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Posts Tagged ‘accountability’

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New Accountability Measures Released for Community Colleges

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) last week launched the Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA), a custom framework that allows 2-year colleges to measure student performance in areas such as college readiness, academic progress, and job placement. Community colleges have typically been assessed on the same measures as 4-year colleges and universities, which, according to AACC, do not always match the mission or characteristics of students at community colleges. The VFA will give community colleges specific metrics that will assess student progress and achievement, implementation of CTE programs and transparency in reporting outcomes.

AACC is asking its members to adopt the framework and is seeking endorsement from accrediting bodies and adoption by states and community-college systems. The framework will be available to all community colleges in 2012.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

By admin in Public Policy
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Legislative Update: FERPA, WIA, Race to the Top, ESEA

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Department Releases Final FERPA Regulations

The U.S. Department of Education released its final regulations for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act yesterday after soliciting public comments earlier this year. In a statement released by the Department, they stated that “The regulations announced today will strengthen the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by protecting the safety of student information, increasing the Department’s ability to hold those who misuse or abuse student data accountable and ensuring our taxpayer funds are invested wisely and effectively.”

We are still working through the regulations and will update you on anything that relates to CTE.

NSC Releases State-by-State Impact Analysis of Proposed Cuts to WIA

In their draft Labor-HHS-Education funding bill released last month, the House proposed to cut Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs by more than $1.9 billion for FY12. To help states better understand the impact of these cuts, the National Skills Coalition developed a state-by-state impact analysis of proposed cuts to the WIA Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth programs in FY12. Their analysis finds that as many as 6.5 million jobseekers would lose access to employment and training services if the House funding levels are enacted.

Seven States Apply for Third Round of Race to the Top Grants

As we told you last week, the nine runner-up states in the last round of Race to the Top grants are eligible to apply for the latest round of grants totaling $200 million. The seven states that submitted applications are: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. South Carolina did not submit an application, and California submitted an incomplete application, according to the Department of Education.

States will now have to submit a budget by December 16 for how they would use the grant and identify which part of their Round 2 application they want funded. The Department will announce the winners by the end of December.

Secretary Duncan Voices Concern about ESEA Draft

In a recent radio interview on Bloomberg EDU, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan expressed his concerns with the Senate’s draft ESEA bill. While the Department has been happy with the bipartisan process of crafting the bill, it is not happy with much of the bill’s content, especially teacher evaluation and accountability. However, Duncan hopes that this is just a starting point, and that the bill can be further strengthened:

“There are some good things in the bill, but you don’t want to walk away from accountability, you don’t want to walk away from focusing on achievement gaps, you don’t want to walk away from making sure we’re rewarding great teachers and great principals and shining a spotlight on excellence in education. So you want a good process, but at the end of the day you want really strong policy. And it’s early innings, obviously, in the bill that came out of the Senate HELP committee, and we think it can be strengthened going forward. So I applaud the work that’s gone on so far, clearly not a finished product, but a long way to go.”

 

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

 

By admin in Legislation, Public Policy
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Eleven States Submit ESEA Waiver Applications

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

Eleven states submitted applications to the U.S. Department of Education on Monday to obtain a waiver under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. These states’ applications will be examined by peer reviewers after Thanksgiving, and winning states will be notified by mid- January.

As part of their applications, states were asked to demonstrate how they plan to implement college- and career-ready standards and tie state tests to them; adopt a differentiated accountability system that focuses on the bottom 15 percent of schools; and craft guidelines for teacher- and principal-evaluation systems that will be based partly on student growth and be used for personnel decisions. The waivers will eliminate the 2014 deadline for bringing all students to proficiency in math and reading, eliminate NCLB sanctions for schools, and provide district officials with greater flexibility to use Title I funds.

Thirty-nine states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have signaled their intent to apply for an NCLB waiver. The next deadline for states to submit applications is in mid-February.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

 

By admin in Legislation
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Members of Congress Call for Better Data to Connect K-12 and Postsecondary Systems

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Several representatives from the federal, state and local governments convened this week to discuss the importance of linking K-12 and postsecondary data to support college and career readiness.

The Data Quality Campaign (DQC), a national effort to improve access and use of high-quality data in education, partnered with the College Summit, a non-profit organization, to facilitate the event. Despite enormous progress made by states in the last few years, the panelists agreed that high schools need more information on what happens to graduates in order to complete the feedback loop including whether students attend further education, take remedial courses, or earn a degree.

U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter (CA) strongly supports efforts to connect data to improve educational outcomes. He stated that “If there is no stick for the federal government to use, and I don’t think there should be, then how do you make sure the job is getting done? The answer is data.”

State Senator Rich Crandall (AZ) echoed Hunter’s support, and stated that data needs to be more accessible and user-friendly for teachers and parents. Crandall said that parents rarely demand the data that they should be demanding, and spoke of the need for more parental use of school data to make changes in education at the local level.

