet the readiness benchmark levels for one or more

entry-level college courses in mathematics, science, reading, and

English.

They make the point that job creation has been and is heavily dependent on

technical prowess and innovation. We in America have not been filling the

pipeline with enough engineers and physical scientists to remain competitive.

Thus, their number one goal is for America to become the global leader in math

and science education.

What is the overall conclusion of the committee who prepared the report?

[T]he committee . . . expressed its commitment to help America to be among

those nations whom it hopes will enjoy a truly global prosperity. In [that] regard,

the committee concluded that the United States appears to be on a course that will

lead to a declining, not increasing standard of living for our children and

grandchildren.

We are in a struggle for our countrys future as a leader in the world. This requires

urgency and decisive leadership. When a battlefield commander is faced with

challenges he decides what to do, meets right away with his staff to convey his

plan and implements quickly. In education the reflexive response to challenge is toset up committees, study things for a year or more and then do nothing that really

brings about positive change. The strategy which has worked incredibly well is to

use this delaying tactic, hoping that the original challenger(s) lose motivation and

give up their quest for change. This defensive, protect the status quo approach

virtually guarantees no improvement will occur. That style must be chucked and

replaced by a streamlined, get-things-done approach because we dont have time to

waste. Even if we started today it will take about 20 years for the increased flow

of engineers and scientists we need to start flowing out of the system with PhDs.

We dont have a minute to waste.

So congratulations folks, you have managed to maintain the status quo as measured

by your accomplishments while the country is on a toboggan ride to a declining

standard of living. I am very disgusted with all of you. When you could be doing

the well known things that would fix the problems you continue to spend time on


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polishing the rotten apple and all sorts of administrivia so that you can delay any

positive action that actually would result in better performance. Avoiding change

that might require stepping on a few toes and helping people face the reality of

their performance is too high a price to pay in your book. Just let the country

decline; I dont care as long as I am happy today is your short-sighted attitude.

Everything that needs to be done is well known and would cost less because you

would eliminate the high levels of waste in your current approach. However,

because this wisdom comes from outside of the education swamp it is ignored.

But, the education insiders dont have a clue about what really works. The current

results prove beyond any doubt that the conventional educational wisdom has to be

wrong because it isnt working. The ubiquitous stance of blaming parents,

demographics, etc. is not valid. You have the control of the education process and

if you energized your own performance all sorts of help would come from parents

and others in the community. As it is you work really hard to convince everyone

they need not be concerned because you are doing a wonderful job.

So lets look at some reality: Also see Appendix

Colorado education performance is totally unacceptablewhen you consider that

Colorado has test standards at or near the bottom of the heap of states and that

NAEP standards are set far below the best global competition your performance is

CRAP! As the new report points out this is a global competitive situation and that

is the only metric that counts. So it is time to pull out the mirrors with the

inscription I am responsible at the bottom and gaze long and hard individually at

the one responsible for this mess. I am reminded of Bill Bennetts comment that

while America students compare poorly to their global peers in literacy, math and

science, they score highest in the world in self-esteem [and I would add

niceness].

Educators have learned that with the turnover in commissioners and board

members that if they lengthen the decision making process they win and the status

quo is preserved. This is because there is no management continuity to demand

the changes required to serve your mission well. That is why shorter decision

cycles are vital. Sadly, that takes change leadership skill which is missing in

education venues.


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We know very well how to improve dramatically the abysmal performance but the

we does not include the pseudo expert education insiders. But there are lots of

outsiders who understand math and science (and grammar, literature and social

studies) and how to teach them effectively. They cant believe how inept the

education establishment is.

The board has a huge responsibility that you are not at all addressing. That is, you

are the controlling entity and the only ones who can provide a quality control

function for what is happening in the State Dept of Education. You need to lead

not act as rubber stampers of the we dont have a clue, ed school-brainwashed in

wrong principles educrats. Mark Twain commented, It aint what you dont

know that gets you in trouble. Its what you know for sure that just aint so.

Educators would do well to ponder his meaning.

Your duty is to make sure the kids are served well, and that means a lot better

than they are now. This is not about coddling kids; it is about teaching them

what they need to compete. You could make a huge positive difference if you

started doing your jobs. Job one is to tell the Commissioner that he is performing

unacceptably because the state is performing unacceptably. The whole

organization needs a good swift KITA, Kick in the Attitude, or somewhere south

of there.

