Yesterday I had an opportunity to meet Arkansas's new Secretary of Education, Jacob Oliva. If you're involved in Arkansas education at any level in any capacity, you know the elephant in every room is Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' attempt to overhaul the state's education system, the LEARNS Act that became law earlier this year. Even though LEARNS is in a state of limbo while it's being challenged in court, smart money says it will be the law when school starts in the fall. Oliva is tasked with implementing LEARNS, which makes him very unpopular with a lot of people. But my first encounter convinced me he's not the bad guy many have painted him.
We were at an Arkansas State Teachers Association (ASTA) Member Leader workshop. ASTA is a non-union, apolitical professional organization dedicated supporting to student-centered, teacher-led education in Arkansas. ASTA member leaders serve as points of contact and recruiters for ASTA in schools across the state. Member leaders are not ASTA employees, and do not serve as an official voice for the organization, but they do encourage colleagues to join, help navigate the registration process, and point other school employees to the right ASTA representatives when the need arises. ASTA does not campaign for, advocate for, or donate money to any political candidate or party. ASTA advocates for teachers and students in its quest to support and create that student-centered, teacher-led education system for all Arkansas kids.
In pursuit of that quest, ASTA Executive Director Allison Greenwood invited Oliva to address the group of member leaders gathered in Little Rock yesterday. As previously mentioned, Oliva's position put him at odds with a lot of education professionals from the start. These days, LEARNS is a hot topic at any gathering of education professionals. Before he arrived yesterday, it was clear that more than a few in the room were counted among those who held a grudge against Sanders, LEARNS, and Oliva. After he left, that had changed.
Oliva stated in his opening remarks that he hoped "this will be a conversation." He then followed with a brief overview of issues in Arkansas education, steps taken to address these issues, and how LEARNS seeks to do just that.
He first asked if any of us knew where Arkansas ranked on the latest US News and World Report state ranking of education systems. Our state made the list at #43. As you can see in the picture below, the US News ranking is combination of PK-12 and higher ed. Arkansas PK-12 education ranked a few notches higher at 39.
The topic then turned to a particularly controversial part of the LEARNS Act, retention of 3rd graders who are not reading at grade level. Oliva stated that 35% of Arkansas 3rd graders read on grade level according to recent data. He believes the retention policy, coupled with the intensive support that LEARNS mandates for retained students, can bring that number to 85-90%. "If we do that," said Oliva, "Arkansas can jump into the top 10 [of US News rankings.]"
Talk then pivoted to the recent changes in the state's ELA and mathematics standards, how the new standards are easier to read and understand. Most educators in the room nodded in agreement as Oliva discussed the disconnected and confusing standards of the past. Secretary Oliva did not denounce teachers, but criticized the standards and the "system" teachers were previously shackled too. In that system "hard work does not equal success," he said. The standards were so complex and confusing that two conscientious, hard-working teachers could "unpack" them and end up with two completely different interpretations.
Oliva's take wasn't that Arkansas teachers suck, but the system they worked in was making it practically impossible to succeed. "Bad systems beat good people every time," he said. LEARNS was written to align everything in this broken system -- resources, standards, and assessments. The new ATLAS assessments will be aligned to Arkansas standards.
Before Oliva took the microphone, discussion was focused on raising expectations of our students. He arrived in the middle of that conversation, and turned to that topic at the tail of his address. What he said in those last few minutes made me pretty sure I'm going to like our new Secretary of Education. He made it obvious that he, too, believes good educators will hold high expectations for students.
He bemoaned the fact that "one-third of Arkansas high school seniors do not have a full schedule." Oliva made clear he believes that's a problem. He said we have to let them know school is important. "Sixty-five percent of college students who require remedial math courses in college had a 3.0 or higher GPA in high school," he said. He had math teachers (myself included) raising our hands and shouting "Hallelujah!" when he said we have to "double the number of students taking Algebra in middle school" to make it possible to get them through Calculus in high school.
Secretary Oliva went farther to make clear how much he values teachers. He described a recent project at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that identified dozens of "high-impact teachers" at D and F rated schools in Arkansas. High-impact teachers were defined as teachers whose students performed one or more standard deviations above expectations. It was clear that he wants to identify effective teachers and help others become effective teachers.
Everything he said made clear that Secretary Oliva isn't content with where Arkansas ranks, that he believes we can climb in the rankings, that our students can learn, and that our teachers can make a difference. But my favorite quote was near the end of our time together.
"I'm don't know everything about everything, but if you get the right people in the right room, we can accomplish anything."
After this first opportunity to meet the new Arkansas Secretary of Education, I'm impressed. I'm thrilled to have him at the helm. I'm looking forward to education in Arkansas in the twilight years of my career. If his attitude toward teachers, students, and learning filters down through administration, teachers, and students, we have nowhere to go but up!
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