[Senate Hearing 111-1117]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-1117
FOSTERING INNOVATION IN EDUCATION
=======================================================================
FIELD HEARING
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,
LABOR, AND PENSIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
EXAMINING ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT (ESEA)
REAUTHORIZATION, FOCUSING ON FOSTERING INNOVATION IN EDUCATION
__________
APRIL 19, 2010 (Charlotte, NC)
__________
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COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
TOM HARKIN, Iowa, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire
JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee
PATTY MURRAY, Washington RICHARD BURR, North Carolina
JACK REED, Rhode Island JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
BERNARD SANDERS (I), Vermont JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina TOM COBURN, M.D., Oklahoma
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon PAT ROBERTS, Kansas
AL FRANKEN, Minnesota
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado
Daniel Smith, Staff Director
Frank Macchiarola, Republican Staff Director and Chief Counsel
(ii)
?
C O N T E N T S
__________
STATEMENTS
MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2010
Page
Hagan, Hon. Kay R., a U.S. Senator from the State of North
Carolina, opening statement.................................... 1
Shah, Shivam Mallick, Director of Special Initiatives, Office of
Innovation, and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education,
Washington, DC................................................. 4
Prepared statement........................................... 6
Garland, Rebecca, Ed.D, Chief Academic Officer, North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction, Raleigh, NC.................. 8
Prepared statement........................................... 10
Clark, Ann Blakeney, Chief Academic Officer, Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Schools, Charlotte, NC............................. 14
Prepared statement........................................... 15
Arbuckle, Margaret Bourdeaux, Ph.D., Executive Director, Guilford
Education Alliance, Greensboro, NC............................. 17
Prepared statement........................................... 19
Setser, Bryan, Executive Director, North Carolina Virtual Public
Schools, Raleigh, NC........................................... 21
Prepared statement........................................... 23
Rectanus, Karl, Leader, NC Stem Community Collaborative, Durham,
NC............................................................. 24
Prepared statement........................................... 25
McCray, Mary, Teacher, Community House Middle School and Local
President of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators 28
Prepared statement........................................... 30
(iii)
FOSTERING INNOVATION IN EDUCATION
----------
MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2010
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
Charlotte, NC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:58 a.m., at E.
E. Waddell High School, 7030 Nations Ford Road, Charlotte, NC,
Hon. Kay Hagan presiding.
Present: Senator Hagan.
Opening Statement of Senator Hagan
Senator Hagan. All right. The Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions will come to order. I want to
start by thanking the principal, Lisa Bowen, and the assistant
principals, Jed Yakin and Marvin Bradley, here at E. E. Waddell
High School for hosting our hearing today.
I know we were talking to the principal earlier, and we
would like the ROTC to join us to say the Pledge of Allegiance.
So if we could go ahead and do that, that would be wonderful.
Are they ready?
[Pledge of Allegiance.]
Senator Hagan. Thank you. That was excellent. I want to
thank our students.
I recently got back from visiting our troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan and also got to go to Pakistan, and I am so
incredibly proud of the young men and women who are serving us
in our country today overseas and here at home to keep us safe.
They are just doing an incredible job. These young men and
women I know, too, are doing a great job here. So thank you
very, very much.
I know that here at E. E. Waddell, this is the only early
college high school model in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school
system. I know the early college high school programs are so
important in preparing our students to compete in the global
marketplace, and I am happy to know that so many students are
taking advantage of this program.
I was actually a member of the State legislature when we
first started forming the early colleges, and I had an intern--
a young woman who had dropped out of high school, attended
early college at GTCC, and then became an intern for me, she
then matriculated to UNC-Chapel Hill and graduated. So let me
tell you, our early college programs are a true success in
North Carolina.
I know that there is a civics and government class here
attending the hearing this morning, and I just want to welcome
the students here. Thank you very much for coming. It is great
to see that you are interested in how government works, and I
apologize for having my back to you for some of this meeting.
But as our country's future leaders, everything we do is
for you right here. So thank you for being here. We look to you
to be the leaders of the future here in the United States.
I also want to thank all of the witnesses for being here to
share your thoughts, and insights with us. As educators and
advocates from across the State and the U.S. Department of
Education, it is people like you that the rest of us count on
to do this very incredibly hard work and very rewarding work.
As the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
continues in a series of hearings like this in preparation for
the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, I thought it was important to hold a hearing here in North
Carolina so that I can hear firsthand what is going on in the
State and ask others what is important to them.
Fostering Innovation in Education is a broad topic and one
that can be interpreted and applied in many different ways, but
it is certainly not a concept unfamiliar to us in North
Carolina. Our State was first in flight when the Wright
brothers first gave man the ability to fly. We were the first
to have a public university, an institution that has made a
commitment to providing quality education to all North
Carolinians, regardless of economic background.
When I tell people in Washington that North Carolina was
the first public university, they say the Harvards and the
Princetons were before us, but those are private universities.
We were the first State to have a public higher institute of
education. We also have one of the best community college
systems in the country, and we have produced a program that
allows high school students to enroll in community college
classes and, in many instances, graduate from high school with
a 2-year degree already in hand.
We know how to leverage private-public partnership as
evidenced by rural Bertie County, who partnered with Internet
provider CenturyLink to provide broadband Internet in 1,500
homes of students in Bertie County for 5 years.
We are also a leader in recruiting great teachers and
leaders for our most struggling schools, measuring teacher
effectiveness, and compensating teachers for their performance.
Across the country, people look to this school district here
where we are visiting today, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, one of the
largest school districts in the State, as the leader and
innovator in improving the performance of the adults in the
classroom, guided by the belief that every child deserves a
highly effective teacher.
I just saw Jennifer Roberts come in. Jennifer is the
chairman of the county commissioners. I really welcome and
appreciate you being here today, too.
In North Carolina, we understand that our economic strength
as a country is dependent on ensuring that we have well-
educated and highly skilled workers ready to compete in the
global marketplace. Research and statistics already demonstrate
that if we do not improve the quality of our public schools and
outcomes for our children, our country is going to lag behind
other developed nations. The longer we wait to fix this
problem, the worse off we know we will be.
Studies show that in North Carolina, for every freshman
class in high school, approximately 46,000 students don't
graduate 4 years later. Experts estimate that the lost lifetime
earnings for those 46,000 students will total over $12 billion.
So be sure that we communicate to all of your friends and
fellow classmates they have got to stay in school. That should
be frightening for all of us.
Something else frightening is that the Department of
Education estimates that there are approximately 5,000
chronically underperforming schools in the country. That is
nearly 5 percent of our Nation's public schools. We certainly
cannot afford to allow chronically underperforming schools to
get away with improperly serving our students.
Turning around these schools I know is a daunting task, but
we in North Carolina are up to the challenge, and we are
already way ahead of the game. We also must ensure that every
child is receiving a well-rounded education. I am a strong
believer that subjects including reading, math, and science are
important. But it is also important to have art, music, and
foreign language that keeps our kids coming back to school day
in and day out.
I also believe that we need to have financial literacy
education. Just as I have done in North Carolina, the first
bill that I introduced in the U.S. Senate is the Financial
Literacy for Students Act, which will incentivize States to
incorporate curriculum in grades 6 to 12 to teach our kids
about finance. I think it is a critical component to ensuring
that our kids are career and college ready, and we must do a
better job of educating students on financial literacy.
The Administration's blueprint represents some significant
improvements from No Child Left Behind. I especially appreciate
the focus on creating college- and career-ready students and
the emphasis on the creation of and continued use of innovative
programs that work.
As the only developed Nation with a younger generation of
students that people say have a lower level of high school or
equivalent education than the older generation, we have a lot
of work to do, and the time is now. We have to make tough
choices if we are going to accomplish our President's goal that
every child being career- and college-ready by 2020 and that
the United States will lead the world in college completion by
that year as well.
I believe that the decisions that we make and the work that
we do in Congress will undoubtedly have a major impact on
future generations.
Thank you for being here with us today.
I am going to introduce the witnesses, and then we will
start.
First, Shivam Shah is the Director of Special Initiatives
in the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S.
Department of Education. Shivam is responsible for leading the
development and implementation of the Promise Neighborhood
initiative and many other innovative programs at the Department
of Education.
Next, Rebecca Garland, chief academic officer for the North
Carolina Department of Public Instruction. As chief academic
officer, Dr. Garland provides leadership in all areas involving
curriculum, instruction, accountability, and teacher quality,
just to name a few.
And following Dr. Garland is Mrs. Ann Clark, who comes from
my hometown of Greensboro. Mrs. Clark is the chief academic
officer here in Charlotte for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School
District. Mrs. Clark held a variety of teaching and
administrative positions at CMS since joining the district in
1983.
Mrs. Margaret Arbuckle is the executive director of the
Guilford Education Alliance, a county-wide nonprofit
organization that supports quality education for all of
Guilford County's children. Our children grew up together, so
Dr. Arbuckle and I go way back.
Bryan Setser is the executive director of North Carolina's
Virtual Public School. He is an innovative leader who has
tripled our online enrollment to over 65,000 students.
Following Mr. Setser is Karl Rectanus. Karl leads our NC
STEM Community Collaborative, and in this role, he works to
align North Carolina communities to successfully structure
science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines in their
schools.
And then last, but certainly not least, is Mrs. Mary
McCray, who has been an elementary schoolteacher for 32 years
and has taught in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District for
the last 22 years. And if that isn't enough, Mrs. McCray also
is the president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of
Educators, an affiliate of the NEA.
Now we will begin with Ms. Shah for testimony. We will ask
you to limit your testimony to 5 minutes. Once you have
concluded your remarks, we will begin the question and answer
portion of the hearing.
Before we begin, I did want to also mention Vilma Leake.
Vilma Leake is a country commissioner and one of my dear
friends. I also would like to acknowledge Avery Staley from the
Lieutenant Governor's office. Thank you.
OK, Ms. Shah.
STATEMENT OF SHIVAM MALLICK SHAH, DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL
INITIATIVES, OFFICE OF INNOVATION AND IMPROVEMENT, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, WASHINGTON, DC
Ms. Shah. Good morning, everyone.
Senator Hagan, thank you for the opportunity to address
this committee and the students, faculty, and friends of the E.
E. Waddell High School to discuss the ways in which the U.S.
Department of Education is committed to fostering innovation in
education. And thank you for your support locally here in North
Carolina, as well as nationally.
It is no secret that to keep up with the demands of a
global economy, every student must graduate high school with
college- and career-ready skills. But the reality is that 3 in
10 students fail to complete high school on time, and of those
who do, only two-thirds enroll in a college or university.
Completion rates for those who seek a post-secondary degree or
certification do not keep pace with enrollment. The statistics
for minority students, low-income students, and English
language learners are dramatically worse.
What many of our schools need, to ensure that every student
achieves success, is transformational change. It is not simply
tinkering around the edges. Previous Federal efforts to improve
our education system have largely been incremental, and they
have yielded results that were less than adequate.
Today, however, we have a tremendous opportunity to re-
envision and renew what public education looks like, and three
factors have set the stage. First, President Obama is committed
to the ambitious, but attainable goal of ensuring that America
will regain its lost ground and have the highest proportion of
students graduating from college in the world by 2020.
Second, thanks to leadership from President Obama and
Congress, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,
the recovery bill, provided nearly $100 billion to support
education, including a $5 billion investment for Race to the
Top and the Investing in Innovation Fund, the largest one-time
Federal investment in education in history. These funds heavily
invest in education, both as a way to provide jobs now and to
lay the foundation for long-term prosperity.
Our Nation's economic competitiveness and the path to the
American dream depend on providing every child with an
education that will enable them to succeed in a global economy.
That success is going to be predicated on both knowledge and
innovation. And, finally, Congress is working to reauthorize
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which we
hope will not only fix the problems of No Child Left Behind,
but again establish a re-envisioned Federal role in education.
To take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity, we
must identify, support, and evaluate new educational models--
models that focus on improving outcomes for students, teachers,
and principals. And we must acknowledge that most of the best
ideas come from local educators and are locally grown. That is
why the Department of Education is committed to investing in
evidence-based innovation to enhance the programs that we know
are working and to bring them to scale.
I want to tell you a little bit about the Investing in
Innovation fund, which is the program that I run. It is one of
the stimulus-created funds. It is a $650 million fund, which
provides competitive grants to school districts and nonprofits
to expand the implementation of and investment in innovative
practices in four areas--supporting effective teachers and
principals, improving the use of data to accelerate student
achievement, complementing the implementation of standards and
assessments that do prepare students for success in college and
careers, and turning around the persistently low-performing
schools you described earlier.
Grantees will also be required to form partnerships with
the private sector to obtain matching funds. Applicants will be
required to propose projects that develop or expand innovation
in critical areas of education reform that will benefit high-
need students. We are requiring that practices supported by i3
grants have a demonstrated effect on improving student
achievement or student academic growth, closing achievement
gaps, decreasing dropout rates, increasing high school
graduation rates, or increasing college enrollment and college
completion rates.
Through i3, we are introducing a new rigorous, three-tiered
evidence framework, which will direct different levels of
funding to programs at different levels of development.
Essentially, the highest level of funding will go to those
programs with the strongest evidence. So there are three types
of grants.
There are development grants, which require a reasonable
hypothesis, and those will be used to support practices that
are really still at an earlier stage of development. More fresh
ideas, not necessarily new, but less proven.
