Bill Haslam – JC Bowman

Who’s Naughty or Nice?

December 13, 2019 by JC Bowman, posted in JC Bowman, Reading

We have all sung the line in the Christmas song Santa Claus is Coming to Town, “He’s making a list; he’s checking it twice. He’s going to find out who’s naughty or nice.” In fact, some of us believe that a list might actually exist, and a few of us keep our own.

We also remember the offensive and bad-tempered Burgermeister Meisterburger, the villain who outlawed toys in Sombertown, in the Santa Claus is Coming to Town television show. Dick Allington, a former professor at the University of Tennessee bears an uncanny resemblance to the fictional mayor. His recent disparaging comments at the Literacy Association of Tennessee Conference in Murfreesboro are enough to get Allington on the naughty list of many educators and parents across the state of Tennessee. He made my naughty list.

Let’s look at some similarities:

Burgermeister Meisterburger hates toys. He passes a law declaring toys “illegal, immoral, unlawful, and anyone found with a toy in his possession will be placed under arrest and thrown in the dungeon. The children of Sombertown are forced to do chores instead of playing.
Dick Allington “denounced dyslexia, questioning its existence and slamming advocates of the learning disorder.” Allington added that former Governor Bill Haslam was going to hell for signing the bill and said dyslexia advocates were on drugs according to the audio and media reports. (Note: Governor Haslam and his family are major donors to the University of Tennessee).
Burgermeister Meisterburger arrests Kris Kringle and others for bringing toys to the children of Sombertown.
Dick Allington said “If only [Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam] had called me, I would have said, ‘Just veto it and shoot whoever made this bill,'” Allington said, of the Say Dyslexia law, which passed in 2016.

In his presentation at the Literacy Association of Tennessee Conference, Dick Allington states his son “only learned to read because he experienced his first male teacher.” That particular comment has not garnered as much attention. In fact, roughly 82% of the teachers in Tennessee are female. Whether his son learned to read because of a male or female teacher is irrelevant, that particular comment was degrading and very unnecessary. Why would he consider the sex of a teacher relevant in a speech about literacy? Educators are more interested in figuring out what’s best for their students, not the ideological bent and insults of a retired professor in upstate New York.

Functional illiteracy has become a serious deterrent to economic development, in our communities, state, and nation. Reading is a serious issue, and Dyslexia is a scientific fact. But don’t take my word for it, look at the research being conducted at Yale University and Middle Tennessee State University. Commissioner Penny Schwinn added: “At TDOE we are proud to support the whole child and focus on the science of reading for all students.” Zack Barnes, an assistant professor of education at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, says that “the research is clear that dyslexic students need systematic, explicit phonics instruction.”

Reading is one of the most critical skills in education. The National Reading Panel’s analysis that the best approach to reading instruction is one that incorporates: instruction in phonemic awareness, systematic phonics instruction, fluency, and comprehension. Improving reading instruction at the classroom level includes providing our teachers with relevant professional development to assist them; assessing children’s reading skills in kindergarten through third grade; and, offering assistance to schools in which kids are falling behind.

Policymakers and stakeholders now know that children who cannot read on grade level by the end of 3rd grade are more likely to be poor readers their whole lives. These children are less likely to graduate or gain meaningful employment. Children who lack these necessary prerequisite reading skills are at greater risk for drug-use and other criminal behaviors.

At the end of Santa Claus is Coming to Town we find out that the Meisterburgers eventually die out and lose their power over Sombertown. The citizens recognized that the silly law outlawing toys was unnecessary, much like Dick Allington’s insults at the Literacy Association of Tennessee.

Perhaps at one point in time, Dick Allington had significance in education and literacy. However, it is time for the University of Tennessee to remove him from their website, remove the word “Emeritus” from his title and send a letter asking him to cease and desist identifying with the University of Tennessee. Any organization that invites Allington to speak in the future needs to reconsider the invitation. Dick Allington has earned a well-deserved place on my naughty list. I hope he likes coal in his stocking.

JC Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, a non-partisan teacher association headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the association are properly cited.

