Transforming Public Education in Oregon

Laying the Foundation for a Secure, Prosperous Future

My Fellow Oregonians:

In offering this budget and policy framework for the future of Oregon's system of public education, I want to assure all Oregonians – parents, teachers, students, administrators, unions, employers and legislators – that while the proposals I have embraced form a vision for moving us forward, they are not a final destination. Rather, they form a line of sight to our future; a future that we must ultimately "see" together.

Since our state and our nation have just gone through a tumultuous decade of education "reform" – one which has left us weary and suspicious of words like "performance" and "assessment," it is important that we have a common understanding of what I am proposing and of what I am not proposing.

I am the son of parents who taught in Oregon's system of public education. I have enormous respect for teachers and for the work they do. I was raised in a family that believed that public education was the cornerstone of a democratic society and that teachers are the heart of public education. I was raised with the belief that public education is the level of education to which all of our people will have access; it is the vehicle through which the American Dream – the promise of opportunity – is most directly fulfilled.

I know how hard educators work and I know that work is made more difficult because our public schools at all levels do not have the resources they need. Securing those resources is a central priority for me. In this incredibly challenging fiscal environment, however, I believe that the task of winning public support for more funding will require making a much more transparent connection between the dollars we are investing in public education and the results we are getting in terms of student performance.

I also think that part of any educator assessment at the school and district level should include, among other factors, a measure of student growth and ability to learn. My desire in creating these measures is rooted in the belief that by doing so we will not only help students learn but we will also be able to raise additional resources and better direct resources to the schools and educators that need them the most.

I know that words such as "performance" and "assessment" have taken on meanings that make educators nervous. And that is understandable given the recent assaults by those who have used these words in an effort to weaken public education. But we shouldn't allow real progress to be hijacked by those who are hostile to educators and to public education.

So let me try to explain what I mean about assessment using an analogy from my own profession. A doctor who is caring for a population of predominately young, healthy people will have better "outcomes" than a doctor who is caring for a population of older people with chronic illnesses like diabetes or congestive heart failure. When measuring the "performance" of these two doctors, those factors which are beyond their control must be taken into account. But whether two doctors are treating different populations or the same population, in order to grow and improve, it is important to understand what they are doing and what progress they are making. And that can't be understood unless there is measurement of the results.

By the same token a teacher with a class of English speaking students who come from families which are actively involved with and supportive of their children's education is likely to have better outcomes than a teacher with a class where some students are still learning English and some have entered school with a significant achievement gap due to social and/or economic deprivation in their childhood. When measuring the "performance" of these two teachers those factors which are beyond their control must likewise be taken into account.

Taking such factors into account by measuring the progress and learning of the student will allow us to understand how far each educator advanced the student, regardless of whether that student met a single, fixed standard. Any assessment of educators based on student performance should include a measure of student progress and learning as well as a range of other factors, not merely whether students reach a certain benchmark. While I am talking about having districts develop assessments for educators that include student performance indicators such as growth and ability to learn, this is not so-called "merit pay." While such data is important for accountability, it should not be tied to increased or decreased pay. And, of course, educators themselves must be at the center of determining these factors and developing such an assessment.

Educators will also be instrumental in helping construct a transparent, investment-based approach to budgeting based on student performance.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) created an onerous framework of standardized testing requirements and measurements which has diverted a significant amount of teacher time away from class preparation, teaching, innovation and addressing the needs of individual students. Furthermore, NCLB embraced a punitive approach that punished low performing schools and, often, the very students who needed the most help.

We can do better. We can make the transition to a system which allows us to measure the student outcomes we are getting from the public dollars we are spending on education. We can wisely use that data to determine how we can better invest our resources, ensuring that learning opportunities for students are improved and that professional development for teachers is supported in ways that invigorate the excitement of the classroom and stimulate the learning process.

While local districts will ultimately be accountable for student performance, the legislature must likewise be accountable for responding to local needs and to provide the assistance necessary to bring help to those who need it. In other words, my plan will give to state policy makers a responsibility they have never shared with local districts – accountability for meeting the goals they have embraced for our educational system.

I am not talking about adding a new set of measurements and assessment to the old ones; but rather working with educators to align and simplify our testing regime. We can get the essential information we need to understand student achievement while lessening our reliance on high-stakes testing. We need to liberate teachers from the onerous burden of measuring and testing throughout the school year and create more time for preparation, teaching, and the unique innovations for learning that teachers bring to their students.

I recognize that this may require seeking a federal waiver of NCLB. I have done that before and I am prepared to do it again. We should not accept that the status quo is somehow written in stone; we should not allow our goals and aspirations to be thwarted by outdated and ineffective systems and structures.

System change on this level will naturally lead to some uneasiness. But I believe that it is better than clinging to a status quo that in too many ways is failing our educators, our future and most importantly, our children. We must have the courage to chart a new course. I believe that the steps I have proposed are essential if we are to secure our future -- and the long term stable support for public education on which that future largely rests.

No governor can accomplish these changes alone and given the importance of education all Oregonians must be a part of the effort to move us forward. I am committed to a deliberative and inclusive process to create a plan to phase-in the changes I have proposed. We will implement only the essential elements through Executive Order, budget and legislation in 2011 – and little will change in our current distribution of funds at the beginning of this endeavor. This will ensure that we have a platform for ongoing dialog about how to fully implement the plan and to design the necessary transition from our current system to a new one; it will allow each of us to clearly understand the specific changes that will be needed and to have a role in shaping them.

Finally, I want to make it clear that nothing in my policy initiatives should be construed as a criticism of the dedicated men and women in whose hands we have entrusted the education of the next generation of Oregonians. It is the system in which they seek to carry out this charge that has failed to evolve with a changing world – and has inadequately supported their extraordinary hard work and dedication. Educators are the best qualified people to lead this transformation and I am asking for their partnership – as well as that of all Oregonians – to make this crucial endeavor a success.

Sincerely,

John Kitzhaber