“Ellen smiled and nodded. ‘Just like their father.’ She was proud of them; she watched until they were out of sight.

‘Isn’t it funny to watch children grow?’

Ellen said, ‘It’s a privilege.’

Ruth scrutinised this possibility. No, she thought, it’s melancholy and strange. Children were so temporary.”
― Fiona McFarlane, The Night Guest

And just like that she is gone. Thursday marked the official end to the reign of one Penny Schwinn, she now has “ex” officially attached to the front of her title.

Schwinn, like the month of March, came in like a lion but left like a lamb. Touted as a disruptor, she lived up to advance billing. The problem was, once she disrupted something she was incapable of creating anything in the space.

It didn’t take but a month for Schwinn to run afoul of the State General Assembly. Her eyes were on changing the state’s accountability system but didn’t feel a need to discuss the future with state legislators. In what would prove to be a prophetic statement, State Representative Mark White (R-Memphis) asked her to slow down.

“We’ve asked her to go back to our stakeholders to start a conversation,” White told Chalkbeat at the time. “We know we don’t have a perfect system, and we’re always looking to improve.”

Those were words that he would have to repeat often over the next four years. Schwinn disrupted state literacy practices, the school funding formula, and teacher licensure. However, when it came time to implement a replacement policy, she was always strangely absent.

Even as Tennessee wrestles with the rollout of the new school funding formula, TISA, along with new third-grade retention policies, she was often absent from the state.

For the better part of the last 6 months, she’s been a frequent visitor to Austin, California, New Orleans, and Washington DC, anywhere but Tennessee. Invariably her time was spent promoting disruptions that have yet to bear fruit.

Instead of using her final week for briefs with the remaining staff or cleaning out her desk, she was in DC at the Ronald Reagan Institute as part of a panel discussing teacher pay and ways to boost the teaching profession.

Schwinn has not shared any future plans. By all indications, she’s leaving without a clear landing spot. She was rumored to have chased several federal jobs, none of which panned out. Taking another state commissioner job would be a lateral move, and I don’t see a job at an education non-profit offering the sphere of influence she’s grown accustomed to. Still, there is a 1.85 million dollar house to pay for and the husband hasn’t shown a propensity for long-term employment.

To be honest, it’s him I worry about the most. In the time that Ms. Schwinn has held one job, he’s had 3.

When the young family arrived in Tennessee, he went to work for STEM Prep as the Chief Academic Officer. A year later the Nashville charter school operator chose not to renew his contract. Think about that for a minute, you are the spouse of the state commissioner of education, and the local charter school elects to non-renew you. Admittedly, I don’t know all the details, but that takes work.

Next up was TNTP, who hired Mr. Schwinn to be a part-time leadership coach. It was about that time that the junior Teach for America org was awarded a $16 million contract by the TDOE to train teachers in reading instruction.  That contract runs until next year, but Ms. Schwinn made sure that there was no hang-up on the payoff by restructuring things so all money has already been delivered. I must say though, the contract lasted longer than Mr. SAchwinn’s employment.

Currently, Mr. Schwinn is employed by the education non-profit ANet. As luck would have it, ANet is who the TDOE turned to for help creating the examination teachers must pass to earn their certification to teach early literacy in Tennessee. Without that certification, a teacher can not obtain or renew a license.

Causation or correlation? Hard to say, but if you consider that he also worked at the charter school in California where she was an administrator and IDEA charter school in Houston while she served as a deputy commissioner in Texas…I think it is safe to say…he’s benefited from employment.

In assessing Dr. Schwinn’s legacy, we are going to have to wait and see. All of her “signature initiatives” are still in their infancy. From Grow Your Own programs to literacy laws to changes in the school funding formula, none have produced measurable results as of yet. Maybe in 5 years, we’ll be singing a new hymn. One that praises her as a visionary instead of a train wreck. Maybe.

My prediction is that she’ll spend the summer enjoying her children and making up for time lost over the last 4 years due to her responsibilities as commissioner. When Fall gets here, she’ll likely open her own shop and sell her wares on the open market. Traveling from convention to convention, and selling a vision based on supposed outcomes can be quite lucrative. By all accounts, Schwinn is a compelling speaker, who cuts a charismatic figure, and more then a few people owe her favors.

Meanwhile, the state of Tennessee awaits the arrival of the next educational tourist. In the case of new education commissioner Lizzette Gonzales Reynolds, we are talking about an actual tourist on more than one front.