Validation grants will require a moderate level of
evidence, and these grants will be aimed at validating and
spreading promising programs to a regional scale.
And then scale-up grants, which are the largest, in which
applicants can request up to $50 million, will require strong
evidence and will be aimed at bringing proven programs to
national scale.
In an effort to support what works, the i3 program also
contains a robust evaluation component. We want to make sure
that when Federal dollars are supporting work in the field that
we can show over time that these programs are working and
moving the needle for kids.
We are going to require grantees to conduct independent
program evaluation. We will broadly share the results of that
work and of any evaluation of any i3-funded effort. Grantees
must also participate in a ``community of practice'' so that
they can share, document, and disseminate to the field the best
practices and lessons that they have learned.
On March 12th, the department released a notice inviting
applications for i3 applications. Since then, we have received
almost 2,500 letters of intent to apply. We have also reached
out and had three pre-application workshops in which over 4,000
people registered. By all measures, this was an unprecedented
level of interest in a competitive grant program, and our team
is gearing up to get ready to review and find some great ideas
to support. But we think this level of interest is indicative
of the enthusiasm around the country to innovate and to scale
up effective, local strategies.
So we are doing a lot at the department that we are excited
about. i3 is just one component of that innovation work. We are
requesting an additional $500 million in the ESEA. But aside
from i3, we hope to use those funds to support a range of
programs, including additional things like the early college
high school programs you described, from financial literacy
efforts, STEM projects, and a whole range of different things
that we see working in the field that we would like to help
bring to scale to help more kids achieve.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Shah follows:]
Prepared Statement of Shivam Mallick Shah
Good morning, Senator Hagan. Thank you for the opportunity to
address this committee and discuss the ways in which the U.S.
Department of Education is committed to fostering innovation in
education. And thank you for your support for education, both here in
North Carolina and nationally.
BACKGROUND
It's no secret that, to keep up with the demands of a global
economy, every student must graduate from high school with college- and
career-ready skills. But the reality is that 3 in every 10 students
fail to complete high school on time and, of those who do, only two-
thirds enroll in a college or university. Completion rates for those
who seek a post-secondary degree or certification do not keep pace with
enrollment. The statistics for minority students, low-income students,
and English learners are dramatically worse.
What many of our schools need to ensure that every student achieves
success is transformational change, not simply tinkering around the
edges. Previous Federal efforts to improve our education system have
largely been incremental and yielded results that were less than
adequate.
Today, however, we have a tremendous opportunity to re-envision and
renew what public education looks like, and three factors have set the
stage. First, President Obama is committed to the ambitious but
attainable goal of ensuring that America will regain its lost ground
and have the highest proportion of students graduating from college in
the world by 2020. Second, thanks to leadership from President Obama
and Congress, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(Recovery Act) provided nearly $100 billion to support education,
including a $5 billion investment for Race to the Top and the Investing
in Innovation Fund, the largest one-time Federal investment in
education in history. These funds invest heavily in education both as a
way to provide jobs now and to lay the foundation for long-term
prosperity. Our Nation's economic competitiveness and the path to the
American Dream depend on providing every child with an education that
will enable them to succeed in a global economy that is predicated on
knowledge and innovation. And, finally, Congress is working to
reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which
we hope will not only fix the problems of the No Child Left Behind Act,
but also establish a re-envisioned Federal role in education.
To take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity, we must
identify, support, and evaluate new educational models--models that
focus on improving outcomes for students, teachers, and principals. And
we must acknowledge that most of the best ideas, policies, and
practices are locally grown. That is why the Department of Education is
committed to investing in evidence-based innovative practices to
enhance these programs and bring them to scale.
INVESTING IN INNOVATION
One program designed to do just that is the Investing in Innovation
program, or i3. i3 provides for $650 million in competitive grants to
school districts and nonprofit organizations to expand the
implementation of, and investment in, innovative practices in the
following four areas:
1. Supporting effective teachers and principals;
2. Improving the use of data to accelerate student achievement;
3. Complementing the implementation of standards and assessments
that prepare students for success in college and careers; and
4. Turning around persistently low-performing schools.
Grantees will also be required to form partnerships with the
private sector to obtain matching funds. Applicants will be required to
propose projects that develop or expand innovations in critical areas
of education reform that will benefit high-need and other students. We
are requiring that practices supported by an i3 grant have a
demonstrated effect on:
1. Improving student achievement or student academic growth;
2. Closing achievement gaps;
3. Decreasing dropout rates;
4. Increasing high school graduation rates; or
5. Increasing college enrollment and completion rates.
Through i3, we are introducing a new rigorous, three-tiered
evidence framework that will direct different levels of funding to
programs at three different stages of development, with the highest
level of funding going to programs with the strongest evidence:
1. Development grants will require a reasonable hypothesis that the
practice or strategy will result in significantly improved outcomes.
The purpose of these grants will be to develop fresh ideas;
2. Validation grants will require moderate evidence of
effectiveness. These grants will be aimed at validating and spreading
promising programs to a regional scale; and
3. Scale Up grants will require strong evidence and will be aimed
at bringing proven programs to national scale.
In an effort to support what works, the i3 program also contains a
robust evaluation component. We will require grantees to conduct an
independent program evaluation and we will broadly share the results of
any evaluations of i3 funded efforts. Grantees must also participate in
a ``community of practice'' to share, document, and disseminate to the
field best practices and lessons learned.
On March 12, the Department released the notice inviting i3
applications. Since then, more than 2,400 letters of intent to apply
have been submitted to the Department and approximately 4,000 people
have participated in the three pre-application workshops and webinars.
Interest in the i3 grant program has been tremendous, and is indicative
of the enthusiasm that exists around the country to innovate and to
scale up effective, local strategies.
To help i3 applicants and to serve the larger purpose of creating
an innovation community, the Department of Education has launched an
online community, called the Open Innovation Portal. Though not a
formal part of the i3 grant process, the portal is the first national
forum that connects entrepreneurs, education stakeholders of all types,
and funders for the purpose of partnering and developing and funding
innovative ideas in the education sector. Through this portal, the
Department hopes to provide a forum for like-minded individuals, who
may choose to work in partnership, to accelerate the development,
identification, and broad use of innovative products, practices, and
processes to improve education in schools.
INNOVATION IN ESEA
The reauthorization of the ESEA provides an opportunity to continue
the i3 program. Our reauthorization proposal would build on the current
i3 program, and provide additional competitive grants to expand the
implementation of, and investment in, innovative and evidence-based
practices, programs, and strategies that significantly improve student
outcomes. The Secretary would continue to use a rigorous three-tiered
evidence framework that directs the highest levels of funding to
programs with the strongest evidence.
The Secretary could also give preference to applications that
propose to develop or expand innovations in specific pressing needs,
such as improving the teaching and learning of science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) subjects, improving early-learning
outcomes, addressing the learning needs of English learners and
students with disabilities, and serving schools in rural areas. The
Secretary could also reserve funds for inducement prizes to drive
breakthrough innovations in education or for dramatic and innovative
approaches to improving educational outcomes.
In addition to developing and scaling up programs through i3 that
have demonstrated success and working to discover the next generation
of innovative solutions, we want the reauthorized ESEA to support many
effective strategies that are already in broad use. Those include
innovative strategies such as charter schools, full-service community
schools, Promise Neighborhoods, virtual schools, magnet schools, and
early college high schools--of which I know you are a strong supporter,
as well as whole school reforms such as lengthening the school day or
year, and transforming school culture.
CONCLUSION
Innovation in education is more than just trying something new.
It's about implementing and expanding strategies that improve outcomes.
To help drive innovation in education, the Department of Education will
look to the field for the best ideas, ideas that typically come from
local educators. And we will offer incentives to States, districts, and
nonprofit organizations to work together on efforts to implement and
share effective strategies, evaluate and enhance them, ensure their
long-term sustainability, and bring them to scale.
Senator Hagan. Thank you.
Ms. Garland.
STATEMENT OF REBECCA GARLAND, CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER, NORTH
CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, RALEIGH, NC
Ms. Garland. Thank you, Senator Hagan, for inviting me here
today to talk about innovation in North Carolina, and I also
thank you for your continued support of the public school
students in North Carolina with your work in the General
Assembly and in the U.S. Senate.
In August 2006, the State Board of Education adopted a
visionary, ambitious strategic plan for improving public
education in our State, and that plan continues to be in action
today. The plan itself outlines efforts within five goal
categories.
The first, globally competitive students, which involves
the State boards working with standards and assessments.
Twenty-first century professionals are working at improving
effectiveness among teachers, school leaders, and the
preparation programs at higher education and making sure that
we have healthy students and students who are able to develop
responsibility in child nutrition and financial literacy and
civic engagement and in environmental literacy, that we have
innovative programs that are seamless for post-secondary and
that we improve our data systems.
It is ironic that four of our five goals showed up in the
Race to the Top four pillars. The primary author of that
strategic plan was at that time Lieutenant Governor Beverly
Perdue and since being elected as the Governor of the State has
continued the initiatives started in that strategic plan and
has enhanced them through her Ready, Set, Go agenda.
While North Carolina has many innovative programs, I will
focus on education programs and policy that is innovative and
has a State-wide impact. Even before the Common Core
discussions among the various States, North Carolina made a
commitment to rewrite its entire standard course of study and
to rewrite all of the end-of-course and end-of-grade
assessments. We plan to replace those assessments with a
balanced assessment system that will be delivered
electronically through a learner management system.
The balanced assessment program will include diagnostic
measures that are engaged to allow teachers to be able to
target at the individual student level where that student needs
to improve, but also informative benchmark assessments so that
the teacher knows how to restructure instruction in that
classroom to meet the needs of all of the students and ensure
that every student continues to move forward.
The second area is in the area of effective teachers,
leaders, and preparation programs. In addition to new content
standards for students, we have new professional practice
standards for all educators. What is innovative about this is
that the same rubrics are applied at the practice teaching
level--all the way from teachers, through principals, through
sitting superintendents--get master's in school administration
programs so that everyone has come to a common understanding
about what effective classroom instruction looks like and how
an effective school is run.
Students today are not the same students that came to
school 50 years ago. These students are not content to ``sit
and get.'' They want to be engaged, and everybody in the
educational system needs to understand how to impact those
students. In addition to having the same standards, these folks
will enjoy the same evaluation tool that we delivered
electronically and also allow us at the State level to collect
the data that the Federal Government now requires in terms of
effective leaders and teachers.
Paired with this is a huge effort on the part of the
university system that now ranks its schools of education so
that their information is on the table for all to see so that
we can determine where the weaknesses are and begin to improve
them. Also they are releasing data that compares their
preparation programs to others, such as Teach for America,
teachers from out of State, so that we can learn best practices
from anyone who is preparing educators.
We also have an initiative in our State for college and
career readiness that Senator Hagan alluded to. We have 70
early college high schools with 2 in planning and will be
effective next year. That is more than any other State in the
country and, in fact, at one time, we had more than all the
other States combined.
The purpose of those early college high schools is for
students to graduate either with an associate's degree or with
transferable credit. In addition to having the brick and mortar
early college high schools, students are able to access those
programs through learn and earn online so that every student in
the State had the opportunity to take advantage of higher
education courses while they are in high school.
We also have 44 redesign high schools in our State that are
focused on the Bill and Melinda Gates small schools philosophy.
You will hear something about STEM this morning from Karl
Rectanus, who is here.
The General Assembly in our State has been very proactive
in funding the District and School Transformation Division at
the department. The purpose of that division is to work with
over 150 schools across our State that are low performing. We
work with them in terms of needs assessment and coaching so
that we can build local capacity so that when department staff
leave, the improvements do not regress.
Also, we have a new North Carolina Virtual Public School
that Dr. Setser is going to talk about this morning. It has
been in effect now for the past 3 years and is ranked as one of
the best in the country. Paired with that is a connectivity
initiative that was funded by the General Assembly to make sure
that broadband Internet service went to the schoolhouse door so
that all students--
Senator Hagan. Ms. Garland, just a few more minutes.
Ms. Garland [continuing]. OK. Would be able to take
advantage.
And finally, we have efforts underway to improve our data
system in the State. We at the department now place our targets
and goals online through a performance navigator so that the
public will be able to judge for themselves the progress made
from the public schools, as well as the Department of Public
Instruction.
We feel like there is a mountain of data that we have
accumulated in North Carolina over 15 years with our
accountability model, that we have the data to make good
decisions. And if we will have the courage to make those hard
decisions, we know how to improve outcomes for North Carolina
students.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Garland follows:]
Prepared Statement of Rebecca Garland, Ed.D.
Good morning, Senator Hagan. Thank you for inviting me to testify
about educational innovation in North Carolina. On behalf of our 1.5
million North Carolina public school students, I would like to thank
you for your support of public education in the U.S. Senate as well as
your previous support while you were a member of our North Carolina
General Assembly.
In August 2006, the North Carolina State Board of Education adopted
a visionary, ambitious strategic plan for changing public education.
That plan continues to serve as the framework for major efforts in five
broad areas--Globally Competitive Students (standards and assessments),
21st Century Professionals (effective teachers, leaders, and
preparation programs), Healthy and Responsible Students, (child
nutrition and healthy life style), Innovation in Schools (seamless
education to post-secondary, charter schools, and redesign high
schools) and 21st Century Systems (data systems, turnaround processes
for low-performing schools, and virtual education). See Attachment--
Future-Ready Students for the 21st Century.