What I Didn’t Say

November 16, 2018 by JC Bowman, posted in JC Bowman, Leadership, Professional Educators of Tennessee, Tennessee Education

Candice-McQueen-at-appointment-press-conference

I had several news organizations call and/or email for a statement on the departure of Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Candice McQueen. I hastily put together my thoughts, and wrote:

“Professional Educators of Tennessee appreciates the contributions of Commissioner Candice McQueen. Commissioner McQueen is one of the most visible members of the Haslam Administration. She took over the Department during a dark period in public education, and she made a significant difference within the Department, particularly in the infrastructure. Those changes are not readily noticeable, as they include systems, processes and human capital. There are some exceptional people within the Department of Education working to make public education a success in our state. It is unfortunate that online testing continues to be a point of contention, but the state is moving in a positive direction. The next Commissioner of Education and the 111th Tennessee General Assembly will need to make adjustments in student assessment as we move forward. We will always be grateful to Commissioner McQueen for her unwavering support of increasing teacher salaries and commitment to student literacy. These are incredible legacies to leave as she departs her critical role serving the citizens of Tennessee, and we wish Commissioner McQueen much success in her new role. We look forward to working with Governor-elect Bill Lee and offering input on a successor.”

That’s what professionals do. We issue statements and offer public comments about people and issues. There is a right way and a wrong way to do that task. In an era where we seemingly delight in lack of civility and negative tone of politics, we must take the high road. We are polarized as a country, not because we are afraid to discuss issues of substance, but rather we cannot talk to each other in a respectful manner. It’s easier for some to just be what my mom used to classify as “rude, crude and uncalled for.” In the end, we merely see who can be the loudest in the room, and end up talking over each other.

What does that have to do with a statement on the Departure of a Haslam Cabinet official? Simple, it brings out the ugly. And I have seen some mean-spirited people critical of Commissioner McQueen, as she moves into the next phase of her career. Most of those being critical are clueless. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “In a battle of wits, they are unarmed.”

Tupac Shakur said, “Behind every sweet smile, there is a bitter sadness that no one can ever see and feel.” I spent time with Commissioner McQueen as more than a casual observer. Her heart and passion were always for the children and teachers in Tennessee. She fought battles which nobody knew about and which, despite the lofty title in front of her name, she had little control. While we didn’t always agree on every issue, it was always a discussion she was willing to have with me, as well as others. She made it a priority to discuss teacher issues with me regularly, and as needed as frequently as possible. That alone will always endear her to the teachers who were included in those discussions.

Candice McQueen is a woman of faith. That is an element that we need more of in public service. She didn’t wield her faith as a sword, but you knew that she was a believer in Jesus Christ. She had a preference for ideas over politics. She chose principle over popularity. She took ownership of a testing debacle, that she had inherited and didn’t even pick the people who oversaw it. She could have easily laid blame elsewhere. She chose not to do that. She wisely fired a failed testing company. She was not a seasoned politician. If you recall legislative hearings, she sat there and took valid criticism of a flawed system. However, that critique often crossed the line personally.

Candice McQueen symbolized the hope for a more decent and gentler public servant, willing to acknowledge faults in a system—and personally owning them. Whereas Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here,” McQueen also took ownership while at the same time working to correct the issues. (Much like building an airplane while at the same time trying to fly it.) She did this while remaining optimistic and energetic. From first-hand knowledge, I know she frequently started her work day before 6:00 AM and often finished it after 9:00 PM, even though she was a mother and wife. Commissioner McQueen will be missed.

As far as the next Commissioner of Education goes, I imagine it will be much harder to fill her shoes than most people realize. The next Commissioner must make sure she/he has direct access to the new Governor, with complete authority to make changes as needed. The Governor, not the Commissioner of Education, must fight the legislative battles. We need a true public servant we can also work with, who understands Tennessee and our educators.

The beautiful thing about legacies is that time is a fair-minded judge. I suspect that Candice McQueen, like Lana Seivers who served years before her, will be seen as a Commissioner who helped build a modern Department of Education which meets the needs of districts, educators, parents and children. Tennessee is moving forward in education, and we all should be proud of our accomplishments.

A Job Nobody Wants

October 5, 2018 by JC Bowman, posted in Advocacy, Educators, JC Bowman, Leadership, Professional Educators of Tennessee, Tennessee Education

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“We are making progress in education in Tennessee according to every data point, but we also have challenges,” acknowledged Tennessee Commissioner of Education Candice McQueen. Dr. McQueen has been at the forefront of public education the last four years, since she replaced the unpopular and non-communicative Kevin Huffman.

Huffman, the proverbial outsider from Washington DC, was his own worst enemy. A known Democrat, he was never embraced by the newly elected Republican majority that governed the Tennessee General Assembly. His popularity and likability never extended outside the recruits he brought into the state with him, the Governor’s Office or the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE). Huffman perfected the art of rubbing people the wrong way. After Governor Bill Haslam won a second term, he must have decided it was time for one of the most divisive figures in Tennessee politics to exit the stage. Enter McQueen.