The increased connection of data between K-12 and postsecondary education would benefit both types of institutions. Feedback provided to high schools on student performance in higher education would show areas of weaker performance for students. With this information, the high school can reexamine its curriculum and make changes to benefit current and future students. From the postsecondary perspective, improvements to curriculum or instruction at the high school level could decrease the number of students requiring remedial coursework upon entering college.

As DQC staff noted, states have shown significant progress in their capacity for this type of work over the last 5 years. In 2005, only 12 states reported that they have the capacity to link K-12 and postsecondary data systems. By 2010, 44 states were able to link the two systems.

To view the archived webinar, click here. The event also accompanied the release of a white paper from the College Summit, Seizing the Measurement Moment.

Kara Herbertson, Education Policy Analyst

By admin in News, Publications, Research
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President Announces NCLB Flexibility Plan

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

This morning, President Obama revealed its waiver plan for states and districts to use in order to ease No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements. According to the White House, states can request flexibility from specific NCLB mandates as long as they are transitioning students, teachers, and schools to a system aligned with college- and career-ready standards for all students, developing differentiated accountability systems, and undertaking reforms to support effective classroom instruction and school leadership. The flexibility package announced today was developed with input from chief state school officers from 45 states.

“To help states, districts and schools that are ready to move forward with education reform, our administration will provide flexibility from the law in exchange for a real commitment to undertake change. The purpose is not to give states and districts a reprieve from accountability, but rather to unleash energy to improve our schools at the local level,” President Obama said.

The flexibility package will begin to have an impact during the 2011-2012 school year, and will have increasing impact in subsequent years. However, this plan is intended to be a temporary fix until Congress reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

For more details on the flexibility package, see the U.S. Department’s website.

By admin in Legislation, Public Policy
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Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Applications Now Available

Monday, September 19th, 2011

The U.S. Department of Education has announced the 2012 competition for the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Program. Grants will range from $1 million to $5 million and will last for a three-year period. Final amounts will depend on the final appropriation and state applications.

State education agencies that did not receive an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant are eligible to apply. The grants require states to develop and implement statewide data systems containing the elements specified in the America COMPETES Act. This year’s grants also require states to focus their grant applications on one of the following three priorities:

  1. Early childhood: Grants under this priority may be used to develop and link early childhood data with the state’s K–12 data system. This coordinated early learning data system must include the child, program, and workforce data elements described as Essential Data Elements in the Race to the Top–Early Learning Challenge program. Maximum grant award $4 million.
  2. K–12: Grants under this priority may be used to design, develop, and implement a statewide, longitudinal kindergarten through grade 12 data system. Maximum grant award $5 million.
  3. Postsecondary and/or workforce: Grants under this priority may be used to develop and link postsecondary and/or workforce data to the state’s K–12 data system. At a minimum, this must include the postsecondary data required by the America COMPETES Act elements, and “states are encouraged to develop their own postsecondary data and not simply purchase this data from an organization external to the agencies partnering under this application.” Maximum grant award $4 million.

Within each priority area, states must use grant funds to address minimum capacity requirements in three categories: governance and policy requirements, technical requirements, and data use requirements.

Applications are due December 15, 2011. The anticipated start date for the grants is May 1, 2012.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

By admin in Public Policy
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Legislative Update: Appropriations, ESEA

Friday, September 16th, 2011

House Introduces Continuing Resolution to Fund Government through November

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday introduced a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government running beyond the end of the fiscal year, September 30. The bill, H.J.Res 79, would fund the government at a rate of $1.043 trillion. This figure represents the amount to which Congress and the Obama Administration agreed in the recent debt-ceiling deal. This is a 1.409% cut from the fiscal year 2011 level, and would mean a cut to Department of Education discretionary programs of $962 million. If passed, the CR will expire on midnight, November 18, 2011.

CTE Highlighted in House Hearing on School Accountability

The House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing, “Education Reforms: Examining the Federal Role in Public School Accountability” which examined the appropriate federal role in accountability, namely the Adequate Yearly Progress requirement in ESEA. During the hearing, Rep. Glenn Thompson (PA), co-chair of the Congressional CTE Caucus, asked the panel how they think Congress should define “college ready.” The witnesses agreed that all students should be prepared for higher level math, science and reading, because many careers today require it. Alberto Carvalho from Miami-Dade Public Schools said that while every student should be prepared for college, it should not be done at the expense of “demonizing” CTE. He went to say that CTE in this country has been wasted and that we as a country need to recognize the value of CTE if we want to remain competitive.

