How much reform is too much? Teachers weigh in

The January 17, 2018 edition of Education Week includes an update to an electronic article titled “Majority of Teachers Say Reforms Have Been 'Too Much'” that was posted on December 19, 2017.It’s an interesting “read.”

And, it appears teachers generally are unsettled by all the changes that have been going on recently thanks to things like Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, big changes in digital learning, and so forth.

For example:

• Asked how they would describe the amount of change/reform teachers have experienced in the past two years, 58 percent said it was “Way too much” or “Too much.” Only 34 percent said it was “Just about right.”

• Concerning which changes in the past two years had the most impact:

  • 62 percent of teachers surveyed by EdWeek said that changes to teacher evaluation headed the list.

  • 58 percent cited curriculum changes

  • 53 percent brought up changes to professional development (OJT for teachers)

  • 52 percent mentioned changes to state assessments

• Regarding how reforms in the past two years had impacted instruction, only 39 percent said the impact was either “Generally positive” or “Very positive.”

That last bullet may be the real key. Certainly, the last school term’s KPREP test results were nothing to cheer about in Kentucky. Even the Kentucky Department of Education’s usually self-congratulatory news release about the 2017 results candidly admitted:

“Overall, achievement increased slightly at the elementary and middle school levels, but was down somewhat at the high school levels. Achievement gaps between different groups of students persisted in many areas and will be a major focus of KDE, schools and districts under the new accountability system.”

With scarcely more than half of the elementary and middle school students scoring proficient or more and fewer than one in two students in both school levels scoring proficient or above in math, slight progress clearly isn’t what the state needs.

And, with high school reading proficiency at only 55.8 percent and math proficiency a dismal 38.1 percent, decay at this school level was definitely not what Kentucky needs to see.

The percentage of high school graduates who met college and/or career ready criteria also dropped from 68.5 percent in 2016 to 65.1 percent in 2017.So, it looks like EdWeek’s survey, which was taken nationwide, also applies to Kentucky, too.

There’s a problem here. And, it appears teachers know it.