[Senate Hearing 111-359]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-359
D.C. PUBLIC SCHOOLS: TAKING STOCK OF EDUCATION REFORM
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HEARING
before the
OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT,
THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE
of the
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JULY 23, 2009
__________
Available via http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html
Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
JON TESTER, Montana ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah
ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado
Michael L. Alexander, Staff Director
Brandon L. Milhorn, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Trina Driessnack Tyrer, Chief Clerk
OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado
Lisa M. Powell, Chief Counsel and Acting Staff Director
Christine S. Khim, Counsel
Jennifer A. Hemingway, Minority Staff Director
Thomas A. Bishop, Minority Professional Staff Member
Benjamin B. Rhodeside, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statements:
Page
Senator Akaka................................................ 1
Senator Voinovich............................................ 2
Senator Burris............................................... 14
Senator Landrieu............................................. 14
WITNESSES
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Michelle Rhee, Chancellor, D.C. Public Schools................... 5
Victor Reinoso, Deputy Mayor for Education, District of Columbia. 8
Kerri L. Briggs, Ph.D., Acting State Superintendent of Education,
District of Columbia........................................... 10
Cornelia M. Ashby, Director of Education, Workforce, and Income
Security, U.S. Government Accountability Office................ 12
Alphabetical List of Witnesses
Ashby, Cornelia M.:
Testimony.................................................... 12
Prepared statement........................................... 66
Briggs, Kerri L., Ph.D.:
Testimony.................................................... 10
Prepared statement........................................... 58
Reinoso, Victor:
Testimony.................................................... 8
Prepared statement........................................... 51
Rhee, Michelle:
Testimony.................................................... 5
Prepared statement........................................... 41
APPENDIX
District of Columbia Public Schools, Important Steps Taken to
Continue Reform Efforts, But Enhanced Planning Could Improve
Implementation and Sustainability, June 2009, GAO Report GAO-
09-619......................................................... 81
Background....................................................... 131
Questions and Responses to questions:
Ms. Rhee..................................................... 139
Ms. Briggs................................................... 146
Ms. Ashby.................................................... 148
Get-backs from Ms. Briggs.................................... 151
D.C. PUBLIC SCHOOLS: TAKING STOCK OF EDUCATION REFORM
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THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2009
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government
Management, the Federal Workforce,
and the District of Columbia,
of the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:40 p.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Daniel K.
Akaka, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Akaka, Landrieu, Burris, Voinovich, and
Ensign.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA
Senator Akaka. This hearing will come to order. Good
afternoon and welcome. Thank you for joining us today as this
Subcommittee continues our examination of reforms in the
District of Columbia Public School (DCPS) system.
As many of you know before being elected to Congress, I was
in education, so I care deeply about providing high-quality
education for all of our children. I also appreciate the
challenges facing any educational system and the hard work it
takes to initiate and monitor reforms.
I know you all have been working hard for the past 2 years
to implement far-reaching reforms in the D.C. school system.
There is much left to do, but I understand that change does not
happen overnight. I want to commend you very much on your
efforts and achievements so far. In the first year of reforms,
elementary and secondary school students in DCPS saw between an
8- and 11-point increase in their math and reading scores on
the District's annual Comprehensive Assessment System (CAS)
exam. Recently released CAS scores for the 2008-2009 school
year show continued improvements in math and reading scores for
elementary and secondary schools in the District.
I commend DCPS for working to bolster the quality of its
workforce by investing in its teachers and principals. DCPS is
offering coaching to new and struggling teachers and providing
workshops and instruction for principals. Additionally, DCPS is
instituting individual performance evaluations for DCPS
employees at all levels.
While these improvements are encouraging, problems persist.
Despite widespread school restructuring efforts, the 2008-2009
CAS scores show a 4-percent decrease in the number of schools
achieving adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the No Child
Left Behind Act. D.C. also continues to find itself on the
Department of Education's high-risk list because of poor
Federal grant management.
Given the challenges and pressing need to reform the
District's schools, Senator Voinovich and I asked the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a short-term
and long-term review of D.C.'s education initiatives and to
make recommendations for improvements.
Last year, this Subcommittee held a hearing to examine the
results of GAO's short-term study. We learned about efforts to
improve student achievement and DCPS's physical infrastructure,
as well as a number of other initiatives that were just
beginning to take root.
Today, we will hear the results of GAO's long-term study,
which focused on the District's efforts to improve academic
achievement, strengthen the quality of teachers and principals,
develop long-term plans, and improve accountability and
performance throughout DCPS.
GAO has two primary recommendations for D.C. to ensure the
effectiveness of education reforms and build upon past efforts.
The first is to increase institutional and community
stakeholder involvement in education policy planning. I agree
that systematic stakeholder involvement is important; it adds
valuable input for shaping the reforms and encourages
community-wide commitment to progress.
GAO's second recommendation is to link individual
performance evaluations to DCPS's strategic goals and
initiatives. This is recommended not only for teachers, but
also for central office employees. Linking individual
performance to DCPS's goals will strengthen accountability and
align employee performance with the agency's mission.
We are 2 years into the reform, and there is no less
urgency to improve DCPS. Great strides have been made, but we
have a long way yet to go. The 2009-2010 school year will soon
get underway, and expectations of parents, teachers, the
community, and, most importantly, the children are high.
I hope today we can gain a better understanding of the
progress made, the challenges ahead, and the steps D.C. is
taking to overcome those challenges.
I now turn to my good friend Senator Voinovich, who has
many years of experience working on education issues, not only
during his time in the Senate but also as Mayor of Cleveland
and Governor of Ohio.
Senator Voinovich, will you please go ahead with your
statement?
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR VOINOVICH
Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Senator Akaka. I want to
thank you for holding this hearing and having an opportunity to
evaluate the District's education reform since 2007. I have a
sincere interest in improving education in the District because
of my belief that a world-class education is the best way to
help every citizen make the best use of his or her God-given
talents.
Chancellor Rhee, let me congratulate you on the progress
that you have made. Senator Akaka said that the District
students continue to improve their reading and math skills
based on standardized tests, and I know it is not easy. I have
been working with the Cleveland public school system since my
days in the State legislature, and I will mention that later,
but it is tough.
I think most people are amazed that the District is one of
our Nation's most expensive urban school systems, although I
think we know the cost of living is a little higher here than
it is in other places in the country. And I think most of
Congress was a little bit disappointed from GAO's report that
the District continues to be on the Department of Education's
high-risk list for its management of Federal education grants.
And I understand that there is $148 million that was allocated
in stimulus funds, and I would be interested in knowing what
the District is going to do with that money and, if they are
going to use it for capital improvements, how they intend to
prioritize those and get it done.
I am interested in it because when I was governor, we
undertook a program to rebuild all of our schools in the States
and really put in place an entity that worked with the school
districts to make sure that the thing was done properly. And so
far, it is a program that has worked out very well without any
scandal about contracts or anything else. But if you are going
to be doing that, I would be real interested in hearing from
you about it.
I have to say that I am troubled that Mayor Fenty declined
the Subcommittee's invitation to testify, although I know he is
very busy. I think that prior to the reform, Mayor Fenty said,
``We have a crisis on our hands, and I am asking today for that
responsibility of education reform to be placed squarely on my
shoulders.'' And I had hoped that Mayor Fenty would be here
today to testify.
As Mayor of Cleveland, I was very proud of the fact that
Cleveland received three All America City Awards within a 5-
year period. It never happened before, and it never has
happened since. But I emphasized over and over again that the
city could not be an All America City until we had an All
America school system. And as I mentioned, we are still not
there yet. And it seems to me that the District ought to be a
model for the rest of the Nation. It should be that shining
city on the hill, and people should come to the District and be
able to see some of those innovative things happening in
America and be the model for the rest of the country. And we
have got a long way to go.
I would also like to mention the fact that--and Senator
Akaka and I, I think, probably have a difference of opinion on
this, but the scholarship program that we had here--and I know
the President has recommended that you continue to fund it. But
for the life of me, I cannot understand why that program can
not continue for 1,700 children, and it is half the cost of the
District, and the money that the kids would be getting, the
District gets, so they are making out on the deal. And the
reason I say that to you, all of you, is that this program
started in Ohio in about 1995. This whole non-public school
program started in Ohio, and I was told by the teachers' union
that it was unconstitutional and so on and so forth. And
several years ago, the Supreme Court said that it was
constitutional. The program can provide the kids an opportunity
to get money to go to a non-public school. And today we have
5,600 kids in the school.
And I have to tell you, if you go back, their dropout rate
is--I mean, relatively no dropout rate. About 90 percent of
them have gone on to college, and so many of them now that I
meet, they say, Senator, without that program I do not know
where I would be today. And certainly I would like to see that
available to everyone, and so I am sure that you would like to
see that.
But I think that for the money put into it and the
opportunity for those children and also the opportunity for
some competitiveness is something that is very important. It is
a benchmark. And I know it is not perfect, but I certainly
would not want to snuff it out before it is given an
opportunity to show what it can or cannot do.
The other thing that Senator Akaka and I have done, and
that I really feel proud of, the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant
(TAG) program. I do not know about you, but it is one of the
things that I am most proud of since I have been in the Senate.
And I do not think many people are aware of the fact that I
think you have increased your college attendance in the
District by over 50 percent as a result of the program because
a lot of our youngsters here just did not have the opportunity
to go on to college because of the financial situation. And
then I think Don Graham coming up with the College Assistance
Program--and I have been to just about every graduation, and it
is really heart-warming to see the kids talk about the
opportunities that they have and where they are going, and so
on. It is inspirational. And I would hope that we can see that
program continue and see improvements in the District.
So I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this
hearing, and I am anxious to hear from our witnesses here
today.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Senator Voinovich. And
now I would like to introduce our witnesses: Michelle Rhee,
Chancellor of the D.C. Public Schools; Victor Reinoso, Deputy
Mayor for Education; Kerri Briggs, Acting State Superintendent
of Education, and Cornelia Ashby, Director of Education,
Workforce, and Income Security at the Government Accountability
Office.
As you know, it is the custom of our Subcommittee to swear
in witnesses. Therefore, I ask all of you to please rise and
raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony
you are about to give the Subcommittee is the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?
Ms. Rhee. I do.
Mr. Reinoso. I do.
Ms. Briggs. I do.
Ms. Ashby. I do.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Let it be noted for the record
that the witnesses answered in the affirmative.
Before we begin, I want to let you know that although your
oral statement is limited to 5 minutes, your full written
statements will be included in the record.
Chancellor Rhee, will you please begin with your statement?
TESTIMONY OF MICHELLE RHEE,\1\ CHANCELLOR, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Ms. Rhee. Good afternoon, Chairman Akaka and Ranking Member
Voinovich. I am honored to testify today about education reform
in the District of Columbia Public Schools and the findings of
the GAO report.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Rhee appears in the Appendix on
page 41.
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In our Nation's capital, our education system can and
should be a source of national pride. We know from the
significant progress students have made in the last 2 years in
D.C.--and from the results from high-performing urban schools
across the country--that in good schools children of all
backgrounds and circumstances can gain the skills that will
allow them positive and fulfilling life choices. Urban schools
can send their children to college at rates that can compete
with suburban schools.
We also know how much work it will take to get there.
Despite the progress of the past 2 years, the situation remains
dire when less than half of our students can read, write, and
do math at grade level. When Mayor Fenty gave me the privilege
of reforming the school system to achieve this goal with him,
we quickly discovered a few of the ways that schools were not
supported to educate their students competitively.
For example, in 2007 brand-new textbooks sat unopened in
warehouses while students sat in history classes with books
that ended with Nixon's Presidency. The school system, owing
money to teachers who had worked here years ago, at the same
time was accidently mailing checks to former employees who had
not worked here for years--even when the employees were
regularly calling to correct the problem. While one DCPS school
showed 9 percent of its students were on grade level in
mathematics, a successful charter school only a few blocks away
showed 91 percent of its students were on grade level.
Parents responded, and between 1996 and 2007 the enrollment
of the public school system dropped by about 40 percent as
families without viable options in their neighborhood schools
sought schools that would serve their children according to
their rights and abilities.
