Close the Budget Gap--Abolish High School Exit Exam (and NCLB and CCS)

Stephen Krashin may not be able to close the entire $28 billion California budget deficit, but his suggestion that we do away with CAHSEE is an excellent start. You can read his complete editorial to SF Examiner by clicking on the link. I’ve included an excerpt below:

“Here’s how we can save another half-billion: Eliminate the high school exit examination. Analyst Jo Ann Behm has estimated that the combined state and local costs of California’s test exceed $500 million per year.The most recent review of research on exit exams, done by researchers at the University of Texas, concluded that high school exit exams do not lead to more college attendance, increased student learning or higher employment. In fact, researchers have yet to discover any benefits of having a high school exit exam.”

Here Are Some Other Quick Fixes for California's Budget Woes:

• $1.6 billion could be saved by not implementing the Common Core Standards
• $1 billion could be saved over 5 years by replacing the death penalty with life in prison without parole
• $112 million could be saved yearly by a releasing 3600 of the nonviolent offenders currently imprisoned under the 3 Strikes law
• $1 billion could be raised annually by taxing marijuana
• Nearly $1 billion could be raised yearly from a 6% oil severance tax
• Billions more could be raised by increasing the marginal tax rate on the richest residents and increasing the corporate tax rate
• Billions more could be raised by every state if NCLB were abolished.

Value Added & Performance Pay Scams Weaken Teacher Pay and Autonomy

Stephen Krashen, from Schools Matter, has an excellent posting on the idiocy of Value Added teacher assessments and performance pay: Seniority and Teacher Layoffs: A Red Herring

Like so much of Ed Deform: It's all about money. Senior teachers are higher on the pay scale and cost districts more money than younger inexperienced teachers. Krashen argues that this is the only rational argument for dumping experience over youth since veteran teachers generally do a better job. They have more years of on the job practice. They have more experience from workshops, professional development, and collaboration with peers.

However, there is one more reason to dump older teachers: Control.

Experienced teachers are less likely to go along with every hare-brained ed deform plan concocted by their administrators. This is one reason why charter schools like KIPP are able to get their teachers to work weekends and summers and be on call well into the night.