Each of the four required pillars found in the components of the
Race to the Top proposal were already identified in 2006 by the NC
State Board of Education as areas in which North Carolina needed major
overhaul and innovative practices. Using the Board's vision as a
foundation, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the
University of North Carolina System, and the North Carolina Community
College System have worked seamlessly to introduce new initiatives that
will ultimately result in improved outcomes for North Carolina
students. Governor Beverly Perdue, who was a member of the State Board
of Education in 2006 by virtue of her role as Lieutenant Governor, was
the impetus for the Board's strategic plan. Then Lieutenant Governor
Perdue spearheaded the creation of the North Carolina Virtual Public
School. Since assuming her current position, Governor Perdue endorsed
continuation of the major programs initiated under the strategic plan.
She has also enhanced those reform efforts with her Ready, Set, Go
agenda, focusing efforts to ensure that all North Carolina students
graduate from high school, college and career ready.
While North Carolina has many innovative programs underway, I will
focus on a few. We like to think of most of our programs as Second
Generation. For the past 15 years, North Carolina has led the Nation in
accountability, support for low-
performing schools, and National Board certification for teachers. By
using lessons learned from earlier work, we feel that our next
generation of work allows us to stand on the foundation of solid
evidence of what does and doesn't work in our State.
STANDARDS AND ASSESSMENTS
Even before the Common Core Content standards work began, the North
Carolina Department of Public Instruction began rewriting the entire
North Carolina Standard Course of Study with an eye toward fewer and
more transparent standards based on 21st century knowledge and skills.
Along with a new Standard Course of Study, North Carolina is rewriting
its whole series of End-of-Grade and End-of-Course assessments, paired
with a balanced assessment system that will include diagnostic measures
for the individual student as well as formative and benchmark tools for
the teacher to adjust instruction. The assessments will be delivered
online through a Learner Management System that will house curriculum
and instructional tools for the teacher and learning activities and
resources for the student. The assessments will include scenario-based
performance tasks as well as more traditional items. North Carolina had
a timeline in place for such a tool before the multi-state assessment
consortia were formed and before the economic decline. By joining in a
multi-state group, North Carolina hopes to be able to move toward such
a system in a shorter timeframe with the benefit of Federal grant
resources.
EFFECTIVE TEACHERS, LEADERS, AND PREPARATION PROGRAMS
In addition to new content standards, North Carolina educators have
new professional practice standards written to address 21st century
knowledge and skills and a new generation of students who expect
schooling to be more than ``sit and get.'' The new Educator Evaluation
System, required for all teachers and principals in the State, includes
evaluation instruments for superintendents and central office staff,
principals, teachers, and participants in teacher and school leader
preparation programs. All of the instruments are aligned so that
teachers in pre-service through sitting superintendents have the same
expectations of what makes effective instruction and schooling. As a
result of new standards, all of the pre-service programs at the public
and private institutions of higher education are being revised and will
be submitted to the North Carolina State Board of Education for
approval.
In addition to revising educational programs at all levels, the
University of North Carolina System has undertaken an ambitious effort
to evaluate and improve its preparation programs. In one recent study
UNC ranked its teacher preparation programs in terms of student
performance in public school classrooms. Another study using public
school student performance data compared graduates from UNC programs
with teachers prepared from other sources such as out-of-state, Teach
for America, and private institutions. The UNC System is committed to
using data to improve its preparation of education professionals.
Both the evaluation system and the redesign of preparation programs
are targeted at improved student performance. North Carolina has also
approved alternative pathways to teacher and principal licensure and is
currently investigating additional alternative programs. In North
Carolina, educational leaders in K-12 and post-secondary are tightly
focused on providing every student in our State with an effective
teacher and school leader regardless of the zip code in which the
student resides.
COLLEGE AND CAREER READY
North Carolina is committed to high school reform and to increasing
the number of students who attend post-secondary school. In order to
encourage first generation college attendance, North Carolina funds 70
Early College High Schools, with two more funded and in planning--the
most of any other State. The Early Colleges are a cooperative effort
between K-12 public school systems and the University of North Carolina
campuses, the Community College campuses, and the Independent Colleges
and Universities in North Carolina. The goal for the students is to
graduate from high school in 5 years with a high school diploma, as
well as an Associate's Degree or transferable college credit that will
be accepted by the University of North Carolina System and by many of
the private institutions. Tuition and textbooks are provided by the
State. Preference for entrance is given to first-generation college
students. Early data indicate higher graduation rates at the Early
Colleges--typically in the 90 percent range, as well as students who
report favorably on their experiences on the campuses.
North Carolina also has 44 redesign high schools that have been
restructured around the small schools model. Many of the schools have
adopted a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) focus. All
students are enrolled in rigorous college preparatory courses. The Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation has been instrumental in this initiative.
EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS
The North Carolina General Assembly funds the District and School
Transformation Division at the Department of Public Instruction in
order to ensure that students in all North Carolina public schools get
a sound education. Currently the Division works with over 150 schools.
Schools are selected based on several directives--the NC Court System
through the Leandro Hearings, the Governor's List for high schools
targeting those under 60 percent proficiency, Title 1 Improvement
sanctions, the ABCs of Public Education sanctions, five DPI-LEA
partnerships for comprehensive improvement, and one school system
takeover initiative. In all of the schools, teachers receive additional
support from ongoing instructional facilitators, principals receive
assistance through ongoing coaching and needs assessments, and in six
systems, the superintendent and central office personnel are paired
with full-time leadership coaches. In all instances the model is based
on building local capacity for continuous improvement. After 2 years of
implementation, the majority of targeted schools have posted
significant student achievement gains.
THE NORTH CAROLINA VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOL (NCVPS)
The NCVPS is ranked as one of the best in the Nation. You will be
receiving comments from Dr. Bryan Setser, the director of the program.
The NCVPS has been made more effective because of the North Carolina
Connectivity initiative in which the State has assumed responsibility
for providing connectivity to each school in North Carolina.
transparent, data-driven systems approach
In all of the initiatives outlined above, staff members at the
Department of Public Instruction are working using data, planning
strategically, and soliciting input from stakeholders through a
transparent process. Programs are evidenced-based using North Carolina
data and lessons learned from past experiences. As data-systems
improve, program selection and outcomes for students will improve. The
Department tracks its own performance using a Performance Navigator
that is open to public view and scrutiny. North Carolina is committed
to data and innovation as the drivers for a more effective and
efficient educational system.
Thank you for allowing me to share some of our innovative
practices.
______
Attachment--Future-Ready Students: Goals for the 21st Century
The guiding mission of the North Carolina State Board of Education
is that every public school student will graduate from high school,
globally competitive for work and post-secondary education and prepared
for life in the 21st century.
NC PUBLIC SCHOOLS WILL PRODUCE GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE STUDENTS
Every student excels in rigorous and relevant core curriculum that
reflects what students need to know and demonstrate in a global 21st
Century environment, including a mastery of languages, an appreciation
of the arts and competencies in the use of technology.
Every student's achievement is measured with an assessment
system that informs instruction and evaluates knowledge, skills,
performance and dispositions needed in the 21st Century.
Every student will be enrolled in a course of study
designed to prepare them to stay ahead of international competition.
Every student uses technology to access and demonstrate
new knowledge and skills that will be needed as a lifelong learner to
be competitive in a constantly changing international environment.
Every student has the opportunity to graduate from high
school with an Associate's Degree or college transfer credit.
nc public schools will be led by 21st century professionals
Every teacher will have the skills to deliver 21st Century
content in a 21st Century context with 21st Century tools and
technology that guarantees student learning.
Every teacher and administrator will use a 21st Century
assessment system to inform instruction and measure 21st Century
knowledge, skills, performance and dispositions.
Every education professional will receive preparation in
the interconnectedness of the world with knowledge and skills,
including language study.
Every education professional will have 21st Century
preparation and access to ongoing, high quality professional
development aligned with State Board of Education priorities.
Every educational professional uses data to inform
decisions.
nc public school students will be healthy and responsible
Every learning environment will be inviting, respectful,
supportive, inclusive and flexible for student success.
Every school provides an environment in which each child
has positive, nurturing relationships with caring adults.
Every school promotes a healthy, active lifestyle where
students are encouraged to make responsible choices.
Every school focuses on developing strong student
character, personal responsibility and community/world involvement.
Every school reflects a culture of learning that empowers
and prepares students to be life-long learners.
LEADERSHIP WILL GUIDE INNOVATION IN NC PUBLIC SCHOOLS
School professionals will collaborate with national and
international partners to discover innovative transformational
strategies that will facilitate change, remove barriers for 21st
Century learning and understand global connections.
School leaders will create a culture that embraces change
and promotes dynamic, continuous improvement.
Educational professionals will make decisions in
collaboration with parents, students, businesses, education
institutions, and faith-based and other community and civic
organizations to impact student success.
Public school professionals will collaborate with
community colleges and public and private universities and colleges to
provide enhanced educational opportunities for students.
NC PUBLIC SCHOOLS WILL BE GOVERNED AND SUPPORTED BY 21ST CENTURY
SYSTEMS
Processes are in place for financial planning and
budgeting that focus on resource attainment and alignment with
priorities to maximize student achievement.
Twenty-first century technology and learning tools are
available and are supported by school facilities that have the capacity
for 21st Century learning.
Information and fiscal accountability systems are capable
of collecting relevant data and reporting strategic and operational
results.
Procedures are in place to support and sanction schools
that are not meeting State standards for student achievement.
Senator Hagan. Ms. Clark.
STATEMENT OF ANN BLAKENEY CLARK, CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER,
CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG SCHOOLS, CHARLOTTE, NC
Ms. Clark. Good morning, Senator Hagan. Thank you for the
opportunity to tell you and your colleagues about some of the
innovative work we are doing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools,
including the great work being done here at E. E. Waddell High
School under the leadership of Lisa Bowen and her team of
teachers.
I would like to tell you very briefly about three important
initiatives now under way in CMS--strategic staffing, measuring
teacher effectiveness, and pay for performance are three CMS
initiatives intended to increase the performance of teachers,
principals, and district employees on our way to our
implementation of our strategic plan, ``Teaching Our Way to the
Top.''
The strategic staffing initiative began in the 2007-2008
school year with 7 schools and has increased each year to a
total today of 20 schools. As of the 2009-2010 school year, we
have put in place at 20 of our most academically challenged
schools some of our most successful principals and teachers
into these struggling schools. The results have been remarkable
with student achievement in some schools increasing by more
than 20 percent on State tests in just 1 year.
Strategic staffing has five tenets. A great leader is
needed, a principal with a proven track record of success in
increasing student achievement. Also, great teachers will not
go to a troubled school without a great leader as a principal.
A team with a track record of success needs to go to the
school so a person is not alone in taking on this challenging
assignment. There is strength and support in numbers. Staff
members who are not supportive of reform need to be removed
from the school.
Principals must be given the time and authority to reform
the school and be freed from the district list of ``non-
negotiables that constrain principal autonomy and flexibility.
Not all job assignments are equal in difficulty, and
compensation should be varied to match.
Academic performance as measured by proficiency on State
tests has risen at nearly every school where we have employed
strategic staffing. Leadership at a school matters because the
principal is the key lever for change. With the right principal
and a strong core team of effective teachers in place,
achievement rises and the school improves in other ways as
well.
For teacher effectiveness and for pay for performance, we
again would believe that every child deserves an effective
teacher. Great teaching lifts every child in a classroom. And
when that happens, student achievement goes up. We are
reshaping the way we train, evaluate, and compensate our
teachers. This is a very broad-based reform initiative that is
being launched in multiple ways.
We began this work 2 years ago with the Department of
Education Teacher Incentive Fund Leadership for Educators'
Advanced Performance initiative that is helping us pilot
measures of teacher effectiveness using student learning
objectives as a measure. We have been invited to take part in a
national 2-year study to measure effective teaching funded by
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Strategic Data Project at Harvard has done another
study of CMS that is the most in-depth research done on our
teachers to date. Using student performance to measure teacher
effectiveness, this study found very little correlation between
teacher effectiveness as measured by student performance and
advanced degrees.
Some positive effects were detected for teachers with
national board certification. Other factors affecting teacher
performance that were evaluated by the study included which
undergraduate institution the teacher attended and whether a
teacher was hired late after the school year began.
The study also found that nearly all of the improvement
that occurs as teachers gain experience comes in the first 3
years of teaching. Therefore, we are focused on managing
teacher performance by evaluating them based on student
learning rather than choosing them based on experience or
degrees. We are beginning with teachers, but ultimately, all
employees in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools will be managed
using pay for performance.
We will develop a system of multiple indicators of
effectiveness for each job in this district and use it to
measure and compensate all employees. We also will be
submitting an alternative compensation plan to the Department
of Public Instruction and our legislative body as a potential
to inform the work across the State.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Clark follows:]
Prepared Statement of Ann Blakeney Clark
Good morning, Senator Hagan. Thank you for the opportunity to tell
you and your colleagues about some of the innovative work we're doing
in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. I'd like to tell you about three
important initiatives now underway in CMS.