Why dont educators take the initiative and fix it? Because they have been

brainwashed in their education school training in methods that E.D. Hirsch terms

technically incorrect. Heaven forbid that you face that truth. In my experience

of trying to talk sense to people on math, for example, there is no ability or interest

to face the reality that the math knowledge among teachers and admin (and

especially education doctorate faculty and researchers at education schools) is

abysmal. If you had listened to people who understand the subjects and what it

takes to provide a hierarchical foundation that can be built upon as grades progress,

you would be light years ahead of where you are now. But, that would require

looking at that mirror and facing the truth, something that educators are terrified to

do.

It is very distasteful to see the education fiefdom chase every incentive carrot held

out by the latest wrong-headed central planning monstrosity initiative. It is time to


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realize that states need to do what is right for their kids. And that certainly isnt

following the latest fad from Washington. It would be far cheaper and more

effective to implement a high quality curriculum without all of the distraction of

make-work fools errands. The kids would benefit greatly. The governors new

common core standards are a good example. They are basically a codifying of thecurrent approach trying to get all the little puffer bellies all in a row. They are

absolutely not going to fix the problems because as research by Hirsch and others

has proven, that approach cant work, period. So doing the wrong thing better is

just the sort of oxymoron that is harming millions of kids every year. It is time to

remember that the mission is to educate children to their potential, not chase every

dollar with the hope of enriching the adults who work in education. The current

waste in education spending is ginormous. What do we have to show for

increasing spending per pupil at about twice the rate of inflation for decades? Notbetter performance, thats for sure.

Educators are not educated. This is a famous quote from Rita Kramer in her

bookEd School Follies. The complete quote is The people who become

educators and who run our school systems usually have degrees in education,

psychology, social sciences, public administration; they are not people who have

studied, know, and love literature, history, science, or philosophy. Our

educators are not educated. They do not love learning. Naturally enough,

they think of the past as dead because it has never been alive to them. And

they will not bring it alive for their pupils. Kramer also relates the Gary Lyon

episode below.

Gary Lyons article, Why Teachers CantTeach.Texas Monthly magazine Sept.

1979 - While you may say this is too old to have credibility I must remind you that

educators have managed to ignore his truth as well. Thus, it is still as accurate

today as when it was written.

He attacked the system that made graduation from an accredited teacher-trainingprogram tantamount to certification and heaped scorn on the education

bureaucracy, backed by the National Education Association, to whom to insist

upon literacy is considered coercive and potentially harmful and a proof of

cultural bias. Real knowledge and skills, he maintained, had been replaced by

matters such as sex education, driver training, drug counseling, and the proper


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attitude toward siblings by educationistsafflicted with a cultural relativism so

profound it has become an intellectual disease.

Basic traditional academic disciplines, in which fundamental intellectual skills are

supposed to be taught had, he found, been replaced in teacher education by apromiscuous choice of courses that he called the intellectual equivalent of puffed

wheat: one kernel of knowledge inflated by means of hot air, divided into pieces

and puffed again. The graduates of the schools of education, where everyone

is transformed into an A student, he charged, are defrauded into believing

they have an education, and he identified the cause of grade inflation and

trivial courses (in which fools dissect, categorize and elaborate upon the

perfectly obvious and in which it is virtually impossible to fail) as the

system that made the operating budgets of all state colleges dependent on the

number of students enrolled.

In programs where there is no subject matter, only method, Lyon saw

enormous amounts of money, energy, and time wasted, and suggested that

future teachers could get more useful experience in less time if they were

apprenticed after securing honest college degrees to proven and experienced

master teachers in actual classrooms with real kids.

Further on education schools, Arthur Levine, then President of Columbia Teachers

College researched every degree granting education school in the country for his

three part report on Educating School Leaders, Teachers and Researchers. These

are available at edschools.org. He commented that they conferred masters on

those who display anything but mastery and doctorates in name only. In

talking to and observing lots of ed doctorate holders I have to say he is right.

These folks, after observing a large sample, couldnt lead their way out of a paper

sack. They are good talkers and tap dancers but not at leading productive change.

