Malloy Begins Rolling Out Education Reforms, Not Everyone Is On Board
by Christine Stuart | Jan 31, 2012 8:02pm
(6) Comments | Commenting has expired
Posted to: Education
(Updated 8:07 p.m.) It’s the year of education reform, but it’s also year in which the state budget is losing revenues leaving little, if any additional funding for big investments in education. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Tuesday that he’s going to start tackling the issue by reducing the “burden of red tape” and state mandates faced by school districts across the state.
The proposal he put forth Tuesday, while in Washington D.C., calls for simplifying the teacher certification process and giving local school districts greater flexibility to hire and develop teachers, “a process that is currently impeded by certification mandates.” He also wants to free districts from excessive and redundant data reporting.
Currently the state mandates school districts to fill out 35 forms with sometimes redundant information. Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor said he will cut that this year by one-third and it can be done without legislative approval.
But the teacher certification changes will need the legislature’s approval.
In a conference call with reporters Malloy said these proposals are just the beginning of the policy changes he plans to roll out on Feb. 8 during his state-of-the-state speech.
The proposals, especially the one on teacher certification, has the potential to ruffle some feathers.
Malloy’s proposal calls for consolidating the number of available teaching certificate at the initial level from three to one; changing the requirements for continuing education; increasing the districts’ discretion to hire teachers from other state by removing barriers to reciprocity; and establishing a new “master” educator certificate. The professional level teaching certificate will remain.
“This proposal puts the cart before the horse,” Sharon Palmer, president of AFT Connecticut, said Tuesday. “Our focus this year is to improve education for everyone and that should begin with ensuring teacher quality by establishing rigorous teacher preparation, meaningful evaluation and support.”
Palmer argues that the ongoing Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC) process, should be allowed to reach its conclusion before certification requirements are changed.
The Connecticut Education Association’s Executive Director Mary Loftus Levine agreed.
“CEA is concerned, however, that many of the proposals outlined in the governor’s news release today, would actually lower teacher standards at a time when we need to raise standards and accountability for everyone involved in public education—teachers, administrators, parents and students,“ Levine said.
“That’s why we support a Professional Standards Board for educators to set and maintain high, appropriate standards within the profession, and be held accountable for excellence, ensuring that our children have the most talented and highly trained teachers in the classroom,” Levine argued.
Malloy said he doesn’t support a Professional Standards Board and he’s made his position on that clear.
“That is not part of my initiative,” Malloy said Tuesday. “By the way that’s not new I’ve said that previously.”
But where there was disagreement, others found agreement.
The changes to teacher certification were praised by ConnCAN, an education reform nonprofit.
“As we saw with the guidelines agreed on by the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council last week, this administration is determined to clear away bureaucratic clutter and ensure that the focus of state policies is where it belongs: on student outcomes,” Patrick Riccards, ConnCAN’s CEO, said. “Today’s announcement, particularly the governor’s proposals on teacher certification, represents another step toward this goal.”
In his conversation with reporters Malloy admitted his “comprehensive” education proposal, which he won’t reveal until Feb. 8 is bound to “rankle” some education stakeholders even if parts of it have already.
Palmer said based on the press release announcing the changes seem to be based solely on a survey of school superintendents.
“What’s more, only 15 percent of the respondents to the superintendents’ survey appear to be from school districts with the greatest need,” an AFT press release says.
“We are very disappointed that the Governor has chosen to base these proposals on the opinions of only the superintendents and not the 50,000 educators who are doing the work of educating children,” Palmer said.
The State Department of Education surveyed 157 superintendents earlier this year and discovered about four out of 10 doubted the education system will change despite Malloy’s promises of reform. Two-thirds thought the funding formula was unfair, and about 53 percent said they believe that existing education programs do not adequately prepare new teachers.
“Ten districts commented on the Department’s certification policies. Respondents noted that the certification requirements are too strict and that districts have difficulty certifying out-of-state teachers,” the survey found.
