a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
The Community College system can help alleviate the teacher shortage by supporting teacher candidates in their development of basic technology skills; providing training in hard-to-fill areas like ESL, special ed., etc.; professional development for re-licensure; playing a key role in "alternative licensure" programs; recruiting community college students to become teacher candidates; and providing training for paraprofessional educators. Would like CCCOES to give us specific suggestions as to what statutory changes need to be made so that we could work together more effectively. Transition from 2-year to 4-year institutions is an issue - barriers/"turf" issues with CCHE. Career/vocational education is another area that overlaps with K-12. The CCCOES Board will take a look at how they can work with us more effectively on this at their retreat next month (Breckenridge on June 12-14). We are working together on the virtual learning initiative.
SB98 - might pass with only one or two of the provisions, out of the 48 different provisions that have at some time been put in it. We don't need the bill to delay the CSAP scores going out to districts on June 1. CDE needs time to do the aligning and bookmarking for all the new tests. Legislators haven't as of yet agreed on whether to delay or remove the ACT scores from the report card. They haven't resolved the issue of whether to count the Spanish language tests. They have agreed to include free lunch ranking on report card.
School Finance Act - includes funding for analysis of longitudinal data; perhaps we could discuss this with Representative King during our retreat and find out his expectations for its implementation.
SB89 - passed, requiring CDE to collect data on class size by subject and grade.
We will be voting on 3 contracts. Some of the timelines are less than realistic, and the Board will have to approve the contract for a certain maximum amount of money and for a vendor "to be determined."
We have received written testimony. The areas in which the most concern was expressed include the following: one year's progress for each group of students (should students falling far behind need to make more than one year's progress?); reporting for all the desegregated groups separately; new additions (technology, teacher recruitment and professional development, and contextual learning); placing districts on academic watch for only one indicator not being met; and the annual review section. Districts seem to be interpreting the rules extremely literally, and we will be flexible to allow for a reasonable reporting. Tomorrow, after the hearing, it would be advisable for us to reach concurrence on the amendments we would like made, so that staff can make those changes.
The result of new federal regulations and the concern about accountability is that they have made substantial changes - will be reported to us tomorrow. There are anomalies between the way that the federal government measures things and the way the states do.
This will be approved at our July meeting, if it is acceptable to the Board. It resolves "that the Colorado State Board of Education encourage school districts to display the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of the Colorado." This is part of our effort towards encouraging civics and character education.
Paula Woodward interviewed Clair Orr about the proposed legislation for Internet filtering requirements for school districts. There are sites with unbelievably horrible displays of violent or sexual content. Orr believes that we have a responsibility to do something about this, such as adding something to our accreditation rules. Polis pointed out the filtering programs are unable to screen out pictures and they give a false sense of security; the better method to deal with the problem is providing effective monitoring and tracking by adults. There is the danger that parents will be needlessly alarmed and ban their children from using computers. We will consider putting a general statement about addressing this issue in 2.01 (1) of the Accreditation Rules - as part of the technology plan.
SBE members are concerned about dealing with charter school hearings because of the amount of time that the Board must devote to them. Maybe we should investigate other ways to resolve the conflicts between districts and charter schools that don't involve as much of the Board's time. Can some of them be resolved by a mediator? We probably need more time on some of the cases, because it would be helpful to bring in expert witnesses and have more time to ask questions and think it through. Staff will consult with the Attorney General's office and see if they can come up with something.
Polis has a revised plan in the works. He has been looking at possible vendors for the software (3 of the 5 who are capable of doing it are located in Colorado). However, SBE has not made a definite decision about how we want to proceed with the e-learning issue. We need to find out about what CDE has already been working on in regard to e-learning in the state. Need to be sure that we discuss this with CASB; there are jurisdictional issues here. "The law is not friendly to this," said Commissioner Moloney, because of the distribution of resources. Need to remain within the context of "thorough and uniform education." Should build a coalition of stakeholders who want e-learning to work. It does provide access to education for some students and can enhance public education. Would be wise for SBE to set the tone and landscape for virtual education in Colorado.
Peter Stewart, Vice President of a for-profit company called K12, approached Douglas County Public Schools about opening a statewide virtual charter school. Was done a few months ago in Pennsylvania. Will be starting with K-2 only, but eventually intends to go up to grade 12. Has Core Knowledge curriculum. Will sign up about 50 kids for each virtual teacher, with adult supervision required from a family member of each student at home. The company provides the software. Douglas County Schools was asked to get the charter up over the summer, but that won't be possible - they will be able to do it next year. The key component is the financial aspect. They expect to attract homebound, expelled, and home-schooled students. Students will be required to take CSAP when this extends to 3rd grade and above. Questions: Will the Literacy Act requirements for K-2 apply? How much PPOR will the district get per student? - Will they be considered full-time, and will the host district's PPOR be the amount given? Will all the 12 content standards be included? This "product" will also be available on the commercial market.
DeHoff is running for Western Region Director of NASBE and has SBE's unanimous support. There is only one candidate for NASBE President. There are two candidates for Vice President: Alma Allen from Texas and Cy Richardson from Ohio. Each state gets only one vote. Our vote was 6 for Allen, 1 (Hudak) for Richardson, so Colorado will vote for Allen.
Polis has a rough draft of his proposed resolution for promoting student engagement. This will be approved at our July meeting, if it is acceptable to the Board. It resolves that the SBE will "promote student engagement in policy-making dialogue," "encourage all educational stakeholders to facilitate student participation," "continue to solicit student input," and "designate one week each year as Student Engagement Week."
Regarding the decision of the Adams County School District 50 Board of Education to deny the charter, the State Board voted 5:2 that the decision of the local board was contrary to the best interest of the pupils, the school district, or the community and to remand the matter back to Adams County School District 50 Board of Education with instructions to approve the charter application. (Hudak and Stanford dissented.)
Regarding the decision of the Steamboat Springs School District Board of Education to unilaterally impose conditions on the North Routt Charter School, the State Board voted 7:0 that the decision of the local board was contrary to the best interest of the pupils, the school district, or the community and to remand the matter back to the Steamboat Springs School District Board of Education for reconsideration.
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