Alaska ignoring AMP test wake-up call

Alaska Education Commissioner Mike Hanley’s recent announcement that the Alaska Department of Education was dropping the Alaska Measurement of Progress (AMP) was ironic. Flashback to 1958; the largest failure of a design and launch in business history occurred with release of the Edsel; a car nobody wanted. Named for the son and only child of Ford Motor Company Founder and President, Henry Ford, the Edsel was launched with much hoopla. When the new model was poorly received, it was dropped like a hot potato, with everyone blaming each other.

What do these two events have in common?

Both are classic examples of a design team executing a product the consumer did not want. Both were conceived by entrenched design teams working for a goal that was disconnected from market demands. Both were opportunities to learn from mistakes of assumption.

The Edsel, and the AMP classically illustrate the problems of top down management, providing classic examples of how department management can fail and still give completely different interpretations in their reports to management.

From the January 2010 State Board meeting:

“Deputy Commissioner, Les Morse, said that today the accountability system is much more robust, the essential piece is consequences or recognition for making sure districts are doing at least the minimum. SBAs are in place and continuous growth is being measured, the curriculum is better aligned, and assessments are being given and results are being used to change instruction.”

More than three years later, the June 2013 State Board Meeting:

“Yupiit School District Trustee Report. Dr. Darrell Sanborn, Yupiit Trustee, was online to give his report. Commissioner Hanley said there was only one district that was assigned a trustee to oversee improvement, in Yupiit, in 2009. He said there had been significant improvement over the past six months and a good movement to build capacity. Melody Douglas had been hired as the financial/business officer to work with the district and was making big strides. The trustee was removed about four months ago and had done a tremendous job in a very difficult situation. Dr. Sanborn said the biggest challenge was in August last year when a sense of urgency began driving improvement. The 2011-2012 Measures of Academic Progress scores were very low and a huge wake-up call.”

The AMP test aligns with the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP is part of the National Center for Education Progress).

While the results of the AMP have generated a blaring huge wake up call, what the commissioner has decided to do is essentially hit the snooze button; the Department and Board have decided to systemically eliminate accountability and Intervention for Alaska’s 54 school districts. They apparently cannot imagine that Alaska public education is as bad as the tests show it is.

This will result in another generation of Alaskan students trapped inside the Edsel that is our state system of schools. Amazingly, the Legislature appears to not have learned from the Edsel (DEED) mistakes, either.

— The Legislature has not barred the same design team, Hanley and Morse from designing and implementing next year’s model of test.

— The Legislature has not required the Department to run the full 5-year contract to see if districts can improve.

— The Legislature has not chosen to intervene in failing Districts.

This is a problem first discussed during the State Board Meeting of June 2013:

“Mr. Schneider asked what the contingency plan was if EED does not intervene in failing school districts…Ms. Cox inquired if oversight was not a constitutional obligation and responsibility of the department”

Ford Motor Company learned from the failure of the Edsel. Must our public education officials, and elected legislators, force Alaskans to suffer from repeated mistakes of the past?

David Nees lives in Anchorage.