When Has Federal Money Been Used to Create State Standards?

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Andrew Ujifusa

Andrew Ujifusa covers state education policy for Education Week, from new legislation and trends to eye-catching political battles. He previously worked at newspapers in Maryland and Mississippi, and taught high school English in Japan. 3750237502 « N.Y. Regents: Common Core Needs More State Aid, Periodic Adjustments |Main| Chris Cerf Departing as N.J. Chief to Take Job at Amplify »

When Has Federal Money Been Used to Create State Standards? By Andrew Ujifusa on February 11, 2014 11:23 AM Tweet

UPDATED

As part of the effort by business groups and other friends of the Common Core State Standards to buttress support for them this year, a new website from the Higher State Standards Partnership aims to counter myths about the standards with facts. As part of this effort, the site, which is supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, addresses one prominent claim about the standards: that the federal government created them and manages them in the states. Here's how the site responds to that claim:

No one has presented any credible evidence that the common core was federally funded. Just because the feds support an initiative like common core doesn't mean they paid for it. However, the second sentence in that mythbusting "fact" is what caught my attention, and so I highlighted it. That statement covers education policy territory well before common core and even No Child Left Behind. Let's examine it.

I asked the U.S. Chamber for the evidence supporting the statement. The Chamber sent me testimony from Michael Cohen, a former assistant secretary at the U.S. department and now the president of Achieve, a nonprofit that helped to develop the common core, to the Michigan House of Representatives last July. Cohen provides a lot of interesting history about state standards—on the subject of this particular inquiry, he pointed to the initiative by then-Secretary of Education Lamar Alexandar (now a Republican U.S. senator) in 1990 to provide $40 million to "nearly every state" to help underwrite the development of content standards. The 1994 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Cohen notes, required states to have content standards as a condition for receiving Title I funds. NCLB, remember, also requires states to have standards in order to receive federal cash.

The administration of President George H.W. Bush also provided financial support for national organizations to develop content standards in various subjects. And the Goals 2000 program under the Bill Clinton administration also included standards creation as a key element.

Here's how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Education and Workforce program summarized the statement to me:

@StateEdWatch They were either through direct grants to develop standards or states received fed funds as condition of developing standards

— USCCF Ed & Workforce (@USCCFeducation) February 7, 2014

Based on that statement, it seems as though the claim rests (in part) on the idea that if standards are a requirement for states to receive money from Washington like Title I dollars, that means it's fair to say the standards are federally funded. But is that logically consistent? That description makes the standards sound more like an unfunded mandate from Washington, rather than a federally funded initiative. The U.S. Chamber isn't claiming that funds as dictated by NCLB directly funded standards, only that without standards, states couldn't get funds like Title I.

I called up a state that hasn't adopted the common core, Virginia, to ask if its content standards, called the Standards of Learning, have been federally funded. Julie Grimes, the patient spokeswoman for the state education department, subsequently provided a very detailed answer. 

Federal Title II dollars are intended to support the recruitment and development of high-quality teachers and principals. Grimes highlighted Title II Section A money that in Virginia has been used to help teachers review the Standards of Learning. That review helps the teachers prepare to use the standards in the classroom, since, Grimes pointed out, the state doesn't want to "just spring" new standards on educators. But It doesn't give those teachers input or power as the standards are being created. 

"That is not the same as developing the standards," Grimes wrote to me in an email about the Title II Section A cash.

The Virginia Department of Education develops the Standards of Learning, Grimes said, using state and not federal money. 

As I said at the beginning of the post, the federal role in common core's progress will get a lot of hackles up. It's interesting that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable felt the need not just to rebut claims about Washington and the common core, an understandable move backed up by the facts, but to make a broader statement about content standards that, if you talk to Virginia at least, is inaccurate. 

UPDATE: On the point of NCLB funding for standards, I should point out that Title VI under federal education law does provide money to help states develop "additional standards" to meet federal requirements if necessary. (Thanks to Chad Colby at Achieve for pointing this out.) If a state's standards already meet those requirements, however, it can use this money for tests or other matters. So to call state standards strictly an unfunded mandate under NCLB is off the mark.

The question of how many states didn't use that earmarked Title VI money to develop standards, at the same time that they were reviewing and updating standards, isn't one I'll try to answer here. The Virginia Department of Education's response is clear. Still, given the history of the federal government's involvement, it's clear that Washington has long had a direct interest in content standards, and has in fact put some money on the table to ease them along in the last 25 years. ?

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Art students from Upper Iowa University create mural for Prairie View

At left: UIU student Troy Parker explains his vision for the mural painted by UIU students at Prairie View Residential Care to Robin Martin of Prairie View, and fellow students Dylan Langerman-Aten, Fayette, and Elizabeth Roenecker, Maynard . The mural creates "stained glass windows" for residents of the facility. At right: UIU art students involved in the project included Travis Huckins, Maynard; Lesley Codd, Belize; Langerman-Aten; and Wisconsin students Maria Linhart and Nikk Boggs.

FAYETTE, Iowa (May 20, 2013) – Art class at Upper Iowa University has been teaching more than brush strokes this spring term. Students in the "Painting" course created a mural for Prairie View Residential Care in Fayette.

"Everything aligned for the class this spring. Not only were we able to focus on the process and techniques of painting, but we also were able to focus on how to extend what we were doing in class to the greater world; and that is that is when the class really heated up," said John Siblik, associate professor of art and interim dean of the UIU School of Liberal Arts. "Robin Martin of Prairie View contacted us to find out if we were interested in doing a mural at the facility. The Art Club had recently completed a mural in nearby Clermont as well as a mural for the North Fayette Middle School; so the word was out -- the UIU Art Department is serious about working with the community in our surrounding area."

Siblik said UIU mural work was also a byproduct of the recent visit of artist Sharon De La Cruz, a muralist and activist from New York City. De La Cruz worked with UIU students to complete a mural project that focused on the environment.

"Sharon inspired our students in the painting class to work in innovative ways and get involved in the community," Siblik said.

Troy Parker, a junior art and graphic design major from Australia, took the lead on the Prairie View project and submitted design ideas to Sylvia Mork, Prairie View Management administrator and CEO. From there, a color scheme was developed and the layout of the mural began. UIU students worked on the mural over the course of several weeks.

"The students wanted to transform a long hallway at the facility, which was becoming more than a place to pass through and more of a place where residents congregate and talk," Siblik explained. "The mural acts like windows of stained glass where the imagination can wonder, linger and ponder."

"Upper Iowa University is an asset and resource to our community," Mork said. "This project has enriched the lives of our clients, visitors and staff. It has been a win-win situation, and I hope it will be the beginning of many projects that we can work on together with UIU art students."

About Upper Iowa University Founded in 1857, Upper Iowa University is a private, not-for-profit university providing undergraduate and graduate degree programs and leadership development opportunities to some 6,200 students—nationally and internationally—at its Fayette campus and learning centers worldwide. Upper Iowa University is a recognized innovator in offering accredited, quality programs through flexible, multiple delivery systems, including online and independent study. For more information, visit www.uiu.edu.

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