Because of the sheer size of the problem, many thought it
would be near impossible to resuscitate DCPS, never mind take
student achievement beyond the high expectations we have for
children in our country's top schools. However, after decades
of poor achievement, under the leadership of Mayor Adrian Fenty
we are applying the innovative solutions and common-sense
practices that are beginning to turn the tide.
For the second year in a row, DCPS students have posted
significant gains on our annual standardized test, the DC CAS.
Second-year gains are more unusual than a first-year rise in
scores, and we are pleased that in 2009 our principals and
teachers brought gains across all grade levels and in both
reading and math.
Our elementary students made significant gains in math and
reading this year, moving from 40-percent proficiency in math
last year to 49 percent this year, and from 46 percent
proficiency in reading to 49 percent this year--on top of the
encouraging gains achieved in year one. Our secondary students
showed improvement as well this year, advancing from 39 to 41-
percent proficiency in reading and 36 to 40-percent proficiency
in math.
I have heard from many who argue that economically
disadvantaged students are not as capable of learning as
students from more affluent families, and that it is only
``realistic'' to assume that neighborhoods dominated by poor
and minority students will remain caught in the cycles of
poverty we see now. I am happy to see that our students have an
answer for that.
In just 2 years in secondary math, students have narrowed
the achievement gap that exists between white students and
students of color by 20 percentage points, from 70 percent to
50 percent. The gap has narrowed across all grade levels and
subject areas, and our students have made it clear that they
intend to keep going. In fact, virtually every subgroup of
students increased proficiency rates this year, including our
students with special education needs, our English language
learner (ELL) population, and our economically disadvantaged
students. ELL students are outperforming the District as a
whole in elementary reading, elementary math, and secondary
math, with 20-percent gains in secondary reading over 2 years.
When we began this effort, when Mayor Fenty took over the
schools, only one-third of our students were on grade level in
reading and mathematics. Two years later, almost half of our
students are on grade level in reading and math. Of course, the
fact that only half our students are proficient is not a cause
for celebration. But given where we once were, this is evidence
of progress and a cause for hope.
The GAO report released last month represents the
conclusion of nearly 2 years of ongoing evaluation and
analysis. Overall, we agreed with many of the major
recommendations from the draft report, though we have not seen
the final report. As we have shared with the GAO team, the
Mayor will continue to make constant evaluation and stakeholder
input central and integral components of ensuring
accountability under the governance structure.
We were somewhat perplexed, however, by the tone and
specific conclusions of the GAO report, and we believe the
report fell short of objectively conveying the context for the
DCPS initiatives underway and of adequately capturing all of
the progress that has been made to date. I would like to use my
remaining time to explain some of the innovative reforms
occurring at DCPS that have allowed us to make the gains we
have seen in student achievement.
The rise in academic achievement over the last 2 years is
in large part the result of months of hard work and dedication
from our teachers and principals, and we still have a long way
to go. There is no way to get around it. Without high-quality
teachers and principals at every DCPS school, the achievement
gap will not close and performance will not rise. We must
support a teaching corps that is focused on student
achievement, and we must recognize and reward them when they
accomplish the enormous gains we are asking them to reach with
students.
For many years, new teachers have struggled to ``reinvent
the wheel'' of classroom management and planning without
significant or sustained support from DCPS. But just as
teachers are asked to meet every individual child's academic
needs, professional development must support teachers at all
ends of the spectrum on their way toward mastery.
DCPS has established a higher commitment to professional
development with a 400-percent increase in budgeted
professional development resources for teachers. This has
allowed us to hire teacher coaches to support reading and math
instruction. The coaches work at the school level, getting to
know teachers and their styles and practice to help new and
struggling teachers advance their students' academic growth.
Building teacher capacity for excellence is the most
important work of the past 2 years and the years to come.
Nothing is more telling of this importance than the way
students flock to our best teachers. In one of our high schools
last year, a teacher was surprised to find students attending
her class who were not on her roster. When she asked them why
they were there, they said that they were learning from her,
and that they wanted to attend her class whether or not they
were getting credit for it.
Schools also need strong principals to succeed. In a
district facing a challenge of this size, we need the best
school leaders we can find, and we must support those we have
to achieve according to their highest potential. As part of our
aggressive human capital strategy, DCPS recruited over 49
proven instructional leaders for the 2008-2009 school year to
replace principals who were unable to increase student
achievement. Our new principals went on to outperform the
District on the DC CAS this year. One of the new principals,
Dwan Jordon, assumed leadership last year of Sousa Middle
School in Ward 7, one of the city's highest poverty wards. In
just 1 year, he galvanized his staff to move student
achievement up 17 points in reading and 25 points in
mathematics, allowing the school to meet AYP for the first time
in Sousa's history.
When we hire or develop staff to achieve such results, our
children cannot afford to lose them. To attract and retain
highly effective staff we must dramatically change the way in
which teachers and principals are compensated. Already, DCPS
has provided incentives to teachers who helped their students
realize school-wide gains of 20 percentage points or greater in
both reading and math. And after the 2007-2008 school year,
DCPS awarded cash bonuses to the staff at these seven schools.
Teachers at these schools received an $8,000 cash award,
sending a clear message that if they perform at the highest
level, they will be recognized and rewarded.
I have a lot more of the testimony, but I am going to just
close here by saying that we do not have any illusions about
the work that lies ahead of us. Right now in this city, a
student's race and income remains a determining factor in the
number and quality of choices that students will have upon
exiting the public school system. This is inexcusable, and it
becomes more painfully acute to anyone who visits our schools,
speaks with our students, and sees directly how capable and
curious they are.
We are working furiously to correct this injustice, and we
have made significant progress over the past 2 years. The
accomplishments we have shared with you, the most important of
which belong to our students, we believe merit recognition in
any measure or oversight of this rewarding work.
As we continue this forward movement with our school staff
and students, we remain grateful for your support, and I am
happy to answer any questions.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Ms. Rhee.
Mr. Reinoso, will you please proceed with your statement?
TESTIMONY OF VICTOR REINOSO,\1\ DEPUTY MAYOR FOR EDUCATION,
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Mr. Reinoso. Good afternoon, Senator Akaka, Senator
Voinovich, and Members of the Subcommittee. I am pleased to
appear before you today to report on the continued progress
made by the District of Columbia in implementing the Mayor's
public education reform initiatives.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Reinoso appears in the Appendix
on page 51.
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Over the past 2 years, the District has become a focal
point for the national education reform community, and I
believe what we are doing here and the progress we are making
can and will serve as a model to other urban jurisdictions
seeking to improve dramatically the public education
opportunities available to children.
My office, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education
(DME), was established to perform two main functions: First, to
ensure that the education reform efforts of the District of
Columbia Public Schools, the Office of the State Superintendent
of Education (OSSE), the Office of Public Education Facilities
Modernization (OPEFM), and the Ombudsman for Public Education
are aligned in priorities and strategies; and, second, to
marshal the District's resources, public and private, education
and non-education, to support education reform efforts and
outcomes for all the District's students. My office has made
significant progress on these fronts, and I am happy to share
some of that progress today.
From the beginning, the Mayor has asked us to focus on
implementation and accountability for results. In preparing to
take over the school system, we noted numerous reports and
plans that had been developed and subsequently piled up over
the years and resolved to hold ourselves accountable for
execution and results. My office's role is to make sure we are
all moving at the same pace, on the same page, and on the right
track. We problem-solve where there are obstacles or issues,
keep staff focused on the agenda, and develop the right
strategy to address a given issue.
Alignment of strategies comes in many forms, but almost
always involves convening the right people around the table.
Prior to the Mayor's reform, this was the missing piece. City
leaders would constantly hear the complaint from agencies that
the school system was not at the table and, likewise, the
school system would complain that they had little or no
collaboration with other city agencies.
Alignment of reform strategies became even more important
as we separated State from local education functions and
facilities and other education-related services from the school
system.
We have established several mechanisms for regular, agenda-
driven communication among the education agencies at leadership
and staff levels. My office also leads working groups and
conversations around specific big-picture priority issues such
as special education and school health.
Similarly, at the program level, the DME has worked with
both DCPS and the OSSE on developing strategies and policies
for alternative education, discipline and attendance, and adult
education programming.
Finally, my office continues to work closely with DCPS,
OPEFM, and city planning staff around school facilities
planning, and the Mayor recently submitted to the council a
revised Master Facilities Plan that will modernize every
classroom over the next 5 years.
Through these efforts, I am confident that the education
strategies and policies of the District agencies are aligned.
The June 2009 draft GAO report came to the same conclusion
after careful review.
The other major focus of the DME over the past 2 years has
been the initiatives associated with the Interagency
Collaboration and Services Integration Commission (ICSIC).
Identifying the needs of children and families inside and
outside of the classroom and figuring out how to address them
by creating innovation and coordinating existing efforts within
other agencies is challenging and intense. However, early
results are promising and demonstrate that we are on the right
track.
Part of our charge from the Public Education Reform Act is
to develop and incubate innovative programs that address issues
affecting social and emotional development of students, school
climate and safety, and alcohol and substance abuse. We do this
by researching and selecting evidence-based programs and
initiatives and then piloting them carefully at the school
level. At the end of the pilot period, the goal is to evaluate
the effectiveness of the programs and then transition them to a
home agency where they can be scaled up and implemented
permanently.
This past school year, we successfully implemented the DC
Student Assessment and Resilience Team (START)
multidisciplinary school mental health and intervention
program. We hired seven social worker clinicians to serve
students at six DCPS elementary schools and one middle school.
We strongly believe in the DC START model and its comprehensive
approach to early intervention.
In addition to DC START, ICSIC has implemented four other
evidence-based programs this year. Combined, we are serving
over 5,500 students at 50 schools. Adding in the other
programs, we have trained over 300 DCPS, Metropolitan Police
Department (MPD), and Department of Mental Health (DMH) staff
working in schools over the past 8 months. My office works
steadily on monitoring these programs and their implementation,
reaching out to school-based staff to ensure that the programs
are utilized effectively and have the maximum positive impact.
We continue to work across agencies through ICSIC to
improve outcomes related to health, student achievement, youth
engagement, and transition to adulthood. The goal of all of
these efforts is to provide a safer, more supportive learning
environment for students so that they can take full advantage
of the educational opportunities available to them.
While I think the Subcommittee can agree that we have made
substantial progress in only 2 years, no doubt we have much
work left to be done. With this in mind, we endeavor to
continue moving forward with an unwavering commitment to
implementation and results.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to discuss these
issues. I look forward to your questions.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Reinoso. Ms.
Briggs, will you please proceed with your statement?
STATEMENT OF KERRI L. BRIGGS, PH.D.,\1\ ACTING STATE
SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Ms. Briggs. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Akaka,
Senator Voinovich, distinguished Members of the Subcommittee,
Committee staff, and guests. I am Kerri Briggs, and I serve as
the Acting State Superintendent of Education for the District
of Columbia. It is my pleasure to be here this afternoon to
discuss the role of the Office of the State Superintendent and
the Mayor's effort to reform education.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Briggs appears in the Appendix on
page 58.
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It is truly a special time for education reform in the
District. We have a mayor, a city council, a schools
chancellor, charter school leaders, and a State Board of
Education who are all dedicated to improving schools for our
students. Thousands of dedicated teachers and other staff are
joining as well and embracing a new culture of achievement.
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education was
created 2 years ago to comply with Federal education law, and
it is designated as a State education agency. This office was
created to manage Federal funds so that DCPS and the 57 charter
local education agencies (LEAs) could focus on working with
schools.
In my short time in serving in this role, I have identified
certain challenges ahead of us, one of which is discussed in
the report. In 2006 and again last year, the U.S. Department of
Education placed D.C. schools on high-risk status due to
mismanagement of grants and failure to comply with Federal
rules.
After nearly 8 years with the U.S. Department of Education,
I know the ins and outs of the system. I have seen firsthand
how the relationship between Federal, State, and local agencies
can have a profound impact on kids. I am confident the
priorities we are setting at the State level will maximize the
impact of the Chancellor's reform efforts.
