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Bangert: Awkward ... Ed reform called out at Purdue
Dave Bangert
dbangert@jconline.com
Talk about the education reform elephant in the room.
Maryann Santos de Barona, dean of Purdue University's College of Education for the past six years, was at the front of a Stewart Center meeting room May 14 for one of those death-by-PowerPoint presentations. From among her dozens of slides, the dean was showing the university's trustees a sinking trend line of undergraduates enrolled in Purdue's teacher education program.
At the other end of a conference table, one big enough to seat 10 trustees and assorted support staff, was Mitch Daniels. The Purdue president fidgeted as his education dean unflinchingly laid out her hypotheses for why students were avoiding careers in elementary and secondary education, as well as why test-weary schools were increasingly reluctant to experiment with Purdue-developed curriculum.
Wait, you know where this one is going, right? Probably so.
But it still was stunningly awkward, as the dean heaped so much of the blame at the feet of her boss, without calling him out by name. She didn't have to. Not a person in the room — probably not in the state — was unfamiliar with Daniels' role for clearing the way for education reform in Indiana in his previous life as a two-term Republican governor.
"What is happening in (pre-kindergarten to 12th-grade) education, in legislative bodies and in governmental offices, affects our enrollment, our course offerings and our administrative responsibilities," Santos de Barona said during an annual update for the trustees' Academic Affairs Committee.
"Our profession is at a critical juncture," she said. "The pervasive negativity about the teaching profession, and the misconception that education is broken, has resulted in increased pressures on practicing teachers. As a result, they are less likely to want to mentor our student teachers — and have less time to do so. Teachers and administrators are reluctant to let our faculty research in their classrooms, as this represents a risk that might impact test scores."
Santos de Barona said undergraduate enrollment in the College of Education is down 33 percent since 2010, even as recruitment efforts have been ramped up to interest high school seniors across Indiana and students looking into changing majors once on campus. (Graduate student enrollment at the education college is up 32 percent during the same time. "We saw this coming and diversified our portfolio," Santos de Barona said after the meeting.)
Santos de Barona told the trustees that Purdue wasn't alone in this — that it was a national issue. One example: Ball State University, once called Ball State Teachers College, has seen a 45 percent drop in undergraduates in its elementary and kindergarten prep programs in the past decade.
Santos de Barona didn't specifically mention it, but the trend at Purdue tracks the timeline of education reform in Indiana, when teachers' bargaining power was busted, scores on standardized tests were tied more closely to pay raises and to overall A-to-F grades for schools, and the introduction and expansion of a private school voucher system sold on the idea that there had to be something better than what public schools could provide.
The fallout continues to play out in schools, in the ongoing drama over Glenda Ritz's work as superintendent of public instruction and, apparently, in enrollment at Purdue's teacher training program.
None of that is a state secret.
Still, trustees pressed.
Was it a matter of the starting pay awaiting first-year teachers? ("We have many individuals who go into teaching who have to work two jobs or more to be able to make ends meet," Santos de Barona said.) Was there a glut of teachers in the market? (Of Purdue's recent graduates, 97.8 percent got jobs, the dean reported, so jobs are out there.) Could Purdue do a better job of leveraging its power in math and the sciences to train teachers for open jobs? ("We continue to work on that," she said.)
"What do you think is the real issue?" asked Trustee Vanessa Castagna.
"I need to state up front that I like numbers. I like the concept of accountability … and my background is in assessment," Santos de Barona said. "But I think that the set of variables that has come to play at this point has been one that has turned many individuals in the classroom away from education. They don't feel they're able to practice their skill."
Trustee Sonny Beck chipped in anecdotal evidence of his own. Beck relayed conversations with two teacher friends of his who were bailing out of the classroom because they felt forced to teach to tests and "to teach the way the state says I need to teach."
Beck's conclusion: "I would second the motion on the outside influences on teachers."
That said, Beck acknowledged, Purdue still had "to be the best of the best and figure out how to get people here."
Barona said she agreed. "I don't believe we should be discouraged by our set of challenges," she said. Her next slide was devoted to what she called the college's aspirational goal: "To facilitate systemic change in public education."
"As we have realized," Santos de Barona said, "we must continue our conversations at the Statehouse and with think tanks to shape policy and legislation that is truly good for children, schools and ultimately the country."
But all the while that afternoon, at the other end of the table, Daniels remained quiet.
Indiana's education reforms might have happened without Daniels. But as governor, he beat that drum loudly, recruiting Tony Bennett as state superintendent to bulldog the measures once they cleared the legislature. (Bennett would get beat by Ritz after one term in an election often attributed to grass roots efforts by Indiana's teachers.) Facing questions as Purdue's incoming president in September 2012, Daniels said the education reform train had left the station and that the College of Education should be all about finding ways to work better within those new standards.
What was going through his mind during the dean's presentation?
"Nothing in particular," Daniels would say later.
Next question: Do you share the dean's concerns about ramping up enrollment of K-12 teacher candidates and the reasons she says are behind the declining interest in becoming a teacher?
"If the concern is how do we get more and better teachers, that ought to be everybody's top concern," Daniels said. "The system operates to penalize young teachers, like our graduates. So, I never look at them without hoping we're moving to a system based more on merit and not totally on seniority."
The conversation trailed off uncomfortably after that. Much like it did that afternoon when the architects of education reform were called out at Purdue.
Bangert is a columnist at the Journal & Courier. Contact him at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.
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