Time for Political Courage: The Untold MAPP Story

Prior to the 2009 legislative session, I brought a resolution to the State Republican Central Committee to support the concept of early graduation that was later incorporated in the MAPP bill. This resolution was defeated! Why? Some of the old guard Republican leaders thought it was too controversial.

So, I worked, without the help of the Republican Party leaders, to develop and get a resolution passed through the legislature that had all of the major points of the later MAPP bill. This resolution passed the House and got a hearing in the Senate.

After the legislative session, Rep. Branden Durst a Democrat from Boise who liked my resolution approached me to suggest that we create a pilot program. I thought this was a great idea and MAPP was born. I partnered with Rep. Durst because no Republican offered to help me.

Now fast forward to the 2010 legislative session, MAPP passed the House 61 to 7 and the Senate 27 to 7 with no organized opposition. The IEA did not oppose it. Superintendent Tom Luna supported it. Almost every major newspaper in the state supported it. There was no controversy.

Why did the old guard Republican leadership not see the potential in MAPP? Why did they see pitfalls that did not exist?

I believe they focus too much attention on the media. They tend to cater to the media rather than focus on problem solving. I think it is time to change our focus. We need kind, thoughtful, courageous leadership with vision.

MAPP and the Increasing Cost of College

MAPP and YOU

The passage of the MAPP bill (HB493) was an historic event that will benefit Idaho families in several ways. I would like to mention one of those ways.

Students using MAPP can reduce their cost of college education. Idaho colleges and universities raised their tuition almost 10 percent for this next school year. MAPP allows students to challenge classes beginning in elementary school and finish the 1-12 curriculum up to three years early. This means that your child could then take college level classes, in the high school, for one or two years and obtain an associate degree at very little cost by age 18.

Your child could then leave home and enroll in the U of I or ISU or BSU or any other public institution of higher learning and take only two years to obtain a college degree or professional technical certification.

For example, tuition at ISU cost $5,416 per year. The four year cost of tuition would be$21,664. If a student has an associate degree after leaving high school then the cost for two years of school would only be $10,832 a savings of $10,832.

This possibility was brought to your courtesy of the Idaho State Legislature and Governor Otter with bi-partisan support.

Hug your child and then thank your legislator.

MAPP in the Senate

Some of you may be wondering what is happening with the MAPP bill. On Thursday the 11th of March, the bill was debated on the floor of the Senate and was sent to the amending order to add a sunset clause. The Senate should go to the amending order on Tuesday. MAPP should then be sent back to the floor and pass.

There is only one Senator that is actively fighting against it, Senator Gary Schroeder from Moscow. What I find interesting is that each of his arguments used to defeat MAPP are actually reasons to support MAPP. For example, he suggests that we will have 13 year-old youth going to college.

I didn't know we were slowing kids down that much. But, if most kids could get through high school by age 13, as he suggests, then we really need to pass MAPP, let students finish early and then solve this problem of young people ready for college at age 13. Too many students ready for college at too young of an age seems like one of those problems we would like to have.

MAPP update

One of the legislators stopped me in the hall today in the capitol. He thanked me for my work on MAPP. That it was innovative and would help education. I thanked him. The strange part is that he voted against the bill on the floor of the House. So, even some legislators that voted against it still liked it.

MAPP in the Senate

Senator Goedde, the Senate Education Committee chairman informed me that a hearing will be held on Monday March 1 at 3:00 in the afternoon on the MAPP bill. I am visiting with Senators on the committee to try to understand their concerns so that they can be addresses during the committee hearing. So far they include:

1. Do we have assessments in place so that students can challenge classes?
2. If students graduate early, will they be mature enough?

These are the main two questions at this time.

For your info, there are 9 senators on the committee so 5 votes are needed to get the bill out of Committee to the floor of the Senate. It looks like it will be close.

MAPP and the IEA

Some of you may be interested what the position of the Idaho Education Association is in relation to the Master Advancement Pilot Project (MAPP)to be discussed on Monday morning. I spoke with Burt Marley who represents the IEA in the legislature. He said that this is the type of thing I was talking to him about 5 years ago while he was still a state Senator and he thought MAPP was "worth trying."

Yes, the lobbyist of the IEA thinks "it is worth trying." Why? Because MAPP might work and will benefit teachers. I don't know if the IEA has taken an official position.

Risk-Reward of MAPP

The Mastery Advancement Pilot Project (MAPP) is going to be introduced Monday morning at 8:00 AM in the House Education Committee. Allowing students to challenge classes and earn a scholarship is a new concept. People ask, “Will it work? In preparing for the presentation, I have asked myself what is the risk-reward trade off of MAPP?

1. What is the cost? The likelihood is very low that MAPP will require extra funds. I don’t see how having fewer students in school can cost more money. The likelihood that MAPP will reduce the tax burden is very high. The fiscal note indicates as much as $545,000. If MAPP works as anticipated and is implemented statewide savings could easily reach $100 million. LOGICAL DECISION – Give MAPP a try

2. Can students learn too fast? One concern that I hear is that students will learn so fast that they will graduate from high school at age 13 or that the students will not be mature enough. Is this really a problem? Are people admitting that our current system is slowing students down that much? If that is the case, we need to implement MAPP and then deal with the issue of maturity. LOGICAL DECISION – Give MAPP at try

3. What happens if a child passes a competency exam that is poorly constructed and the child is not ready for the next level of instruction? This is legitimate concern. The problem would be in the competency exam and would need to be fixed. What about the child? The bill reads that a student request to a challenge exam “be made pursuant to collaboration between the student, the student’s teachers, the school administration, and the student’s parents or guardians.” If a child fails a competency exam, they will need to do what is best for the child and give the appropriate instruction. This is what schools are already trying to do. Nothing is changing except we are providing more options. Finally, the current state funding formula has no requirement that the student learn anything. There is no requirement for learning to take place to get funding. The only thing the state requires is that the student is alive. At least MAPP has a testing requirement. LOGICAL DECISION – Give MAPP a try

4. What happens if the parents overrule the opinion of the teacher and administrator? What is the worst thing that could happen? The student would not pass the competency exam and the opinion of the teacher would be ratified. LOGICAL DECISION -- Give MAPP a try

After a risk-reward trade off analysis, it seems that there is very little real risk; however, tremendous upside potential such as: Improved education at less cost, more engaged students with better parental support, less teacher stress, more prepared students and, possibly, the Idaho system can become the best education system in the world.