Bills Introduced

Senate Republicans Introduce ESEA Bills

This week, a group of Republican Senators — Sens. Lamar Alexander (TN), Richard Burr (NC), Johnny Isakson (GA), and Mark Kirk (IL) — introduced a series of bills that would reauthorize key pieces of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. These bills would address what the Senators view as major problems with the current law by giving states and local school districts greater flexibility to:

• Improve state accountability systems
• Improve teacher and principal professional development programs
• Consolidate federal education programs to give state and local education leaders more freedom in meeting local needs
• Expand the number of charter schools

For more details on each bill, please see this press release from Sen. Alexander.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

By admin in Legislation, Public Policy
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Duncan to Grant Waivers from NCLB Requirements

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

Due to Congress’ failure to act on reauthorization, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it plans to offer states relief from some of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act in exchange for states’ support of the Administration’s education reform policies.

Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council, said during the announcement, “America’s future competitiveness is being decided today, in classrooms across the nation. With no clear path to a bipartisan bill in Congress, the President has directed us to move forward with an administrative process to provide flexibility within the law for states and districts that are willing to embrace reform.”

States will be given the opportunity to apply for a waiver from certain requirements in the law. These applications will be peer reviewed by individuals outside of the Department, but the final decision will belong to Secretary Duncan. The waivers would take effect during the 2011-2012 school year. Further details about the waivers will be released in September. However, rumors are swirling that states would be given waivers from NCLB’s 2014 proficiency deadline and more funding flexibility, in exchange for adopting college- or career-ready standards, creating differentiated accountability systems, and adopting teacher evaluation systems.

While the Secretary has clear legal authority to grant waivers from the law, it is not clear that he has the authority to make them conditional on support for the Administration’s reform policies.

By admin in Legislation
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Sec. Duncan and House Committee Clash Over NCLB Waivers

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

Weeks ago, we reported U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s threats to waive parts of the outdated No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) if Congress does not reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) before the start of the next school year.

Since then, members of Congress have questioned Duncan’s assertion and his right to grant waivers to states in exchange for a commitment to follow initiatives that he champions. Rep. John Kline (MN), Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Rep. Duncan Hunter, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, disapproved of Duncan’s actions and requested more information on Duncan’s plan.

Secretary Duncan provided a response this week. In his letter to Rep. Kline and Rep. Hunter, Duncan explained that any instance of overriding the current system would provide only a temporary fix until the House completes reauthorization of ESEA. Duncan wrote that “I am convinced that current law increasingly is discouraging [states] from implementing important State and locally developed reforms and other innovations to the detriment of students.” He also explained that ESEA was due for reauthorization in 2007, and the Department of Education must move forward with more innovative options for education reform that did not exist at the time that NCLB was enacted.

While Duncan’s letter described his reasons for issuing waivers, he did not provide details on the waiver plan, such as when waivers would be reviewed or enacted. He did mention that state and local input will be considered.

After receiving Duncan’s response, Rep. Kline’s spokesperson stated that “It is disappointing the secretary continues to elude questions about his plan… Instead of touting murky alternatives, the secretary should lend his support to the House Education and the Workforce Committee’s ongoing efforts to advance targeted education legislation.”

Today, the Committee expects to release its third in a series of five bills intended to reauthorize ESEA. Secretary Duncan has already stated disapproval of the third bill.

Read more about the third bill from the House Committee, which aims to provide increased funding flexibility as part of ESEA reauthorization, in tomorrow’s Legislative Update from NASDCTEc.

By admin in Legislation, News, Public Policy
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Senate, House Committee Staff Discuss Direction for Accountability in ESEA

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

At a briefing yesterday on Capitol Hill, staff members from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and the House Education and the Workforce Committee spoke about the school turnaround process and the new direction of accountability in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

A staff member of the Senate HELP Committee expressed support for the accountability roadmap designed by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) as a model for states to follow when creating accountability systems (Read more about CCSSO’s accountability roadmap on the NASDCTEc blog). Systems modeled after the roadmap would still be required to meet high standards, but they would also be provided with more feedback and support to help schools make continuous improvements. The staffer commented that the HELP Committee would still focus on performance targets in ESEA reauthorization but that targets will be more realistic. To improve the school turnaround process, the staffer said that starting points for the Committee include looking at data, autonomy, school readiness, community buy-in, and student supports.

A staff member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee found a great deal of common ground in the House and the Senate’s views on ESEA reauthorization, but he said that the fundamental difference is in what each sees as the appropriate role of federal government in education. According to the staffer, the Committee is first looking at the progress made at the state and local level, and attempting not to interfere with this progress. The Committee’s primary concern is deciding for what schools should be accountable and to whom they should be accountable.

Both Committees agree that data collection and analysis are key components of the school improvement process.

The House is expected to present an accountability bill this fall that will be the fifth and final piece of its ESEA reauthorization package. So far, the House has approved the first and second bills in this series.

By admin in News, Public Policy
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