a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
All 50 states have completed their NCLB plans and there is a little celebration going on in Washington DC. CDE has been working on incorporating the SBE's strategic plan, goals, and objectives. Had to make it fit with the JBC's fiscal directives.
CDE goes through a strategic planning process annually, required of all state departments. It's a 4-year plan updated annually.
The following are the CDE tactics to help accomplish each of the Board's goals and objectives:
Board Goal #1: Fulfill our role as the state's educational authority.
A. Positively impact legislation: Regularly inform Board on relevant, pending legislation; identify opportunities for the Board to take formal positions and testify on select legislation; continue to assign staff experts to serve as a reliable resource for legislators; maintain a constant presence in committee meetings, task forces, and policy discussions; participate in regular education organization lobbying meetings; and host an annual social function with legislators.
B. Continue and strengthen our partnerships with the educational community: Continue to involve representatives from the education community on CDE work groups; actively participate and take advantage of education organization conferences, services, and training; expand distribution list and inform liaisons from each education organization of Boar discussions and activities; and continue to provide and increase the effectiveness of technical assistance to local districts.
[The Board would like to recognize more positive efforts going on in the districts, such as bringing a group from a district in to a Board meeting to make a brief presentation. CDE has recently made an agreement with Rocky Mountain PBS to share data].
C. Optimize and responsibly exercise our authority: Wherever possible, encourage and help articulate Board position statements over individual statements; identify key policy discussions that the Board should address or be actively involved in individually or collectively; ensure Board preparedness to enable the ability to provide leadership on sensitive local issues (i.e., persistently dangerous schools, longitudinal growth); and guide the Board in following proper Parliamentary Procedure, and confirm all Board action adheres to law and Board rules and regulations.
Goal #2: Maintain commitment to accountability reform and accreditation.
A. Implement a framework to address closing the achievement gap: Establish and support the legislative commission and the Advisory Committee on C-TAG; align AYP/NCLB, longitudinal growth, accreditation, and SARs to effectively demonstrate program of C-TAG; serve as a network for local districts in sharing best practices, improving teaching quality, professional development, and enhancing community involvement; and provide equitable access to library resources regardless of geographic location or economic status of Colorado residence.
B. Provide adequate support to our field services: Review allocation to provide adequate budget and resources to regional service teams; include regional service teams and Board Office on sensitive local correspondence and activity; partner with Regional Services to integrate NCLB evaluative data into the Accreditation process; and provide data analysis to regional service teams to assess progress on CSAP.
C. Provide leadership in the alignment of accountability reforms: Coordinate the reform discussion with the education community to ensure that student achievement is the focus and the various reform initiatives support that focus; and continue to monitor and evaluate validity of reform initiatives, including both federal and state, to enhance accreditation.
[The Board needs to acknowledge that there are three forms of accountability that don't align perfectly; however, we should emphasize that we are working on smoothing out the differences.]
Board Goal #3: Improve the long-term financial stability of education funding.
A. Continue our leadership in educating the public about the School Lands Trust issue: Adhere to the work plan adopted by the Steering Committee; continue role in facilitating Steering Committee meetings and CLASS representation; coordinate presentations to legislators and the education community on the issue; develop and implement a communications plan to include the media; and heighten the importance of this issue in CDE legislative strategy.
B. Play a constructive role in developing a comprehensive school finance solution: Continue work with members of the Legislature, Legislative Council, the Joint Budget Committee, and the education community, in the discussion and activities dealing with funding of education; play an active role in drafting proposed legislation and proposed ballot initiatives; and identify, and when appropriate, apply for all types of funding including cash and federal funds, and support districts in identifying additional resources for which they may apply.
C. Participate in prioritization and protection of the budget: Continue to work in a proactive manner with OSPB, the education committees, and the JBC on preparing the education budget; work with the various committees discussing budget solutions to ensure a SBE/CDE perspective; work with the newly developed Individual Student Identifier System to reduce duplicates in the funded pupil count; provide accurate and timely financial information for use in the decision making process; and seek funding for the implementation of the recommendation from the recent Capital Construction Audit for better identification of local district capital needs.