In order to reverse public education’s disdain, Haslam needed the antithesis of Mr. Huffman, and Candice McQueen clearly provided that to the Commissioner of Education position. McQueen was a senior vice president and dean of the college of education at Lipscomb University. McQueen had an intricate task ahead of her. She inherited many personnel who were ill-fitted to the state. Many lacked requisite experience in leadership, in the state, or in the field in which they were being relied on to provide expertise. She had to restore relationships with Legislators, Superintendents, School Boards, Educators and parents. She understood the nuances of working with the scores of special interest groups that populate the K-12 landscape. She became one of the best communicators in state government. She had to do this while providing management to arguably the most important agency in state government. It was truly an example of flying the plane while they attempt to build it.

However, the Achilles heal of her term in office has been standardized test administration. This failure is well-documented. Whether or not that is a fair accusation is debatable. She inherited some of the baggage. Nonetheless, Commissioner McQueen concedes the problems with standardized testing, including online implementation and delivery challenges. She apologized, on behalf of the Tennessee Department of Education, for the challenges and frustrations of the test administration. In addition, the state has taken specific steps to address the concerns as the state moves into the 2018-19 testing cycle. Governor Haslam and Commissioner McQueen recently engaged in a statewide listening tour to get educator input. It is yet to be determined if that effort will have any bearing on the next Governor.

Here is what is certain, the next Governor of Tennessee will either be Republican Bill Lee or Democrat Karl Dean. Both men, for better or worse, will inherit the responsibility of building on Haslam’s record in public education. The choice of Commissioner of Education will assume the overwhelming burden of ensuring that every child in Tennessee graduates from high school prepared for college or the workforce. The success or failure, of the next Commissioner of Education will largely determine the success or failure of the next Governor. It will be a difficult job to fill and it may be a job that nobody wants.

The next Governor will want to select someone who understands public education, understands the state of Tennessee, and is capable of running the most visible agency in the state. For all the local school superintendents who wake up thinking they are up to the task, they should be reminded that the lights of Nashville burn bright and they will be living in a fishbowl. The next Governor cannot afford to go outside the state to recruit a Commissioner of Education as Haslam did, after the Huffman fiasco.

The next Commissioner of Education must have a vision that aligns with the new Governor. They must understand the commitment they will be asked to make. Their evaluation will occur every single day by policymakers and stakeholders across the state, and often in the media. Their success only occurs when every person at a bureaucracy is working in the same direction, understanding and buying into the mission. The obstacles may seem insurmountable, and may keep you from reaching your objectives and not even be under your control. Items like contracts with vendors may be impediments to success, or a bureaucracy which stymies your objectives.

For a Commissioner, the risk is having a Governor who does not support your vision, which will hinder support for your management. Your resources will certainly be limited. Failure will almost certainly be associated with you personally. Financially, many school superintendents are already paid more than the Commissioner of Education, and their headaches are much smaller. Those people who have the skills to perform the task are more limited than the short list of people who think they are up to the challenge.

A disruption in January for 70,000 educators and 1,000,000 students, created by a new agenda for the state, might generate many unexpected issues and unnecessary anxiety during a transition. It is something that a candidate running for office cannot readily discuss, but something that a candidate elected to office must rapidly address. It must be someone who understands our unique language in public education, our stakeholders and policymakers in K-12, and the challenges facing our state.

The question asked by many educators, would either Bill Lee or Karl Dean consider retaining Commissioner McQueen? That has to be a consideration, if she would stay. What happens when you have a job that nobody wants and few are qualified for? We are about to find out.

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JC Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, a non-partisan teacher association headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the association are properly cited.

Panels, Tours and Testing

August 22, 2018 by JC Bowman, posted in Advocacy, JC Bowman, Leadership, Legislation, Testing, Unions

The-House-Always-Wins

I have grown fatigued with blue ribbon panels or listening tours. I have never found either strategy very useful in formulating public policy. Especially when that policy is agenda-driven, with pre-determined outcomes. I am also not a gambler (sorry Kenny Rogers). I understand that the house always comes out the winner in the end. A casino has a business model premeditated to ensure its success. Much like a blue-ribbon panel, or a listening tour.

