'First of Spring' Marks Turning Point in Legislative Session for Education

While the first day of Spring finally here, the season's first Robin sighting is not :)  But signals from the Legislature show things are growing unseasonably warm early this Legislative Session.

As evidence, Minnesota's House Education Finance Committee will conduct a marathon 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight walk through of the 2011 Omnibus Education bill (HF934) on Monday, March 21st.  Public testimony will be taken early in the day, and expert observers believe Omnibus Bills from both the House and Senate could be completed this week-- which would be record speed for the Legislature.

According to the educationally-earnest folks at Parents United for Public Schools, other bills to watch this session include these, some of which may find their way into the Omnibus bill.  Each set of companion bills is followed by a few sentences on what I gleaned from the Revisor-provided draft of the House version. (Please don't blame me for trying :)

HF1187 Greiling (DFL-Roseville) | SF902 Stumpf (DFL-Thief River Falls) Governor’s Education Finance Bill

Deals variously with all-day kindergarten revenue (still optional for districts) , a new Governor's award for educational excellence, achievement gap innovation fund, lease aid for charter schools, and state levy accounting, among other matters.

HF273 (Woodard-R-Belle Plaine) | SF388 Nienow (R-Cambridge) Students at low-performing schools enrollment options established

Allows students of families at 175% of poverty or lower whose school does not meet certain performance criteria to enroll at nonpublic schools, and carry per pupil and transportation funding with them.  Effectively Minnesota's "school voucher" bill (Would take effect for the 2011-12 school year).

HF945 (Petersen-R-Andover) | SF636 Olson (R-Minnetrista) Teacher licensure, evaluations, and tenure modified

Article I: Teacher Evaluation & Professional Development- a 10-section article concerning:

Select Sections:
1. Commissioner reporting of school & student growth based on highly reliable statewide or districtwide assessments. (Not mentioned, but possibly applicable,  is the Common Core Assessments push being made at the national level.) (Would apply in 2012-13.)
2-5. Directs school boards to develop a professional development model, mentoring, & peer review for both probationary and continuing contract teachers for improving teaching & learning. (Applicable 2013-14.)
6. Proposes  a teacher evaluation structure including:

    A. teacher appraisal framework that identifies performance measures for determining teacher effectiveness
    B.  a mechanism for translating the performance data into a five-part teacher effectiveness rating scale
    C.  a four-tier status designation that identifies teachers as standard, advanced, distinguished, or exemplary based on a teacher's effectiveness rating over time.
(Section would be applicable the day following enactment.)

7. Requires  school boards to establish staff development advisory committees & site professional development teams-- the majority of whom must be teachers representing various grade levels, subject areas, and special education. The advisory committee must also include nonteaching staff, parents, and administrators.  (Section would take effect in 2013-14 school year.)

9. A school board and the school administrators in a district must collaboratively establish a professional development model for school administrators designed to:
provide professional development to effectively evaluate teachers and  identify systemic strengths and weaknesses within a school, among other things. (Section effective 7/1/2012)

Article II: Teacher Employment

Select Sections:
1. Requires annual school performance report card that includes teacher effectiveness ratings established in Article I. (Would be effective July 1, 2014)
2.  Annual contracts and evaluation plan for probationary teachers (under 3 yrs. service)
3-4. Concerns 5-year contracts awarded at end of probationary term & each successive 5 year period based on growth plans and teacher effectiveness system. (Effective 2014-15 and beyond.)
12. Teacher effectiveness based bonuses: Teachers with "distinguished" rating would receive annual bonus equal to 10% of base salary and those with "exemplary" rating could receive bonus equal to 20% of base salary. (Section w/b effective July 1, 2019.)
16. Establishes Advisory Task Force for implementing teacher evaluation structure. (Would be effective the day following enactment.)

HF947 (Erickson-R-Princeton) Alternative teacher pay system modified

Refines alternative teacher pay systems (like Q Comp) that  reform the traditional "steps and lanes" salary schedules.
For those with existing plans, requires reapplication by June 1, 2013.

HF329 (Bills-R-Rosemount) | SF577 (Thompson-R-Lakeville) Public school employees prohibited from using public funds and resources to advocate to pass, elect, or defeat a political candidate, ballot question, or pending legislation. 