All three of the initiatives are focused on improving the
performance of adults, rather than children. That's deliberate. We know
that if our teachers, principals and administrators do a great job,
then our students will achieve more. Every student can learn--as
educators, we know that. We just have to do a better job of teaching
every student. Strategic Staffing, Measuring Teacher Effectiveness and
Pay for Performance are three CMS initiatives intended to increase the
performance of teachers, principals and district employees.
STRATEGIC STAFFING
The Strategic Staffing initiative began in the 2007-2008 school
year with seven schools and has increased each year. As of the 2009-
2010 school year, we have put it into place at 20 of our most
academically challenged schools. Without intervention, any
underperforming school can find itself trapped in a cycle of failure:
Ineffective teachers and weak administrators lead to poor academic
performance, which makes the school unattractive to the successful
teachers and strong principals who could improve it. With the same
staff and the same problems year after year, poor results become the
norm--and a culture of failure takes root.
Strategic Staffing addresses this challenge by putting some of our
most successful principals and teachers into some of our most
struggling schools. The results have been remarkable, with student
achievement in some schools increasing by more than 20 percentage
points on State tests in a year. Strategic Staffing is based on five
tenets:
A great leader is needed, a principal with a proven track
record of success in increasing student achievement. Also, great
teachers will not go to a troubled school without a great leader as
principal.
A team with a track record of success needs to go to the
school so a person is not alone in taking on this challenging
assignment; there is strength and support in numbers.
Staff members who are not supportive of reform need to be
removed from the school.
Principals must be given the time and authority to reform
the school, and be freed from the district list of ``non-negotiables''
that constrain autonomy.
Not all job assignments are equal in difficulty and
compensation should be varied to match.
Let me tell you about one school in CMS that has benefited from
Strategic Staffing: Sterling Elementary. At the end of 2008, student
performance on State tests had fallen dramatically over the preceding 2
years. By 2008, only 29 percent of students had tested at proficient or
above in both reading and math compared to 52 percent in 2006. Sterling
also had enrollment challenges. Nearly 90 percent of students were
categorized as economically disadvantaged and Sterling's students with
limited english proficiency were increasing. Furthermore, surveys
showed the school's teachers were becoming increasingly unhappy with
their jobs and with the school.
A year later--in spring 2009--the picture was very different.
Sterling was moving in a new direction. The percentage of students
scoring at proficient or above on EOG tests had risen dramatically, far
exceeding average district increases in math and reading: a 23 percent
jump in math and a 14 percent jump in reading (without retesting). The
school had become orderly, with smooth transitions between classrooms
and sparkling facilities. Teachers tracked student progress and sent
reports to parents, and the teachers were using twice-weekly, 90-minute
planning periods to write common assessments, review data, and discuss
what needed to be done to help students achieve even more.
As Sterling Elementary shows, Strategic Staffing can turn a
struggling school around. Academic performance, as measured by
proficiency on State tests, has risen at nearly every school where we
have employed it. Leadership at a school matters because the principal
is the key lever for change. With the right principal and a strong core
team in place, achievement rises and the school improves in other ways
as well.
MEASURING EFFECTIVE TEACHING/PAY FOR PERFORMANCE
For too long, many people have casually assumed that teaching can
be done by anyone willing to assemble a lesson plan and show up in
class. The truth is, it can't. Great teachers bring enormous amounts of
skill and heart to the job. Not everyone has the ability to be a great
teacher--a point once made by the great violinist Jascha Heifetz. After
a brilliant career playing the violin, Heifetz took a job as professor
of music at UCLA. Someone asked him what had prompted his move to
teaching, and he replied, ``Violin-playing is a perishable art. It must
be passed on as a personal skill. Otherwise it is lost. I remember my
old violin professor in Russia. He said that someday I would be good
enough to teach.''
At CMS, we believe that every child deserves a teacher who is good
enough to teach. Every child deserves an effective teacher because it's
so directly linked to achievement: The most important school-based
factor in student learning is the classroom teacher. Great teaching
doesn't benefit just one group or one kind of student. Great teaching
lifts every child in a classroom--and when that happens, student
achievement goes up.
So CMS is working to recruit and retain great teachers by reshaping
the way we train, evaluate and compensate our teachers. This is a very
broad-based reform initiative that is being launched in multiple ways.
We began this work 2 years ago with a Teacher Incentive Fund-
Leadership for Educators' Advanced Performance initiative that is
helping us pilot measures of teaching effectiveness using student
learning objectives as a measure. CMS has also partnered with nearby
Davidson College and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to
create a Charlotte Teachers Institute, which will train CMS teachers in
scholarly content using the Yale National Initiative as a model. In
addition, we have been invited to take part in a national 2-year study
to measure effective teaching funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation. That study, which will look at several districts across the
United States, is part of the Gates-funded Strategic Data Project at
Harvard, a national education initiative to help education leaders use
data effectively to improve instruction and increase student
achievement.
CMS is the focus of another study by the Strategic Data Project
that is the most in-depth research done on our teachers to date. The
Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard, led by Dr. Jon
Fullerton, examined teacher performance in the district as well as
recruitment, retention, development and credentials. The study used
results in reading and math for grades four through eight for the
period from 2003-2009, and it found very little correlation between
teacher effectiveness, as measured by student performance, and advanced
degrees.
Some positive effects were detected for teachers with National
Board certification. Other factors affecting teacher performance that
were evaluated by the study included which undergraduate institution
the teacher attended and whether a teacher was hired late (after the
school year began). The study also found that nearly all of the
improvement that occurs as teachers gain experience comes in the first
3 years of teaching. It also found that how a teacher enters the
profession makes little difference in performance after 5 years--non-
traditional routes to certification do not affect performance.
At CMS, we are finding that great teachers are diverse. They come
in all shapes and sizes. Some have master's degrees. Some don't. Some
have National Board certification. Some don't. Some are veterans. Some
are in the second or third year of teaching.
That diversity makes it impossible for us to accurately predict
who's going to be a great teacher and who isn't. But we are learning
what is not an accurate predictor: National research and research done
by Harvard on CMS in particular shows that degrees and experience are
not predictors of teaching excellence.
Therefore we are focusing on managing teachers' performance by
evaluating them based on student learning. Pay for performance allows
teachers to set high goals and be promptly rewarded for attaining them.
This is a more equitable system than seniority or degree-based
compensation because it is focused on student outcomes. What matters
most is how well the student is educated, not the teacher!
For teachers, pay for performance is actually a five-part plan. The
five parts are:
Define it: Clearly define and measure teacher
effectiveness.
Hire it: Base teacher recruitment on effectiveness.
Develop it: Provide access to training to help teachers
improve.
Manage it: Provide accurate, timely and relevant data on
teacher performance.
Pay for it: Revise the compensation structure so it is
aligned with performance.
Standards of effective teaching must be based on effectiveness in
the classroom and student outcomes--how much students learn. We are
using five core principles in the development of standards to measure
effective teaching: We will work with our employees on this new way to
measure performance. We will approach this work in a thoughtful,
deliberate way. We will be truthful and transparent about this work. We
will communicate clearly and regularly about this work. We are going to
be innovative and creative, and we will resist false either-or choices.
We are beginning with teachers, but ultimately, all employees in
CMS will be managed using pay for performance. We will develop a system
of multiple indicators of effectiveness for each job in the district
and use it to measure and compensate all employees.
Senator Hagan. Thank you, Ms. Clark.
Dr. Arbuckle.
STATEMENT OF MARGARET BOURDEAUX ARBUCKLE, Ph.D., EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR, GUILFORD EDUCATION ALLIANCE, GREENSBORO, NC
Mrs. Arbuckle. Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here
and appear before this committee and be with my good friend,
Senator Hagan.
Guilford County Schools has a history of innovation, having
been one of the first to provide early and middle colleges
offering students alternative routes to graduation. It launched
the State's first in-house licensure program, and it is
providing North Carolina's first comprehensive pay-for-
performance model, Mission Possible.
In the 2005-2006 school year, principals who were
recruiting teachers complained loudly that when they were
attending teacher recruitment fairs, the schools in our
district with high-needs student populations found themselves
competing unsuccessfully for high-quality teachers, as new
teachers preferred entering our more affluent schools. Led by
the superintendent, teacher focus groups were formed and
teachers were asked, ``What would it take to attract you and
other teachers to our high-needs schools?''
Following much discussion, several specific things were
identified--strong, experienced principals; financial
incentives, particularly to teach the tested subjects;
performance compensation for academic results; relevant
professional development with instructional coaches who are
experienced master teachers; and smaller class sizes.
Using criteria of teacher turnover rates, socioeconomic
levels, adequate yearly progress, and ABC growth models,
schools were selected. Initially, funding for the program was
found by redirecting funds, resulting in over $2 million in
local dollars to fund the four components of the program--
compensation incentives, performance accountability,
professional development and capacity building, and structural
support for recruitment bonuses.
The outcomes for Mission Possible are well described on our
Guilford County Schools Web site. But in summary, they are: the
impact of Mission Possible has been great in terms of
maintaining faculty within our high-needs schools; providing
appropriate differentiated professional development; and
improvement in school climate as measured by a special measure
developed specifically for the Mission Possible schools.
However, there remains concern of whether there will be
increased student achievement, a long-term, 5- to 6-year
outcome. Using the ABC growth model, our students' achievement
is improving, but many are not yet achieving grade-level
proficiency.
There are several explanations for this at this time.
Changing a school's faculty takes time in order to result in
having the total number of highly qualified, course-certified
teachers in all positions.
Based on the 1996 Sanders & Rivers research on impact of
effective teaching on students' increased academic performance,
we know that, on average, fifth grade students with highly
effective teachers 3 years in a row will score 50 percentile
points higher on State-level exams than their peers. But in
reverse, for students who have historically had ineffective
teachers, it takes years to overcome this deficit.
Students enrolled in these high-need schools have multiple
issues that present high challenges to their academic success--
family poverty, family illiteracy, home mobility, health, and
mental health issues. These must be addressed, as well as
providing the students with effective teachers.
There are many lessons learned through the process of
developing and implementing Guilford County's Mission Possible
initiative. The attraction of subject-matter qualified teachers
for our highly impacted, low-performing schools has been quite
successful.
However, it is important to remind public policy makers
that educational change takes time. Investment of resources,
both financial and personnel, and flexibility is important.
For too long, we have had ``cookie cutter'' approaches to
education, requiring all teachers to attend the same workshops
no matter the relevance, paying teachers the same amount no
matter their students' outcomes, and not recognizing that
students have very differentiated needs. We must provide the
support and guidance to our teachers to meet each child's
individual educational needs.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Arbuckle follows:]
Prepared Statement of Margaret Bourdeaux Arbuckle, Ph.D.
Good Morning. I am Margaret Bourdeaux Arbuckle, Executive Director
of Guilford Education Alliance. Guilford Education Alliance is a
countywide non-profit organization whose mission is to make quality
education the top priority for our community in order for every person
to achieve his educational potential. We conduct research, publish
reports, convene education summits and community forums on specific
education issues, advocate for funding for our public schools, connect
resources into classrooms, and show case schools and students through
community engagement activities. We are an affiliate of the national
Public Education Network and are part of a network of North Carolina
community-based independent non-profit educational advocacy
organizations. We work closely with the Guilford County Public School
District but we do not work for the district. We support many of the
District's efforts but also provide appropriate feedback to the Board
of Education and the Administration when change is needed.
Guilford County Schools has a history of innovation having been
among the first to provide early and middle colleges offering students
alternative routes to graduation, launching the State's first in-house
licensure program for alternatively certified teachers and in providing
North Carolina's first comprehensive pay for performance model, Mission
Possible. Additionally the school district partners with Head Start and
our State Smart Start/More at Four programs to provide pre-K programs
to over 70 percent of identified at-risk young children.
For background, the Guilford County School District hosts 120
schools with over 72,000 students in 67 elementary, 22 middle, and 26
high schools, 14 traditional high schools and 8 middle/early colleges,
and 7 alternative schools. There are 17 magnet schools and four
International Baccalaureate high schools. Guilford County had three
schools with 100 percent graduation and three with 95 percent
graduation last school year. Guilford County Schools is the largest
employer in the region with close to 10,000 employees.
But also, Guilford County Schools hosts 10 of the 75 low-performing
schools in our State, representative of all levels. This year the
percentage of students on Free/Reduced Lunch has grown to over 53
percent and there are over 150 languages/dialects spoken in our
students' homes representative of over 142 different cultural/ethnic
groups.
To address these many challenges, particularly those within our
low-performing/high-need schools, the district initiated a focused pay-
for-performance model several years ago. This morning I will discuss
Mission Possible, the pay for performance model with you.
During the 2005-2006 school year, principals recruiting teachers
complained loudly that when attending teacher recruitment fairs, the
schools in our district with high-needs student populations found
themselves competing unsuccessfully for teachers as new teachers
preferred entering our more affluent schools. In particular, teacher
applications to teach mathematics was at a very low number and the
teacher turnover at our high-needs schools was very great. It was
challenging to place an experienced principal at these schools and thus
many had young inexperienced leaders.
Led by the Superintendent, teacher focus groups were formed and
teachers were asked, ``What would it take to attract you and other
teachers to our high-needs schools?'' Following much discussion,
several specific things were identified: (1) strong experienced
principals, (2) financial incentives, particularly to teach the End of
Grade-tested subjects, English and math, (3) performance compensation
for academic results, (4) relevant professional development with
instructional coaches who were experienced master teachers, and (5)
smaller class sizes.