That is why my colleagues and I have been working
diligently to correct these problems. OSSE is working with the
U.S. Department of Education to address our high-risk grantee
status through the design and implementation of a comprehensive
and strategic corrective action plan. Addressing these issues
around our high-risk designation is OSSE's top priority, and a
dedicated team of analysts has been assembled and moved to my
executive office to steward this reform effort.
We are also set to distribute funds smartly to LEAs to
advance the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
principles set forth by the U.S. Department of Education.
Receiving Federal stimulus funds and our high-risk grantee
status are providing OSSE with a new opportunity to set
standards around Federal grants management. We will also take
advantage of the ARRA reporting requirements to gather and
analyze data that will in turn inform future policy decisions.
While we are cleaning up our business operations, we are
also working on efforts to improve student achievement. My team
is currently assessing our data systems and capabilities and
will work aggressively to improve upon them to make data an
effective tool at the school, District, and State level. The
first step in that process is to develop and implement the
Statewide Longitudinal Education Data (SLED) System.
Once built, this database will enable the sharing of
critical information that tracks student learning, spanning
early child care, pre-school, K-12, post-secondary, and adult-
serving institutions.
During this past year, the production of the Unique Student
Identifier (USI), which included student demographic
information, was released. The USI is the key lever for linking
all student data together within the SLED System and with all
other educational systems within OSSE.
The State Superintendent's Office also sets teacher quality
criteria as required by the No Child Left Behind Act. As of
October 2006, OSSE changed its criteria to align with the
Federal definition of ``highly qualified teachers.'' Under this
definition, all teachers must have, at a minimum, a bachelor's
degree, State certification, and demonstrated subject area
knowledge through a competency test, an evaluation, or
completion of additional degrees.
Accountability extends to more than our students, teachers,
and schools. It also extends to our internal management
performance. In an effort to create a culture of
accountability, the ePerformance management system was launched
in October 2008. It established clear expectations for all
staff.
ePerformance has been operational since January 2009, and
OSSE is successfully moving through that implementation
timeline. I am confident that the system is setting clear
expectations for all employees, which is an important part of
working towards achieving OSSE's strategic objectives.
The reforms that the District has put in place represent a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform a previously broken
school system. Likewise, our strategic plan will make the State
Superintendent's Office more nimble, more responsive, and more
accountable to families and taxpayers. It means issuing clear
and timely guidance to help educators access available
resources. It means focusing energy and resources on the
challenges identified in the OSSE strategic plan--that is,
grants management, quality special education, and the need for
a reliable data system to track student achievement.
It also means collaborating with other States to develop
rigorous, internationally benchmarked, common core standards to
make sure that when D.C. students graduate from high school,
they are prepared to succeed in college and to compete in the
global marketplace.
The good news is that we are seeing results. As the
Chancellor noted, results are up across the board, both in DCPS
and also in charter schools. But as you know, my agency does
not always work directly with schools, but we can and must
develop an effective and efficient State education agency to
ensure that our talented educators are supported by this agency
and not deterred. If we do a better job of allocating resources
and human capital, they will have greater freedom to help our
students improve.
Thank you, and I look forward to answering your questions.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Ms. Briggs. Ms. Ashby,
will you please proceed with your statement?
TESTIMONY OF CORNELIA M. ASHBY,\1\ DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION,
WORKFORCE, AND INCOME SECURITY, U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY
OFFICE
Ms. Ashby. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I
am pleased to be here today to discuss DCPS's efforts to reform
the District's public schools. This afternoon, my remarks will
focus on steps DCPS has taken to address student academic
achievement, teacher and principal quality, strategic planning,
and its accountability and performance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Ashby appears in the Appendix on
page 66.
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With respect to student academic achievement, following
passage of the Public Education Reform Act, DCPS quickly
implemented several initiatives, including supplemental
instruction and practice to improve the basic skills and test
scores of students struggling in reading and math; providing
all schools with art, music, and physical education teachers,
as well as supports such as social workers; restructuring
schools that had not met academic goals for 6 consecutive
years; and along with the State Superintendent's Office,
developing new ways to use data to monitor student and school
performance.
Based on lessons learned, DCPS is making changes as it
continues these initiatives. For example, the Chancellor
recently acknowledged that DCPS, in its effort to remedy the
range of issues that plague the school system, may have
launched too many initiatives at once, and some schools may not
have had the capacity to implement them all. To support such
schools, DCPS is considering allowing principals to determine
which programs best suit their schools' needs and capacity. In
addition, rather than focusing on implementing initiatives, for
the 2009-2010 school year, DCPS will focus on effective
teaching by helping teachers understand what students are
expected to learn, how to prepare lessons, and effective
teaching methods.
In attempting to strengthen teacher and principal quality,
DCPS focused on a workforce replacement strategy, hiring, for
the 2008-2009 school year, 566 teachers and 46 principals to
replace about one-fifth of the teachers and one-third of the
principals who had been on board during the 2007-2008 school
year and had resigned, retired, or were terminated.
However, DCPS officials told us that the 2007-2008 and
2008-2009 school system teacher evaluation process did not
allow them to determine whether the teacher workforce improved
in terms of impact on student achievement between these two
school years. DCPS plans to revise its teacher evaluation
process to assess teachers, in part, on their ability to
improve students' test scores over the course of a school year.
In addition to the workforce replacement strategy, DCPS
introduced new professional development initiatives, including
hiring 150 teacher coaches for the 2008-2009 school year to
improve teacher skills in delivering reading and math
instruction.
The State Superintendent's Office and DCPS each developed
5-year strategic plans and involved stakeholders in the
process. However, while DCPS has increased efforts to involve
stakeholders in strategic planning and key initiatives, DCPS
has initiated some key initiatives with limited stakeholder
involvement. For example, key stakeholders, including D.C.
Council members and parent groups, told us they were not given
the opportunity to provide input on DCPS's initial proposals
regarding school closures and consolidations; the establishment
of schools that span pre-kindergarten to grade 8; or planning
an early implementation of a new staffing model that placed
art, music, and physical education teachers at schools and
fundamentally changed the way funding is allocated to schools.
DCPS has taken steps to improve its accountability and
performance which include developing scorecards for central
office departments to identify performance expectations and
discussing progress with senior-level managers at weekly
meetings with the Chancellor, and assessing central office
employee performance twice a year. However, while according to
DCPS officials, DCPS has taken steps to align central office
departmental scorecards with 2009 annual performance goals,
DCPS has not yet explicitly linked employee performance
evaluations to its overall goals. DCPS officials told us they
plan to do so this summer.
The challenge of reforming the District's public schools is
daunting, and DCPS and other members of the Mayor's education
team have taken bold steps to improve the learning environment
of the District's students. In moving forward, in order to
sustain the progress achieved over the past 2 years and
effectively implement new reform initiatives, it is important
that DCPS have planning processes that ensure timely
communication with stakeholders, including stakeholders within
the school system who are knowledgeable about such things as
individual school needs and capacity constraints, and
incorporation of their views in decisions, and that central
office employees are held accountable for contributing to the
achievement of DCPS's goals.
As the Chairman said in his opening statement, in our
report--which is being released consecutively with this
hearing--we make two recommendations that could improve the
implementation and sustainability of reform efforts. We
recommended that the Mayor direct DCPS to (1) establish
planning processes that include mechanisms to evaluate its
internal capacity and communicate information to stakeholders,
and when appropriate, incorporate their views, and (2) link
individual performance evaluations to the agency's overall
goals.
In commenting on a draft of the report, the Deputy Mayor
for Education, the Chancellor, and the State Superintendent
said they agreed with the substance of our recommendations.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, this
concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy to answer any
questions.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Ms. Ashby, for your
statement.
And now we have other Members here that I will call on for
any opening statements you may have. Let me call on Senator
Burris.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BURRIS
Senator Burris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I did have an
opening statement. I am sorry I had to duck out. I have another
meeting. But I am deeply concerned about the structure, Mr.
Chairman, and I will have a lot of questions about that when I
do this opening statement.
Charles Keating, a great American inventor, once said,
``High achievement always takes place in a framework of high
expectations.'' High expectations have been placed on the D.C.
Public School system, as they should be for every public school
system across our Nation. Expectations are met with dedication,
teamwork, and by adhering to a strategic plan that moves toward
an end goal--in this case, responsible reform of the District's
public schools.
Coming from Illinois, I understand the hardship involved in
reforming and maintaining a high-quality public school system.
The Chicago Public School system is the third largest school
system in our country. It is evident that improvement does not
solely rest on the shoulders of our teachers. School
infrastructure, safe classrooms, and the involvement of the
stakeholders like the local community and public officials are
just some of the factors that contribute to the success of
today's youth.
Our communities face unique challenges when it comes to
public education. I attend this hearing today to examine the
progress of the District schools under this new structure, but
I also hope to gain insight on lessons learned along the way.
Being a grandfather myself and having witnessed the
importance that education has had on my children, I hold a
special place in my heart for educational reform. The purpose
of getting an education is not just to further oneself in the
professional realm, but to instill a sense of intellectual
curiosity in future generations.
Senator Akaka, I know that, you being a former public
school principal and teacher, this is an issue close to your
heart. I am glad that I am here today to participate in this
hearing. I do not know what your questions will be, but I do
have some concerns about the structure, workings, and progress
in these 2 years of reform.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Akaka. Thank you for your opening statement.
Senator Ensign.
Senator Ensign. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will just wait
until it is questioning time. Thank you, though.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Senator Landrieu.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR LANDRIEU
Senator Landrieu. Mr. Chairman, I will also submit my
opening statement for the record, and I am, unfortunately,
going to have to slip out in just a few minutes. But I wanted
to comment, let my presence be a signal that I want to be very
supportive of the reform efforts underway and to congratulate
you all for what you have done thus far. And I look forward to
working with the Chairman and the Members of this Subcommittee
to continue to work with you in a strong partnership until we
get the District of Columbia schools to become among the top in
the Nation, just like we are working on many of our other
districts around the country. And under the appropriate
jurisdictional models that we have, I really think that it is
possible. I think that there are some exciting experiments and
initiatives underway that are showing a lot of promise, and I
just think we have to continue to push forward. So I thank you
all very much.
[The prepared statement of Senator Landrieu follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR LANDRIEU
Thank you, Chairman Akaka and Ranking Member Voinovich for
convening this important hearing.Over 5 years ago, I worked together
with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to craft a fair,
responsible and visionary approach to public school reform in the
District of Columbia. It is critical that we review and assess how
education reform has impacted student achievement in our Nation's
capital.
DC Public Schools have long been in dire straits. It is tragic that
children attending public schools in our Nation's capital receive sub-
par educations. The achievement gap is 70 percentage points between
black and whites in the city's high schools. Only 9 percent of D.C.
high school students will graduate from a college within 5 years of
leaving the city's system. Only 8 percent of ninth-graders are
proficient in math. Our children languish in schools that do not
provide them with the education they need to thrive in life and become
successful adults. In addition to losing generations of children
unprepared for the workforce, we lose countless potential workers who
could help maintain our global competitiveness.
However, there are reasons to be hopeful. Chancellor Michelle Rhee
has brought about dramatic reforms into the school system. It is clear
from the testimonies of the witnesses here today that significant
progress towards reform has been made; however, we still have a long
road in front of us until reform is fully achieved. The latest GAO
report has recommended the Mayor direct DCPS to involve stakeholders
more during key decisions. As a matter of two school-aged kids, I know
how crucial it is to keep parents involved in these discussions and
listen to their input. The DCPS steady gains in reading and math at the
elementary and secondary levels is both promising and a sign that we
are getting closer to putting DC schools on the right path. Still, we
must focus on how to keep improving these scores in the long run.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Senator Landrieu.
Chancellor Rhee, the GAO report indicates that DCPS may
have undertaken too many initiatives at once. I understand you
are using a new Teaching and Learning Framework to evaluate
which initiatives should continue and are effective.
Will you please describe this new framework and how you are
implementing it?