No additional comments necessary.

HF638 (Myhra-R-Burnsville) School grading system created, school recognition program created, school report cards modified, rulemaking authorized, and report required.

Seeks to establish an "A to F" school and district grading system for identifying schools and districts where students are achieving low, medium, or high growth on statewide assessments.
Under this plan:

• 50% of a school's grade is based on disaggregated student data for those achieving proficiency in reading and mathematics the previous year
• 25% of the grade is based on whether students achieved low, medium or high growth on the previous year's reading and mathematics assessments
• 15% of the grade is based on students who did not achieve proficiency in the previous year's reading assessments
• 10% of the school's grade is based on students who did not achieve proficiency in the previous year's math assessments

(For HF 638, data could be collected on 2011-12 for rewards to be distributed in 2012-13.)
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It is common for legislators to say they often hear more from constituents on stadium bills than on education matters.  For those who think their input will be insignificant: 

Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher (D) and Rep. Paul Kohls (R) reinforced the value of constituent-initiated communication during a Midday with Gary Eichten discussion last December:

"The most powerful thing that a legislator receives today is a handwritten note from anyone," explained Kelliher, who shared the distinction with Kohls of being an outgoing legislator who had recently run for Governor. "The personal story ... the invitation to come out and visit, those sorts of things, do change legislators minds, even if you disagree with that person," Kelliher added.

In "broad bipartisan agreement," Rep. Kohls said constituent input clearly impacted "how he thought about the issues" before stating: "It's a pretty rare event for legislators to get more than a handful of comments on any one particular issue .... If I got 10 emails on any particular subject, that was a lot of noise made by my constituents ... so I hope people know that."

Take the US Dept of Education's Financial Literacy Challenge

8/17/11 Resource Addition: See this for gaming fun that enhances financial literacy skills. 

The US Department of Education proved it is about more than mandates & testing by reaching out to high school students with a voluntary 2011 financial literacy challenge from March 7 to April 8.

Designed to enhance the financial capability of student understanding in saving, budgeting, and investing--  the Challenge is open to any student (age 13-19) whose educator successfully registers, prepares students, and administers the online exam:  Financial Literacy Challenge Registration

From saving for college and retirement to managing expenses like cell phones, the exam tests a wide array of topics that together constitute a basic understanding of personal finance.

This joint Dept. of Education and Treasury Dept. outreach effort is consistent with current NCLB reauthorization efforts whose design is to make competitive grants to states & districts that provide a well-rounded curriculum in financial literacy, as well as environmental education, the arts, world languages, and history & civics.

Later this spring,  high-scoring students will be recognized in a national awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. The educators and students who place in the top 20 percent nationwide will receive official award certificates.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan offers remarks about the Challenge in this video:

Spring Break Rx: Find Your Student's MCA 'Learning Locator'

Minnesota public school parents interested in helping support their child's standardized test performance in math need to  think 'spring' a bit earlier this year, given the earlier opening of the testing window for the new online MCA III mathematics examination.

The state's education department is allowing districts to offer their math exams anywhere between 3/28 and 5/20-- two to three weeks earlier than normal--  for the 2010-11 school year.  Depending on their given district's individual timing decision, families may want to work on weaknesses identified in the previous administration of the exam, which Minnesota's Department of Education simplified by issuing  a "learning locator" number for each student taking the math and reading exams in 2009-10.

"Learning locators" are contained on the paper copy of the previous year's exam, and some school districts have placed them in their electronically accessible student data systems (District 621 among them). The number can then be entered on the linked Department of Education page to generate practice exercises in areas a student needs to strengthen:

'Learning Locator' MCA Practice in Math & Reading 

In addition to the earlier administration window of the MCA III math, it is also a brand new version of the exam believed to be more rigorous in terms of the algebra required at the 7th and 8th grade levels.

As the test instrument used to compute Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments are the assessment tool of choice for staying in compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The testing window for administering the paper and pencil reading MCA II exam is April 11- 29 this year.  (Scheduled rollout of the online version of the MCA III reading exam is Spring of 2013).

