House Speaker Jeffrey W. Hickman and Superintendent Joy Hofmeister’s spokesman today exchanged words over Hofmeister’s plan for a new state program to pay for all Oklahoma school districts to provide the ACT test to 11th grade students.
Hickman said the plan puts the cart before the horse; Hofmeister’s communications director, Phil Bacharach, said that giving more children the opportunity to pursue a college education is and will remain a high priority.
Hickman said, “Only in the past week did legislators learn of the state superintendent’s plan to spend $1.5 million on a new program to pay for all 11th grade students to take the ACT test. I and many members of the House of Representatives have expressed numerous times that the first priority must be the completion of new academic standards for our schools and submission of those new standards to the Legislature as soon as possible. Adoption of our new academic standards should be the starting point to the discussion and future decisions on state testing, not the other way around.
“Last session, the House developed House Bill 2088 which would have reduced state-mandated tests and protected the standards development process by ensuring adoption of certain standards before making any further testing decisions. This position has not changed. This new state program announced today takes another instruction day for testing and adds another test, which is contrary to the direction we hoped to take with House Bill 2088.
“With the continued pressure on state revenues from the decline in oil prices and the layoffs of thousands of Oklahomans, every education dollar should be spent to support the classroom, ensuring Oklahoma students are college and career ready. While the goals of this new state program are noble, we have numerous challenges facing us within our existing education programs on which we must stay focused.”
Bacharach’s response: “Giving public high school juniors a chance to pursue college is all about college- and career-readiness, and it is certainly an initiative that will pay dividends for years to come. This pilot program brings opportunities to as many as 44,000 young people at least half of whom would otherwise be left behind. This is not adding a new test or an additional day of testing, and in fact, will save Oklahoma families millions of dollars. By leveraging the statewide rate, districts will realize significant cost savings.
“At least 400 districts representing all 77 counties have expressed their support and interest in participation in bringing this opportunity to every junior. The bottom line is this: Giving more children the opportunity to pursue a college education is and will remain a high priority.”
I’m torn. I don’t like the ACT’s new workforce/common core focus but I am convinced the EOI tests are a complete waste of tax dollars- not to mention the fact these tests steal numerous instruction days every school year to administer and colleges don’t use the EOI scores at all. It is also a fair point to question what will not be funded by using this $1.5 million for ACT tests. It’s a complex issue. (Side note: Surely our two research institutions could design tests for our students–local control & dollars stay in state- a win win. I also wish everyone valued the career tech option as much as college option but I digress.)
The legislative leadership position appears to be once the standards are rewritten, THEN they will address the over testing issue. It’s almost a “trust us, we are here to help” statement. Why are people skeptical? It was the legislature that passed the ACE laws & testing program that goes with it. It was the legislature that passed common core and schools like mine made the switch. Then the legislature got rid of common core and reverted back. (No one lost valuable planning/instruction time or wasted money over that fiasco I guess.) It was the legislature that passed the 3rd grade reading test (me included regrettably).It was the legislature that passed SB 2033 for Race to the Top funds(me included –even more regrettably) and with it came TLE, VAM, OAM, A-F, etc, etc, etc. All of these things cost millions of dollars and many of these harm planning/instruction time.
I so badly want to believe the legislature will address this issue once the standards are rewritten but even I have doubts. There was STRONG support for addressing the testing issue last session and nothing was really done. If so many are convinced we spend way too much money on testing, we lose way too many instruction days on testing and we must find ways to save valuable education dollars——-how can we not find common ground for a solution???
The biggest skill anyone learns in the legislature is to focus less on what people say, but instead, focus on what they do and don’t do. Here’s hoping HB 2088 is as advertised and is the beginning of a major overhaul to Oklahoma’s testing addiction and not a delay tactic for future inaction as many fear it may be. I look forward to watching this play out.
What PROGRESS we have made! At the very least, not one quote says, “FREE ACT TESTING”. A small victory. Sooner or later we will realize, Oklahoma taxpayers SUBSIDIZE college students and then they take that education and LEAVE Oklahoma for greener pastures. Perhaps we should realize everyone DOESN”T need to and SHOULDN’T go to college, they should go to work instead or wracking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
Some more fuzzy math from OSDE. A NEW program that costs money to “return dividends for years to come”. Sound investments usually come with a bit more information than a broad, generic, feel good soundbite.
Now, if an often and recently promised (yet never materializing) Performance Audit of OSDE were to finally come to pass, I believe we would have a better foundation for understanding and contemplating new education programs. As it is, the tax paying citizens and our legislators are being short-changed by lack of a complete picture by which OSDE and our legislature make funding decisions. Just my one cents worth…