Historically North Carolina teachers have been paid on the basis of
academic degrees earned and longevity/experience in the position; this
was true for all Guilford County teachers. Also, the staff development
program was expansive but was workshop oriented with everyone's
participation expected. Class sizes varied upon grade level but
generally the high-need schools did not have surrogate Gifted/Talented
teachers that provided for an overall lower teacher/student ratio.
Having the ideas from the teacher focus groups, the Superintendent
put the idea of differentiated pay ``on the table'' for discussion in
the community. Immediately there was press attention to it and great
interest in the idea. Following rather heated discussion with the
teachers' organization which resulted in the question being posed,
``what would you propose to recruit and retain teachers in our high-
poverty schools?'' which resulted in silence as the response,
conversations with the business community, leadership of Guilford
Education Alliance and others, the Superintendent proposed to the Board
of Education in the spring of 2006 the funding of the Mission Possible
program for 20 selected schools.
Using criteria of teacher turnover rates, socioeconomic levels,
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and ABC growth models, schools were
selected. Initially the funding for the program was found by
redirecting funds through raising the class size in the fifth grade by
.5 student/class and not filling 30 vacant teaching positions resulting
in $2,073,624 in local dollars to fund the four components of the
program: Compensation Incentives, Performance Accountability,
Professional Development and Capacity Building, and Structural Support.
In today's discussion about School Reform initiatives,
differentiated compensation has gained momentum but in 2006 this was
seen as a very innovative, all but radical, proposal, particularly in
North Carolina where teacher pay had such a long history of its being
based on experience. Teachers joined the workforce making approximately
$32,000/year and after 10 years of experience made about $8,000 more,
including local pay supplements. Therefore to consider teachers being
offered incentive pay to teach in specific schools and provided
compensation for student performance created much attention.
After the initial implementation, the UNC Administration and the
local foundation community offered to expand the program with specific
focus on teaching mathematics in high schools. Through the private
funding, high school math teachers were provided a laptop, classroom
technology, math coaching, summer institutes and an additional $4,000
stipend for attending the training programs. Following this
implementation, Guilford County Schools became the first district to
receive a Federal Teacher Incentive Fund grant of $8 million to
differentiate teacher salaries. These additional dollars resulted in 30
Mission Possible Schools identified for the 2007-2008 School Year and
continuing henceforth.
Agreed upon pay incentives are based on value-added scores for
student academic performance. Teachers who produce gains of 1.0-1.49
above the district value-added mean receive a bonus of $2,500 and those
who produce gains of 1.5 or more above the mean receive $4,000.
Recruitment/Retention Incentives
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Position Incentive
------------------------------------------------------------------------
K-5.......................................................... $2,500
6-8 Language Arts or Reading................................. $2,500
6-12 Math without a math degree or 24 content hours (C or $2,500
above)......................................................
6-12 Math with a math degree or 24 content hours (C or above) $9,000
Algebra I.................................................... $10,000
English I.................................................... $2,500
Elementary Principal......................................... $5,000
Middle School Principal...................................... $7,500
High School Principal........................................ $10,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Performance Incentives
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level I Level II
Position (>1.0 SE) (>1.5 SE)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
K-2........................................... Not Not
Eligible Eligible
3-5 Composite EOG............................. $2,500 $4,000
6-8 LA/Reading................................ $2,500 $4,000
6-12 Math..................................... $2,500 $4,000
Algebra I..................................... $2,500 $4,000
English I..................................... $2,500 $4,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Performance Incentives
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level I School Level II
Position (>50%) Makes AYP (>75%)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IB and AP Math......................... $2,500 $4,000
Principal.............................. $5,000
Curriculum Facilitator................. $2,500
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Outcomes for Mission Possible have been published on the
Guilford County Schools Web site, www.gcsnc.com/depts.mission_possible.
In summary they are:
For all 3 years of implementation, 100 percent of Mission
Possible Positions were staffed on the first day of school.
The quality of the applicants for the teaching positions
are more experienced and more qualified, licensed in English or Math.
Professional Development participation has been 100
percent Year 1, 99 percent year 2, and 95 percent Year 3 with
evaluations of over 4.5 on a 1-5 point Likert Scale.
The Professional Development has been differentiated per
teacher need.
From 2006-2007 to 2008-2009 school years, a total of
$1,017,710 has been awarded for Value-Added Performance Awards
representing from 13 percent to 75 percent of teachers for each course
measured, depending upon the course/level.
There is a shift in the population of teachers who are
receiving Level I value-added bonuses to increasing numbers receiving
Level II value-added bonuses.
All but two of the schools received Performance Awards.
The Faculty Attrition Data was 11.7 percent as compared to
12.8 percent for the District average.
The impact of Mission Possible has been great in terms of
maintaining faculty within high-needs schools, providing appropriate
differentiated professional development and improvement in School
Climate as measured by a School Climate Indicator developed
specifically for Mission Possible Schools.
However, there remains concern in whether there will be Increased
Student Achievement, a Long Term (5-6 year) Outcome. Using the ABC
Growth Model our students' achievement is improving but many are not
achieving grade level proficiency. There are several explanations for
why this is so at this time:
1. Changing the faculty takes time in order to result in having the
total number of highly qualified, course-certified teachers in all
positions. For example, there can be 85 faculty members in a middle
school and 4-5 of these positions change in a given year. It takes
multiple years to replace all of the faculty.
2. Based on the 1966 Sanders & Rivers research on impact of
effective teachers on students increased academic performance, we know
that on average 5th grade students with highly effective teachers 3
years in a row will score 50 percentile points higher on State-level
exams than their peers. But in reverse, students who have historically
had ineffective teachers, it takes years to overcome this deficit.
3. Students enrolled in these high need schools have multiple
issues that present high challenges to their academic success: family
poverty, family illiteracy, home mobility, health and mental health
issues. These must be addressed as well as providing the students with
effective teachers.
There are many lessons learned through the process of developing
and implementing Guilford County's Mission Possible Initiative. The
attraction of subject-matter qualified teachers for our highly
impacted, low-performing schools has been quite successful. However, it
is important to remind public policymakers that educational change
takes time, investment of resources both financial and personnel, and
that flexibility is important. For too long, we have had ``cookie
cutter'' approaches to education, requiring all teachers to attend the
same workshops no matter the relevance, paying teachers the same amount
no matter their students' outcomes, and recognizing that students have
very differentiated needs. We must provide the support and guidance to
our teachers to meet each child's educational needs.
Senator Hagan. Thank you very much.
Dr. Setser.
STATEMENT OF BRYAN SETSER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NORTH CAROLINA
VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS, RALEIGH, NC
Mr. Setser. Thank you, Senator Hagan, for the opportunity
for the North Carolina Virtual Public School to attend today
and share our good news in North Carolina, as well as
nationally.
In the year 2000, the Florida Virtual School launched as
the Nation's first virtual school. Today, there are now over 42
virtual schools in this country. Your North Carolina virtual
school ranks in the top five in all metrics, including
enrollment, where we are second.
In the year 2000, there were 40,000 students nationwide
taking virtual courses. Today, there are over 2.7 million. If
you look to any expert in the field, including the recent U.S.
Department of Education's meta analysis of over 50 online
learning studies, half of all students will learn online in
2020.
So when we look at those types of metrics, what does that
mean for service options in our States and for our parents, our
students, and educators? What does it mean in terms of learning
options and one-to-one laptops, one-to-one iPads, or one-to-one
mobile devices?
Several things are brought to mind in terms of innovation
with where we are. Online learning in the K-12 space is over 10
years old. That means that simply taking a course on the
Internet is now a classic model. But yet, when we look at
penetration across North Carolina or across the Nation, less
than 1 percent of the students are still meeting this metric.
That means that if you go across North Carolina, some
districts have 1,000 students enrolled and some districts have
15. Yet 75 percent is the enrollment rate per semester in terms
of growth. So as schools look at these service options across
how they will deliver training to principals, superintendents,
counselors, teachers, and how they will provide this access to
students, four service options are emerging for us all to think
about.
Every school in 2020 will have a classic online learning
option. They will have courses accessed before school and after
school. In that same year, in 2020, every school will have a
modular application. What that means is students can be
diagnosed, assessed, and just take a portion of the course they
missed.
Every school most likely will have a mobile option, where
they will be accessing content, as they are in Arizona and
Alabama, on school buses before school and after school, giving
feedback once they arrive at the schoolhouse and then
disseminating those devices again as they leave it.
And finally, we will all search for ways to blend those
components. We are not advocating in North Carolina nor
nationally that every student learns online the best or every
student learns in a face-to-face situation the best. The final
service option is blended. We need to look for ways for
teachers, educators, leaders, and students to access online
content anytime, anywhere, any path, or any pace.
To create such an environment, you have heard from many of
our panelists who are talking about Innovation 3 funding, which
we are very appreciative of Ms. Shah and the Department of
Education in looking at ways for programs like ourselves to
participate in that national letter of intent, and also for
ways for us to train teachers and leaders across States in
these endeavors.
I think when you hear from Dr. Garland today and the work
around diagnostic testing and everything being offered on a
State-wide learning management system, one of the reasons that
the 2020 vision is very critical is that students want to learn
this way. When they arrive at school, they are asked to power
down, to cut off their devices. But that is not the case in
Onslow County or Durham County, where students are using smart
phones to access Algebra I content, and results are up 14
percent on all State metrics.
So as we look to comprehensively plan, we need to stop
referring to technology as a tool. Technology is now a
strategic learning process, and every school district, every
school should sit down and think of ways for that delivery
system to continue to engage children, to continue to engage
the parents, and to connect to a learning management system
that can produce results.
As I close my comments today, those results are very
strong, that U.S. DOE analysis in 2009 concluded that online
learning on all metrics was as good or better than face-to-
face, particularly when partnering with blended instructors,
when partnering with blended leadership and blended counselors.
In North Carolina, since 2007, our metrics started out in the
mid-50 percent range. They are now in the 85 percent range in
student performance, as well as a 97 percent completion rate.
As we look at these options, the question is not whether or
not we have a crisis of how to use technology. The question is
do we have a crisis in leadership and execution in terms of how
we deploy that technology?
As we roll out the North Carolina virtual learning plan for
this year, we are partnering with school districts. We are
partnering with national initiatives to bring even more access
to students, and I think you will see a day when this type of
repository of information is accessible anytime, anywhere, to
any parent, any student, and they can make more informed
choices about their learning.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Setser follows:]
Prepared Statement of Bryan Setser
NCVPS is honored to be a part of Senator Hagan's Field Committee
Hearing on ``Fostering Innovation in Education.'' Our testimony today
in the North Carolina innovation space includes a description of NCVPS,
statutory requirements, services, and results for North Carolina
students, educators, and citizens. Our national reputation is among the
Top 5 virtual schools in the country, yet our usage level in North
Carolina is still less than 1 percent of the total student population,
and this is with a growth rate of 75 percent enrollment per semester.
Since 2007, we have served over 65,000 North Carolina students and
propelled over 9,300 to receive free college credit while in high
school.
However, as many students and parents find out at their local
school sites, access to our courses often contains barriers. This is
why hearings like today are vital. Our students are in a supplemental
program to the public schools. We offer 77 general courses, 21 advanced
placement courses, 10 credit recovery courses, and courses for middle
school students seeking high school credit. In some districts, we have
over 1,000 participants, and in some districts less than 14. Why the
disparity? Leadership, education, and execution.
Our students can take courses anytime, anywhere, any path, and any
pace. In school districts where the partnerships are strong they take
these courses before and/or after school, during school, and/or at
community centers or on vacation. Our model is portable and goes with
the learner. So there really is no reason to not take advantage of
NCVPS.
Through our Getting Organized to Lead Virtual Education effort or
GO LIVE site we are taking all of these barriers out of the mix. Use
the site today: http://sites.google.com/site/ncvpsgolive/ or craft
notes from this testimony as we are here to provide all of North
Carolina students with world class blended learning opportunities to
become the globally competitive learners and leaders of tomorrow.
Senator Hagan. Thank you.
Mr. Rectanus.
STATEMENT OF KARL RECTANUS, LEADER, NC STEM COMMUNITY
COLLABORATIVE, DURHAM, NC
Mr. Rectanus. Thank you, Senator Hagan, for your leadership
and for holding this hearing in a State that has been dedicated
to innovation since even before the Wright brothers took their
first flight on the coast.
I want to acknowledge the efforts of the leaders here. I
would also like to briefly acknowledge the wonderful educator
Jessica Garner, who is our North Carolina Teacher of the Year
from Union County, who has also joined us.
Education is not simply about teaching and learning and
graduation. It is the basis for economic prosperity. Education
should be equitable so that all have the opportunity to be
informed citizens and can thrive economically and civically in
our now global environment. In fact, the Governor's college and
career Ready, Set, Go, as well as the Lieutenant Governor's
Joining Our Business and Schools Commission, has been driving
this message across the State.
Increasingly, however, our education system in the United
States is not meeting our needs for informed science,
technology, engineering, and math-trained students. Everyone
needs some basics of STEM literacy to function in today's
world. Every single major challenge this country faces will be
affected and impacted, and we will need STEM skills to solve
it.