MCA Tests Administered in 2010-11 School Year

Subject/Grade	3-8	10	11
Mathematics	MCA III	--	MCA II
Reading	MCA II	MCA II	--
Science	5th & 8th	(Note 1)	(Note 1)

Note 1:  Minnesota students also take an MCA Science exam in the year they have a Life Science course.

Note 2:  The 10^th and 11^th grade reading and math exams are also graduation-standard exams each student must pass to receive a diploma.  It is possible to pass the MCA exam without passing the GRAD portion of the exam, and vice versa.  The new MCA III for 11th grade math is scheduled to be out in Spring 2014.

Note 3:  The MCA IIIs for science will be out in Spring 2012.  The 2011 test window for the Science MCA IIs is the same as math (March 28th  to May 20th).

Note 4: A majority of MN public school students take a series of NWEA (MAP) tests from grades 3 to 8, as well as a series known as the EXPLORE, PLAN, and ACT exams in the 8^th, 10^th, and 11^th grades.

 

Will "Sophia" Be a Game Changer for Educators?

Sophia uses instructor-recommended lessons at home-- & more effective community learning in class.
It's a win-win-win, for students, teachers, and parents alike.

Learning lovers, take note!  Today is "public rollout" day for Sophia, a brand-new online social teaching platform.

Judging from the reaction of educators at a January Minnesota Public Radio Forum in St. Paul, "Sophia"-- which is Greek for wisdom--  could be the perfect support structure for unleashing student learning in ways impossible just a few years ago. Sophia, at its core, harnesses Facebook, You Tube, and Twitter by having people voluntarily share what they know through the creation of "learning packets" for others to benefit from.

Given the connective power recently supplied by those very same platforms in the democratic renewals going on the Middle East, Sophia's being a 'game changer'  is a possibility to take seriously.

How?

Primarily by allowing educators to "flip" the relationship between work done in class and at home.

Fred Hennen, a middle school math teacher at Benilde-St. Margaret's in St. Louis Park, uses Sophia to do just that.  Employing an instructional approach he calls "backwards math," Hennen requests his students review video lectures at home, expecting them to come to class with the base knowledge gained.  Once at school, students have engaging community experiences around the material to be learned.

Says Hennen on the approach that also allows teachers to build better relationships with class members: "Students are getting the concepts behind the math (not just looking for the quickest route to answers); they are asking better questions;  they aren't afraid to ask for help when they get stuck; and they're enjoying math while working harder on it."

Hennen's success validates this assurance from Sophia Founder & CEO Don Smithmier: "We're not trying to replace the traditional courseroom in any way.  We're trying to augment the traditional classroom with some of the social media capabilities that could make that traditional classroom experience even better."

More instructional freedom sounds encouraging, but does the academic world really need another technological tool?  There are more new "things" than education can handle right now goes one rebuttal to the case for Sophia.

CEO Smithmier:  "Whether Sophia exists or not, we already have the same problem.  We've done the research , and there are over 3 million searches per month (on academic subjects) by students using the University of Google," he continued.  "Sophia is simply trying to get ahead of that by putting a fence around the Internet for an academic site only."

Sophia then takes additional steps to organize, sort, tag, & filter, before letting students evaluate and self-identified experts analyze-- to provide additional "seals of approval."

Sophia is totally FREE to any educator, student or person, and it also won't feature any commercial ad within the platform itself.  (Smithmier did add the site will feature soft "Made Possible By" messaging of corporate and foundation sponsors-- similar to that aired on public radio.)

The commercial side of Sophia will enter in when an entire institution or school district decides to take "administrative control, create private licenses, create firewall privacy, and customize what they are doing," according to Smithmier.

Still a Sophia skeptic?

Many traditional educators were on hand for the forum, which can be replayed in it's entirety here: UBS Forum on "Sophia"

Here is some of what they said:

"Sophia challenges teachers to think about how they are presenting by turning the concept that we're always teaching in the same direction on it's head."--- Mark Garrison, Instructional Technology Coordinator, White Bear Lake.

"It's a great resource for people to be more self-directed, responsible, and capable throughout life."-- David Ally, Director of Cyber Village Charter School.