They are, though, expert at cashing their huge, undeserved paychecks for

preserving the status quo. When your performance is as abysmal as Colorados,pursuing initiatives that dont result in much better performance is not earning

your pay. Flailing about polishing the rotten apple (trying to improve the current

system whose foundation is flawed) is a fools errand. Fix the foundation in both

math and reading which are both catastrophically flawed. That is, trash the whole

language tainted reading curriculum and the constructivist/discovery math


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curriculum. I do know that the Whole Language name is not used anymore

because it was basically outlawed by legislation but as Louisa Moats points out in

the reference, Whole Language High Jinks at the end, it still is there under different

names. Replace the cant work curricula with direct instruction that will really

work and has been proven to be the only way to reduce dramatically theachievement gap. The direct instruction approach is a faster process than the

wandering in the wilderness constructivist approaches. Thus, you wouldnt have

to spend added time crowding out other subjects to try to teach students to read.

Liping Ma in her bookKnowing andTeachingElementary Mathematics,points out

that student math performance follows their teachers math knowledge and

that in her study comparing Chinese teachers with 2 to 3 years of normal school

training after 9th

grade had much better subject knowledge than American teachers

all with bachelors and a significant number with masters and more in the final

semester of a masters degree program. The American teachers were chosen based

on their principals assessment that they were the best math teachers in their

schools. The American education schools emphasize quantity of courses

because they get paid more tuition money that way. The Chinese training

focuses on quality and low cost. Interestingly our pre-ed school, normal school

days did the same thing and Viola, the teachers knew their basic elementary school

subjects far better than todays defrauded into thinking they have an education

folks per Gary Lyons description. The Chinese have a much better approachbecause they are working on the real issues not going through the motions as are

our education school diploma mills. That is, they have kept their focus on the real

mission of educating kids to their potential, not how they can milk more money

from the public trough to feather their own nests.

Liping Ma used 4 basically simple problems which the Chinese teachers handled

well and the American teachers did not. As an aside I proposed to a large districts

Central Admin that a highly effective thing to do would be to teach elementary

teachers math instead of more worthless pedagogy professional development. No

response on that yet. They well understand that delay is a no answer to a kid

whose future is drowning but they dont care enough to come to the rescue.

It is in the elementary grades where the most leverage exists. Kids getting to

algebra without solid skills in elementary math are doomed to struggle and many


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will fail to ever learn algebra. Yet, the district (and most others in the land)

chooses constructivist/discovery math curricula like EveryDay Math because it

doesnt require the teachers to teach. They can facilitate (baby sit) instead. It

doesnt provide the foundation needed for algebra and higher level math, period.

It is obvious that the educators are self-satisfied with their performance to a fault

and that is why nothing ever really improves. Also, the leadership is abysmal with

all sorts of wasted committees, consultants who dont understand math either, all

as a delaying tactic to avoid any real change that might require harder work or

leadership. Their ed school leadership training did not provide them with any real

leadership skills and therefore it should be no surprise that they are ineffective

leaders.

I want to comment on state requirements. These are set at shamefully low levels.Yet, most districts focus exclusively on them as their path to success. It should be

remembered that there is no requirement against adopting district standards higher

than those of the state. That is what must be done to break out of the pack of poor

performers. Yes, that includes D20 and all of the rest of the so-called excellent

performers. They are only excellent because they are the best of the poor in

Colorado. When compared to Singapore for math, for example, they totally fail to

make the grade. And does scoring in the nineties on reading CSAPs which are

among the easiest in the county make you a winner? Hardly.

There is much work to be done for the kids and our countrys economic survival.

Actually if less but productive work replaced the huge amount of wasted

effort currently going on there could be massive improvement. Results are

what matters not the level of staffing or activity. You have very high and

expensive activity but your productivity (results per dollar spent) is negligible. If

you cant step up to the plate then do us all a favor and resign and go somewhere

where non-performance, delusion, defensiveness, insularity and in-bred thinking

are OK. They should not be OK in Colorado or anywhere in the land.

A couple of last comments/recommendations; first, read Larry Bossidys book

Execution: the discipline of getting things done. In it he talks about the need for

robust dialog (you know, arguments) to get to the truth and thus be able to solve

real problems. The education fiefdom prides itself on decorum and niceness.