In addition, our need for STEM-skilled workers has never
been greater. This is not merely about doctors and researchers,
but about the majority of jobs. The Kauffman Foundation
research shows that 62 percent of our jobs in 2007 required
STEM skills, and only 21 percent of our students had the
requisite skills to meet those.
In fact, I would argue that the best economic stimulus we
could possibly have is an educated child. It will take all of
us working together to address that challenge, and I applaud
your recognition that we have to prepare our children for the
world they live in, not just the world we came from.
To do this, we need to take new approaches, but base them
on proven practices. I have the honor of leading the North
Carolina STEM Community Collaborative, which is developing a
State-wide network of communities and access to drive education
innovation further faster. NC STEM is housed at MCNC and has
the support of nationally recognized innovators like the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Battelle Memorial
Institute.
As you know, MCNC primarily focuses on broadband needs of
education and public health in the State. We appreciate that
support. MCNC manages the research and education network--which
was mentioned earlier, the single broadband network that all of
our public schools, all of our public universities, and the
majority of our private universities share to drive education
innovation--and partners with education, private industry,
economic development, and foundations. It is a model for
public-private partnership, and NC STEM builds on this valuable
State infrastructure to do three things.
First, we invest in communities, communities ready to
change the way they prepare their children for their regional
economic needs. Our State's economy is transitioning from
manufacturing and agricultural to one steeped in STEM skills.
Whether a mechanic or a farmer or a doctor or an artist, any
sector of the workforce, STEM skills are critical.
NC STEM has developed a community visioning and design
process that brings systems thinking--that is a STEM approach
that architects, engineers use--to communities who don't just
want to do another project, but want to design education
innovation that is sustainable, scalable, and serves all of the
children.
In three communities, Davie County, Lenoir County, and the
11 counties around Fort Bragg, leaders and community members
have been working in new ways to change teaching, learning,
funding, and decisionmaking to bolster their economic strength.
In Lenoir County, they have designed what they refer to as
a ``STEM hub.'' It is a central location for experience-based
learning for all teachers and students, and it is co-located
with aerospace and other industry partners. In the 11 counties
around Fort Bragg, they are using a distributed learning
network with enhanced technology classrooms that changes
teaching and learning practices across county lines with 21st
century tools.
And just down the road in Davie County, they are changing
the way they recruit, train, and retain teachers, teaming with
business professionals and collaborating with higher education
in new ways. This process has been so successful, we will
extend this into a community in each of the other four economic
development districts later this spring.
Second, we connect communities to the broad swath of access
and resources and experts in North Carolina and other States
who can best move education innovation further faster. North
Carolina has a wealth of wonderful and effective programs. Our
universities have created over 70 different STEM programs.
One example, the Kenan Fellows program, matches science
teachers with industry and university scientists. As you
mentioned, our community colleges have flexible responsiveness
to our business needs, and our K-12 education industry,
business, and nonprofit sectors have created a multitude of
impact on teaching and learning, including a perfect example,
the North Carolina New Schools Project.
However, not all of these programs are equal, effective, or
appropriate for every community. So we focus on ensuring that
our State assets and others from around the country work
together to provide children with good choices in life to
bolster their economic situation.
Finally, we believe we must consider a new approach to
funding education innovation. Venture philanthropy, a proven
model in the public and private sector that provides an
admirable approach to local capacity-building and ongoing
sustainability. NC STEM and its partners recognize that
networks help move innovation further faster. The iPad, iPod,
Twitter, Google, Facebook are all proven private sector
examples.
Our partners believe we need to take another approach from
the private sector. That is venture capital. What is this
venture capital and venture philanthropy for innovation? In a
nutshell, it is about active investment and protecting that
investment. It is about providing the support and guidance
needed to take the seed of an idea and allow it to nurture to a
full flower.
We aren't the first to utilize this. Obviously, business
and industry, biotech and IT, have used this for years. Venture
philanthropy is well documented as a valid model. New Profit,
New Schools Venture Fund, which Charlotte is a part of, the
Robin Hood Foundation, and others have helped prove the KIPP
school model, New Leaders for New Schools, and others across
the country.
This is an idea whose time has come. A STEM ventures fund
would spur innovative approaches----
Senator Hagan. Just a few more seconds.
Mr. Rectanus [continuing]. Absolutely. And provide
expertise, support, and guidance and build local capacity. It
would also minimize the risk of what we do, improving
opportunities.
We believe it also responds to the pace of innovation,
which is what we need. The pace of legislation as well as
foundation giving cycles can be added to this approach. So, in
three ways, building local capacity in communities, networking
those communities across the State, and investing actively in a
portfolio of them, we believe we can have great impact on our
children, families, and economy.
Thank you so much.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Rectanus follows:]
Prepared Statement of Karl Rectanus
Thank you, Senator Hagan for your leadership, and holding this
hearing in a State that has been dedicated to innovation since well
before the Wright Brothers' first flight on North Carolina's coast.
Education is not simply about teaching, learning and graduating.
Education is the basis for economic prosperity. Education should be
equitable so all have the opportunity to be informed citizens who can
thrive economically and civically in our now global environment.
Education is even a nationally security issue--an informed global
citizen is much more able to interpret and contextualize global events.
Increasingly our education system in the United States does not
meet our needs for informed science, technology, engineering, and math
(or STEM) trained students. Everyone needs some basis of STEM literacy
to function in today's world. The environment, health care innovations,
and use of the Internet impacts our daily lives, and every single major
challenge our country faces this century requires STEM skills to solve.
In addition, our need for STEM-skilled workers has never been
greater. This is not merely about doctors and researchers, but about
the majority of jobs. These are the innovation careers. And our
children are the inventive minds that will meet the challenges of the
21st century with new ideas about energy, healthcare, and
infrastructure. In fact, I would argue that the best economic stimulus
is an educated child.
It will take all of us working together to address the challenge. I
applaud your recognition of the critical need to prepare our children
for the world they live in, not just the one we came from. To do this
we must take new approaches, based on proven practices.
I have the honor of leading the NC STEM Community Collaborative,
and I appreciate the opportunity to discuss how our State and Nation
can foster education innovation. NC STEM is developing a statewide
network of communities and assets who drive education innovation in
STEM fields further, faster.
NC STEM is housed at MCNC, with the support of nationally
recognized innovators including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and
the Battelle Memorial Institute. As you know, MCNC primarily focuses on
supporting the broadband needs of education and public health of the
State of North Carolina. MCNC manages the NC Research and Education
Network (NCREN). NCREN is the single broadband network that all public
schools, all public universities, the majority of the private
universities all share to drive education innovation. MCNC works with
education, private industry, economic development, foundations and
private industry--it is a model for public/private partnership. NC STEM
builds on the valuable State infrastructure asset by doing three
things.
First, we invest in communities ready to change the way they
prepare their children for their regional economic needs. Our State's
economy is transitioning from manufacturing and agriculture to one
steeped in STEM skills--advanced manufacturing, aerospace, IT, health
and biotech. Whether a mechanic, farmer, doctor, artist, or any other
sector of our workforce, STEM skills are critical, and many communities
are now willing to change the way they teach and learn to ensure their
children are able to fill these roles.
NC STEM has developed a ``Community Visioning & Design Process''
that brings a systems-thinking--a STEM approach--to communities who
don't just want to do a new project, but want to design education
innovation that is sustainable, scalable, and serves all children. In
three communities--Davie County, Lenoir County, and the 11 Counties
around Ft Bragg--leaders and community members are working in new ways
to change teaching, learning, funding, and decisionmaking to bolster
the economic strength of their communities. The process has been so
successful, communities in each of the other four economic development
regions of the State will implement their own Community Visioning &
Design Process later this spring.
Second, we connect communities to the broad swath of assets,
resources, and experts in NC and other States who can best move
education innovation further faster. North Carolina has a wealth of
wonderful, effective programs that impact students. Our universities
offer over 70 different STEM programs that impact K12 education--for
example, the Kenan Fellows Program matching science teachers with
industry and university scientists. Our community colleges have proven
their flexible responsiveness to business needs. Our K12 education,
business and non-profit sectors have also created a multitude of
impactful teaching and learning programs; a wonderful example of this
is the NC New Schools Project with redesigned high schools and STEM
Schools.
However, not all programs are created equal, effective, or
appropriate for all communities' needs. NC STEM focuses on ensuring
that our State's assets and others from around the country work
together to provide children with good choices in life and bolster the
economic strength of their communities.
Finally, we believe we must consider a new approach to funding
education innovation--venture philanthropy, a proven model in the
public and private sectors that provides an agile approach to local
capacity building and ongoing sustainability of innovation.
NC STEM and its partners recognize that networks help move
innovation further, faster. Of course, the iPad, the iPod, Twitter,
Facebook, Google and other private sector examples prove the power of
networks. Our partners believe we need to take another page from
private sector's efforts to spark innovation--that is, the venture
capital approach to funding innovation, especially in the STEM arena.
What's the idea of the Venture Capital, or Venture Philanthropy, to
drive innovation? In a nutshell, it's about active investment and
protecting that investment. It's about providing the support and
guidance needed to take the seed of an idea and nurture it to full
flower with assistance and financial support.
We aren't the first to utilize the model. Business and industry has
nurtured innovation this way with incredible results in IT, Biotech,
and other industries globally, and here at home. And, Venture
philanthropy is well-documented as a valid model. National leaders like
New Profit Inc., the Robin Hood Foundation, New Schools Venture Fund,
and others have driven great education innovations like the KIPP school
model and New Leaders for New Schools in regions and across the
country. Venture Philanthropy encourages a more active role in
investments to push for faithful and effective implementation of good
ideas.
This is an idea whose time has come. A STEMVentures Fund will:
spur innovative approaches;
put capital into ideas and organizations best positioned
to succeed;
provide the expertise, support, and guidance needed for
effective implementation and impact;
build local capacity while providing opportunities to
scale proven practices and programs quickly;
minimize the risk and exposure for public investment
through private investment and assistance;
support a portfolio of evidence-based innovations rather
than individual point programs; and
Leverage public investment for multiplier effect with
private dollars.
This approach responds to local needs to drive innovation and
innovative approaches. And it responds at the pace of innovation--not
the pace of a legislative appropriation process or a foundation giving
cycle.
By doing these three things--building local capacity in
communities, networking their successes across the State, and actively
investing in a portfolio of sustainable innovation--we believe we can
ensure we support our children, our families, our economies, and our
Nation to continue to lead the world.
Thank you again for your leadership, your support of STEM skills
and NC's STEM economy, and your willingness to help North Carolina lead
the world in education innovation.
Senator Hagan. Thank you.
Mrs. McCray.
STATEMENT OF MARY McCRAY, TEACHER, COMMUNITY HOUSE MIDDLE
SCHOOL AND LOCAL PRESIDENT OF THE CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG
ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATORS
Ms. McCray. Good morning, Senator.
I thank you for the opportunity to give the perspective of
my colleagues, who are here on the front lines of CMS every
day.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools lost 843 educators last year,
nearly one-half of those were classroom teachers and a quarter
were teacher assistants. With instructional support personnel
counted, Charlotte-Mecklenburg cut 710 educators from the
classroom out of 843 total cuts. That is 84 percent of all cuts
coming from children's teachers and teacher assistants.
Before we talk about innovation, before we begin any
discussion on experiments, Charlotte-Mecklenburg and the State
of North Carolina needs to master the most elementary
requirement for schools. It needs a qualified teacher standing
before ready-to-learn students.
Innovators and academics can present all the studies and
talk about all the new ideas at any given conference. We can
create programs, we can bring in technology, and we can shift
our paradigms and think outside the box. However, it always
comes back to a teacher standing in the classroom, teaching
children who are ready to learn.
Innovation is nothing new to schools, especially here in
Charlotte-Mecklenburg. We have large numbers of students who
earn college credit in high school, strategic staffing along
with pay for performance in our hard-to-staff or low-performing
schools. We have implemented the New Schools Project with
success on the campuses of two of our high schools, and many
more examples.
But the reality is that there are teachers who are teaching
nearly 40 children in a classroom that only seats 30 students
and has 25 textbooks. We are preparing children for
universities, careers, and military service with fewer
resources than we have had in a generation.
Our teachers are also innovating at home as we deal with
furloughed pay, higher healthcare premiums for our children,
and our North Carolina ABC pay-for-performance testing program
that hasn't paid us for our successful performance in 2 years.
Please do not misunderstand me. Public schools do require
innovation. In an economic climate that has left K-12 public
education without the needed resources to provide a
constitutionally required sound basic education, we need
innovation more so now than ever.
I propose that we create a tax system in North Carolina
that produces the resources required to put one teacher in
front of a classroom with no more than 22 students. I propose
that we transition our current tax system in North Carolina
from an agrarian-based tax system to one that recognizes that
we are now an economy based on services and technology, not
bartering and manufacturing. Let us also create a baseline
funding system for K-12 public education that recognizes the
limitations of local funding capabilities.
The Federal Government can play a role in protecting the
5,500 jobs that were cut in North Carolina last year. I ask
that this Administration and the Congress invest in public
schools and its students during this critical time. Now is not
the time to divest, privatize, or devise gimmicks.
To promote innovation in public schools, we must think
beyond creating more charter schools. Charter schools are only
one strategy to afford innovation in a community. Schools that
have proven track records based on multiple indicators should
be allowed educational flexibility to try innovative
strategies.