Ms. Rhee. Sure. I believe that what the GAO report was
referring to was the fact that I communicated to teachers
formally the fact that I knew that lots of them felt
overwhelmed because we had a number of new initiatives over the
last 2 years. Part of the challenge that we face is when you
come into the lowest-performing school district in the country
where things really are so dysfunctional and there is so much
work to be done, we had a lot of enthusiasm for trying to
tackle as many of those challenges as we could as quickly as we
could. And a lot of this was in response to teachers and
principals coming to us and saying, ``We need more resources.
We need more programs. We need more guidance around high school
civics classes or around Algebra I or reading interventions at
the elementary level,'' etc.
And so as people were telling us what the needs were, we
rolled out a lot of new initiatives. And, to hear it from the
teacher vantage point, they would say, ``We do not have any
problem with the individual initiatives, but taken in a sum
total, it is somewhat overwhelming to know that we are having
to implement all of them.''
So what we have done to try to differentiate a little from
school to school and teacher to teacher is to roll out a new
Teaching and Learning Framework--and that will happen this
summer--that basically lays a foundation for what our
expectations are when we walk into a classroom and we walk into
a school, and to make those very clear so we have very clear
rubrics that identify what we expect to see.
Then on top of that, we will have a toolbox where we have
District-approved programs, interventions, various initiatives
around reading, math, early childhood, special education, etc.
And schools can look at the toolbox in total, determine what
the needs of their particular classrooms and schools are, and
then utilize those programs as they feel they have the capacity
to take them on. So we will provide a little bit more
flexibility in that way to be able to differentiate from school
to school.
Senator Akaka. I believe solid training and mentoring are
crucial in molding successful teachers. I understand that you
are using teacher coaches, as you mentioned, and have created a
principals' academy.
Can you tell me more about these and other initiatives to
train and mentor educators?
Ms. Rhee. Sure. On the teacher side, there were two main
initiatives that happened over the course of the last 2 years.
The first is the instructional coaches. What we found when we
came to the District was that professional development was
happening to teachers in a very disjointed way. So they would
go to workshops or trainings that were at various times on
different subjects, but there was no cohesion or alignment to
those professional development initiatives.
Then the second thing that we got feedback on was that
teachers felt that the trainings, themselves, were too separate
or too distant from what was happening every day in their
schools and their classrooms. So we invested a significant
amount of money and resources in ensuring that we could hire at
least one, and sometimes two instructional coaches for every
school, and that was actually part of our comprehensive
staffing model.
So now we have a full-time person in every school whose job
it is to actually go into classrooms, to observe teachers,
people who know the children, the circumstances, who can build
personal relationships with folks, so that the professional
development that is happening is much more meaningful and it is
job-embedded.
The second component was that we are working towards a
full-time release mentor model for new teachers, so the
standards of new teacher mentorship is that you have another
teacher, either in the building or somewhere else, who gets
paid, a small stipend to help that teacher on the side. And for
a lot of our new teachers that level of support just is not
enough to acclimate them to the challenges of our schools. So
what we have moved towards is a mentor model where we have
full-time mentors who have a caseload of new teachers, and
their job and responsibility, is to travel between the
classrooms of those teachers and provide full-time mentoring to
them.
On the principal academy side as well, we have put a
tremendous amount of resources into ensuring that on a very
regular basis we are meeting with principals, pulling them
together, and covering topics with them that they believe they
need in order to build their skill base.
Senator Akaka. Chancellor, GAO indicated that the DCPS
currently is using a core staffing model to increase student
access to subjects like art and music. As a former music
teacher, I believe these types of classes are valuable for
young people.
Please elaborate on how DCPS determines which subjects to
offer and how many staff to assign to each school.
Ms. Rhee. Sure. When I came into this job, one of the most
surprising things that I heard, but also one of the most
pervasive, was a feeling from people, from families in
different parts of the city, that they did not understand why
they were getting different resources than schools in other
parts of the city. And a common refrain that I heard was, ``We
do not have an art teacher, a music teacher, or a physical
education (PE) teacher. Why do the schools west of the park
have all of those things?''
And what we found was that it was not for a lack of
resources per se, but that schools--at the individual school
level, principals were making decisions about what kinds of
teachers they were going to hire and where they were going to
spend their money, and that those decisions were not consistent
across the District. And what that resulted in was people,
unfortunately, gaining a perspective where they began to think
that art, music, and PE were extracurricular activities instead
of what I believe they should be seen as, which is an integral
part to any broad-based, robust curriculum.
So what we did was to say that there was a core staffing
model that every school, regardless of what part of the city it
was in, how many children it was serving, all of those students
deserved to have access to art, music, PE, to librarians, to
full-time nurses. So that was an important part of what we were
doing.
We also added social workers and/or a counselor at every
school, and we wanted to set that benchmark for what that
comprehensive staffing model looked like overall. So that even
though we could not necessarily ensure that the entire staffing
model existed at every single school, we wanted to set the
benchmark out and draw the line in the sand that said this is
what we are striving towards.
In terms of determining how many of each of those kinds of
staff members are at every school, it is based on the number of
pupils that are at that particular building.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. In April, as I mentioned in my
statement, I wrote to you and Mayor Fenty and the
Administration regarding the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship
Program, and I was very pleased to receive a response from
Secretary of Education Duncan. In fact, I got back to her, and
she got back to me, and, unfortunately, neither you nor Mayor
Fenty responded. And, Mr. Reinoso, I would like you to let the
Mayor know I want an answer to my letter.
Since I have not received a response, I was hoping,
Chancellor, that you might share with me your thoughts on the
D.C. Opportunity Program in terms of supporting the District's
efforts to ensure each student has access to a quality
education, and I would be interested in knowing how you feel
about the recommendation that only those that are in it are
going to be able to participate and you are going to shut off
any other people from participating.
Ms. Rhee. So my belief about vouchers I think probably is
very different from most Democrats--I am a Democrat--here is
the bottom line. I do not believe that vouchers are the answer
to the problems in public education today. The bottom line is
that the amount of the vouchers do not allow children access to
some of the highest-quality private schools that are in
existence, and just by virtue of having a voucher, it does not
guarantee you admission into a school. And so with those
dynamics in place, it is not the answer to the problem.
That said, I do think that given the situation that our
families face today, vouchers can be an important part to the
choice dynamic that I think is healthier here in Washington,
DC, than almost any other city in the country. We have a tri-
sector approach where we have a robust charter community, we
have the Opportunity Scholarships Program, and then we have the
reforms going on DCPS.
I answer e-mails from hundreds and hundreds of families
every year who come to me and say-- we do exactly what we would
want them to do as families. So they do the research and they
say, ``My neighborhood school is not up to snuff. I applied to
all of these schools out of boundary. I was not awarded a seat
in any of those schools.'' And so they come to me and say,
``Now what am I supposed to do?''
I think that is a valid question because the bottom line is
we have some high-performing schools in the district, but those
schools do not have a lot of seats for out-of-boundary kids.
I believe that in those circumstances we ought to be able
to provide those families with some choices so that they can
move out, or not have to place those children in those failing
schools, and I believe that the Opportunity Scholarships
Program and the continuation of the tri-sector approach is one
way that can happen.
In the long term, I am not sure what that solution is going
to be, but at least for where we are now and given how far we
have yet to go. I believe that the tri-sector approach
continues to make sense.
The Deputy Mayor, the Mayor, and I have consistently been
vocal advocates of the fact that this tri-sector approach be
maintained and continued into the future.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you. It is also troubling to me
that because of contractual agreements, teachers who are not
meeting basic expectations are being transferred to other
schools instead of being removed from the school system. And I
would be interested to know what is the rationale for
transferring poor performers from one school to another. And
how does the DCPS decide where those teachers are going to be
placed? And the real question--and I think it gets to the
report that was done--is whether or not you have the kind of
performance evaluations that should be linked to the school
system's goals.
In other words, the problem is you are a good teacher, you
are a bad teacher. How do you determine whether they are good
or bad? And if you have objective standards and everybody kind
of agrees that is the standard, you are much better off in
terms of making a decision regarding that individual. But what
bothers me is that now under the present system, if you think
someone does not have it, you move them to someplace else.
Ms. Rhee. That is right.
Senator Voinovich. It seems to me that if they are not
performing, there ought to be a provision that says we will
help you, and if you are unable to be helped, you have to be
terminated.
Ms. Rhee. That is exactly right. You started your question
by asking what sense does that make, and it doesn't make any
sense. And that is why we are working so diligently to change
the teachers union contracts and the provisions within that,
because the reality is that--and I will give you a concrete
example. We were looking to reconstitute two of our lowest-
performing high schools this year. ``Reconstitution'' means
that all of the teachers have to reapply for their jobs, and
then the new Administration can choose the teachers that they
want, and the other ones are dispersed.
This creates a situation, though, that is incredibly
troublesome on many fronts because say there are about 100
teachers at each of these high schools, that means that there
are potentially upwards of 200 teachers who, by the current
teachers union contract that we have, we owe them a job. We
have to place them before we can hire new teachers into the
system.
And so we leave the other 10 large comprehensive high
schools in a situation where essentially any new teachers that
they are going to hire, they are going to have to choose--these
200 displaced teachers are eventually going to get forced onto
these 10 schools, some of them who are just hanging on by their
fingernails, they are just one level above where these two
lowest-performing ones are. And by having an influx of 15, 20
new teachers that they do not have any say over--these people
are forced into their schools--can be incredibly detrimental to
the school culture and to any progress that the school is
making.
We do not think that this is a system that is thinking
about the best interests of student achievement at its core. We
believe that it is a system that is detrimental to the culture
of accountability that we are trying to establish. And that is
why we are working so vigorously to try to change these
provisions to ensure that a school has a right to choose the
teachers actively and on the other side that teachers have a
say in where they are going, and that we are not creating a
system where poor performers are being shuffled throughout the
system.
Senator Voinovich. And you need the union to agree to that?
Ms. Rhee. Yes.
Senator Voinovich. What is the prospect of that happening?
Ms. Rhee. Well, we are working on it. It varies by the day
sometimes. We have made some very good progress over the last 2
months. We have asked the Dean of the Howard Law School, Kurt
Schmoke, to serve as a mediator between the union and the
District as it comes to those negotiations. His involvement has
been absolutely critical. It has really taken us an incredibly
long distance from where we were before he was involved. And he
remains very hopeful that we will be able to come to
resolution.
I do not know at the end of the day whether that will
occur, but we are hopeful, and both the union and the District
have articulated on many occasions that our ideal on both sides
would be that we would try to come to resolution on a new
contract before the beginning of the next school year.
Senator Voinovich. Mr. Chairman, if you do not mind, I
would just like to say that when I was governor, in the area in
Ohio where you lived, in Toledo, we were able to work an
agreement that basically said that a teacher could ask for
help, other teachers could ask for help for them, or the
principal could ask for help. We provided additional money for
master teachers, and I think that is what you are--in your
testimony, you are trying to do that. And then they would be
given an opportunity to shape up, and after that, if they did
not, then they were gone. But that was the way we compromised
it. Unfortunately, that program is no longer in existence. But
it is the kind of thing you are trying to work something out
with the teachers to try and make sure that the people that
really are not--I mean, the teachers, I think most of them, are
just as interested in having good teachers. If they have a bad
teacher, they know it, and they should be able to say, ``Hey,
you need some help.'' And a lot of teachers maybe know they are
not that good. They ought to be able to come in and say, ``I
need help,'' or the principal should be able to do that. And I
think if they have been given an opportunity to go through that
process, that is fair, and then if they cannot make it, then
usually what happens is you get terminated.
Ms. Rhee. That is right. As you noted, in my hometown of
Toledo, Ohio, that is one of the districts that really piloted
and sort of pioneered the Peer Assistance and Review Program.
In our new evaluation model that we will be implementing
this school year, we have taken a lot of the best components of
that by having a peer master educator be a significant part of
the evaluation and observation process for teachers, and that
component has been extremely well received amongst our teaching
force.
Senator Akaka. Thank you, Senator Voinovich. Senator
Burris.