From a political standpoint, why would the state of Tennessee try to conduct a listening tour at this time? We are in the middle of election season and the Governor is in his final days. What more can he add to the education debate after 8 years, that he hasn’t already tried? All stakeholders want to get testing right. We have already had an Assessment Task Force, which has done a pretty good job of collecting input and holding serious discussions. The state has already been engaged in an open conversation about assessment and ways to improve administration of tests. We have already gathered feedback on the delivery of state assessments. We simply have not executed the plan. There are just a few vendors across the nation who have the resources and ability to be selected as the state’s next assessment partner. We have been through several of those vendors already—and were disappointed by those results.

If the state wants to discuss how to better provide schools, educators, parents and students with meaningful and timely results from assessments, then we better figure out how to get the results back to those in the classrooms capable of making better academic decisions for students. We will want to provide baseline assessments of learning/study skills, identify areas of potential academic concerns, highlight learning strengths/weaknesses, and provide effective and efficient strategies in getting academic intervention when needed by students. This is something unlikely to occur on a listening tour and is already known by the K-12 Community.

We can and should discuss the value that assessments can provide. We must also discuss how the emphasis on testing is missing the bigger issue: student academic growth measured by flawed testing. Then the results being used in educator evaluations. This is certainly more problematic to educators than the actual tests themselves. It should be problematic to parents as well. When two superintendents raised the testing issue and requested a pause in testing, Commissioner McQueen correctly pointed out that as a condition of receiving federal funds, the feds through Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires state education agencies to implement statewide assessments. Many states exceed federal requirements.

McQueen pointed out that “both state and federal law require an annual statewide assessment.” So, if we want a discussion on testing perhaps we should be directing at the Federal Branch as well? Should we not also look at our ESSA Plan while doing this pointless tour? The initial ESSA plan was based on feedback from thousands of Tennesseans over the course of a year.

How did we get here? With an infusion of $501 million federal dollars of Race to the Top money our state hurried to increase standards by adopting Common Core, which was soon corrected by moving back to state standards. We then increased testing, changing both format and frequency. Tennessee also adopted new evaluation methods. The teachers’ union supported the incorporation of TVAAS data into the state’s teacher evaluations, which landed Tennessee $501 million from the federal Race to the Top grant in 2010.

Former Governor, Phil Bredesen, said that former Senator Bill Frist had contributed a lot to the state’s proposal, but that his own role in persuading the Tennessee Education Association, a teachers’ union, to sign on had been important, too.

So, how do we get out of this mess? It probably won’t be the result of a listening tour. And our next Governor had better put forth policy ideas pretty quickly, or he will be saddled with an unworkable plan right out of the gate—just like Governor Bredesen and Governor Haslam. The people who got us into this mess, probably aren’t the people to get us out of it.

A Few More Thoughts on Testing in Tennessee…

August 14, 2018 by JC Bowman, posted in Advocacy, Educators, JC Bowman, Leadership, Professional Educators of Tennessee, Resources, Tennessee Education, Testing

Tennessee Commissioner of Education Candice McQueen soundly responded to Metro Nashville Schools Director Shawn Joseph and Shelby County Superintendent Dorsey Hopson very bluntly in a straightforward letter yesterday. It is doubtful that either Joseph or Hopkins actually wrote the letter, which called for a “pause” in testing and convene a statewide working group of educators to look at testing. McQueen stated that neither she or Governor Bill Haslam received the letter that got widespread media coverage. She also pointed out that “both state and federal law require an annual statewide assessment.”

Some may argue that states have more flexibility, which is true to an extent. We should take a hard look at Tennessee’s ESSA plan and certainly make necessary adjustments. But we identified our own measures of progress and agreed to take certain actions in order to receive federal monies. Like that or not, it is how the game is played. When Tennessee was touting Race to the Top money, the state certainly jumped through even more hoops to get those dollars.

Dr. McQueen, who serves at the pleasure of the Governor, must follow state and federal laws. Joseph and Hopson have their own Boards of Education they must listen to on policy issues. Policy analysts TC Weber and Andy Spears have both weighed in on the subject, as has Sharon Roberts. Professional Educators of Tennessee added our opinion on the subject. All stakeholders want to get testing right. However, the emphasis on testing misses the bigger issue: student academic growth measured by flawed testing. Then the results being used in educator evaluations. This is certainly more problematic to educators than the actual tests themselves.

Once the Tennessee Department of Education gets testing corrected, then we, as a state, can refocus on discussing what should or shouldn’t be included in teacher evaluations. It is clear: flawed testing equals faulty evaluations. This is no way to measure the success or failure of our students, teachers or schools. This issue isn’t going away. Stay tuned.