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AppendixExhibits re Colorado Performance

Colorado CSAP Math 2009

Colorado CSAP Math 2010

Observations:

1.No significant change year to year (different cohorts but same pattern)2. The levels of below proficient increase from grade 3 to grade 10

3. The levels of proficient or better decline from grade 3 to grade 10

4. The 10th

grade prof or better level of 30% is the final measure of failure

Conclusion: The foundational knowledge is not being learned in elementary

school which results in the students not being prepared for successive grades.

0

10

20

30

4050

% Unsat % P Prof % Prof % Adv

Gr 3

Gr 4

Gr 5

Gr 6

Gr 7

Gr 8

0

1020

30

40

50

% Unsat % P Prof % Prof % Adv

Gr 3

Gr 4

Gr 5

Gr 6

Gr 7

Gr 8


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State Standards Comparisons

Average Ranking of States according to difficulty ofreading cut scores across all

grades - Plotted number is the number of states that have lower or equal cut scores.

Average Ranking of States according to difficulty ofmath cut scores across all

grades - Plotted number is the number of states that have lower or equal cut scores.

Colorado has lower cut scores than all other states in the study as an average across

grade 3-10. Source: The Proficiency Illusion, Thomas B. Fordham Institute and

NWEA


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Showing the huge difference between NAEP math and Singapore math.

Remember Colorado standards are set much lower than NAEP standards

NAEP math vs Singapore Math; John Hoven testimony

As an example, my own school district Montgomery County, Maryland is oneof the most affluent, highly educated counties in America, yet ourgifted studentsscored at the level of Singapores average student.

NAEP classifies its problems as easy, medium, or hard. I benchmarked thehard 8th grade problems, examining NAEPs highest level of expectation for 8thgrade math. Most of these hard 8th grade problems are at the level ofSingapores grade 5 or lower.

I want you to see for yourself some of these hard 8th grade problems. Consider:In one problem, for example, the student is shown a Lunch Menu with items likeOnion Soup for $.80 and Ice Cream for $1.10. The question asks: What is thetotal cost of Soup of the Day, Beefburger with Fries, and Cola?

This is considered a hard eighth grade problem. But Singapore has harderproblems than this in grade 3. Here are two examples:

1 ) 5 oranges cost $2.25. What is the cost of 12 oranges? ____________

2 ) I want to buy a calculator for $29.70 and a watch for $32.00. I have $28.50.How much more money do I need?(1) $26.20(2) $30.80

(3) $33.20(4) $32.70

Both of these are two-step math problems. They illustrate Singapores

expectation that all children should acquire mastery of the math skills needed

for algebra and beyond. NAEPs expectation is that children need to be ableto order take-out from McDonalds.

Algebra

In 8th grade, mathematically advanced American students take Algebra 1. NAEPignores all of these children. Not a single question is at an Algebra I level. Here is

NAEPs most difficult algebra question:


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3 ) The length of a rectangle is 3 more than its width. If L representsthe length, what is an expression for the width?A) 3 LB) L 3C) L x 3D) L + 3E) L - 3

Frankly, this kind of problem is for a child who started learning algebra yesterday.By comparison, here is a Singapore problem for grade 6:

4 ) Ahmad scored x marks for his English in an examination. He scored90, 80, 80 for 3 of his other 4 subjects, and did half as well in Englishas he did in Maths. If he had an overall average of 80 marks, how manymarks did he score for Maths?

Answer: ____________

Why does NAEP expect so little, and Singapore expect so much? BecauseSingapore students have been solving progressively more complex problems sincethird grade. [systematically building the foundation]

The two Singapore algebra problems below further illustrate the process ofbuilding math skills step by step. The first problem is the distributive law.Singapore students master this in 6th grade, so they can use it automatically in 8thgrade Algebra.

5 ) 6p(3 + 5p) is the same as ______________.(1) 18p + 30p2(2) 18p + 3(3) 11p2 + 30p(4) 11p + 3p2

The second problem begins the process of chunking learning to see algebraicexpressions as a single chunk. That skill makes it easy to see that you just divide

$20 by p2 kg to get $20/p2.