Senator Burris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Will there be a
second round on this?
Senator Akaka. Yes, there will be.
Senator Burris. Because I have so many questions, and I
want to deal with structure in this round and then education in
the next round. I am looking at an organizational chart in
reference to, Madam Chancellor, who you report to, and the
Chancellor is reporting to the Mayor, and the Deputy Mayor for
Education is reporting to the Mayor. Is that correct?
Ms. Rhee. Yes.
Senator Burris. And then there is a component called the
State Board of Education. I would assume that in the
legislation they created a State Board so that you all could be
comparable to a State, so that you can get State funds or
something? I am trying to see this entity. How many students
are in the D.C. Public School system? Two hundred thousand?
What is the number?
Ms. Rhee. There are about 47,000 students in the D.C.
Public Schools in the traditional public schools. And then
there are an additional between 27,000 and 30,000 in the
charter schools.
Mr. Reinoso. So a total of about 77,000 public school
students in the city attending either DCPS or charter schools.
Senator Burris. You have charter schools.
Ms. Rhee. Yes.
Senator Burris. And you have this structure with a State
Board of Education which reports--on my chart I am looking at,
the State Superintendent has some contact with the Chancellor.
And then, otherwise, the State Superintendent of Education
comes under the Deputy Mayor. It looks like to me you do report
somewhat to the State Board of Education. And, by the way, I do
not see D.C. being a State. I cannot understand this because to
me we have 50 States. I did not know we had 51, Mr. Chairman,
but now I see we view the District of Columbia as a State when
it wants to be, as a city when it wants to be, as a county when
it needs to be, and it has all these jurisdictions that are
very confusing, this bureaucracy to deal with 47,000 students
in your public school system.
And so what is your background, Deputy Mayor? Are you an
educator?
Mr. Reinoso. I was a former member of the school board.
Senator Burris. You were a member of the school board. The
local school board, which no longer exists.
Mr. Reinoso. Correct.
Senator Burris. Now there is a State Board, which I thought
the Superintendent reports to the State Board.
Mr. Reinoso. If I may, I will try to provide some context,
which hopefully will clear up some of the confusion. One of the
reasons that the District was placed on high-risk status by the
U.S. Department of Education, had to do with commingling of
State and local education responsibilities, which, by Federal
law, are to be separate. And so the State structure that exists
in the District, while it is true we aspire to that status, it
addresses a necessary component of Federal legislation
requiring that Federal dollars flow through and be monitored
and be granted out by the State Department of Education, and
that those decisions be separated from any local school
district so as to avoid conflicts of interest in reporting and/
or in the doling out of those Federal grant dollars.
And so that is a key reason why you see a separate State
structure. It also is why the reporting structure is different
so that the oversight on a day-to-day basis of the State
responsibilities is separate from DCPS. And so that is why the
Chancellor reports directly through the Mayor and why the State
office reports through me, to create some distance between the
reporting structure and not to have the same person overseeing
the two entities on a day-to-day basis.
The State Superintendent is appointed by the Mayor, serves
for a term position, does not report to the State Board, but
works----
Senator Burris. The State Superintendent does not report to
the State Board. The State Superintendent reports to the Mayor.
Mr. Reinoso. Yes.
Senator Burris. And the Deputy Mayor----
Mr. Reinoso. To the Deputy Mayor, rather. To me.
Senator Burris. And who do you report to?
Mr. Reinoso. I report to the Mayor. I mean, ultimately
there is only so many places a reporting structure can end up.
Senator Burris. I know the system was designed before I got
here, but I am just trying to get an understanding, because
given my knowledge of this process and procedures, I just see
an administrative boondoggle here. I want to know where you all
are going to be 2 or 3 or 4 years from now trying to be a
State. I understand what you are trying to do, because most
States have a State Board of Education where there is a State
Superintendent of Education. I assume that is what the
structure was seeking to do.
Mr. Reinoso. Yes, and----
Senator Burris. That is done by the Governor.
Mr. Reinoso. Right.
Senator Burris. And then you get into your local school
district or your municipalities, and you take the big district
like Chicago, for example, when our legislature then gave the
responsibility to the Mayor of Chicago, that was done out of
political motivations. And based on that, the Mayor now hires a
CEO, and we have 400,000 students in the Chicago Public School
District--400,000, and its bureaucracy is not as cumbersome as
this here.
So I am just hoping that you all can get through as to who
has what responsibility in this regard.
Mr. Reinoso. I appreciate that, given the small number of
students and the small geographic footprint of the city, that
it seems like a number of entities. But if you layer in the
Illinois State into that, you would find a similar structure.
Senator Burris. A similar structure for 2 million students
not for 40,000.
Mr. Reinoso. I appreciate that, and, again, we are very
much focused on meeting the Federal requirements for the
separation of the State and of the LEA. I am sure that the
Chairman of the Subcommittee, from his own experience--Hawaii
is another place where there are some similarities in terms of
the local and State functions having been in one place. And the
struggle of separating those out has been for us a challenge,
but we have made a tremendous amount of progress, and keeping
that separation. And so as a result, keeping the kind of
structure that at the typical city level seems redundant is a
necessity, in fact, mandated by the Federal laws on the
separation of----
Senator Burris. I understand it is mandated by statute, but
I am also going to empathize or sympathize with you all that
have to try to work under this bureaucracy. I mean, I am not
criticizing.
Mr. Reinoso. I understand.
Senator Burris. As a newcomer to this, I am just assessing
it and pointing it out, and I want to be on record as saying I
hope that you all can survive through this on such a smaller
scale, but to try to make yourself comparable to one of the 50
States is what is creating the problem. And then the limited
number of students--we want this to get down to the classroom.
I am looking at all this bureaucracy that is going to be here,
and where we want to be getting is in those classrooms with
those students, with educational, tools and guidelines so that
those kids will not end up in prison, jail, or as liabilities
to society.
And so I just hope that this structure--I do not know. I
have some questions for GAO as they assess this. I hope that
GAO stays on top of especially the bureaucracy and the
interaction between the Chancellor, the Mayor, Deputy Mayor,
all in one little kit and caboodle. You are trying to put all
of that structure into--we will just say 70,000 students, which
to me is----
My time is up, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Akaka. Thank you, Senator Burris. We will have a
second round.
Senator Burris. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Senator Ensign.
Senator Ensign. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
If we change Federal law, to follow up on this question,
could you do without the bureaucracy that you are talking
about?
Ms. Rhee. I think part of the issue that exists is because
close to a third of the school-aged children in this city are
enrolled in charter schools, there has to be an entity outside
of DCPS that can oversee the Federal dollars that flow to all
of the LEAs. So even though there is only one official school
district, there are more than 50 LEAs because so many of these
individual charter schools are their own LEAs.
Senator Ensign. Just to simplify it, though, is there a
change in Federal law that needs to be had so you could
streamline the bureaucracy? Could you do with less bureaucracy
if we changed the Federal rules?
Ms. Rhee. We could always deal with less bureaucracy. Less
bureaucracy is a good thing. But I do think that there has to
be an entity that oversees both the District's and the other 50
LEAs.
Senator Ensign. There may be some way we can work together
or something. If there is a change in Federal law that needs to
happen for you to be able to do with less bureaucracy, we
should work on trying to do that.
I found it very interesting when you are talking about not
being able to fire bad teachers. We have a wonderful place in
Las Vegas called West Prep. It was called West Junior High
School. One hundred percent of the students are low-income
students; I think 98 percent of them are minorities. It was
considered the worst school in Las Vegas--actually, the worst
school in the entire State of Nevada several years ago, and a
real reform-minded educator took it over, hired a young
principal, and the young principal said, ``OK. I will take it
over, but I want to be able to choose the teachers,'' similar
to what you just talked about. Out of the 65 teachers, he kept
13.
You walk in there today, and, by the way, they have school
uniforms. They extended the school day by an hour a day. He
wants to take it, instead of it just being a junior high, he
has expanded it out, eventually wants it to be a K-12 school
because he does not want the kids ruined before they get to him
or ruined after they leave him.
I went into the chemistry class when I was out there, a
young African American girl in a chemistry lab, and I said to
her--she was there before the changes were made. And I said,
``What is the difference, the main difference between now and
before?'' And she said, ``Oh, it is very simple. We actually
get to learn now.'' I mean, that is such a sad statement, but I
think indicative of a lot of our failing schools today.
The good news, after the changes that were made, is the
energy in these teachers. You walk in this school, and you have
just never seen energy--I do not care, private school, public
school, wherever I have been.
So 3 years ago, West Prep was given freedom to operate
within the regular public school system. Three years ago, only
17 percent of the kids performed at grade level at math. Today,
97 percent of juniors are proficient in reading, 73 percent in
math, and 64 percent in science. That is what can happen when
people put kids first. You mentioned that in your statement,
and that is really to me what it is all about.
The D.C. Scholarship Program, I agree with you, I do not
think that vouchers are a silver bullet and are going to solve
all of our educational problems. I do believe that they are one
of the answers, just like I believe charter schools are one of
the answers, because I believe competition actually works to
improve things.
But, also, this idea of teacher tenure in elementary and
high school is the most--excuse my language--asinine thing that
I have just ever heard of. Tenure was put in for college
professors so they would not be fired because of political
beliefs. So after they were there, they had kind of earned
their stripes, they could not be fired for political beliefs.
That was the original reason for tenure, and now to do it in my
home State, I do not know. How long is it before they basically
get this contract? Is it 1 year or 2 years here?
Ms. Rhee. Before they have tenure? It is 2 years.
Senator Ensign. Two years.
Ms. Rhee. Yes.
Senator Ensign. First of all, at colleges, it is a lot
longer than that. In my State it is 1 year. And it is just
ridiculous that we talk to any high school kid today or their
parent and ask them, ``Did you have any bad teachers along the
way?'' Well, it does not take that many bad teachers to ruin a
kid's education, and we really have to put people on the line,
and parents have to get involved and take our schools back for
our kids. That really is--because education is the future for
our kids. If we want our kids competing in the 21st Century--
and they are not today competing the way that they should,
especially in the areas of science and math, they are not
competing in the 21st Century.
I think that you all have some great ideas, and I followed
some of the things that you all are doing, and I want to
applaud you for it and just continue to encourage you to get
out there and speak, and get parents involved, and take our
schools back away from the special interests and put them back
where they belong, and that is, for the kids.
I am going to continue to fight up here with Senator
Lieberman, Senator Voinovich, and others that believe in, at
least, the Opportunity Scholarship Program and giving you more
flexibility, and if there are other things that can free you
from some of the bureaucratic rules that it would allow you
more freedom to change the schools and put the kids first,
please come to us and please tell us, because we want to work
with you because it really is just about the kids and their
future. And that is all we want to do.
I really did not have a question because you answered
actually--from some of these other people, you already answered
some of my questions, but I want to get some of those
statements on the record. So I thank all of you for what you
are doing, and let us continue to work to put the kids first.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Senator Ensign.
Chancellor Rhee, do you have a further response to Senator
Ensign?
Ms. Rhee. Well, just that your sentiments are exactly what
we are trying to push for in the city, and one of the, I think,
belief structures that exist right now, not just in D.C. Public
Schools, but in public school systems across the country, is
this belief that once you have tenure, you have a job for life.
And in order to terminate a teacher, you have to show that
person has done some incredible malfeasance. And that is
because jobs are considered a right. I think we have to change
that paradigm so that we begin to think not just do no harm,
but that you actually have to show positive progress with your
kids to have the privilege of being able to teach them. So we
have to move the mind-set to it is a privilege to teach kids,
away from you have a right to a job. And that is going to be a
long road and it is going to be a hard-fought road to try to
change and see that mind-set shift.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much.
My question is to Deputy Mayor Reinoso. I believe that a
strategic plan is a necessary map to guide D.C. educational
reforms. I understand that one of the office's functions is to
align the strategic plans of other D.C. agencies with D.C.
education reform goals. However, GAO indicated you could not
produce a written strategic plan documenting your role in
achieving this alignment.
Do you believe that such documentation is important? Do you
plan to produce a written plan?
