StudentsFirst Creates Controversial State Policy Report Card

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Jan. 7, StudentsFirst, a nonprofit school reform organization launched by former Washington, DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee, released a State Policy Report Card, in which the organization evaluated education laws and policies in each state and gave them an overall “A” through “F” letter grade.

According to the report, two-thirds of the states received a “D” or “F” (11 states were given the latter) and no state earned an “A.” Each grade is based on three areas: whether a state’s policies elevate teaching, empower parents with data and choice, and spend wisely and govern well.

The states that earned better grades, Louisiana and Florida for example, received them based on reform legislation they’ve enacted over the past five years that StudentsFirst supports. Such policy changes include creating a variety of choices for parents (by expanding charter schools and creating opportunity scholarship programs or parent trigger policies), introducing the use of standardized test scores in performance evaluations and overhauling teacher tenure.

Standardized test scores played no role in the report, even though Rhee is a well-known supporter of test-driven accountability for students, teachers and principals. And states such as Maryland and Virginia, which are consistently ranked as high-performing states, received a “D”-level grade.

Rhee has a long history with school reform — the most controversial being when she led Washington DC schools from 2007 to 2010 and faced allegations that the progress students made during her tenure was due to cheating on standardized tests. During that time, she linked teacher evaluations to student test scores, later firing more than 100 employees and closing more than 20 schools when test score advancement wasn’t made.

StudentsFirst was created in December 2010 and has since been involved in a variety of states’ reform efforts and had a large presence in the primary and November elections. However, several states oppose the policies that the organization represents.

In response to California receiving an “F” rating, Richard Zeiger, the state’s chief deputy superintendent, said it was a “badge of honor,” calling the organization one that “frankly makes its living by asserting that schools are failing,” in a statement.

He said, “I would have been surprised if we had got anything else. This group has focused on an extremely narrow, unproven method that they think will improve teaching. And we just flat-out disagree with them.”

StudentsFirst plans to release the State Policy Report Card annually, showing the progress that states make in shaping their policies to improve education. According to the executive summary of the organization’s report card, the public should “expect to see more states putting students first over the coming year.”