Board Goal #4: Improve educator quality, recruitment, retention, and placement.
A. Increase access to alternative routes: Review, modify, and/or initiate alternative teacher, administrator, special services, and vocational education preparation rules; discuss rules' development and circulate to diverse constituencies; and provide more highly qualified, alternatively trained educators, by having alternative programs resubmit program proposals under new quality standards.
B. Improve quality and accountability of preparation programs: Discuss educator preparation standards and program implementation with representatives of CCHE and institutions of higher education (IHE); continue CDE's participation on the evaluation teams reviewing the IHE preparation programs; and continue discussions with independent IHEs regarding their approval process and present to the Board for discussion and adoption.
C. Review and revise teacher licensure, endorsement, and authorizations: Continue the hearings process regarding applicable rules, including circulating rules to interested key education community audiences and individuals, and participating with CCHE in program review and evaluation of the teacher preparation program rules; discuss implementation with IHEs to increase offerings and delivery of programs in a variety of ways to a wide geographic spectrum, especially in times of a budget crunch; per HB 03-1114, work with CBI to put fingerprinting online; and work on online application submission and with CCHE/IHE to increase transcripts sent online.
Board Goal #5: Increase public engagement.
A. Increase engagement with and improve utilization of our advisory committees: Finalize the analysis of all existing advisory committees with recommendations for Board action; review the charges of and provide the Board's direction to staff liaisons of each committee advising the Board; arrange updates as needed for the Board from their designated committees; and implement new advisory committees and fill vacancies as needed.
B. Publicize the efforts and activities of the SBE: Media - increase the number of news releases from the Board, and establish a standard for all releases; outreach - expand the "listserv" of interested parties on noticing the Board's agenda and activities; annual publication - publish an annual state report to be distributed widely to parents and other interested parties; website - enhance the Board's website, making it interactive for public comment and include Q & A and news items.
C. Continue and strengthen our partnerships with the educational community: Continue to involve representatives from the education community on CDE work groups; actively participate and take advantage of education organization conferences, services, and training; expand distribution list and inform liaisons from each education organization of Board discussions and activities; and continue to provide and increase the effectiveness of technical assistance to local districts.
Board Goal #6: Improve choice opportunities for Colorado students.
A. Increase access to and accountability of online programs: Develop quality standards for online programs; hold schools accountable for measurable student progress; build up statewide network; and investigate alternatives for increasing student enrollment.
B. Establish principles of accountability to apply to all choice models: Refer to the Board's Principles of Choice to ensure that charter schools and all schools of choice are subject to the same accountability measures as other public schools; align legislative requirements and accreditation measures for every public school; align the choice options under NCLB with current accountability measures; and work with all schools of choice to ensure the chart-of-accounts is used and in a manner that is consistent with other public schools to provide comparability.
[Presented and facilitated by Jane Urschel of CASB] Our job is to balance the four core American values of liberty, community, equality, and prosperity. We can use these as a framework for the decisions that we make. Any time there are two fundamental values involved, there is likely to be a conflict. All public problems come with values. Public problems occur in public settings. Our job is to solve public problems. We will make a difference if we can balance these four core values. Define the problem, name the values - then can solve the problems. Lose without losing means not losing any of the values, but incorporating as much of them as possible. All political entities deal with the scarcity of resources.
Phil Boyle, Institute of Government and Management at Chapel Hill, NC, came up with this unique approach. CASB members were drawn to this approach because it highlights that nobody is wrong because no value is wrong. It is a framework for looking at issues.
The ideal is the good life, the American Way. There is no good life without democracy; there is no democracy without public schools; and there are no public schools without the public. We often disagree not on the values involved in a problem, but on the solution. Public schools exist as part of the government to help produce the good life. Public policy is really values. How we spend money, for example. [Are we willing as a Board to step into the others' shoes, understand the others' values, and come up with solutions that honor everyone's values?]
