By Kathryn Watson
Watchdog.org Virginia Bureau
April 23, 2013
A culture of complacency is keeping Virginia from furthering student success, one educational expert says.
Virginia parents are practically powerless in determining the course of their children’s education, and student success is urgently low.
If, that is, Virginia’s fall this month to 39th nationally in the Center for Education Reform’s Parent Power Index and eighth-grade reading proficiency of less than 36 percent mean anything.
But contentment with the status quo within the Virginia General Assembly perpetuates those failures, said Kara Kerwin, vice president of external affairs for the D.C.-based nonprofit Center for Education Reform.
Virginia scores well on some national reports, such as the 2012 national report card by Education Week, which ranked Old Dominion schools fourth in the nation. But instead of relying on results such as reading proficiency, lawmakers look to reports like Education Week’s, which rely heavily on investments rather than outcomes to say Virginia schools are A-OK, Kerwin said.
“Really, the Legislature just failed to act on anything because they just said, ‘We’re fine, we’re number four.’”
That’s about what Delegate Bob Tata, retiring from the General Assembly after 30 years and thus, from his post as House Education Committee chair, told Watchdog.org.
“We have a pretty decent school system. One survey has us ranked fourth in the country,” Tata said.
But Kerwin said something is clearly awry when only one-third of eighth graders master reading proficiency.
CER’s Parent Power Index grades states on how much freedom they afford parents in the categories of school choice, charter schools, online learning, teacher quality and transparency. Virginia was ranked 35th in January of this year, but other states’ improvements have laid bare Old Dominion stagnation.
“Other states might have improved. Virginia hasn’t done anything,” Kerwin said.
The Virginia Association of School Boards did not return a request for comment on the Parent Power Index.
Virginia — with some of the strictest charter school laws in the nation and just four charter schools to serve the commonwealth’s 1.3 million K-12 students — almost automatically earns a poor ranking from CER, Kerwin said.
Parents’ ability to choose, Kerwin said, is one of the most important factors in student success.
“When parents can vote with their feet … we see all schools improve,” Kerwin said. “Without the power to make choices, parent involvement is meaningless.”
But, Tata said, parents’ ability to determine the course of their children’s educations isn’t the most crucial factor in academic success.
“Like everything else, it depends pretty much on money and where you live,” Tata said. “If you live in Fairfax County, I’d imagine the schools are pretty much excellent. … I think you could probably trace the education system pretty close to the dollar average that the parents make.”
But is it fair for a student’s relative success to depend on parental wealth and how much those parents are willing to pay in property taxes?
“Life is not fair,” Tata said. “I guess that’s a start. People are willing to pay more taxes in those areas,” like Fairfax County, he said.
But Kerwin said that line of thought is perpetuated by reports, like Education Week’s, which tend to rely on investments over results.
“It’s really based on inputs not outputs,” Kerwin said. “Virginia spends a lot of money — for what?”
Kerwin said case studies shatter the perception that more money directly translates to better schools.
“It’s not about how much money,” Kerwin said.
A study of Tennessee’s schools by the University of Memphis, published March 2012, concluded, “This research revealed that per pupil expenditure did not have a significant relationship to ACT scores or to the TCAP (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program) writing assessment scores. An implication is that giving schools more money does not necessarily raise student achievement, but rather how the money is spent can raise student achievement.”
And University of Arkansas researchers in a yet-to-be-released report commissioned by the Walton Family Foundation found that District of Columbia Public Schools, which make up more than 40 percent of the District’s schools, receive 46 percent less funding than the District’s public schools.
What does make for effective schools, Kerwin argued, is parents’ ability to choose.
“What’s interesting about that though is that charter schools in the district are completely outperforming DCPS schools,” Kerwin said. “And it’s not about money. It’s about giving choice for quality schools.”