Anonymous wrote:I see no problem with it honestly.

I want to support this point of view, but I struggle with the added "board" with members from all sectors overseeing the new commission. A board essentially neuters the entire idea and enterprise - just look at this "cross-sector" group or the My School Lottery board.

I was really excited when they centralized the lottery into one agency, as it made my life so much easier when applying, and I was super excited to see their data posted publicly in one place across DCPSB and DCPS. Unfortunately they still don't post the level of data they could because the board kills the motion to release more information every time it comes up.

I'd support this group without a board. If they are going to audit, let them audit. If they need a place to present, let them post reports directly to council. A 16 member board will absolutely kill any good in this idea.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Then let’s move OSSE to a non-political arm. They are staffed and overseen by too many people invested in corporate “education reform”. They should be independent from all that BS so we can get real direction on what works.

There are no non-political arms of government in DC, or in any state (which for the purpose of this debate, DC is). OSSE is our state board of education. In other states those people are either appointed by an elected (aka political) governor or elected by citizens.

I didn't understand PP's comments about moving OSSE to create independence but I do think that there's room to discuss creating a better system of checks and balances. Maybe OSSE should move under SBOE. Not sure if that solves anything but it may create a way for more voices to determine the direction of oversight rather than have everything under the mayor.

I thought OSSE was under SBOE, right? Or is the SBOE under OSSE?

Does anybody know if DC has yet implemented a data system that is robust enough to allow longitudinal analysis of student data?

I remember reading articles about how DC's data system didn't allow it to track cohorts of kids as they moved through the grades - is that now possible?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Then let’s move OSSE to a non-political arm. They are staffed and overseen by too many people invested in corporate “education reform”. They should be independent from all that BS so we can get real direction on what works.

There are no non-political arms of government in DC, or in any state (which for the purpose of this debate, DC is). OSSE is our state board of education. In other states those people are either appointed by an elected (aka political) governor or elected by citizens.

I didn't understand PP's comments about moving OSSE to create independence but I do think that there's room to discuss creating a better system of checks and balances. Maybe OSSE should move under SBOE. Not sure if that solves anything but it may create a way for more voices to determine the direction of oversight rather than have everything under the mayor.

Anonymous wrote:Then let’s move OSSE to a non-political arm. They are staffed and overseen by too many people invested in corporate “education reform”. They should be independent from all that BS so we can get real direction on what works.

There are no non-political arms of government in DC, or in any state (which for the purpose of this debate, DC is). OSSE is our state board of education. In other states those people are either appointed by an elected (aka political) governor or elected by citizens.

Then let’s move OSSE to a non-political arm. They are staffed and overseen by too many people invested in corporate “education reform”. They should be independent from all that BS so we can get real direction on what works.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see no problem with it honestly.

It's a direct duplication of something that OSSE is already funded and tasked to do

I actually prefer this approach as long as OSSE has it's budget and FTE count reduced

Also, if council couldn't provide oversight and accountability for OSSE how are they going to provide oversight and accountability for this new body

I agree - if it costs more money, I'm absolutely against it because we're once again taking money away from classrooms. I'm not a republican but I increasingly wonder what would happen if we sliced the bureaucracy in half and sent more to schools.

Exactly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see no problem with it honestly.

It's a direct duplication of something that OSSE is already funded and tasked to do

I actually prefer this approach as long as OSSE has it's budget and FTE count reduced

Also, if council couldn't provide oversight and accountability for OSSE how are they going to provide oversight and accountability for this new body

I agree - if it costs more money, I'm absolutely against it because we're once again taking money away from classrooms. I'm not a republican but I increasingly wonder what would happen if we sliced the bureaucracy in half and sent more to schools.

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like this is a move to soften Mayoral control of DCPS. If so, I'm all in.

Then just make OSSE independent and give them more control.

It sounds like this is a move to soften Mayoral control of DCPS. If so, I'm all in.

Anonymous wrote:I see no problem with it honestly.

It's a direct duplication of something that OSSE is already funded and tasked to do

I actually prefer this approach as long as OSSE has it's budget and FTE count reduced

Also, if council couldn't provide oversight and accountability for OSSE how are they going to provide oversight and accountability for this new body

I see no problem with it honestly.

The residency scandal didn't get pursued by OSSE because they are in the reporting chain to the Mayor. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/secret-probe-points-to-widespread-enrollment-fraud-at-acclaimed-dc-high-school/2018/02/27/e20d2684-1b33-11e8-b2d9-08e748f892c0_story.html?utm_term=.2ef6eb375f3d

The incentives need to be to share data widely, not sweep them under the rug. Not worry about whose executive assistant somebody is before kicking her Frederick grandchildren out of DC schools.

Sorry if that means duplication, but an open-data, investigate all the way norm usually only comes with an external office. They're likely to duplicate something that it's a shame DC government can't and won't do.

I totally agree.

If they want independent 'data analysis' just hire some academics to report on whatever from time to time. But the thing is, the council doesn't even know what they don't know, or how to ask for it.

There is literally NO WAY to report on the last 20 years of achievement because of all the changes in testing and so forth. Cheh needs to fall back.

so instead of OSSE actually doing their job council wants another commission with appointed members duplicating efforts

How are they going to provide oversight and accountability to these guys when they can't do it now with Office of State Superintendent of Education who is supposed to be doing data crunching and analysis already

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-council-members-propose-independent-education-watchdog/2018/04/22/e74be85c-3e73-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.31f3fda7cf9a

Ridiculous vote the incumbents out