She’s never spent any significant time in Tennessee or in the classroom. There is no indication that she has any skills for managing an organization the size of the Tennessee Department of Education. She’s going to have to get up to speed quickly. She’s got some approaching storms on the horizon.

The third-grade retention law has gone into effect this year, but keep in mind, next year, districts will be holding summer classes without the benefit of federal funding. They’ll be looking for tutors without federal money.  TISA goes into effect as well, there is an argument that it will usher in increased local taxes. Reynolds will face these challenges with little institutional knowledge to rely upon.

There will be an argument for “giving her some time”. The old, “what she doesn’t know, she doesn’t know”,  argument will certainly be put forth with regularity. But remember, Reynolds’s ascension is not without precedent.

It wasn’t that long ago when Tennessee had another disruptor at the education helm. Kevin Huffman could disrupt with the best, but like Schwinn, he was not very good at construction. At the time of his termination, Chlkbeat wrote:

“After Tennessee became one of the first states to win a $500 million federal Race to the Top grant in 2010, Education Commissioner Huffman was charged with implementing the controversial Common Core state standards, dramatic changes to the state’s teacher evaluation system, and the rapid expansion of charter schools to partly help some of the state’s worst-performing schools improve.”

“Those are all things the governor wholeheartedly supports that he brought me here to push”, Huffman told Chalkbeat. Sound familiar.

Huffman said he was leaving not because of political pressure, but because the timing was right for him and his family. “I didn’t feel like I was ready to make a long-term commitment [of another four years],” Huffman said.

Feels like I’m having some deja vu, and not the former shoe store on Demonbreun kind.

“Improving education in Tennessee has been a top priority for our administration, and having someone of Kevin’s caliber to lead the charge during this time of significant progress has made a difference,” then-governor Haslam said in a statement on Huffman’s departure. “I am very grateful for his commitment to our students, educators, and parents, and I wish him well as he continues his commitment to education.”

Compare that to Lee’s. words.

“During her years of dedicated service, Penny has played a key role in our administration’s work to ensure educational opportunity for Tennessee students and secure the next generation of teachers, while navigating historic learning challenges,” said Lee. “I have tremendous gratitude for her leadership and wish her much success in her next chapter.”

Dr. Candice McQueen replaced Huffman as commissioner of education. She too came from the policy world, but at least she was a Tennessee resident. It felt like fresh air blowing in. It wasn’t until 3 years later that the realization sunk in. McQueen was simply a kinder gentler version of Huffman.

Five years later, here we are again.

And the wheels on the bus go round and round.

One last side note. It appears that Schwinn employed the old Irish goodbye to staff and state superintendents. Not so much a so long and thanks for the fish on her final day. Just a slip out the door and a disappearance into the night.

What’s that old adage about not letting the door…

– – –

As the dust starts to settle after yet another miscommunicated and under-executed policy rollout by the TDOE, it’s beginning to look like the brouhaha around third-grade retention all might have been a lot of noise over – not nothing, but not a lot.

Initial numbers put 60% of Tennessee’s third graders at risk for retention. That number has since been whittled down considerably. Excluded from the retention are kids who have previously been retained, are English Learners, or have a reading disability.

Any student who is in the “approaching” category could avoid retention and summer school simply by applying for high-dosage tutoring in the upcoming year. Boom! That’s a large swath dealt with.

Last week, students who did not score as “proficient” were given a retest. Results of those tests across the state are not fully known but MNPS reports, around 11 percent of MNPS students scored “proficient” on the retest, and another 10 percent boosted their scores from “below” to “approaching.” Welcome to the fourth grade.

Next came the appeals. Students who scored 40% on annual benchmarks, or had some kind of mitigating occurrence were eligible to file an appeal. By all accounts, the TDOE is honoring all appeals. That knocks out another large group.

What’s left are those kids who scored as “below”. How many of those kids signed up for summer school and tutoring is unknown, but considering that MNPS reports that as of Wednesday, 17,260 students were enrolled — including 3,860 third graders. Numbers that are up slightly from last year.

Those numbers from MNPS come with the caveat that the summer programs are nearly fully staffed, with 1,810 people hired. Yea, those of us with experience with MNPs are familiar with how the phrase “nearly fully staffed” translates. During the school year, the district often argues that they are “nearly fully staffed” while relying on long-term subs and split classrooms to cover classes.

Some parents have expressed concern that increased summer programming puts additional unsustainable pressure on teachers and that some students who really need additional support services might not get them due to a lack of resources.