6 ) If p2 kg of rambutans cost $20, what is the cost of 1 kg of rambutans?(1) $20 - p(2) $20 + p(3) $20/p(4) $20/p2


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In comparison, NAEP doesnt test algebra; it tests algebraic concepts. Thats aweasel word that allows for problems like this: Plot the point (5,2) on the grid

provided.

But if our students struggle with this aim-low NAEP, how can we pile on evenmore?

Singapore doesnt do more. They do less less, that is, of the time-wasters thatclutter the American mile wide, inch deep math curriculum. A world-classcurriculum like Singapores focuses on math skills that prepare children for algebraand beyond. It builds mastery of those skills step by step, and incorporates theseskills into more and more complex problems. A quote from the Singapore

Ministry of Education is instructive, from their Nurturing Every Child, booklet

(2006), Teach Less, Learn MoreSyllabuses will be trimmed withoutdiluting students preparedness for higher education. This will free up time

for our students to focus on core knowledge and skills

In contrast, NAEP has a major focus on fluff. My favorite example is the scaledrawing of a room, where the student is given the measurements of a bed, a desk,

and a chest and asked to arrange them so they dont block the doors and windows.This is what NAEP calls problem-solving.

A couple of quotes from Tom Friedmans The World is Flat

The sense of entitlement, the sense that because we once dominated globalcommerce and geopoliticsand Olympic basketballwe always will, thesense that delayed gratification is a punishment worse than a spanking, the

sense that our kids have to be swaddled in cotton wool so that nothing

bad or disappointing or stressful ever happens to them at school is quite

simply, a growing cancer on American society. And if we dont start toreverse it, our kids are going to be in for a huge and socially disruptiveshock from the flat world.

I know a high-paying job requires one be able to produce something of highvalue. The economy is producing the jobs both at the high end and low end,

but increasingly the high-end jobs are out of reach of many. Low education

means low-paying jobs, plain and simple, and this is where more and

more Americans are finding themselves. Many Americans cant believethey arent qualified for high-paying jobs. I call this the American Idol


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problem. If youve ever seen the reaction of contestants when SimonCowell tells them they have no talent, they look at him in total disbelief. Im

just hoping someday Im not given such a rude awakening.


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Regression Analysis of D11 2008 Reading CSAP Scores Paul Richardson 0209

Research QuestionIs there a significant relationship between student demographics (as represented

by eligibility for free and reduced lunch program or not) and achievement on the CSAP tests.

Database usedcreated by extracting data from Excel spreadsheet downloaded from the Colorado Dept

of Education websitehttp://www.cde.state.co.us/, accessed 12/10/2008. Theextraction process

involved extracting the data for Colorado Springs School District 11 for Reading scores for grades 3

through 10. The data given delineates scores for each of three groups in each grade; thoseeligible for

freelunch, thoseeligible for reduced cost lunch, and those not eligible for free or reduced lunch. I

combined the free and the reduced into one category computing the volume weighted average score for

those scoring proficient or better on the reading CSAP. Other untested variables include; percent

scoring unsatisfactory, percent scoring partially proficient, percent scoring proficient and percent

scoring advanced. In preparing the data for the SPSS statistical software package I used 1 for free and

reduced lunch and 2 for no free and reduced lunch. The total number of students in the sample was

16373 giving the

re

sulting ana

lysis good va

lidity.

Regression

Variables Entered/Removedb

Model

Variables

Entered

Variables

Removed Method

1 lunch, gradea

. Enter

a. All requested variables entered.

b. Dependent Variable: PerProBetter

The dependent variable is Percent Proficient or Better

The independent variables are the grade and lunch status; 1 or 2

Model Summary

Model R R Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of the

Estimate

1 .974a

.948 .940 3.24954

a. Predictors: (Constant), lunch, grade

The overall correlation for the total model is 0.974 with an R Square of 0.948 showing a

very powerful predictive relationship between the dependent and independent variables


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ANOVAb

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 2496.866 2 1248.433 118.228 .000a

Residual 137.274 13 10.560

Total 2634.140 15

a. Predictors: (Constant), lunch, grade

b. Dependent Variable: PerProBetter

The result is significant at the .001 level.