Mr. Reinoso. Thank you for the question, Senator. As I
mentioned in my statement, our emphasis has been on
accountability for results and less on collecting plans, which
is something that the city was quite successful in doing for
many decades, a series of reform plans but no implementation
and follow-through in that effort. And so our focus has been to
ensure that those on the ground doing the heavy lifting, the
DCPS and the State Superintendent Office, as well as the Office
of Public Education Facilities Modernization, that they all
develop detailed plans, engage the community in those plans,
and then be held accountable for achieving the outcomes that
they have laid out as their aspirations in those plans. And in
that process, we have sat ensuring that all of those plans are
consistent.
I will say that while I have certainly heard the repeated
concerns of folks who are looking for a simple, singular
document that lays out guideposts that can help someone quickly
take a look at the big picture without having to delve down
into the details of the individual plans, and we will be, over
this next year, working to put together some kind of a document
that summarizes at a high level the direction that we are
driving towards as a city and including in that some of the
interagency work that we have been engaged in in support of the
schools.
I want, though, to continue to caution folks from
overemphasizing the importance of those plans. I myself come
from the private sector. I have a MBA and have helped launch a
number of organizations, businesses, and nonprofits, as well as
help turn around underperforming businesses. And what is most
important is really the execution plans and not these high-
level strategic plans. And, in fact, there is research that
suggests that companies that spend too much time refining high-
level strategic plans at the expense of measuring and holding
managers accountable for actual implementation perform less
well than entrepreneurial businesses that may not have these
slick, glossy strategic plans.
And so we are trying to bring and maintain that focus on
the implementation, but I have heard the repeated requests for
some kind of document that can serve as a guidepost, and we
will be working on such a document over the coming year.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Ms. Briggs, I understand that you
need good data to evaluate the effect of initiatives. Thus, the
Statewide Longitudinal Education Data system is important to
the District's goals of accountability, transparency, and data-
driven decisionmaking. I also understand that the development
of the SLED system is behind schedule.
Why is this key project delayed and when is it expected to
be completed?
Ms. Briggs. Thank you for that question, Chairman. It is
actually an important tool, for it is the repository for
student achievement data that spans not only DCPS but the 90-
something charter schools we have in the city as well. And so
it is a good source of information as our students do not land
in DCPS and maybe stay their entire career, they shift back and
forth or start in a charter and end up in DCPS and move around.
So this will be a really informative tool for us to make sure
that we know how well students are progressing throughout the
city.
You are right, it is behind schedule. Some of the original
scheduling plans I would say were overly aggressive, and so we
are kind of looking at the plans that were put in place and
trying to reformulate those to make sure the next plan that
comes out for it, we can hit those targets, execute well.
That said, we have done--some aspects of the SLED System
are already up and running, and that would be kind of the
foundation piece of it, which is the Uniform Student
Identifier. So being able to say which student is which student
is a really key piece of that, and that part has been launched,
and we are working through making sure that data are good and
clean and accurate.
So I cannot give you a date yet, but we are working on it.
Senator Akaka. Mr. Reinoso, I understand that your office
uses pilot programs to test solutions to problems affecting
education results. How are you documenting successes and
challenges with these pilot programs? And what accountability
measures have you established?
Mr. Reinoso. So with regard to the pilot programs, we have
contracted for an independent evaluator that is doing annual
reviews of the implementation of those programs, and so that is
how we have this independent external evaluation that is
happening. The first evaluation, which only captured a partial
year, was positive in its assessment of our progress, but we
will continue to look to that external evaluation for an
independent assessment of the impact of these programs.
In addition, of course, we will do our own calculations in
terms of what impact or effect we can measure resulting from
these programs as we work with agencies to determine whether or
not to continue these as pilots.
In any kind of investment like this, some projects succeed
and others fail. We want to be hard-nosed about admitting which
projects have failed and pull funding from those projects. We
do not expect to find success in every investment we make, but
we do think that on the whole it will allow us to gain momentum
in some areas that otherwise we would be unable to gain. And so
that is that piece.
Within the greater context of my office, I should say first
that I have a very small office in terms of total staff, and
then within my office directly each analyst focuses on a
cluster of issues, and they prepare through the ePerformance
plan, which Ms. Briggs alluded to in her testimony, annual
targets, and those targets then roll up to our targets as an
office on the whole.
Each year we review those targets as part of the budget-
making process and remove metrics that may no longer be
relevant, replace them with other metrics as we make progress
against certain issues so that we are constantly refreshing
those metrics for the office and ensuring that in turn the
individual staff's performance plans are aligned with those new
metrics. And so that is part of the new fiscal year, so this
coming fiscal year we will have a new set of metrics as well as
refreshed individual staff level performance plans that align
with those metrics.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much. Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. The District's dropout rate is less than
50 percent, and it is a tragedy in the country that 50 percent
of the kids in the urban districts are dropping out of school.
We have talked about teachers and what you are trying to do
there, if I heard your testimony right. How many principals
have you changed since 2007?
Ms. Rhee. In the last school year, we changed about 49 of
the principals in the District. This year, though we do not
have a final count, it will probably be somewhere between 22
and 28.
Senator Voinovich. How many schools do you have?
Ms. Rhee. We have 123 schools.
Senator Voinovich. So you have really done some changing. I
know when we talked several years ago about how to help the
District, and the private sector. Have you increased the pay
for the principals so that you could attract better people? Or
how has that worked?
Ms. Rhee. We are currently negotiating a new contract with
the principals union, and what we are hoping at this point we
can include is, obviously, a significant salary bump, but also
a significant pay-for-performance structure as well.
Senator Voinovich. So you have more flexibility with the
principals union than you do with the other union?
Ms. Rhee. We will come to a resolution on the contract with
the principals union in a much----
Senator Voinovich. But you have been able to move people
around, which is----
Ms. Rhee. Yes.
Senator Voinovich. But you have had to move them from other
places. In other words, you moved them to some other school.
Ms. Rhee. No.
Senator Voinovich. What happened to them? Did they go back
in the classroom or something?
Ms. Rhee. The principals are on a different contract, and
if we find a principal is not meeting expectations, then we can
remove them from the District. Some of our principals, have
retreat rights and that sort of thing. But we have been
successful, I think, in ensuring that for those principals who
are not meeting expectations, they are not being moved to other
schools in that position.
Senator Voinovich. What happens to them?
Ms. Rhee. I think it depends. The vast majority of them
have left the school district.
Senator Voinovich. Next, parents. I know that the College
Access Program (CAP) program has got counselors in the schools.
Tell us a little bit about CAP and the Gates Foundation and how
they are helping in terms of this dropout rate, because the
real issue here is the intervention early enough to identify
where the kid is and spend time with the parent or whoever is
taking care of it. Can you tell us a little bit about what are
you doing with these private sector dollars to help deal with
the dropout rate? Or are those dollars spent on something else?
Ms. Rhee. Sure. So I will give you a little context on
this, but I do want to sort of point out the fact that this
initiative was well underway by the time I got here, so it is
something that the community had for a long time seen as a
significant need.
One of the statistics that was driving that reform effort
was the fact that they found that of the ninth graders who
begin high school in D.C. public schools, only 9 percent of
them graduate from college within 5 years. And I think that
across the city, overall, there was just this huge outcry,
saying, ``What is happening to our kids? Why aren't more of
them heading towards college? What are the barriers? And then
how do we collectively as a city commit to significantly
changing that circumstance?''
To that end, a number of things happened. The D.C. TAG
program is certainly one that provides more affordable college
tuition to D.C. residents. There are several scholarship
programs.
Senator Voinovich. The D.C. CAP is $2,500 for eligible
kids? Is that it, over and above TAG?
Ms. Rhee. So there are several different programs. There is
the D.C. CAP program. There are also other scholarship programs
that provide up to $2,500 per year for a student's tuition. So
there are actually multiple opportunities for D.C. public
school kids to be able to access additional dollars. That was
one piece of it, and the Gates Foundation was a big supporter
of making sure that those scholarship dollars were there so
that finances were not the prohibiting factor for our kids
going to school.
Another component----
Senator Voinovich. They have allocated, what, $125 million
over 10 years?
Ms. Rhee. Over $100 million, correct.
The other component of the program, though, that they saw
was necessary was not just to provide scholarships once
students were able to gain entrance into college, but good
college counseling so that children understood beginning from
their freshman year what were the necessary steps that would
have to be taken in order to gain entry into a 4-year college.
So part of the D.C. CAP program actually puts college
counselors in every single one of our high schools who work
individually with children and families to make sure that all
the proper tests are taken, that the applications are filled
out, that the financial aid forms are submitted, and then
people get training in that over the course of their 4-year
career in our high schools.
Senator Voinovich. And that has had a real effect? In other
words, the parents have been brought in and they talk about it,
and so that the youngster has an opportunity to know that if
they do well in school and stay in school that they can go on
to college if they work hard.
Ms. Rhee. Absolutely. I think if you go out to any of our
high schools and talk to the students, they will all tell you
that they know exactly who the D.C. CAP counselor is, that
those people are incredibly proactive in terms of, getting them
out of the hallway, bringing them into their offices, and
making sure that they are very much staying on top of
everything that they need to do to be able to put themselves in
a position where they could apply to and be accepted into a 4-
year college.
Senator Voinovich. I think many recall the Washington Post
investigative report on the infrastructure of the District
schools. What plans are in place to make the improvements? And
how is the $148 million in stimulus money going to be utilized
as part of this whole program? And, by the way, does the $148
million go to the Superintendent and then you divvy it up? Why
don't you tell me about that.
Ms. Rhee. So you mentioned earlier the initiative that Ohio
took on. I was living in Toledo at the time, and I can attest
to the fact that when the State made that commitment, it really
set a precedent across, citizens everywhere saying, OK, we know
now that we are prioritizing education in a different way by
the State taking the lead on this. And I think that the Mayor
has worked with the council to ensure that the same kind of
initiative is being taken through our Master Facility Plan.
We inherited a Master Facility Plan that had the
modernization and renovations of all of the District schools
spread out over an extraordinarily long period of time, and so
there were some schools that were not going to be able to be
modernized until, 14, 15, 16 years out.
What the Mayor did, I think very smartly, in creating the
new governance legislation was to create the Office of Public
Education Facility Management and to hire somebody who is a
facilities guy to lead that department. It has been absolutely
astonishing. I think if you ask any resident of D.C. to
quantify it, qualitatively tell you the difference in the
momentum that has been seen over the last 2 years in
overhauling the infrastructure and the facilities in the
District, it has been significant.
What Alan Lew has done is to collapse the plan into a 5-
year plan because what we do not want to do is have families
waiting forever to see their schools modernized. So over a 5-
year period, we will ensure that every school in the District
is modernized and renovated to meet our quality standards, and
that modernization and renovation will start with what we call
Phase I modernization, which is making sure that the classroom
in every single school, which is where the children spend the
vast majority of their time, are brought up to code, where we
do not have to worry about air conditioning and heating issues
and that sort of thing. And he has made a tremendous amount of
progress. I will let the State Superintendent talk a little bit
about the stimulus funds.
Ms. Briggs. So the three main pieces--there are a number of
programs that come through the stimulus, but the three big ones
are--there is the Title I formula and then the Individuals With
Disabilities Act (IDEA) Part B for special education. Both of
those are formula grants that we have received at the State
agency and have distributed the preliminary allocations to not
only DCPS but our other 57 charter school districts. And so
they have the initial sort of numbers that they will get for
that.
And then with the State fiscal fund, we are the fiscal
agent for this program, which is essentially under the
governor. Our Mayor gets to distribute. Most of those funds are
going to also be going to schools through the elementary--
variously through the student funding formula or through the
Title I formula.
The Office of the State Superintendent is going to be
having a summit essentially later in the summer
Senator Voinovich. Let me just ask you this because I am
running out of time, and I will try to make it quicker. The
$148 million, that is money for shovel-ready improvements in
the classroom and you are folding it in on top of this master
plan that Mr. Lew is doing? How is that working?