Why do we have elected boards of education? - To represent the values of the community. Rule by the people is democracy. The people rule by electing representatives and by participating in making decisions that affect their community. But the people can't rule alone; they need experts, but don't want to turn things over to the experts entirely. Government creates the opportunities for citizens to have the "good life." Public education helps create the good life by enabling people to have the tools they need. Three roles of government: education (of the people), participation (by the people), and representation (for the people).
The Board helps create the good life by solving public problems. Begin by framing public problems by identifying the conflicting values. Agree on the problem before arguing about solutions. Frame the problem in terms of the values that are competing. Develop choices that seek "best" solutions, not the one "right" solution. Make decisions that benefit the community as a whole, that achieve liberty, equality, community, AND prosperity.
Skills needed to solve problems: listening, giving feedback, and using differences and conflict creatively.
CEA: Ron Brady, Jane Goff, Phil Moeckli, Colleen Heinz
CASB: Jon DeStefano, Jane Urschel, Ken DeLay
CASE: Tim Westerberg, Gayle Jones
Since our last meeting on School Finance, there has been a meeting of Coffman's Commission. That is not a deliberative group. That group is asking all of the participating groups to submit a "white paper" with its suggestions, and Coffman will incorporate them into a final report, probably at the end of August.
We feel that we wouldn't be willing to sacrifice Amendment 23 without changes in TABOR and Gallagher. Many have suggested a Constitutional Convention, but that opens up the entire State Constitution, which is dangerous and may not do what we want. Perhaps if we could get the Bell and the Independence Institute to agree on a solution, and propose it as a ballot initiative, it would pass. The Bell is submitting several ballot titles to the Title Board to test whether they would pass muster on the single subject provision. The proposed initiative for this fall on freezing Gallagher at 8% is unlikely to pass because it's too complicated for many people to understand and it deals with a property tax increase, which most of the public probably wouldn't want. It is a piecemeal effort that doesn't address the overall problem.. It seems to be the agreement of the group to not take a position on it, but we will take another look at it in a couple of months, when we meet in August.
If we convened a group to recommend a solution, it would be perceived as helping only education. The problem is more extensive. The Legislature needs to do something about it; they do have an interim committee, which we could work to exert influence on (but that isn't until September). Perhaps convening a group of highly influential business people would "push the envelope." We seem to agree that all three Constitutional provisions need to be addressed.
A. Taking an Official Board Position
Historically, the Board has not taken a position on an issue unless it is unanimous. DeHoff says that if the Board hasn't taken a position but he has a sense of the different opinions, he reflects where the different positions are, without mentioning names. If we work to make a position unanimous, it comes out as a stronger statement; for example, our position on school choice. There is a difference between a decision (vote) by the Board and a position we take. Taking positions on bills can elevate the perception of the Board, reflect our expertise, and show leadership. We can also take positions on public policy issues that are not bills. The discussion was whether the Board should be unanimous in taking a position. We decided that we will make every effort to be unanimous.
When something occurs that calls for a Board reaction, the chair can make a statement on our behalf to the press. However, we will use e-mail to communicate, and every Board member will be asked to respond, at least as an acknowledgment.
B. Individual vs. Board Responsibilities
There is a fine line between statements we make in public reflecting our personal position on issues and speaking on behalf of the Board. However, the press and the public often have a perception that we speak for the whole Board. We should be especially careful about press releases.
C. Self-Evaluation and Evaluation of Staff
NASBE sent us a self-evaluation form for us to evaluate how our Board is doing.
In terms of evaluating our staff (Commissioner and Director of Board Relations), we should come up with a written evaluation form. We will utilize the new forms for next year's evaluation. We will ask the Commissioner to write up what he perceived our expectations of him to be and what he did. We will wait until we have the new evaluation form so we can use it to set goals for the next year. Since the new forms will not be done until July, we will do the Commissioner's evaluation in August.
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