In North Carolina, we have a variety of those innovative
strategies, such as magnet programs, language emersion
programs, Learn and Earn, early and middle colleges. Another
innovative approach might be creating learning lab schools with
universities to implement research-based innovations that
impact student achievement.
Additionally, new and innovative approaches for public
schools must entail reviewing the manner in which we assess
students, evaluate teachers, and fund innovation. North
Carolina has an edge on supporting effective educators with the
principal and teachers evaluation process. This new evaluation
process has created in most schools climates of collaboration,
self-reflection, and professional learning communities where
instruction is data-driven to maximize student success.
The evaluation of educators cannot be solely based on
student test scores. There are many ways that a teacher or a
principal impacts a student's growth. To elevate the most noble
profession, we must have policies in place that help create
more respect for educators and stop the divisive policies that
create barriers from collaboration, such as merit or
differentiated pay.
To be an educator, one needs to have skills as well as
knowledge and training. Saying anyone can come and teach if
they have the desire to make a difference does not create
professional respect. The Federal Government does not need to
tell States how to evaluate educators, nor does the Federal
Government need to set policies on who schools should hire.
Senator Hagan. Mrs. McCray, just a few more seconds.
Thanks.
Ms. McCray. As we push forward for innovation, we must
remember that every child has equal rights to a quality public
education, and fully funding that education is a baseline for
student success.
I appreciate the opportunity to be a witness today, and I
look forward to continuing this dialogue in the hopes for a
better and brighter future for all of our students.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. McCray follows:]
Prepared Statement of Mary McCray
Good morning. My name is Mary McCray. I am an elementary teacher of
5th grade here in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. I am also president of the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators. CMAE is an affiliate of
the North Carolina Association of Educators and the National Education
Association.
I thank you for the opportunity to give the perspective of my
colleagues, classroom teachers, who are on the front lines in CMS every
day.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools lost 843 educators last year, nearly
\1/2\ of those were classroom teachers and a quarter was teacher
assistants. With instructional support personnel counted, Charlotte-
Mecklenburg cut 710 educators from the classroom out of 843 total cuts.
That is 84 percent of all cuts coming from children's teachers and
teacher assistants.
Before we talk about innovation, before we begin any discussion on
experiments, Charlotte-Mecklenburg and the State of North Carolina
needs to master the most elementary requirement for schools: It needs a
qualified teacher standing before ready-to-learn students. Innovators
and academics can present all the studies and talk about all the new
ideas at any given conference. We can create programs, we can bring in
technology, and we can shift our paradigms, and think outside the box.
However, it always comes back to a teacher standing in the classroom,
teaching children who are ready to learn.
Innovation is nothing new to schools, especially in Charlotte-
Mecklenburg. We have large numbers of students who earn college credit
in high school, strategic staffing along with pay for performance in
our hard to staff or low-performing schools, we've implemented the New
Schools Projects with some success on the campuses of two of our high
schools--that is considered ``schools within a school,'' and many more
examples. But the reality is that there are teachers who are teaching
nearly 40 children in a classroom that only seats 30 students and has
25 textbooks. We are preparing children for universities, careers, and
military service with fewer resources than we've had in a generation.
Our teachers are also innovating at home as we deal with furloughed
pay, higher health care premiums for our children, and an ABC pay-for-
performance testing program that hasn't paid us for our performance in
2 years.
Please do not misunderstand me. Public schools require innovation.
In an economic climate that has left K-12 public education without the
needed resources to provide a constitutionally required sound basic
education, we need innovation now more than ever. I propose that we
create a tax system in North Carolina that produces the resources
required to put 1 teacher in front of a classroom with no more than 22
students. I propose that we transition our current tax system in North
Carolina from an agrarian based tax system to one that recognizes that
we are an economy-based on services and technology not bartering and
manufacturing. Let's also create a baseline funding system for K-12
public education that recognizes the limitations of local funding
capabilities.
The Federal Government can play this important role in protecting
the 5,500 education jobs that were cut in North Carolina last year. I
ask that this Administration and the Congress invest in public schools
and its students during this critical time. Now is not the time to
divest, privatize or devise gimmicks.
To promote innovation in public schools we must think beyond
creating more charter schools. Charter schools are only one strategy to
afford innovation in a community. Schools that have proven track
records based on multiple indicators should be allowed educational
flexibility to try innovative strategies. In North Carolina we have a
variety of innovative school models; magnet programs, language emersion
programs, Learn and Earn, Early and Middle Colleges. Another innovative
approach might be creating Learning Lab schools with Universities to
implement research-based innovations that impact student achievement.
Additionally, new and innovative approaches for public schools must
entail reviewing the manner in which we assess students, evaluate
teachers and fund innovation.
We must provide students ways to show what they have learned: As
ESEA is reauthorized the focus can not be on more assessments/testing,
but better assessments to allow students to show they can solve
problems, think creatively, and work in teams. There must be multiple
ways that schools can demonstrate success. Success is not just a
passing test score!
We must Elevate the Profession: North Carolina has an edge on
supporting effective educators with the Principal and Teacher
Evaluation Process. This new evaluation process has created in most
schools; climates of collaboration, self reflection, and professional
learning communities where instruction is data-driven to maximize
student success. The evaluation of educators can not be solely based on
a student test score. There are many ways that a teacher or principal
impacts a student's growth. To elevate the most noble profession, we
must have policies in place that help create more respect for educators
and stop the divisive policies that create barriers for collaboration;
such as merit or differentiated pay. To be an educator, one needs to
have skills as well as knowledge and training. Saying anyone can come
and teach if they have the desire to make a difference does not create
professional respect. The Federal Government does not need to tell
States how to evaluate educators nor does the Federal Government need
to set policies on who schools should hire. Each State and each
community has different needs and ONE-SIZE-DOES-NOT-FIT-ALL.
We must Provide Equitable Access to Education: The competitive
grant process will create more have and have not schools. It is noble
to provide opportunities for schools to apply for extra funds, but many
schools that need extra funds will have too many barriers to access the
needed funding. Before extra funds are granted, the Federal Government
must fully fund Title I and IDEA programs without the current caps.
As we push forward for innovation we must remember that every child
has equal rights to a quality public education and fully funding that
education is a baseline for student success. I appreciate the
opportunity to be a witness today and I look forward to continuing this
dialogue in the hopes for a better and brighter future for all of our
students.
Senator Hagan. On behalf of all the people here testifying,
I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate what you have
done for education so far, and what you will continue to do.
Just the fact that you are here sharing your insight and wisdom
is critical. So I do want to thank you.
When I consider the theme fostering innovation in
education, I think that going forward in our country--
obviously, the socioeconomic backgrounds and differences of our
students is certainly something that we all must take into
consideration. I also think that STEM education is going to be
critical because we want these students to have careers and a
college education.
When I look at what is going on in North Carolina, as we
move from a manufacturing, agrarian society, driven by the
aerospace industry, medical, biotech, and pharmaceuticals,
clean energy manufacturing, and all of those areas, we have got
to come together to teach all of that in our school systems.
And I do think that online education is going to grow
dramatically.
One of my own children just recently, before he went into
medical school, took a couple of online science classes that he
hadn't taken as an undergraduate. And I just see that just
growing exponentially.
I have got questions for each and every one of you. And
typically what we do in the Senate, we take rounds of
questions. And since I am the only one here today, what I am
going to do is just ask each one of you a question, and then if
we have time, we will go back and start again.
One of the things I am focused on, being from North
Carolina, is that with such a large rural population in our
States, a lot of what is applied to urban areas cannot be
handled the same way in our rural areas. So if you have any
insight on rural education issues, I would love to hear that,
too.
Ms. Shah, once again, thank you so much for coming. North
Carolina enrolls more students in rural school districts than
any other State in the country. At these schools, the students
obviously face unique challenges. The President's blueprint for
the No Child Left Behind reauthorization states that the
Secretary may reserve funds for research on innovative programs
that are designed to help rural districts overcome capacity
constraints.
Can you share your thoughts on the way that these
innovative programs might be designed, and are there any
examples that you can cite? And one other thing that none of us
talked about today, too, was any sort of discipline in the
schools, if that has any impact on what it is that we are
talking about now, too?
Thanks.
Ms. Shah. Thank you for that question.
We certainly recognize the unique challenges facing rural
areas, and we are deeply committed to better serving rural
areas. As we all know, there are more small rural communities
than there are large urban ones. And given our focus on
bringing funding and resources to where kids are in need and
simultaneously getting the skill is critical for us to better
serve rural communities.
Specifically, you asked about the Secretary's request to
set aside funds for research and capacity building. So the
first thing I would say is that we are requesting the authority
to do so. So no funds for that would be taken from the Rural
Education Achievement Program in Fiscal Year 2011, but we would
hope in future years that we would have funds allocated for
this purpose. And we would, hopefully, be able to use those for
a range of activities, including national activities, which
could very specifically be used to provide technical assistance
to small rural districts to enable them to increase their
capacity to access more of the competitive grant making that
the department is now moving toward.
But it could also be used to support research into teacher
prep and recruitment programs for rural schools, including Grow
Your Own Teacher programs, which I am sure everyone here at
this stage is quite familiar with. But we know there is much
research out there that tell us that teachers want to teach in
schools where they grew up and prefer areas like their
hometowns.
And we know that in rural communities, there are many young
individuals, mid-career professionals, all sorts of different
people who want to go into teaching. And by leveraging
partnerships with universities and some of the distance
learning community that we have also talked about briefly,
there are a whole range of ways that we could support
activities like that that would hopefully benefit more rural
communities.
I would probably stop there, but I would say between the
growing your own teachers and the distance learning, those are
at least two very good examples of ways that we think we can
leverage what is happening across the country to better benefit
rural communities.
Senator Hagan. I think growing your own teachers in rural
areas is critical, and I think we have also seen that in the
medical field, as well. One of the other bills that I am
working on now is the Rural Physician Act. If we can get more
people to go to our rural areas to practice medicine, and
become teachers, I think it would be advantageous for those
rural areas.
Dr. Garland, you talked about North Carolina's commitment
to high school reform and to increasing the number of students
who attend post-secondary school. I know that you also know
that President Obama and Secretary Duncan have set the goal
that by 2020, the United States will once again lead the world
in college completion.
To accomplish that goal, tell me what you think the value
is of national or common standards, from a curriculum
standpoint.
Ms. Garland. North Carolina has supported the notion of
Common Core standards from the beginning. In fact, Governor
Hunt, two Governors ago, was one of the first Governors that
spoke to the need for Common Core standards.
If you will remember, I spoke about North Carolina
rewriting its standard course of study. Actually, we have begun
new efforts in the area of more rigorous standards, more
rigorous requirements for students to graduate from high
school, and we are delighted that the Common Core movement
gained some legs because, obviously, in our country, we don't
need 50 different standards for Algebra I or Algebra II.
So the State Board of Education does support vehemently the
notion of Common Core standards, as well as common assessments.
In our country, in order for every--for the country to be
competitive with countries from across the world, we need to
set high standards and then figure out ways to get all of our
students to meet those standards.
Senator Hagan. When you mention ``around the world,'' do
you look at curriculums in other countries and the number of
days that students go to school?
Ms. Garland. Yes.
Senator Hagan. And how do those common standards compare to
other countries?
Ms. Garland. Our Common Core standards have actually been
benchmarked against international standards, and so we feel
very confident that once the Common Core is initiated, that the
standards themselves will be the same level of knowledge and
skills that students across the world have to demonstrate when
they graduate from high school.
However, in our country, our students do not attend school
as many days. It is typical in our country around 180 days for
school attendance. We know that in some countries, students
attend school 220 days. So we are falling behind in terms of
days that our students are able to attend school to achieve
those standards.
Senator Hagan. Somebody once told me that by the time our
students graduate from high school, in another country, a
European student would have gone to school for a whole year?
Ms. Garland. Right. I think in our country we have to
overcome the notion of the, again, the agrarian calendar. We
still struggle in some areas of our State to get support for
year-round schooling of any kind because in our State, we have
a notion that the summertime should be spent at the mountains
and the beach, which, obviously, we want to support the tourism
industry in our State.
But we don't think that it should happen at the expense of
education for our students. And so, I do think we have to break
some of those paradigms if we are going to move our students
forward. Just having world-class standards will not produce
world-class students.
Senator Hagan. Thank you.
Ms. Clark, in your testimony, you said that you were
surprised, or perhaps that they were surprised at the finding
that teachers with advanced degrees did not have better
outcomes for the children they are teaching. Can you talk about
that just a little bit?
Ms. Clark. If we think about it, the notion of a one-time
degree attainment against ongoing professional development, it
is really counterintuitive that we would be compensating
teachers for a degree they might have received 20 years ago.
There certainly wouldn't be anything taken away from that
teacher's initial learning--but when you put it up against
ongoing professional development.
What I didn't talk about is, I think there is also the
opportunity to look at experience and longevity. That is
another thing the State of North Carolina and many States
across the country re-enforce teachers and compensate them for
years of experience when our data also showed us that that
doesn't necessarily correlate with student achievement results.
Senator Hagan. And North Carolina, I know, has professional
development for principals and teachers. I know NCCAT is
something that I think is highly effective. Obviously, not
every teacher can attend.
Ms. Clark. Yes, I think it is scope and scale of quality
professional development rather than isolated opportunities
that we have to continue to look at the local and district
level, as well as the State.