Mark Linabury, an Education Department spokesman, said the survey was a contributing factor, but it wasn’t the only consideration in the release of the proposals.
“Commissioner Pryor’s team has met with each of the teachers’ unions, AFT and CEA, more than ten times over the course of the last several months and has had constructive and collaborative discussions about the range of meaningful reforms necessary to move our state forward,” Linabury said. “In addition, the Commissioner has undertaken a listening tour across the state which has included teachers and union representatives in multiple settings and locations. We look forward to continuing to work with teachers and their representatives to fulfill the governor’s mandate for change.”
Perhaps even more controversial to the general population not involved in the education conversation is how Malloy plans on funding his education reform initiatives.
Malloy said he will be looking to “bend” the Education Cost Sharing formula this year, but he won’t be completely rewriting it because he’s promised to hold municipalities harmless in the second year of the budget.
Malloy said he’s going to concentrate on about 30 districts that need the most improvement and are having the most difficulty. He was unwilling Tuesday to detail how exactly he plans on getting there.
Tags: education reform, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Stefan Pryor, red tape, funding, teacher certification
(6) Comments
posted by: redlady | January 31, 2012 10:55pm
Why does the union get to decide what reforms in education are needed? Their only role should be representing teachers in regards to earnings and benefits. Parents should be concerned about this. Taxpayers should be concerned about this. Where is the outrage?
posted by: EdLeadershipcrisis | February 1, 2012 11:07am
The Gov is right this time on the certification piece. CEUs did very little to help teachers because they rarely embedded their learning and fell back on old habits. The state must force the learning into practice, and courses just don’t cut it anymore, clinical practice is the way to go.
Meanwhile, this flexibility should extend to administrators, especially Superintendents. The current requirment prevent some very capable people from assuming Superintendent role. Hey, if the commissioner can come in to run state ed without classroom experience or having been a principal, so can a superintendent in various districts where you need a strategic visionary that can lead people to desired outcomes. Loosen the Gov, please loosen the Supe requirements too, enabling boards to hire the best leader they can find.
As for RED TAPE, Malloy needs to ensure that the State Ed Dept puts the right people in place, and not reward some of the old re-treads that have mightily contributed to the weak state of that agency. Apparently one of the creaters of red tape at that agency has now been empowered to reduce it. What can Pryor be thinking? This must be political and not based on merit. He either needs to bring in outsiders or look within his ranks for new leaders. The old ones ran the agency into the ground!!
posted by: Noteworthy | February 1, 2012 12:46pm
Malloy doesn’t know anything about education. I’m a little concerned that a guy who can’t do the basic work of the government - negotiating with the unions for givebacks and balancing the budget is now going to tackle the even more complex issue of education and Connecticut’s crappy track record of it.
posted by: Noteworthy | February 1, 2012 12:48pm
And one other thing - he announces this from Washington. Maybe our globe trotting governor could park his arse in Hartford and spend time on these issues and get a real education himself instead of issuing these reforms and other initiatives by remote control.
posted by: Disgruntled | February 1, 2012 1:43pm
Dan and education.
All one has to do is ask a couple of questions and find the answers to get a sense of how much he knows or cares about education.
1) Did he put his own children into private schools?
2) How did the superintendents that he backed (some might say he was the invisble hand on all the hires) in Stamford work out over his thirteen years as mayor?
posted by: ... | February 1, 2012 3:38pm
Considering the fact education was a strong point of his campaign in discussing universal pre-school for the state of CT, and his highly regarded choice of Stephan Pryor to the seat of Edu. Commissioner, he may not be an education expert, but knows plenty and can round up the right people to implement his strategies and beliefs, whilst seeking out a reasonable compromise.
Which is what we need. Easy negotiation processes and little uproar is what got us the last few deals on unions, along with a host of other programs that raised our debt and deficit. And that sure hasn’t worked for this state. Not in 20 years at least.