Dr. McCormick on the Every Student Succeeds Act and Indiana's graduation pathways proposal

Our state superintendent, Dr. Jennifer McCormick, visited Bloomington November 9. Here are some takeaways from the conversation that she had with educators and parents.
 
1) There is a slow-motion train wreck impending in Indiana in the form of a drop in graduation rates. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the U.S. Department of Education will not count Indiana’s general diploma toward the state’s graduation rates. ESSA requires that the most commonly given diploma be the one that is counted. Indiana’s practice of awarding differentiated diplomas (general, core 40, honors) is a liability for the state. McCormick says that the general diploma is actually more stringent than some other states’ diplomas that have been approved, but the U.S. DOE is proving inflexible. The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) has applied for a waiver but does not expect to receive it.
 
McCormick asked us, “Do you want those 9000 kids [currently receiving the general diploma] unemployed and unemployable across the nation?” She also said that under ESSA, because the general diploma would not count, 275 Indiana high schools would receive Ds and Fs. “Do we have room for improvement? Yes. But this is not Indiana. You need to assess us fairly.”
 
One possible solution, according to McCormick, would require legislative action. Indiana legislators could make all the diplomas the general diploma, with the other, more demanding diplomas just a version of the general diploma. So far, the legislature has not seen this as urgent.
 
2) Another result of ESSA is that there will be two grades, one from the federal government and one from the state. Imagine: two possibly different letter grades, with two possibly conflicting sets of consequences. McCormick believes the logical response to this is to accept the federal grade as the state grade.
 
McCormick stated she wants to provide comprehensive and targeted support for failing schools, but reminded the audience that Indiana has moved to a four-year, from a six-year, cycle. Any school that receives 4 F’s in a row under the state grading rubric is at risk of state takeover. School districts in financial distress are also at risk of takeover.
 
3) There is a major problem to solve in the form of diplomas that the federal government won’t count under ESSA, but the State Board of Education (SBOE) has been focused on the graduation pathways proposal. The panel which developed the proposal was mainly composed of professionals in higher education and business. There was a high school counselor, but no high school principal. Here are some consequences of the proposal, if it is approved.

• Students who are in 7th grade today, in addition to completing required coursework, will have to take and pass one of the following to graduate: a college entrance exam (the ACT or SAT), military test, apprenticeship, industry-approved certification...or get a C or higher in a set of three career-technical education courses or AP/IB/Cambridge International/CLEP courses.  The last alternative is to complete a “locally designed pathway.”
• Students will also need to complete a project-based, service-based, or work-based learning experience. Extracurriculars fall into the service category. Having a job outside the school day would count toward the work category.
• A conservative estimate of the additional annual cost of testing, as a result of the grad pathways proposal, is $20 million.
• Apprenticeships may be an option to fulfill one of three required pathways, but there will be large variations in access to apprenticeship opportunities depending on the location of districts. This cuts against the longtime goal of the DOE to ensure that kids have equitable opportunities in all public schools to gain a diploma.
• Extracurriculars will be able to count toward graduation, but this brings up a slew of complications. Students have a basic right to participate in the curriculum. They don’t have a right to participate in extracurriculars; there may be conditions on participation, such as keeping grades at a certain point or behavioral requirements. However, if extracurriculars can count toward a diploma, are they truly extracurricular, or are they co-curricular? Again, some districts have many more extracurriculars than others, so the issue of equal access is present here too.

 
Other questions the proposal brings up:

• Who will pay for additional tests if students do not pass the first one?
• What is in this proposal for our average- to low-performing students? McCormick expressed concern: “We don’t have a design to affect the rigor and impact of our courses, we are just focused on measurement and [penalties].”
• How will anyone know what an Indiana diploma means when different superintendents/districts create different local pathways meant to make it possible for kids to graduate?
• We already have a sizable percentage of students who struggle to complete diploma requirements (12% of graduates receive the general diploma). Why would we create additional requirements outside of the already required coursework? Why can we not focus on curriculum and instruction and providing resources in schools?

 
The SBOE is accepting comments on the graduation pathways proposal through December 2. Since this is such a complicated proposal, presenting concise comments poses a challenge. Here are possible avenues:
 
*Voice concern about the potential negative impact the plan would have on graduation rates. 
*Encourage SBOE to consider diploma types as the Graduation Pathway. 
*Reinforce the idea that much of the concern expressed by workforce and higher ed can be addressed through curriculum and instruction. 
*Ignoring/dismissing the constraints associated with implementation of such a plan is irresponsible. 
*Consideration needs to be given to students who are not in the high 25-30 percent of performers. 

You can e-mail your comments to the State Board of Education at the following address: gradpathways_comment@sboe.in.gov. It is also possible to comment in person on this issue at the SBOE work session on Tuesday, December 5, 1 p.m., in the Indiana Government Center South Auditorium at 302 West Washington Street in Indianapolis. Public comment will be limited to one hour total, three minutes per person. It appears that the SBOE intends to vote on the proposal in a meeting the following day, December 6.