Pavlov would not be proud: Duncan offers waivers to states

By Dr. Andre M. Perry
Contributing Columnist

Teachers are famous for their creative uses of rewards to motivate students and teachers for success. As a child, making the honor roll meant that I might go to the Pirates game (yes that was an enticement) or to a college football or basketball game. The recession must have drastically reduced the amount of complimentary tickets because education officials are using collective failure and mandates as incentives.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan said he and his department will grant states and their districts waivers to provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which mandate all schools meet adequate yearly progress towards lofty 2014 goals. Under the current policy, the majority of districts’ students are supposed to be “proficient” within 2.5 years. Many states have at least a quarter of its student population below the mark. In exchange for a waiver, districts can adopt reforms promoted by the Race to the Top legislation. These reforms include school turnaround, charter schools and pay for performance plans.

Since its inception in 2001, states all across the county have struggled to meet the fiscal demands of NCLB requirements that are activated when schools fail. Providing remediation services, transferring students to successful schools, as well as closing and reopening schools come at a cost that districts are not able to meet without additional funding. The feds granting of waivers is acknowledgement there is a capacity problem in accelerating the pace of improvement. The reality is that states failed in getting students to the national goals, and the federal government failed in helping states meet those benchmarks.

Many education groups are using the Department’s announcement to say I told you so. These folks want NCLB drastically changed if not abolished. However, the feds did not fail in developing standards. They simply did not have the right incentives or goals.

A score on a test in primary and secondary school can’t hold a candle to a Pirates game. Statewide exams are simple proxies to measure how schools are performing. There are some tests that have real value to the taker – the SAT and ACT. Statewide exams have more practical value for bureaucracies. Getting to the moon is a goal. Getting a job is a spur. After our NCLB experience, one would think we would know that unfunded mandates aren’t attractive. Again it seems that the Depart­ment of Education is using the wrong incentives to create change.

The Race to the Top competition proved that you can get states to adopt adverse policies if large amounts of money are attached. Democrats, Republicans, unions, school boards and leaders signed letters of support in hopes of giving their state budgets relief. Fifty percent of the R2T funding went to state departments of education.

Granting a waiver is more of a self-imposed bailout for the federal department than an incentive for districts to sign onto reforms. However, districts know too well what an unfunded mandate will do to their budgets. How does a waiver compare to 300 million. State departments have seen their colleagues get hundreds of millions to do the same thing the feds are offering. The political and fiscal headache caused by school turnaround may not be worth the waiver.

Pavlov would agree that some incentives are much more likely to wag the dog’s tail. Show me the money. At least give us some Pirate tickets.

This article was originally published in the August 15, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper