a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District

SBE Work Session 4-11-2001

• OPENING REMARKS
• LEGISLATION
• NAEP (National Assessment of Education Progress)
• TEACHER QUALITY
• COLORADO VIRTUAL SCHOOL
• PARENT INVOLVEMENT PROJECT TO CLOSE THE LEARNING GAP
• NASBE Update
• STUDENT ADVISORY GROUP PROPOSAL
• VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
• SPANISH CSAP'S

OPENING REMARKS

Chlouber went to a leadership conference sponsored by NASBE & Achieve; one of the Governor's staff was there. It was titled Standards and Accountability and covered experiences people are having with these. The most compelling presentation was from Kati Haycock of the Education Trust about closing the achievement gap; it gave excellent information. One of the key points was that we were successful in doing this in the' 70s and '80s, but the gap is widening now. We expect so little from these students ; for example, in many schools with high poor minority populations, coloring assignments are given rather than thinking assignments, even at the high school level. DeHoff will distribute a copy of the article.

Chlouber also read some excerpts from "What's Hot and What's Not": 

• Hot - schools can do better; 
  not - schools are failing.
• Hot - giving every student a better education; 
  not - expecting students to meet high standards.
• Hot- extra support for teachers and extra help for students to ensure that they meet higher standards; 
  not - standards, testing, and accountability.
• Hot - tests, plus other measures of achievement (grades, classroom work); 
  not - tests only.

LEGISLATION 

Long Bill.

• Carries only the appropriations under current law; new education funding is in SB129.
• The 5.5% increase in the long bill is an increase in total program funding for the state share (from general fund, State Education Fund, and cash funds).
• Federal money coming to the state is appropriated in the long bill, just for information.
• Total increase in school funding is 6.9%:

1.6% projected student enrollment growth

5.0% increase in statewide base per pupil funding

3.0% increase in per pupil funding due to statutory changes to size factor

• There is $50,000 to pay for state students participating in scholastic competitions.

School Finance Act (SB 129)

• Carries what couldn't be in the long bill.
• Inflation plus 1% increase to statewide base of per pupil funding: 4% inflation + 1% for the mandated increase from Amendment 23.
• Expanded definition of at-risk funded pupil count to include students who don't speak English, allowing averaging over the past 2-3 years; it is estimated that it will include only a few thousand statewide, because most are already under the free lunch at-risk provision; amounts to about $500 per student for students to improve English language acquisition.
• Funding of $400,000 and 2 FTE for data reporting to track individual students' CSAP scores for longitudinal analyses; would have cost less if we used students' Social Security numbers, but we won't be doing that. Our data warehouse has always had the capacity to do this. SBE will be required to adopt rules for this - probably to be done in January.
• Charter school capital construction - is a capitation/entitlement for charter schools that expended more than 3% of operating revenues on capital construction.

NAEP (National Assessment of Education Progress)

DeHoff is on the NAEP Math Steering Committee and was in Washington for a meeting. Their recommendation is to have an advanced math test (algebra and beyond), as well as more advanced math questions on the existing test. They are still discussing the use of calculators. There is confusion about using NAEP as a national test (because President Bush has recommended putting it into his education plan); however, NAEP does not endorse this use. NAEP's Executive Director said that it would be usable for standards testing, but that wasn't an endorsement, although some people thought it was. Using it as a national test would change NAEP so much that it wouldn't be the same. Colorado didn't participate in NAEP this year, since it requires a certain number of students to participate (because it is a scientific sampling) and some large Colorado districts pulled out (especially Jeffco) because of CSAP.

TEACHER QUALITY

This is a huge issue, given the following:

(1) There are two major initiatives out there - a pilot program through the Donnell Kay Foundation, etc., and the Alliance for Quality Teaching (which is working for incentives for the recruitment and retention of quality teachers and the use of longitudinal assessments to evaluate teachers, and has lobbied for legislation that provides incentives to recruit teachers in hard-to-fill areas and subjects).

(2) We have been working on teacher preparation because of SB99-154.

(3) We have received many requests for us to evaluate teacher licensure, add endorsements in other subjects such as Gifted and Talented, etc.

(4) TAP program through Milken Foundation.

(5) Teachers of the Year met with some of us and told us that they're planning a conference and have many issues.

(6) Different projects are ongoing on performance pay.

Therefore, maybe we should meet with all the teacher-related stakeholders, help find an agreed-upon agenda, and network the best practices. Every day the Commissioner receives large quantity of letters and invitations about this issue. In order for any work to be successful in this area, we must have CEA's support. Need to create a proposal with a clear result to achieve. Teachers know that they have to change on the pay issue, but nobody has come up with an acceptable plan. Emerging from many studies is the point that the key players in closing the learning gap are the teachers. The Alliance for Quality Teaching is saying that the next step is to provide resources to help develop local solutions to the problem. But the SBE can be an effective "bully pulpit" on this topic - if the conversation is to change, it has to be convened. Will put together a subcommittee to bring a proposal to next month's meeting.

COLORADO VIRTUAL SCHOOL

Several other states are doing things with e-learning; for example, Ohio has a degree-conferring virtual high school. Learning consists of lecture (content delivery), questioning and analysis, and absorption and mastery (repetition). A new paradigm for learning is with delivery where the students can proceed at their own pace, have access to the best teacher for them, have access to wide selection of courses at various levels, take self-adapting assessments, and have no negative peer pressure and distractions. Other purposes of school are culturization, socialization, health, and physical fitness, as well as mentorship and role-modeling with teachers. Currently there is a proposal for the Colorado Virtual Charter School (Bill Bennett is spearheading this; he met with the Governor recently).

Polis presented the following proposal for a virtual high school (CVA - Colorado Virtual Academy) that he would like the SBE to consider:

• Mission: Establishment of a hybrid e-learning paradigm that includes socialization and group skills coupled with superior online content delivery.
• Target market: maximum 53,000 students consisting of homeschoolers (5,000 of high school age), students in small high schools where desired courses are not offered (5,000), students for whom classroom instruction proceeds too slowly (top 10% = 21,500), and students for whom classroom instruction proceeds too quickly (bottom 10% = 21,500).
• Pods consisting of 100-400 students each from a local geographical area, for purposes of group activities, with enrollment, a meeting place (or places), a principal, and staff - teachers (work half-time), a counselor, study skills tutors, activity coordinator, coaches.
• Pods would meet twice a week, including academic collaboration, electives (art, music, etc.), and activities.
• Pods would lease a small office and utilize community facilities such as a library on a regular basis.
• E-teachers would teach the online courses.
• The budget would provide for a central office, e-learning, pods, and governance.
• Governance possibilities: Autonomous school under SBE, akin to Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind?- would require legislative enabling, perhaps. Have a school district sponsor a it as a charter school?
• With 10,000 students statewide, the overall budget would be $52 million, with $3.2 million for the central office.
• Would be run by a CEO; Chief officers for curriculum, finance, and operations; and 8 curriculum designers.
• One-third of the e-courses would be updated each year.
• Per student computer and technology allotment of $500 (not for purchasing computers for the students at home, but for providing them in accessible location for use on preferential basis).
• Classifications of teachers: e-teacher, senior teacher facilitator (meets with students in pods), study skills tutor, and lecturer/master teacher (helps produce courses, travels to pods, employed full-time).

How this fits in with CDE's technology plan presented last month is that we can use the infrastructure that has been developing. A statewide committee is currently engaged in strategic planning process for educational technology and information literacy. We will address this at our Retreat in June.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT PROJECT TO CLOSE THE LEARNING GAP

A presentation was made by the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition (CSPC). It has been around for over 20 years. Was started by a group of Latino advocates to improve the quality of education for Latino students, bringing together mandates of different programs such as Title I, and working to engage Hispanic parents in their children's education; they created Los Padres to involve Hispanic fathers. Have 800-1000 who attend their annual conference (held every Memorial Day weekend). Have always been a partnership with CDE (Erlinda Archuleta). Richard Garcia is its creatort and is now principal of Sojourner Charter School in Boulder Valley School District, which has a very large population of non-English-speaking students. Patsy Roybal works with Developmental Assets and is on the CSPC board of directors.

The CSPC has met with Dick Elmer, Bill Windler, and other individuals in CDE on a strategic plan for Center for Effective Parent/Family Involvement. Its mission is to inspire, educate, and empower historically under-represented parents/families to become effectively engaged in their children's education. The goal is to close the learning gap and increase graduation rates for students who come from historically under-represented families. Their objective is to create the Center so that it can provide technical assistance to Title I schools that are not making "adequate yearly progress" (280 schools) nor are on "corrective action" (9 schools). The Center would provide training/professional development for CDE, community leaders, and families, and also disseminate materials, resources, and information. CDE will analyze where we might be able to find funding ($250,000) to help. We would make the Center one of our satellite literacy centers, and give one of our adult education grants. Migrant education will connect also.

[I am not able to give information on the following items from the agenda, since I had a severe allergic reaction to lunch and had to be taken to the emergency room.]

NASBE Update

STUDENT ADVISORY GROUP PROPOSAL

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

SPANISH CSAPs

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