"Sophia" meets kids where they are at, as it's simply not going to work to sit in front of the room and talk for 20 minutes."   The tool is "geared to to providing manageable bits of information kids can access quickly" .... "The internet is a huge world for students and Sophia really tries to narrow that to one source that's important."--- Rebecca Oberg, 10th grade Digital Media English Teacher at Roosevelt High School.

"We don't need 10,000 teachers in this country teaching each concept their own way every day.  (Sophia) shows content can be alive and provided in video and other engaging ways."-- Superintendent of West St. Paul Schools.

"Sophia helps alleviate a conundrum in education (by permitting students to learn lessons at different speeds).  The problem then becomes what you do with the five fast kids for organizing instruction.  It's an exciting set of questions to have to wrestle with."--- Assistant Superintendent from Burnsville district. 

"I have a reservation when anyone thinks they've got the new perfect "thing" in education.  What I like about Sophia is the attempt to blend many of the different tools and platforms together, to effectively provide it all."-- Keith Lester, Superintendent Brooklyn Center.

"The answer to education is NOT technology, it's people.   By enabling innovation, it allows more people to get involved and engaged."-- Don Smithmier, Sophia Founder & CEO.

Check out Sophia.  Here is an Official Press Release by the company.

MN's Revised Social Studies Standards Need Buy-In, Relevance & Modernization

5/18/11 Update: See Minneapolis Middle School's 2011-12 Testing of I Civics to Provide Head Start on Newly Revised MN Social Studies Standards.

As a proponent of quality social studies instruction, a proposal for the reissuance of related k-12 standards in Minnesota schools should have folks like me jumping for joy. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

With the global economic collapse of 2008 and the accelerating democratization of Middle Eastern nations changing the economic and political landscape right before our very eyes, many experts have correctly recognized the entirely new world in which we live, yet the first draft of MN's revised social studies standards  could've easily been written in 1961-- not 2011.

No one should fault education officials for wanting students to know it all, in their proposal for standards in geography, government & civics, economics, and U.S. and World History.  But it's the very fact that these subjects have all but fallen off the course offerings of elementary schools that make the draft proposal-- heavy laden in typical "standards speak"-- so unrealistic.

Most of Minnesota's primary schools are so crunched for course time they can hardly work in one academic quarter of one class period of instruction, so how do state officials expect schools to carve out time to meet new instructional strands in world history, geography, economics, and government & civics in the third grade, much less kindergarten?  And maybe you'll agree it might be a little out of order to ask a fourth grader to spend time pondering the merits of the opportunity costs associated with government tradeoffs.

View the Draft Document   under the Minnesota Revised Social Studies Standards First Draft section on the linked page. 

Besides the fact that events of the last few years have moved students an entire era away from much of what they would be expected to study under the revised standards, there are additional reasons to question the relevance of the standards draft. 

Nowhere in the revised draft are anything close to the two-word phrases environmental education or financial literacy mentioned, although the U.S. Department of Education did see fit to include these subjects as ones to reward states & districts by in its proposed reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.  Quite possibly, our highest ranking education officials realize that without civilization critical education in these two areas, future citizens really will be reading about ancient history when looking back to the current time.

A final critique has to do with that all-important concept of keeping students engaged in academic fields that  people generally appreciate more as they age, & not as much during their invincible, and often purposefully ignorant period of youth.   In history's case, it's about bringing life to a subject long-known for the rote memorization of dates.

Given the wide array of modern media delivery methods (e.g. C-Span, History Channel, podcasting, & websites from iCivics to Animated Atlas), maybe it's time for Minnesota's Education Department to recommend, if not expressly define, alternate methods for meeting standards in a given area.  For at the end of a student's k-12 career, perhaps the most important aptitude a graduating senior will take away is how to be a selective & wise public affairs consumer living in a sea of choice, as well as in a just-in-time (vs. just in case) learning society.

And until then .... to reemphasize an earlier point .... has anyone asked the affected instructors at our primary and secondary schools what standards might work?

The draft document referred to above offers a Submit Your Comments on the Draft section for teachers and laypersons to do just that.  You should also feel free to leave them at the end of this post, or by sending them to me directly.