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Last Chance to Register for CCSSO's 2009 Annual Policy Forum
By Paul Ferrari
On October 30, registration will close for CCSSO’s 2009 Annual Policy Forum (APF) and Business Meeting, November 19–22, 2009, at the Naples Grande Resort and Club in Naples, Florida. The APF is designed to bring chiefs, deputies, and federal liaisons together to conduct the annual business of the Council. The forum will focus on the following:
- to review the chiefs’ four strategic priorities and call upon members to engage in a collective theory of action around those priorities;
- to discuss the policy effects of the chiefs’ strategic initiatives, the implications for collective state action, and their intersection with current federal opportunities; and
- to prepare the organization and the states to collectively act on the chiefs’ strategic priorities with a variety of key education policymakers in the coming year.
The deadline for registration is close of business Friday, October 30, 2009. For questions about the program or registration, please contact Bevin Kennedy at bevink@ccsso.org or 202-336-7014.
Headlines
Advocacy in Action
ED Holds Second in Series of ESEA Reauthorization Stakeholder Briefings
Reminder: CCSSO to Co-host Education Briefing on Birth to Five Education and Its Impact of High School Graduation
Education Newsbriefs
"Maine Special Education Overhaul Proposed" (ME)
"Changes Urged to Help N.Y. Students Succeed" (NY)
"Texas Leading the Way to Address Challenge of Reducing Dropouts" (TX)
"State Education Chief May Get New Intervention Powers" (WI)
"Schools Taking Part in Campaign to Give Swine-Flu Vaccine"
"U.S. Secretary of Education Calls on State Leaders to Become Partners for Child Education"
"Free Digital Resource Centers Coming Soon"
Advocacy in Action
ED Holds Second in Series of ESEA Reauthorization Stakeholder Briefings
On Oct. 21 the U.S. Department of Education (ED) held the second in a series of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Reauthorization Stakeholder Briefings titled “Promoting Innovation and Rethinking the Federal Role.” Assistant Secretary Carmel Martin introduced the session by posing two questions at the core of the discussion; How best can ESEA leverage federal resources to encourage innovation and how can reauthorization can shift the role of ED to be less compliance oriented? Asstistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Jim Shelton moderated a panel consisting of Stacy Childress of the Harvard Business School, Susan Patrick of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning and Warren Simmons of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. To view the transcript from this briefing click here. During their comments, Mr. Simmons suggested that the term “innovation” has come to mean only replication rather than promoting disruptive, widespread shifts in policy and practice; Ms. Childress commented that under the current No Child Left Behind Act innovation was limited to tweaking models that were already successful rather that searching for bold new ideas and Ms. Patrick discussed the need for a new focus on online learning and virtual schooling.
The CCSSO Advocacy team will continue to provide updates on these ED briefings.
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Reminder: CCSSO to Co-host Education Briefing on Birth to Five Education and Its Impact of High School Graduation
On Thursday, October 29, 2009, 12:00–1:30 pm EST, a panel of experts will discuss the latest research demonstrating the link between investment in high-quality early childhood programs and improvements in high school graduation rates.
Panelists include: Dr. Robert C. Pianta, Director of the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia; Dr. Jane Gutting, Superintendent of the Yakima School District (ESD 105) in Washington State; Dr. Paul Heckman, Co-director of the Capital Area North Doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of California, Davis; Doua Thor, Executive Director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, and Dr. Sonya Anderson, National Director of the First Five Years Fund.
The event is cosponsored by the National Council of La Raza, the National Black Child Development Institute, the National Alliance of Black School Educators and the CCSSO. To view a live webcast of the briefing on October 29, click here.
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Education Newsbriefs
Maine Special Education Overhaul Proposed
Bangor Daily News (ME) (10/23/09) Leary, Mal
A recent report on special education program spending in Maine by McKinsey & Co. reveals that 18,000 students in those programs cost the government $300 million, while 174,000 other students cost the government $830.8 million. Special education costs have increased by more than 6 percent, while general education spending has increased less than 3 percent. State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron says, "We have wide variations in identification, based on interpretation. If we can get greater agreement around identification, those are really the students that should be served. We are really trying to get a greater coherence and conformity of the interpretation of the evaluation criteria. The more you leave it vague; it will in fact lead to varied interpretations throughout the state." Gendron will propose modifying special education program assessment criteria.