Coefficientsa

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig.B Std. Error Beta

1 (Constant) 40.727 3.451 11.801 .000

grade -1.403 .355 -.251 -3.958 .002

lunch 24.142 1.625 .941 14.859 .000

a. Dependent Variable: PerProBetter

The result is a negative Beta of -0.251 for the grade variable significant at the 0.01 level

(scores go down as grade number goes up) and a positive Beta of 0.941 for the lunch

variable significant at the 0.001 level (those who qualify for free and reduced lunch score

significantly lower than those who do not).


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Graph

1 = students who qualify for free or reduced lunch

2 = students who do not qualify for free or reduced lunch

Conclusion:

The district is letting the demographic variable, free or reduced lunch determine what kidslearn. The districts value added is nil. The model says that 97.4% of the results are

predicted by the demographic variable (94.1%) and the trend of reduction in scores as

grade increases. The achievement gap will not decrease until the district starts to add value.


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On Money

I know there is much fear of what could happen to the flow of money for education

if the amendments on the November ballot are passed. While I agree that the

hurt would be severe if the measures are passed, I would also like to argue for amore realistic view of the money spent on education.

First, you (and you arent alone among education entities) assume that everything

you are doing now is justified and valuable and worth continuing. Let me assure

you that this is a wrong assumption. I have been following our education mess and

its foibles for a long time now and there is much waste in what you do there,

especially in overhead areas.

Second, much of what you do is harming kids and the performance of the districts

in their primary missions. You need to realize that providing make-work jobs

for educators is not your primary mission . Educating children to their full

potential is your mission and should take priority in every decision. However,

your current operations come a lot closer to the providing jobs for educators than it

does to educating children well. There is a long habit in education of taking care

of friends by providing jobs which arent needed but can be easily created because

the board is asleep at the switch. Of course once created, it is assumed that the

position is valuable and needs to continue even after the original person it was

created for leaves.

I will argue that cutting the budget for counterproductive spending would help the

kids not hurt them. That is, less pseudo experts pursuing technically wrong

education ideas couldnt be a bad thing. You have gone far beyond the KISS

rule that engineers are taught for good reason. Keep It Simple Stupid is a good

reminder that the best solutions are minimalist in nature. Education entities have

layer upon layer of overhead that only clogs the communication lines. It does do

one thing though that higher level admin find valuable. It helps to convince people

they are worth more salary if they are supervising more people. Also, it helps

provide a buffer between the staff and the public and the top leaders.

Now, if you had a Commissioner who knew the reality of the poor curriculum (and

standard) choices you have made and who had real leadership skills you could

make great progress quickly with about half or less people in central admin by just


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fixing the curricula and expecting people to implement it in a quality way. Of

course, your Commissioner doesnt understand the content-free curriculum harm

(or doesnt care) and certainly doesnt have the leadership skill or fire in the

belly to finally fix the real problems and serve the kids.

If Colorado had a board that wasnt made up of admin lap dogs much positive

work could be done. Sadly, at least a majority of the board are not interested

enough to figure out what is going on and why the results are so poor. That would

require too much work and prioritizing effort on important stuff while eschewing

the popular but wrong wastes of time put forward by those making huge

campaign donations from self-interest power groups rampant in education.

The opportunity for far better performance relatively quickly is at hand. Do you

have the intestinal fortitude to seize the moment and move the state ahead at warpspeed? Anything less is unacceptable.


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References

Alexandra Beatty et al

y Assessing the Role of K-12 Academic Standards on States: Workshop Summary, 2008,

www.nap.edu/catalog/12207.html

Larry Bossidy et al

y Execution: The discipline of getting things done

John Cronin et al

y The Proficiency Illusion, 2007, The Thomas B. Fordham Institute & NWEA

E.D. Hirsch Jr.

y The Knowledge Deficity The Making of Americans

y Video of presentation to Manhattan Instituteavailable on booktv.org by searching on

E.D. Hirsch

Rita Kramer

y Ed School Follies

Arthur Levine

y Educating School Leaders, 2005 www.edschools.org

y Educating School Teachers

Liping Ma

y Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics

Louisa Moats

y Whole Language High Jinks, How to Tell When Scientifically-Based Reading Instruction

Isnt. Thomas B. Fordham Institute 2007

Paul Richardson

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