February State Board News
All Quiet on the State Board Front
With the Legislature still in town, few were surprised that the
State Board meeting in February was relatively quiet and uneventful.
Between the contentious January meeting and this week, legislation
was introduced to alter the method of selecting State Board members
and/or alter the number of board members.
Board members on Wednesday expressed their unanimous opposition to that bill.
ESEA Review - Friday the 14th
With full confidence in their work KSDE staff will face a "peer
review" of the Kansas ESEA Accountability Plan on Friday, February
14. Six external reviewers will examine the Kansas plan during a
session that is preliminary to, and prerequisite for approval by
the US Department of Education.
KSDE staff reviewed the plan for the State Board. It explains how
Kansas will comply with 10 areas mandated by ESEA: all schools,
all students, AYP determination, subgroup accountability, academic
assessments, additional indicators, separate decisions for reading
and mathematics, system validity and reliability, participation
rate, and special situations.
Of high interest was AYP determination. As explained to the Board, Kansas will
do what is most advantageous to Kansas schools AND is legal. Accordingly, KSDE
will set 4 starting points, based on the lowest performing 20% of schools, using
2001 state assessment data. (Remember - Adequate Yearly Progress means the percentage
of students who score at the Proficient level and above on state assessments.)
Those starting points are:
K-8 reading - at least 51.2% of students must score proficient and above
9-12 reading - at least 44% of students must score proficient and above
K-8 mathematics - at least 46.8% of students must score proficient and above
9-12 mathematics - at least 29.1% of students must score proficient and above.
Following the peer review, a year-by-year set of benchmarks for each of the
4 starting points will be released. Schools will have until the 2013-2014
year to reach the 100% proficient goal mandated by ESEA. All schools in Kansas
will use the same benchmarks for AYP, as also required by ESEA.
Schools must report reading and mathematics scores, attendance rate, participation
rate in state assessments, and graduation rate (for high schools) for all
students and for the following disaggregated groups: students with disabilities,
LEP, economically disadvantaged (free and/or reduced price lunch), African
American, Hispanic, White, American Indian/Asian/Hawaiian, and multicultural.
That results in 45 potential ways to meet/not meet AYP each year.
In addition, ESEA requires each state to set a minimum group size for disaggregation.
Kansas will use 30 as that minimum group size. That means that there must
be 30 students in a subgroup to disaggregate the data for AYP purposes.
Following the peer review, it is expected that additional information will be
posted on the KSDE website, www.ksde.org
Teacher of the Year Team Honored
The eight members of the 2003 Kansas Teacher of the Year Team told the State
Board of Education what it's like to work today in Kansas schools. While focusing
on the "can do" qualities that teachers exhibit every day, they
also shared some of the frustrations and obstacles that make teaching difficult.
Members of the 2003 team are
Ruth Gharst, Olathe NEA, Teacher of the Year
Julie Bliese, Hays NEA
Barb Fowler, Emporia NEA
Nils Gabrielson, USD 266, Maize
Trey Harrison, El Dorado NEA
Jada Kohlmeier, DeSoto Teachers Association
Diane Liebsch, Atchison City NEA
Pam Tipton, NEA Seaman
Seeing R-E-D
Regional Educational Districts were the topic of a presentation to the State
Board by Dr. Sharol Little, Manhattan/Ogden, Ken Kennedy, Pratt, and Dr. Gary
Norris, Salina. They have already presented their plan to the House and Senate
Education committees.
Their premise is that local schools within REDs can provide educational services
to students while the RED provides consolidated administrative functions.
Money saved would go to increasing teacher salaries to the national average,
providing quality affordable health care, and offering additional educational
opportunities for students, according to the authors.
Each RED would serve approximately 11,000 students, resulting in about 40
REDs.
State Board members expressed interest in the plan. They see it, and other suggestions,
such as the 2001 Augenblick and Meyers plan on school consolidation, as useful
to their discussions around State Board goal 3, designing Kansas schools for
the 21st century. Those discussions will occur at future State Board meetings.
In other action, the State Board...
Received a progress report on the grade level specific mathematics and reading
standards
Approved an agreement for consolidation between USD 317, Herndon and USD 318,
Atwood, subject to voter approval
Approved 30 certification waiver requests for
o USD 202 - teacher out of field, special education
o USD 212 - teacher out of field, chemistry/physics
o USD 259 - 2 teachers out of field, special education
o USD 269 - teacher out of field, special education
o USD 315 - teacher out of field, special education
o USD 320 - teacher out of field, special education
o USD 335 - teacher out of field, reading
o USD 345 - extend days on emergency substitute
o USD 368 - teacher out of field, special education
o USD 379 - teacher out of field, special education
o USD 398 - teacher out of field, library media
o USD 407 - teacher out of field, special education
o USD 439 - teacher out of field, business education
o USD 453 - teacher out of field, special education
o USD 465 - 8 teachers out of field, special education
o USD 480 - teacher out of field, special education
o USD 481 - teacher out of field, library media
o USD 490 - 2 teachers out of field, special education
o USD 500 - administrator out of field, special education
o USD 609 - teacher out of field, special education
o USD 620 - teacher out of field, special education
Approved recommendations of Evaluation Review Committee for
o Haskell Indian Nations University - 1 program approved
o Southwestern College - 15 programs approved
o Sterling College - 11 programs approved
o Newman University - accredited
Approved 3 Ed-Flex waivers for USD 500
Approved requests for bond elections for
o USD 288, Central Heights
o USD 409, Atchison
o USD 465, Winfield
o USD 467, Leoti
School Accreditations Approved
The following schools were approved for accredited status:
USD 259 - Price/Harris Communication Magnet
USD 260 - Tanglewood elementary
USD 264 - Clearwater elementaries east & west, ms, hs
USD 306 - Southeast of Saline elementary, hs
USD 322 - Onaga elementary, hs
USD 329 - Paxico grade, Mill Creek Valley jhs
USD 330 - Mission Valley east & west elementaries, ms, hs
USD 353 - Lincoln elementary
USD 356 - Kyle Trueblood, Conway Springs ms, hs
USD 359 - Argonia elementary
USD 506 - Altamont, Barlett, Edna, Meadowview, Mound Valley elementaries
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