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Changes Urged to Help N.Y. Students Succeed
Albany Star Gazette (10/23/09) Neumann, Roger
In a recent speech before teachers, principals, and superintendents at the annual conference of the New York Middle School Association, State Education Commissioner David Steiner focused on the need to help students succeed after graduation. "Too many of the students who have managed to reach Regents diploma level are still not able to succeed in community college or four-year college," he said. "We have to have an integrated, vertical aligned conversation in which the colleges have to be involved. These are conversations that I would be very, very keen to start." He noted that the curriculum has not changed much in recent decades, and he is concerned that the concentration on state assessment exams has affected what teachers teach. "We have a challenge to look at our curriculum frameworks, which ought to be the scaffolding and the core of our learning and teaching, and not make the assessments the curriculum by default. We have to make sure that when we hold teachers and students accountable for performance on these assessments, that these assessments absolutely embody the skills and knowledge set that our young citizens require and need for meaningful employment, for college readiness, for lifetime learning."
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Texas Leading the Way to Address Challenge of Reducing Dropouts
North Texas e-News (10/24/09)
Texas education officials say they have implemented many of the recommended strategies to lower the dropout rate, citing a new report from the National Governors Association, "Achieving Graduation for All." The report says state lawmakers and education departments need to boost maximum compulsory and allowable school attendance ages, develop systems to identify students most likely to drop out, create incentives and outreach strategies to grab the attention of those who already have dropped out, and offer different options for obtaining a diploma. In line with these recommendations, Texas has instituted a maximum compulsory attendance age of 18 and a maximum allowable school attendance age of 26, and the state also has incorporated dropout and graduation rates into the state accountability system. According to State Education Commissioner Robert Scott, "Texas believes it's important to hold schools accountable for students who drop out and that accountability has produced gains in the fight for our children's future." For a complete list of state dropout prevention and recovery programs, which includes Texas GEAR UP and the Collaborative Dropout Reduction Pilot Program, click here. To read the complete report from the National Governors Association, click here.
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State Education Chief May Get New Intervention Powers
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) (10/24/09) Hetzner, Amy
In Wisconsin, State Senate Education Committee Chair John Lehman (D-Racine) indicates that the state superintendent of public instruction should have additional regulatory powers over curriculum and personnel changes at failing schools. Although no formal legislation has been introduced, lawmakers generally support the idea, and current Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers would approve of additional authority over school boards. Evers noted the ability to implement new curriculum in certain schools, new instructional design, and professional development would be beneficial. Changing state law would provide Evers' office with greater authority, allowing him to intervene in struggling schools rather than threatening the loss of federal dollars.
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Schools Taking Part in Campaign to Give Swine-Flu Vaccine
Education Week (10/21/09) Vol. 29, No. 8, P. 6; Fine, Lisa
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 86 children have died from H1N1, and youngsters are among those hardest hit by the illness. Schools across the United States are mobilizing to ensure students are vaccinated against the disease, creating vaccination clinics. Schools, local health departments, and others are collaborating to ensure parents sign consent forms and all questions are answered so children can be vaccinated as soon as the vaccine is available. Children under age 10 will need two doses of the H1N1 vaccine one month apart to ensure adequate protection, and health officials also recommend they receive the seasonal flu vaccine. School districts likely will face logistical challenges given the quick turnaround for consent forms and the arrival of vaccine supplies.
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U.S. Secretary of Education Calls on State Leaders to Become Partners for Child Education
The Gov Monitor (10/21/09)
At the annual conference of the National Association of State Boards of Education, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said he wants to partner with state education leaders to boost student achievement and college graduation rates and reduce the achievement gap. Duncan said, "Education reform starts locally -- in classrooms, schools, districts, and states -- and my job is to help you succeed. I want to be a partner in your success, not the boss of it." He added, "As a nation, we need a federal voice encouraging our shared goal of success for every student and stimulating innovations to reach those goals." Duncan plans to focus on policies to narrow the achievement by putting highly qualified teachers in every classroom to transform the nation's lowest-performing schools, among other strategies.
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Free Digital Resource Centers Coming Soon
eSchool News (10/20/09) Stansbury, Meris
A partnership between the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is helping to establish digital teaching resource centers in several states. Taking into consideration state education standards and linking to student data systems, these digital teaching resource centers give teachers access to free educational materials to supplement the curriculum and help meet students' learning goals. CCSSO Executive Director Gene Wilhoit says the initiative began when he was Kentucky's education commissioner and embarked on an effort to create assessment and accountability systems for the state's schools. He says the department took advantage of Kentucky Education Television (KET) to offer classroom resources. "We had the KET and organizations and institutions, such as the state museum, digitize materials for students, and this was a big step. However, all of these components were not connected in any one place or organized in any way. I thought it would be a good idea if we could pool all of these resources together and link them to student data," remarks Wilhoit. "When I joined CCSSO, it was natural to want to help [other] states take on this type of project." Wilhoit says the project's success depends in part on the organization of these digital resources, and CCSSO and CPB are calling for organization by material type, targeted grade level, and related state standards or learning goals, among other categories. He notes, "[These data systems will provide a] new way of learning [that] will expand learning time, extend resources, and give students and teachers the ability to go on their own learning journeys."
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