Cindy Hill for Superintendent of Public Instruction

For Immediate Release

Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Cindy Hill released the following comments relating to the recent news coverage (1) that the current Superintendent, Jim McBride, has elected to abandon the online administration of PAWS, converting PAWS into a paper and pencil test, and (2) opinions that Wyoming should drop PAWS altogether:

“People of Wyoming want accountability, but they want a measure that they can trust.  Teachers are asking for assessments that are timely and useful, ones that can be used to impact instruction,” Mrs. Hill stated.

Before we make these decisions, the people on the front lines (teachers, parents and students), must have an opportunity to weigh in on these significant decisions.  Mrs. Hill stated that “what is missing in the current debate is the recognition that trust is built by bringing the questions of (1) whether PAWS should be dropped, (2) what, if any, instrument should be used as a replacement, and (3) how a testing instrument should be administered, to those most affected by those questions.  My approach, if elected, will not be to keep making top-down decisions by those who are so removed from the classroom that they do not understand the needs of the children.” 

Given the fact that there is no time to waste as the education of our children hangs in the balance, Mrs. Hill proposes that the State Department of Education immediately form a task force, comprised of teachers, parents, and students who have been exposed to different testing instruments, to undertake a comprehensive examination to determine what is in the best interest of our children. The primary question to be asked is whether the tests that are being administered are useful to the teacher in the classroom in providing timely results to improve the quality of learning.  “It does us no good to have a test, such as PAWS, whose results are not known to teachers (if at all) until the child goes on to the next grade,” Hill asserted, adding that “PAWS represents the worst kind of lost opportunity: rather than having data that could have been used to structure interventions addressing a child’s educational weaknesses, we have a test that is not useful in this regard at all.”  The proficient or non-proficient measure of PAWS does not tell the full story of whether Wyoming schools are doing well, or not.  While there is a benefit to understanding whether Wyoming schools are growing, PAWS is not a good growth model test.   The next question to be answered in this context must be to implement strategies to reduce the duplication found in testing in Wyoming. 

A paper and pencil test takes us several steps back and demonstrates a fundamental disconnect with what is important:  tests must serve Wyoming children rather than Wyoming serving the tests.  As to Mr. McBride’s recent press conference in which he indicated that PAWS would be administered in a paper and pencil fashion, what teachers were involved in making this decision?  What parents were involved in the decision?  Were students ever interviewed to learn their actual experiences?  We must not have a Superintendent who is eager to make decisions for all of the State without adequate consultation with the people affected.  While it may be more expedient to just make a decision, Mrs. Hill observed, the process for making decisions in matters relating to people’s children is critical.  Part of the reason that PAWS is broken is that there has not been adequate consultation with the people affected by the test.   

Mrs. Hill stated that her actions would be as follows:

(1)  Establish a task force including teachers, parents and students to identify with greater specificity exactly what the problems were with PAWS and other tests in Wyoming;

(2) Join teachers, parents and students in that process and conduct town hall meetings across Wyoming to obtain further viewpoints;

(3) Once the problems are clearly understood, we must consult with the people on the front lines to clearly identify the solutions that work best for them and for our kids.

Mrs. Hill further stated, “Depending upon how those affected weigh in, it is likely that the public has completely lost trust in PAWS and that we must start over, but that must be a function of the process of listening to those most affected and then acting on our findings.”

She challenged our current Superintendent of Public Instruction to respond to her recommendations.