Senator Hagan. Thank you.
Dr. Arbuckle, you state that the impact of the Mission
Possible has been great in terms of maintaining faculty within
high-needs school districts to maintain those teachers. But
yet, it remains to be seen how long it will take to increase
student achievement. I want you to elaborate on that. And how
long will the funding stream exist?
Mrs. Arbuckle. Yes. The funding that has come initially are
redirected local dollars and then some grants from some local
foundations and also a Federal grant from the U.S. Department
of Education. I believe it is Federal, State, or a State grant
that is being reapplied for. So that funding piece has been
taken care of outside of the operating budget of Guilford
County Schools.
I think one of the tragedies in our public school district
and the public school system is that we have so many of our
children who come to school so ill prepared to enter school.
There is substantial research on just the vocabulary words of
children who have grown up in middle-class families versus
those who have grown up in poverty, and that is just one
indicator of the incidences that children come to school
behind.
And so, consequently, are not proficient at grade level by
grade 3, which is what I described as a line in the sand. I
mean, we are projecting jail beds on the reading scores of
children in grade 3, projecting jail bed need. So I think one
of the investments that we must make is in early childhood
education and enhancing parents' capacity to be able to provide
for their children in terms of language development and so
forth.
That has been, when I have questioned the district about
our success, or lack thereof, in terms of Mission Possible, one
of the things that is a source of great pride is the stability
of the teaching force because in these low-performing schools,
you had 50 to 75 percent teaching turnover every year. And as a
consequence, that impacted the continuity of the learning
environment for the children. So that is an accomplishment, and
people are very proud of that.
The other issue is making certain that if you have a school
with low-performing or inadequate teachers, the course of time
that it takes to shift that teacher population. We have a
school in our district this year that is actually one of the
lowest performing schools in the country, and we are initiating
a transformational model that is now allowed by the State to
require every person within that school to reapply for their
job and to set different criteria for the hiring of the new
teachers.
We are very excited about that. This is a school where we
have had 27 percent of children on grade level. So, a huge
challenge. And we are hopeful that being able to do this, we
want to build opportunity. It will make a huge difference.
Senator Hagan. Thank you.
Dr. Setser, when we talk about virtual learning, I do think
that there will be a dramatic change in what education has
looked like for so many years. But as we look at that,
particularly in our rural areas, too, can you tell me how we
can enhance the 21st century skills necessary for students to
be successful in the workplace, through virtual education?
Mr. Setser. Sure. A couple of comments. One is that if I
polled our students over here to my right, how many of you have
access to a cell phone right now? Show of hands.
[Show of hands.]
So those cell phones have Web browsers. They have text
messaging. They have a way for the students to pull up content
and interact with it.
So our discussion is not whether we have a computer in
every home or a one-to-one laptop initiative. Those things are
all critical, but we need to follow the national technology
plan, which states that all students by 2015 will have access
to a device or access to a way to bring content to them.
But in the meantime, for students who don't, in the rural
areas, for instance, they are setting up tremendously
innovative programs like going to local churches and setting up
virtual kiosks where those students can learn anytime,
anywhere, and the church leaders can be trained on how to
execute in that virtual environment. The other thing we are
seeing is in States like Georgia, virtual kiosks at McDonald's
or Wal-Mart or libraries, where students can have anytime,
anywhere access to bring in content to them.
So if we want to keep rural citizens in their demographic,
geographic areas, where they can spend the tax dollars in those
areas and bolster the local economy, you also can bring in
training over the Net, such as the effort with WakeMed, where
medical records transcriptionists are being trained over the
Net and then doing that job in their local county. They are
spending their tax dollars there and living there because they
value that quality of life.
So what this medium does is allow for multiple
opportunities, multiple options within a district, within a
community. But school districts and schools continue to assess
the deployment of this in terms of safety issues or security
concerns when multiple paths have already shown that innovation
can exist in those types of environments.
So the school is a really critical partner as we move
forward, where community members, community leaders can come in
and use those computers that we see in places like Watauga
County, where early in the morning, families are coming in from
6 o'clock to 8 o'clock during peak times, third shift, and
accessing devices and content.
Those are just some sample ways that the rural communities
can keep peak their localized talent where it resides, but also
access the world at large on devices like cell phones that we
are seeing today.
Senator Hagan. I appreciate it. I also think we have got to
be sure that these rural areas in North Carolina have access to
broadband technology, and I know that MCNC just got a sizable
grant to help with putting broadband in 29 rural counties that
currently have dial-up. It is one thing to have access, it is
another thing to have to sit there forever for something to
download. So I think that is critical not only in education,
but in business.
I know one of the farmers I talked to, who grows sweet
potatoes and potatoes, says he needs to have an accurate count
on a daily basis of what the supply shipment stream is. And yet
if it takes 2 hours to download what he needs to access, just
think what that does to his day. So I think that is critical.
Mr. Rectanus, STEM is probably one of the most important
things that I think our country needs to be focused on right
now from the standpoint of education. But I am also concerned.
I know a couple of years ago, our university system graduated I
believe it was two individuals with teaching degrees specific
to physics. I think after 1 year, one of those two teachers
wasn't even around anymore.
I think that STEM education is critical. But I also think
it needs to be very much hands-on, too. I have two kids that
are scientists. That is why I am very concerned that we need to
do all that we can going forward to be sure that you all have
great access, which I know you do here, to a lot of wonderful
technology having to do with science, engineering, math, and
information technology.
So share your thoughts on how we can truly integrate STEM
education into every school and every grade level so that not
only are our children much more interested in fields like
engineering and math--and that means you girls, too. We
definitely need you. But have the tools that they need to be
successful.
Mr. Rectanus. Is that all, Senator?
Senator Hagan. That is all. You have 1 minute.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Rectanus. All students--I mean, this is really about
equity. It is about all students, and it is about connecting
our education pipeline to our economic pipeline. We know that
that is the case.
I think in our minds, and NC STEM's approach, we actually
feel that the rural communities are an asset to this. We have
focused--while our network is statewide, we focused our STEM
community's effort in rural communities around the State, and
we have done that very purposefully. We have done it for a few
reasons.
No. 1, the economic changes going on in a place like
Kinston that historically has done tobacco and manufacturing is
now in advanced manufacturing in aerospace. This is happening
now. This is a challenge that must be addressed immediately and
for all students and for all workers. Your example outlines the
need for a farmer to use STEM skills, which are critical.
We also do it within these communities because they have a
great opportunity. These communities have worked together, but
they have innovated. They have been innovative in the past.
Oftentimes, they have done that in black box. They haven't been
able to share that with communities around the State, and we
see that as a great opportunity.
And it is really necessary for us to provide those examples
and to share what is going on in each of these different areas,
but also across the State so that not everyone is forced to
boil the ocean.
Senator Hagan. How do we recruit the teachers to go into
these fields and teach?
Mr. Rectanus. It is a great question. In fact, Davie County
is one example that has partnered with Appalachian State
University for a number of years and is now working with Wake
Forest Baptist Medical and UNC-Greensboro to identify and
partner leading edge pre-service and early career teachers with
master teachers or more experienced teachers to help give that
broad perspective. And they are now bringing in business
professionals that really add a new dimension into bringing
those folks into this.
I think the opportunity to address the STEM skills beyond--
within the university system to address STEM skills outside of
the schools of education is critical.
Senator Hagan. Thank you.
Mr. Rectanus. And I think there is opportunity to do that.
Senator Hagan. Thank you.
One other example for the students, I was actually taking a
tour this last week at a company in North Carolina, and we are
making these airplanes now out of composite materials because
they are much lighter. So they can use a whole lot less fuel
for traveling distances. But one of the draw-downs of that
composite material is when lightning hits it, it might get
fried. So you have to have a shield over it that would detract
the lightning so it is not going to hit it or so it wouldn't
affect it. It would go around it.
A company in North Carolina has developed a sort of
composite that just makes a little shield over it. It is just
fascinating what new technologies can do. So there is a lot of
great things that we still need your wonderful minds to help
figure out.
Ms. McCray, as a 32-year teacher, you certainly have a lot
of experience in so many areas in our education system, and I
know that there is an abundance of research and several
examples of programs even in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg system
school district that aim to evaluate a teacher's effectiveness
in the classroom.
As a classroom teacher, can you share what you think is the
most effective design for evaluating a teacher's performance?
Ms. McCray. The No. 1 thing, I think, would be my being
able to reach each student that is in my class. So I would have
to say that teacher-to-pupil ratio is going to be one of your
most effective designs there.
Senator Hagan. How would you relate that to online
teaching?
Ms. McCray. For online teaching, well, on the elementary
level, we don't do too much of that. But with my own daughter,
who is now a freshman in college, I had the experience of
watching her take an online test, exam at Elizabeth City. So I
was amazed by how they do all of that.
For our students online what we can do, what we are doing
presently is part of our literacy program where the students
can work one-on-one in a remediation-type program, where they
don't need the teacher there. The teacher more or less does
follow up with them afterwards. So that is a lot of the online
we are doing.
Now as far as the science, we do have a lot of hands-on
with the science. And we just need the time to do it during the
school day where our students are exposed to something other
than just their basic literacy program and their math program
because they do have a joy of learning science and social
studies. So we have to bring those other core subjects in, not
just during test time when they see that they are testing on
something that is not basically just a story. But we have to
expose them to that type of instruction during the day.
I have seen us sort of shift away from instruction with our
science and our social studies because now we are more
assessment-driven.
One thing I do want to say. Poverty is the same in an urban
area as it is in a rural area. That is why it is important that
you all really totally fund our Title I and our IDEA programs
because that helps a lot of urban areas with their pockets of
poverty.
Senator Hagan. Thank you.
You know, I know we are getting close to the end. Is there
something we have left out that you just have this burning
desire we need to share?
Dr. Garland.
Ms. Garland. We have talked so much about the need for
effective teachers in all of our classrooms in low-performing
schools, rural and urban. The State board is taking a different
view of how we fill the positions in those classrooms.
There is new research that has just been released by UNC
general administration that shows that Teach for America
teachers actually do a very good job of working in the rural
areas of our State. In fact, they outperform in many cases our
own UNC graduate teachers from out of State.
I think what we have to do in our educational field is
break some of those traditional ways that we have gone about
looking at the teaching profession. We have felt like we had to
recruit people that would commit 30 years in order for them to
be accepted quickly into the profession.
Certainly, we don't want anybody to teach in the public
schools if they are not capable of teaching in the public
schools and if they are not competent. However, in some of our
rural areas if we can create a culture of continuous change so
that we have a crop, if you will, of Teach for America teachers
that come in and out. The military does it all the time.
They are constantly working in a field where they have new
recruits coming and going, and yet they are able to bring them
in, induct them, and make them very competent and ready to work
in a very short period of time. Where in the schools, we have
thought that folks had to come and stay forever.
And so, looking at how we fill those high-needs areas like
STEM, if we can get those teachers for 3 or 4 years, bring them
in, quickly acculturate them to their surroundings, and then
create a culture where that is the norm, then I bet we can meet
some of those high-needs areas with very competent teachers.
Senator Hagan. I saw an advertisement in a school
newsletter that said some of the northeast boarding schools
were recruiting students to teach for 2 years in science and
math. Just commit those 2 years, give this back, and I thought
that was an interesting approach to a recruitment process.
Ms. Garland. You have to have a good induction program
because they have to know something about pedagogy when they
come. But if we put the right structures, then I think it will
work.
Senator Hagan. Ms. Clark, let me ask you one question
regarding pay for performance. Can you talk about how that is
accepted at the teacher level? I know there is so much talk on
that around the country right now.
Ms. Clark. I think we are in the early stages in Charlotte
of designing our pay for performance, and we will be doing that
with our teachers. We have had a wonderful opportunity with our
Teacher Incentive Fund grant to pilot some different approaches
to pay for performance.
So we have both opportunities for teachers to design their
own goals, as well as a measure that has individual student
growth as a part of that measure. And we are in our final year
with that grant next year, and we will have another iteration
of that as well. So we are designing this over a 4-year period
of time and being very intentional about involving our
teachers.
Ms. McCray sits on our steering committee at the district
level, representing MCAE, and we also have another teacher on
the committee. We will be expanding it into stakeholder groups
as we move forward.
Senator Hagan. Great. Let me ask my staff here how we are
doing on time. We need to wrap up?
Well, I just want to thank you, and I see Chairman Roberts
leaving. Thank you so much for being here. I always look to you
for great guidance and advice. She does a great job in
Mecklenburg County and always gives me great information.
The reason we are here is because we want to have the best-
educated students in the future, and all of you are so
committed and so dedicated. I just want to thank you for all of
your information.
I am thrilled to be in the U.S. Senate. I am thrilled to be
a part of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee,
and I want to work together with my colleagues to make
significant changes to the No Child Left Behind law by hearing
in detail today about the innovative work that all of you are
doing across North Carolina, as well as the Department of
Education's commitment for supporting these innovative
programs.
I also want to thank so much the principal, Ms. Bowen.
Thank you so much for letting us come here to your school. And
I believe you said the assistant principal Mr. Yakin helped to
really coordinate this. So I want to thank you, too.
I really want to thank the students for being here, and at
the end, I want to come over and chat with you and hear what
your questions and concerns are. Once again, we are all here
because of you.
Thank you so much. The Fostering Innovation in Education
hearing for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:21 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]