State board: No delay in change to how K-3 reading is tested
The State Board of Education on Friday decided to ignore the request of 88 North Carolina school superintendents and go ahead with a new assessment tool for K-3 reading. In a conference call, the board acknowledged concerns raised by teachers, administrators and parents about the use of Istation, a product that tests K-3 students' reading skills using computers, and agreed to delay the use of any Istation-gathered data in measuring student progress and growth for six months.
The superintendents, including Wake County's Cathy Moore, had asked State Superintendent Mark Johnson to delay using Istation for one year so that teachers could prepare for the change. Moore called it "impractical and disrespectful" to assume teachers can master the new tool in time to help students, some of whom are returning to year-round school in a matter of days.
Instead of the one-year delay, the board decided to allow teachers to get used to the new system over a period of six months – December for year-round and January for other schools, including traditional calendar – before data gathered through Istation assessments would be considered in classroom progress and growth metrics.
The decision found favor with Istation, which issued a statement that said:
“We are eager to get started working in North Carolina and agree that a modified implementation plan will allow for an even stronger deployment of Istation. By allowing teachers and students to become familiar with the program in the fall, but not using the assessment for official benchmarking until the winter, we will enable a “learn-by-doing” model that should serve all new users very well. The fall implementation will be accompanied by a full support system, including in-person workshops, on-demand webinars, technical assistance, and more."
Johnson's decision to sign a multimillion dollar contract with Istation, which tests K-3 students' reading skills using computers, has angered some educators who said the new program will result in increased screen time and reduced human interaction for students.
The state has used another company, Amplify Education Inc., for the service since 2013. Its product, called mClass, has students read out loud to teachers as part of the assessment. Amplify is protesting the state education agency's decision to switch to Istation and has demanded that the contract be suspended or terminated.
Earlier this week, during a North Carolina School Superintendents’ Association meeting, all 88 local school superintendents in attendance took an informal vote to ask Johnson to delay using Istation for one year so they could "properly train teachers," according to NCSSA Executive Director Jack Hoke.
"It’s the timing that’s creating the angst, because teachers are gone and it’s just a real challenge to get the training done," Hoke said, adding that the superintendents aren't necessarily against using the new tool – they are still investigating how it works.
In a statement after the Board of Education met, Hoke said the delay in data reporting was satisfactory.
"The six months will allow time for planning, time to implement and practice online testing procedures for a new diagnostic tool, provide time for schools to inform parents of the new language associated with Istation and reporting, and provide districts time to determine what additional supports teachers will need. I know teachers will appreciate the January date for the first true benchmark," Hoke said.
Kristen Beller, president of the Wake County affiliate of the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) said, "With this kind of decision-making, educators cannot trust our state superintendent."
She worries that computer-based testing will shortchange her ability to evaluate students.
"We learn so much from sitting one-on-one with our students and having the opportunity to hear them read," she said. "There are things that I, as a kindergarten teacher, that I would be able to then convey back to parents in conferences."
Hoke gave WRAL News a copy of the state superintendent's presentation to the group, which detailed the Istation training schedule and differences between its product and Amplify's mClass.
The superintendents' group sent a follow-up letter to Johnson on Thursday, again asking that he support their request to delay Istation's launch.
Wake County schools Superintendent Cathy Moore sent a letter to Johnson on Thursday as well, asking that he delay using Istation and allow school systems to continue using Amplify's mClass as an alternative test.
"Best practice suggests that assessments for young children should be administered in a one-on-one setting by the child’s teacher and in short segments over a period of several days or weeks," Moore wrote. "An assessment that relies solely on technology, such as Istation, does not provide teachers with information that supports students’ early literacy skills and will negatively impact the most academically fragile."
In a statement to WRAL News, Johnson said he is exploring all options about how to launch Istation in schools.
"For example, if the local superintendents support the change, we will begin measuring metrics in the middle of the school year as opposed to the beginning," Johnson wrote. "This would allow students and teachers half of the year to become familiar with the new tool without affecting growth figures. In addition, teachers will be able to access live and on-demand trainings starting next week. We look forward to supporting a successful launch."
Istation has launched a website and Facebook and Twitter accounts devoted to its new collaboration with North Carolina public schools. The company has also been busy defending itself after its competitor, Amplify, sent a 22-page protest letter to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction this week demanding that it "suspend or terminate" its new contract with Istation.
In its protest letter, Amplify said, "DPI’s evaluation committee concluded as far back as December 2018 that Istation’s product was inferior, did not meet the state’s mandatory standards, and that Amplify should have been awarded this contract."
Istation President Ossa Fisher told the news media in a statement Wednesday that Amplify's protest is "intended to harass and cause harm to our company after we were awarded the contract – fair and square."
"We urge state leaders to continue to move in the positive direction for students and deny Amplify’s frivolous and harmful request to suspend the contract and to deny them a protest hearing that has no merit and is not based on substantiating facts," Fisher wrote. "When state leaders asked for a different direction, we answered the call because we believed then – and now – that we are the best solution for North Carolina’s early readers."
Included in Amplify's letter and 59 pages of exhibits were two Facebook posts by a former state education staffer who was part of a committee that reviewed the companies competing for the contract. In her Facebook posts, Amy Jablonski criticized the state superintendent for "going against the advice of our educators and experts," whom she said did not recommend Istation.
"People ask, how do I know … I was there and I will not stay silent. This is the result of putting politics, not kids first," wrote Jablonski, who previously worked as DPI's director of Integrated Academic and Behavior Systems' division. She is currently running for state superintendent.
In an interview with WRAL News, Jablonski said she helped lead the committee that reviewed the companies.
"We put together a very robust evaluation team, because we wanted to have lots of different lenses and experts taking a look at these particular vendors," she said.
Last December, before Jablonski left the agency, she was part of a small group that presented the committee's findings to the state superintendent. She remembered him being attentive during the meeting and receptive to the recommendations.
That's why it came as "a bit of shock," she said, when Johnson announced earlier this month that he had signed a contract with Istation, going against the committee's recommendation. While the group did not unanimously recommend Amplify, Jablonski said, the vast majority of committee members voted for the company.
A spokesman for the state superintendent disputed Jablonski's claim, saying the committee provided "no recommendation" to Johnson.
"If they couldn’t reach a consensus, then I guess there wasn’t any way for them to make a recommendation," spokesman Graham Wilson said.
"That's inaccurate," Jablonski told WRAL News. "The committee did give their recommendation, and I was one of four people who met with Mark (Johnson) in December of 2018."
The superintendent's spokesman told WRAL News he wasn't sure if the committee voted. If they had, he wasn't sure he could share the vote publicly. He said he also wasn't sure if the agency could release any possible documents reviewed or created by the committee.
"There’s not a whole lot I can tell you about the procurement process because procurement protocol restricts sharing information with anyone outside the panel," Wilson said. "They all signed nondisclosures."
WRAL News requested a copy of the nondisclosure, and Wilson provided it. The document states that information should be kept confidential "until successful completion of the procurement process." The state superintendent signed a contract with Istation on June 7.
Jablonski also shared a copy of the nondisclosure document on her Facebook page Thursday and said she "will not stay silent."
"Even if I was not running for state superintendent, my decision to speak out against this would still be the exact way that it is because this is not what’s best for our schools in North Carolina," Jablonski told WRAL.