In yet another wrinkle in this baffling law. students in the “approaching” category who sign up for summer school must pass an exam at the end showing 5% growth in order to avoid retention without tutoring. For those in the “below” category, there is no such requirement. All they need to do is sign up for summer school and tutoring, meet the attendance requirements, and it is off to 4th grade.

I’m going to put this word of caution here. We need to be really careful in the near future – as we are dedicating resources – that the so-called ‘bubble kids” don’t become the primary focus. By focusing on those kids on the cusp of reaching proficiency, it becomes easier to show significant ROI.

In the end, I suspect we’ll see less than 5% of the state’s third-graders retained, and that includes those whose parents chose to have them retained.

is this a defense of the policy? Not really.

Should we expect changes next year?  Nah.

Ironically, next year’s model will include the usage of a state benchmark. So instead of misusing one assessment, will be misusing two and creating another high-stakes assessment.

Yeah, team.

– – –

The MNPS principal merry-merry-go-round is on full-tilt boogie this summer. So much so, that I’m finding it nearly impossible to keep up with all of the comings and goings.

What seems to miss from the process is rhyme and reason. Principals who were popular with staff and the community are forced out, while those not so popular are forced in. Candidates with primarily middle school experience are selected for high school, along with those who showed a lack of judgment in the past. Amid all of it is the obligatory creation of jobs at the central office to reward past loyalty.

By my count, the district was at about 17 transitions before I stopped counting.

Adding a little urgency to the process is the upcoming “Principal Splash”. That’s the annual gathering of the tribes to lay out the future.

This year, early week events are taking place locally at the Martin Center, before the Caravan heads to Louisville for a couple days of bonding.

Yep, public employees are taking state and local tax dollars to Kentucky for Battle-only knows reasons.

I would guess that the districts would want to have everyone in place before the bus pulls out for the trip north.

–  – –

I’ve long argued that the trope “a war on public education” is an overused one. This week Fredrick Hess makes a similar argument.

“Over the past century or more, public schooling has been subject to a barrage of reforms: compulsory attendance, district consolidation, larger schools, smaller schools, magnet schools, standards, test-based accountability, merit pay, and more. Some of these ideas were good. Some weren’t. But in hindsight, it’s pretty clear that they weren’t “attacks” on public education; rather, they were attempts to improve it.”

I rarely agree with Hess, but in this case, he may have a point.

“Public education can encompass a lot of approaches, and it can be organized in many different ways. Rather than blindly insist that “defending public schooling” requires clinging to outdated policies from decades (or centuries) past, we would do better to clarify principles, examine particulars, and then debate proposals.”

State departments of education and local school districts routinely contract with for-profit firms for books, buses, data systems, technology, and testing — and they pay to place some hard-to-serve students in private settings. Yet these systems are deemed obviously “public” because, well, mostly because we’re used to it. In truth, there’s nothing especially novel about using private partners to provide mentoring or micro-schools.

All very salient points, and equally important to consider:

“Simply calling something “public” doesn’t make it a good thing. While the phrase “public schooling” is suffused with happy notions of inclusivity and fairness, “public” isn’t a magic word. Don’t take it from me: Take it from public education’s staunchest defenders. After all, many who celebrate “public education” will, in the next breath, lament that these schools are underfunded, segregated, oppressive, practicing discriminatory discipline, or obsessed with testing.”

I’ve watched this ‘war” play out for over a decade, and during that time I’ve seen some people become more entrenched, as others have softened their views. I fall into the latter category.

Are we focusing on educating kids, or are we focusing on educating kids solely through a singular process? I take exception to the tenets of the Science of Reading because supporters paint it as the singular way to teach reading. Yet for years, I’ve supported the tenet that there is only one way to educate kids. That appears to be a dichotomy.

If a variance serves only 4 kids, is it wrong to employ it? How many kids must be served before it’s considered a viable addition to the public education canon? If there is no ongoing “indoctrination” why are we clinging so tightly to the idea that all kids should attend government overseen schools? If a child is genuinely not being served by their current school option, how do we have the right to demand that they remain in attendance? If a school can turn a profit and increase student learning, why are they bad?

Unfortunately, I have more questions than I have answers. But I would argue that we need to stop framing arguments as defending public education and start framing them as defending student learning.

Unless that’s not really the goal.

– – –

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Categories: Education

Tags: #Teachers, MNPS, Penny Schwinn, Public Education, Tennessee, Third grade retention