October State Board News
Impressive Gains in Test Scores
The board received the 2004-2005 results from assessments in reading,
mathematics, history/government and science. This year's results were
impressive by themselves, but the five year trend data can be described
as outstanding.
The assessments in reading given in the 5th, 8th and 11th grades shows clearly
that Kansas is closing the achievement gap between white and minority students.
Over the 5 year period the achievement gap has closed significantly. Please
see the entire report at http://www.ksde.org/pressreleases/2005_assessment_release.htm
Significant gains were made by all disaggregated groups. Of particular importance
are the gains made in reading by ESL students during the five year period. 5th
grade reading scores improved 46%, 8th grade reading scores improved 44% and
11th grade reading scores improved the test scores 33% during the 5 year assessment
time.
Participation rates for all four assessments were excellent with
the lowest rate being 96.6% in Science to a 99.9% participation
rate in Mathematics.
Highly Qualified Teachers
The percentage of teachers who qualify for the Highly Qualified Designation
under NCLB continues to be very good for Kansas. Across the state
97.3% of the Elementary Teachers qualify for the Highly Qualified
Designation while 95% of the Content Area teachers qualify for HQ
designation. There are currently 39,859 teachers in the state of Kansas.
New Commissioner
Bob Corkins was appointed the new Commissioner of Education on a 6-4
vote by the State Board of Education. Board Member Ken Willard was
not present at the board meeting, but was connected by conference
call to the meeting in order to vote. Mr. Willard did not stay on
the phone for the rest of the meeting.
Board Approves Recommendations of Practices Commission
The board upheld the findings of the Practices Commission to deny
the license applications to three people and to revoke the licenses
of two others. The vote was 9-0.
Listen to Board Meeting Live
The board approved a three month pilot to have the SBOE meetings broadcast
live by audio streaming. The broadcast will start in December and
will be broadcast by Can Ed. The pilot was approved on a 7-2 vote
with Waugh and Wagnon voting no.
To access the board agenda and materials please go to http://www.ksde.org/commiss/oct_05_brd_materials.pdf
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