Philip P:
I think her point is more along the lines that if you pay teachers competitive wages, you will attract higher quality teachers.
**
I think the point is bigger than paying teachers in Arkansas more… Arkansas is still trying to solve long-standing problems with low student achievement and limited resources.
*Despite new standards and higher teacher salaries, Arkansas still trails most of the nation on many measures, chiefly student performance and adequate resources for schools. *
In fact, the state spends less per student than the national average, even after adjusting for the lower cost of education in Arkansas.
*The poor showings fly in the face of reform efforts in Arkansas dating to the early 1980s. Under then-Gov. Bill Clinton, the state poured new money into its schools by raising teachers’ pay and, at the same time, requiring teachers to take competency tests. *
*In the 1990s, the state followed the national trend of setting academic standards–which it calls curriculum frameworks–and creating assessments to determine whether students are learning what’s in them. *
*Now, Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, is emphasizing K-4 reading and math instruction, with the goal of increasing the number of students who meet or exceed grade-level expectations. *
*Arkansas’ investment in new standards and assessments has so far returned data from only one exam–and it offers an even bleaker picture than NAEP. On the High School Proficiency Exam the state first administered in 1996, fewer than half the state’s 11th and 12th graders met the literacy standard each of the first three times the test was given, and fewer than 20 percent of the students in each testing group displayed competency in math as measured against the state standards. *
*“We have a disconnect between what the teachers are teaching and the tests are testing. Most teachers teach what’s in the textbooks, not what’s in the standards,” says Betty Pickett, the chairwoman of the state school board. *
*“Bringing [the standards] down to the classroom instructional level requires more effort than many schools have been able to give,” adds Benny L. Gooden, the superintendent of the 12,500-student Fort Smith school district, near the state’s western border. “We’ve had a minimum level of assistance from the state.” *
*Another local administrator suggests that teachers will pay more attention to the curriculum frameworks now that the assessment system is established in high schools and is moving into the lower grades. *
*“So much time has been spent on creating the standards,” says Marsha Jones, the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the 11,000-student Springdale schools in the northwest corner of the state, “but until you do the assessments, you can’t say you’re working in a standards-driven environment.” *
*Despite the early troubles, state leaders are determined to stay on course, but they have made some changes. *
*The High School Proficiency Exam, for example, was designed to be an exit test, but in 1997 the legislature removed it as a graduation requirement. Still, the test, which became an end-of-level exam, will be given to every senior starting with the Class of 2000. The math section will be administered when students complete algebra and geometry. Teachers may factor in the scores when they determine students’ grades; in addition, assessment scores will be listed on students’ transcripts. By the spring of 2001, tests will be ready in biology and civics. *
*The state also will continue developing tests for 4th graders and 8th graders. In February 1998, the 4th graders took the first version of a new state exam, and the 8th grade assessment is scheduled to be given for the first time in February of this year. **In the interim, the state continues to mandate that 5th, 7th, and 10th graders take the Stanford Achievement Test-9th Edition. While the state is crafting its own tests, it is using the results from the Stanford standardized tests as the basis for its accountability system. *
Most academic-distress districts are small, rural, poor, and predominantly African-American in enrollment. For example, three of the four districts in Phillips County in the heart of the impoverished Mississippi Delta region landed on the list. counts.edweek.org/sreports/qc99/states/policy/ar-up.htm