Ms. Briggs. These funds are actually not for capital
improvements. They are going to be--I think most districts will
probably choose to use them for instructional and capacity-
building efforts. That said, they do have that option--the
charter schools do, anyway, and I do not think DCPS is going to
be using----
Senator Voinovich. OK. So the 140 is not for
infrastructure. It is for other programs that the district will
decide on what they want to do with it.
Ms. Briggs. Yes, and some of them could choose to use them
that way, but I do not think we know that yet.
Senator Voinovich. Senator Akaka, thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Senator Voinovich.
Senator Burris.
Senator Burris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Rhee, do you
have a contract or do you serve at the Mayor's pleasure?
Ms. Rhee. I serve at the pleasure of the Mayor.
Senator Burris. OK. So you do not have a contract.
Ms. Rhee. Well, I do have a contract, but in the contract
it says that I serve at the pleasure of the Mayor.
Senator Burris. OK. That is interesting. And who has the
responsibility of certifying teachers in the District?
Ms. Rhee. Teacher certification happens through the Office
of the State Superintendent of Education.
Senator Burris. That is you, Ms. Briggs?
Ms. Briggs. Yes. But that effort only applies to the DCPS
teachers. Charter school teachers do not have to have the
certification in the same way that the DCPS teachers do.
Senator Burris. Charter teachers are not certified--who
certified charter teachers?
Ms. Briggs. They are not required to be certified in the
same way that----
Senator Burris. Same way? How are they certified?
Ms. Briggs. They do not have to have a State certification.
Senator Burris. Well, thank you. That was easy to say. They
do not have a State--can you say that? They are not certified.
Ms. Briggs. I am sure some of them are, but they are not
required to be certified.
Senator Burris. They are not required to be certified. OK.
Now, who does a principal of a school report to?
Ms. Rhee. The principals of our schools report to the
instructional superintendents. We have six instructional
superintendents in the District.
Senator Burris. And they report to you?
Ms. Rhee. The instructional superintendents report to the
Chief Academic Officer.
Senator Burris. And who has to sign off on the firing of a
teacher?
Ms. Rhee. When a teacher is terminated, there are multiple
parties that are involved: The principal, the instructional
superintendent, and also central office human resources (HR)
staff.
Senator Burris. So the instructional superintendent is also
responsible for the curriculum for the students? Who is
responsible for the curriculum that goes into the classroom?
Ms. Rhee. The Teaching and Learning Department is the
department that oversees approving certain curricula standards,
pacing guides, etc., to ensure that those are being executed at
the school level.
Senator Burris. And do you all have in your classrooms
anything classified as a teacher's aide or is it just a teacher
in the classroom?
Ms. Rhee. We do have paraprofessionals, yes.
Senator Burris. Paraprofessionals. And what are their
responsibilities?
Ms. Rhee. It depends. A large number of our
paraprofessionals are dedicated aides who are assigned to help
our special education students. The other place where we have a
large number of paraprofessionals is in our early grades, in
our pre-K and K classrooms.
Senator Burris. And you are in the process now of
negotiating your union contract, I understand----
Ms. Rhee. With the teachers?
Senator Burris. Yes, with the teachers.
Ms. Rhee. Yes.
Senator Burris. That my former law school dean, Kurt
Schmoke, is in the process of mediating this?
Ms. Rhee. Yes, he is.
Senator Burris. Well, you all have a great mediator.
Ms. Rhee. Yes, we do.
Senator Burris. I do not know how the problem is going to
come out, but that is certainly a great dean of my law school.
Now, under this new structure, D.C. Public School system
has been placed under for 2 years now--right? You got it
together.
Ms. Rhee. Right.
Senator Burris. How does the new structure enable the D.C.
Public Schools to make improvements that have been done so far?
What improvements can you say that you have been able to do in
a very short process so far, improvements in your system? And
how accurate was the GAO report in assessing the progress made
by the schools so far? How accurate was that report?
Ms. Rhee. So it is interesting. In your earlier round of
questioning, you were saying there is so much bureaucracy, and
though I completely understand that point of view, I would say
that there is less bureaucracy now than there used to be.
Senator Burris. There is less under this system----
Ms. Rhee. That is right.
Senator Burris [continuing]. Than there was under the old
system?
Ms. Rhee. Yes.
Senator Burris. OK, which means that is the reason why it
was really a mess.
Ms. Rhee. Well, we still certainly have our challenges and
will continue to look at how we can streamline structure. We do
believe that we are in a much better position now and that
there is less bureaucracy now. And because I am able to report
directly to the Mayor--and the Mayor meets with the education-
related principals, so the three of us and Director Lew, who
oversees the Public Education Facilities and Modernization
Department, we are very much aligned in what we do. And so this
structure allows us to move in a much more aggressive and agile
way, I think, than the District was able to do----
Senator Burris. So how accurate was the GAO report?
Ms. Rhee. In terms of the accuracy of the GAO report, I
certainly think that on some measures they were absolutely
correct in outlining some of the significant accomplishments we
have made, and also identifying some of the things that we
should continue to work on.
We just today had access to the final report, so I have not
been able to look at that. But in looking at some of the
documents that I see, I do think that there are some
inaccuracies in the report. And my understanding is that we
will have the chance to respond to the report and that we will
have our response go on record. And so I think it will be
important for us to clarify some of those things.
Senator Burris. And so what are some of the initiatives now
that you are looking at that you would like to tell us in a
very short period of time that you plan to try to implement to
improve that situation? What are some of your initiatives that
you have on the drawing board that you hope to initiate?
Ms. Rhee. Some of them we have talked about, such as the
instructional coaches. I would say another----
Senator Burris. That is what I want to get back to. You
mean instructional coaches for teachers.
Ms. Rhee. Correct. We have instructional coaches, full-time
instructional coaches in every single building whose
responsibility it is to professionally develop the teachers in
that building.
Senator Burris. OK. That goes back to my question about the
qualifications of teachers and who certifies teachers. So you
are hiring teachers that once you hire them, they are going to
have to be taught how to teach. Is that what you are saying?
Ms. Rhee. No, but any professional, regardless of what
career you are in, just because you are in that role does not
mean you cannot grow your skills and your knowledge. Every
professional wants to continue to improve as they are in their
role, and that is the same expectation that we have of
teachers. The minute they walk in the classroom, though you may
be certified, you have a continuous cycle of improvement and
professional development that you want to go through. And so we
have instructional coaches at every school to ensure that
particularly focused on new and struggling teachers, that we
can continue to build their skills and knowledge base.
Senator Burris. Mr. Chairman, I see my time is up. I do not
know whether or not there is going to be a third round. Well,
let me ask this last question.
Now, if I brought all of today's witnesses back to this
table 2 years from now, how would the assessment differ from
what we are hearing today?
Ms. Rhee. Well, I believe that 2 years from now we will be
able to show even increased results that are building on the
first 2 years that we have seen. And I think the reform efforts
and the initiatives will have gone deeper into the system. So
over the first 2 years, we would focus a lot on the systemic
issues and the operational issues that we are stopping schools
from getting the resources that they needed to be effective.
And I think that what you will see over the next 2 years is
that those reforms are much more at the classroom level with
our new Teaching and Learning Framework, with the new teacher
evaluation tool, with the new academic interventions that we
are putting in place for struggling students.
Senator Burris. I would hope that you would say you hope to
see that the students have highly improved.
Ms. Rhee. That is what I started with saying, that you
would see significant----
Senator Burris. Well, I did not hear that. We want to see
that the students come out of the public schools in the
District of Columbia 2 years from now are highly improved based
on the teachers that you have hired and this bureaucracy that
has been created. Is that what you want to see 2 years from
now?
Ms. Rhee. Absolutely.
Senator Burris. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Senator Burris.
I have a question for Ms. Ashby. Your report emphasized the
importance of strategic plans and linking them to performance.
As you heard, I asked the Deputy Mayor about strategic
planning. Do you agree with Mr. Reinoso's response about
strategic plans?
Ms. Ashby. Well, things have certainly come a long ways
since I last testified before this Subcommittee in March 2008.
Now there is what we will call a statewide plan--recognizing
that the District of Columbia is not a State, but there is a
districtwide strategic plan, and it does have various
components, but you do have to work a bit to figure out just
what it is. But it does exist.
The point we made in the report with regard to alignment
has to do with the fact that we were told that the DCPS and the
State Superintendent's plans are aligned, and we asked for
documentation to support that, and that is the documentation we
did not get.
In your response, Mr. Reinoso, however, although you have a
strategic plan, I am hearing some of the same rhetoric I did
hear in March 2008 that downplays the importance of strategic
planning, and the belief that if you have a plan, it just sits
on the shelf, or if you have a plan, you are not doing other
things, and that what we are doing is just talking about a plan
for the sake of having a plan. And as I said in March 2008,
that is not the case. A plan is a useful tool if used properly;
if developed and used properly.
For example, it is a tool for communicating with
stakeholders, and we made that point in our current report, as
we did almost 18 months ago, that it is important to have
stakeholders involved early in making key decisions and in
developing key initiatives.
One way of doing that is having the overall plan available
so that people who are interested in knowing what is going to
happen, know what is coming up. You need outreach to the
community. But you also need to have structures in place that
ensure you are going to incorporate stakeholders. Regardless of
time constraints or whatever else, you have things in place,
structures in place that make sure you do certain things.
And I will bring this around to the comment--not directly
answering your question, Mr. Chairman, but there have been a
couple of references stating that there are inaccuracies or
tone problems in our report. Within GAO, we have many
structures that ensure that our reports are balanced, that they
are objective, that they are based on data. I am proud to say
that I stand behind this report and every report I have been
involved in at GAO.
In order to be balanced, there is going to be some negative
along with the positive. We think that a lot of things have
been accomplished. We think that there have been improvements
in the D.C. public schools. We know there is a lot to be done,
as has been recognized here. But there are also areas where
there were some false steps. And I think if you look overall at
our recommendations about stakeholders, strategic planning, you
will see that they are linked.
Some of the false steps came about because the constituents
involved were not asked to provide input early on, and then
later on down the road, things did not go well, and then their
views might have been taken into consideration.
So in terms of our work--and you know this, Mr. Chairman,
that generally I do not need to defend our work, but since I
have not said anything, I have not been asked anything today,
and there have been a couple of comments about our report, I
thought I needed to say that.
It is real important that stakeholders be involved, that
there be strategic plans, there be a road map, and that the
various tools be implemented. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Well, thank you very much for that. I was
also interested in knowing whether you had any recommendations
about what DCPS can do to make it easier for all stakeholders
to evaluate the District's progress on education reform.
Ms. Ashby. Well, in terms of evaluating progress, it is
going to take time. There have been improvements in
standardized test scores, as has been discussed here. But it is
difficult to link certainly any particular initiative or any
group of initiatives to that improvement. That is not to say
that some of those initiatives have not been somewhat
responsible for some of the improvement. So that part is
difficult. But you have to have transparency and openness.
Those elements are part of accountability. You cannot be
accountable if people do not know what you are doing or what
you are supposed to be doing. So that is one way that the
constituents in the District of Columbia can be more assured
that things are going right and the best things are being done
and progress is being made.
Senator Akaka. Well, thank you very much for your
responses.
I have a final question for our District witnesses on the
panel. We are not far from the start of the 2009-2010 school
year. We are looking forward to that, especially because so
many things have happened in the past 2 years. Without
question, you have made progress, but we know that there are so
many other difficult issues that we need to deal with here.
What are your top three priorities as we move forward in this
whole effort? Chancellor Rhee, would you please begin?
Ms. Rhee. Sure. The first priority that the District has is
a successful rollout of the new Teaching and Learning
Framework, as I mentioned before. This framework will be
introduced this summer. The teachers will be trained on it
ongoing through the course of this year, and we think it will
have a substantial impact overall in terms of our student
achievement levels.
The second priority is the implementation, the effective
implementation of our new teacher evaluation model. It is
something that teachers have long been clamoring for the
improvement of, and I think we have made some significant
modifications that are going to improve that greatly.
The third, I would say, is the focus on building our school
portfolio so that we have programs and initiatives happening in
our public school buildings, which are on par with things that
are compelling in private and charter schools across the city.
And we are doing that through increases in dual language
immersion programs and arts integration programs and STEM
programs, which is science, technology, engineering, and math.
So we are excited about that, and a move more towards some of
our higher-performing schools, having increased autonomy which
would mirror the autonomy that some of our charter schools
have.
I also want to make a final statement. Some of the
questions that I got today from Senators focused a lot on poor-
performing teachers, and I certainly wanted to address those
questions, but I would be remiss if I did not talk about the
thousands of teachers in the District who are doing heroic work
for our children every day. And I think that it is important
not to paint a picture where we do not believe that incredibly
hard work is happening. Our teachers have worked unbelievably
hard over the last 2 years. The gains that we have seen with
students would not have been possible without their dedication
and commitment. Many of them are working in circumstances that
are incredibly challenging and difficult with a lack of
resources for many of them. Lots of them serve as the only
positive adult role model that some of our children see every
day. And so I want to make sure that we recognize those
teachers and the work that they do as well.
Senator Akaka. Mr. Reinoso.
Mr. Reinoso. Thank you, Senator. Obviously, our overarching
goal is continued improvement in student achievement. From
where I sit, there are some key levers that we hope to make
progress on in the coming year. We would like to see even
better, tighter coordination between the agencies that support
youth and families around education issues.
One of the measures there will be the successful completion
of some of our pilot programs and the assumption of those
responsibilities moving forward through new home agencies.
The State office reports through me, and the highest
priority there is that we continue reform efforts so that we
can be removed from our high-risk designation.
Then the other education agency that reports through me is
the facilities, and we hope to see that we stay on track and,
where possible, exceed our expectations for modernizing
classrooms so that we stay on pace and can provide the kind of
quality learning environments that we need in order to educate
our children and provide the best opportunities for our
teachers to achieve all that they are capable of.
Senator Voinovich [presiding]. Senator Akaka has to go to
the floor, so I am going to ask a few more questions and give
Senator Burris a chance to ask some, and then we will wrap it
up.
One of the things that many of the most up-to-date school
systems are doing is the use of technology, and computers. What
are you doing to make sure that the students are computer
literate? And are you using technology to help a teacher
educate children? I know when I was governor, we wired every
classroom in the State for voice, video, and data, and realized
that if the kids are not computer literate, they are gone.
What are you doing in that regard and where do you stand?
Ms. Rhee. One of the best examples of having the Deputy
Mayor's office coordinating amongst agencies has benefited the
District of Columbia public schools. The Deputy Mayor's office
has ensured that what we call the Office of the Chief
Technology Officer (OCTO), of the city, has taken a significant
role in ensuring that we are technologically up-to-date in our
schools. We have actually outsourced our technology, in
essence, to OCTO, and they have done everything from ensuring
that schools are wired, that we are ordering the appropriate
materials so that we have computers in every classroom. We had
a significant rollout of computers last year to ensure that
every teacher had access to a computer, and now we are actually
doing that for computer labs in classrooms across the District.
Senator Voinovich. What are you doing for the teachers?
Ms. Rhee. There are a few things that we are doing for
teachers. First of all, we are trying to enable them to make
their jobs easier in some ways through technology, which means
that some of the things that teachers used to have to do by
hand in terms of attendance and grades and that sort of thing,
we are putting those things online.
We also have had a number of courses for teachers to ensure
that they can become more technologically savvy and computer
literate so that they can work to ensure that they are
integrating technology within their teaching repertoire.
We have a number of teachers right now who are piloting the
use of smart boards in their classrooms, and that has been a
pretty significant effort in a number of our schools.
You asked about how we are doing, how we are using
technology to increase student learning as well. One of the
major efforts that we have taken on is ensuring that for our
children, our high school children who were not on track to
graduate, that we had aggressive credit recovery options for
them, so that even if they have not received the credits that
they need so far, that they can actually still graduate on
time, and much of that is being done through online courses.
Senator Voinovich. So you are on your way with that.
Ms. Rhee. We are on our way. We are still not anywhere
close to where we need to be. Because so many of our facilities
are not up to par in terms of their electrical systems and that
sort of thing, we are not able to bring the technological
resources into every one of our schools that we would like. But
as Director Lew moves through the Master Facility Plan over the
next 5 years, the technology component is a significant part of
that.
Senator Voinovich. One of these days I would like to come
out and visit a couple of your schools. I have not done that
yet.
Ms. Rhee. We would love to have you come out.
Senator Voinovich. The issue of the cost per pupil
education, $15,000, and there are always a lot of comments
about it is the most expensive and ranked very low at the
bottom, second from the bottom. Have you published a reason why
your costs are so much higher than some other places?
Ms. Rhee. Well, it certainly is true that if you look at
our overall costs across the city in terms of public education
and the number of students that we have, we rank up there in
terms of per pupil expenditures. I think a number of things
drive that.
One of the reasons that is pretty widely known is the
problems that we faced in special education. We spend more than
$75 million a year on the transportation of a few thousand
special education children in the system. We spend over $150
million a year on tuition to non-public placements for special
education students because we cannot serve them well within the
traditional public schools.
So a lot of these are some of the factors that drive up our
cost.
Senator Voinovich. In other words, these are special things
that you have got costs, but relatively speaking, I would think
that a lot of other districts, urban districts, would have the
same problems.
Ms. Rhee. Well, I would say that our problems are out of
whack, and that is part of the issue. In most high-functioning
districts, only 2 percent of the special education population
actually go to non-public placements. For us, it is a much more
significant number. We have more due process hearings in the
District of Columbia than in all of the other States combined,
so that gives you a sense----
Senator Voinovich. Why is that?
Ms. Rhee. I will be honest in saying that historically it
has been the complete and utter dysfunction of the District's
Special Education Department, and so we are in the midst of
fixing that. I will say that over the past year we have made
much more significant progress than the District has ever seen
before. We inherited a backlog of several thousand overdue
hearing officer decisions. We have brought that down almost to
the single digits over the course of the past year, and we have
many fewer complaints and hearing officer decisions being
rendered over the last year than the District has seen in a
long time.
So we are heading in the right direction, but we still
cannot say that we believe every dollar that is being spent in
the District on public education is being utilized in the most
efficient way. I think we have a plan for how we are going to
make sure over time that happens. But we still have a number of
places in which we can point very specifically to
inefficiencies and to expenditures that are not serving the
overall good of the kids.
Senator Voinovich. I would suggest just for the record,
because it constantly comes up, that you put something out and
get it to the Members of Congress and say, this is what it is
and here is why, it is where it is, and we are trying to work
on some of these things, because the impression is that, it is
just, well, that is the way it is, it is Washington. And I
think that would be very helpful to you.
The other thing is that it was reported that the charter
schools--it was on my birthday. They missed a $103 million
payment due to its 60 charter schools. That was in the
Washington Post. Is that an indication that you have got
problems with your financial management system? Or what caused
that?
Mr. Reinoso. The issue there was that because the budget
was out--not balanced due to that we are in the middle of
resubmitting a budget aligned with the latest revenue
projections, the city was unable to draw down all of the funds
immediately. And so a request went out initially in
coordination with the Public Charter Board to do $57 million of
the $100-plus million at once, and that money has gone out and
allocated per the Charter Board's decisions first to the
weakest, those in the most precarious financial situation.
We did submit a request to draw down the additional funds,
and that will be out to the schools shortly. So all of the
funding will be in place, again, a little bit behind schedule,
but in time to avert any kind of crisis for their management.
Senator Voinovich. Well, I am sure that some of the people
that were relying on the check maybe had a little crisis. But
the bottom line is that you are saying to me that it is not the
system, it was a question of the dollars were not there, and
that is what delayed the----
Mr. Reinoso. It was a question of whether the city could
move forward with an allocation without a balanced budget in
place, and because we were caught in the middle of having
submitted a budget that was balanced, but then having received
from the Office of the Chief Financial Officer figures that
suggested that the city's budget was no longer in balance, and
then given that situation, could the city or should the city do
the payment all at once or in two tranches. And so we have now
put everyone in place to move out the entire funding to the
schools.
Senator Voinovich. My concern was it is that, not a screw-
up in the----
Mr. Reinoso. No. That is right.
Senator Voinovich [continuing]. Financial system.
Mr. Reinoso. No.
Senator Voinovich. One of the areas that I am very
concerned about--and, again, it gets back to my days when I was
governor--is early childhood education, and I would be
interested in knowing what is the District doing in that
regard. And are you using any of your Title I money for early
childhood education, or is it all going from K-12?
Ms. Briggs. One of the initiatives that the city has
undergoing that is actually pretty exciting is the pre-K
effort, and it funds not only pre-K classrooms in DCPS but also
in charter schools and in community-based organizations. Last
year, I believe there were around 23, 24 classrooms that were
supported in this way, and we are hoping to expand that in the
next year moving forward.
Senator Voinovich. Does the District provide--and I should
know this, and I do not--full-day kindergarten?
Mr. Reinoso. Yes.
Ms. Rhee. Yes, we do.
Senator Voinovich. And how about pre-school? What
percentage of the kids have an opportunity for pre-school?
Ms. Briggs. I do not know that number offhand, but we have
done a capacity audit and also a quality assessment of our pre-
K programs, I do not know. We can get that for you.
Senator Voinovich. How about Head Start? Where are you in
terms of your Head Start program? And is the District spending
any money on Head Start, or is it all Federal money?
Ms. Briggs. We spend mostly Federal money--it is not----
Mr. Reinoso. There is a local match.
Ms. Briggs. There is a local match. Both Federal and local
money on Head Start.
Senator Voinovich. How many students do you have in the
Head Start program?
Ms. Briggs. I do not know that number off the top of my
head. We can get it for you.
Senator Voinovich. I would like to know what the percentage
is.
Ms. Briggs. Sure.
Senator Voinovich. I think one of the areas that we really
are failing in--and the Title I money, are you using any of
that Title I money for pre-school?
Ms. Briggs. Schools can use their Title I money to support
pre-K and early childhood efforts.
Senator Voinovich. OK. I would like a report on what you
are doing in terms of early childhood, where you stand in terms
of your Head Start program.
Ms. Briggs. Yes.\1\
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\1\ The get-backs from Ms. Briggs appears in the Appendix on page
151.
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[The information follows:]
Senator Voinovich. As I say, Ms. Rhee, I tell some of the
superintendents that by the time the kids get to Title I, it is
too late for them. While I was Chairman of the National
Governors Association, we had a big effort on early childhood
education, and the word was getting out if the kids do not get
that kind of support early in life.
Ms. Rhee. It is.
Senator Voinovich. And I would say to the superintendents,
you can use Title I money for pre-school. They said, Well, I
got to have the money from Title I because that is the way I
help subsidize the other money that I have in the system, and
that is what we are using it for.
Ms. Rhee. We have significantly increased the number of
pre-K seats that are available to families for this coming
school year, and I will also add that we are using some of our
IDEA additional dollars towards an early childhood assessment
center that will be put in place to be able to identify
children at 2 and 3 years old who have special needs so that we
can begin services early and that they are not waiting until
they come into kindergarten to get those, so that we can ensure
that they are as ready for school as possible.
Senator Voinovich. Well, that is going to be interesting
because I know when the stimulus package came along, I did not
vote for it, but I did feel that we did have a Federal
responsibility in IDEA. We have increased it dramatically since
I have been in the Senate, since 1999, but it is still
inadequate. And I think it is real important now that we have
increased it, they all get together with others and say, you
got it up here, do not cut it back on us because I think that
is something that is legitimate. It has been an unfunded
mandate and something that you can argue and say that you
definitely--it is a Federal responsibility and one that we
should meet.
Ms. Rhee. Absolutely.
Senator Voinovich. I just want to thank you all for being
here today, and on orders of the Chairman, the meeting is
adjourned.
Mr. Reinoso. Thank you.
Senator Voinovich. And, by the way, the record will be open
for a week so you may be getting additional questions from me,
Senator Akaka, and maybe from some other Members of this
Subcommittee.
[Whereupon, at 4:55 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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