At the State Board Meeting on Thursday, it was reported that FAFSA changes are coming in 2017-2018 school year. Students/Parents who apply will be able to start their FAFSA in October 2016 and will be able to use that year’s taxes when filling out the FAFSA for 2017/2018 school year.
I have to say that I am very disappointed that the state may not take the recommendations of the Accountability Framework Working Group who met for over a year and a half. Instead, they are doing exactly what Donna Johnson with the State Board and the Governor’s Office wanted which was stronger penalties for schools who fell below the 95% Smarter Balanced state assessment participation rate.
I was at the last two meetings of the AFWG and I heard first hand what the Governor’s Office wanted; stronger penalties to be placed on our schools. Donna Johnson stated that the State Board was probably not going to approve the final recommendations that the group made. She indicated that the State Board would want stronger penalties as well. Really, how did the State Board come to that conclusion because they were not at the meetings. How would Donna know that they would not agree with these recommendations because the group just decided on the recommendations?
The AFWG recommended that if a school fell below 95 percent it would be required to submit a report explaining why that happened and how to improve participation and that school could not be named a reward school. The group decided on this penalty because it would cause the least amount of damage to a school. The group would have preferred not to put any penalties in place, but the state told the group it was mandated by the feds.
The group members consisted of school administrators from charter and traditional schools, the Delaware PTA , the Delaware State Education Association, and the State Board. The entire group, except for one, did not want to punish schools because the administrators at a school have no control as to whether or not a student takes the state assessment. If a parent wishes to opt their child out of the state assessment, a school has no control over that, so why does the state want to punish that school for something a school has no control over?
In an effort to ensure as many students as possible are taking the state standardized test, the state Department of Education is recommending schools lose points on a new “scorecard” if fewer students than expected take the exam.
That’s a harsher penalty for schools with low participation rates than a panel of administrators and teacher and parent advocates recommended.
Their plan, which the Working Group had previously rejected, would multiply a school’s score by its participation rate if that rate fell below 95 percent.
“The state feels this is a fair proposal that takes into consideration participation, crediting schools that work to ensure every child’s learning growth is considered,” May wrote.
There is a Funding Student Success Meeting tomorrow at Baltz Elementary School from 2:00 until 4:00.
Delaware Online posted an article: Opt-out penalty for DE school considered. It is frustrating enough to know we are going to label our schools once again, but now we are going to penalize them as well. Schools and districts have no control over a parent who decides to opt their child out of the state assessment, so why should we hold a school or district accountable? The feds are requiring states to penalizing schools and districts for low participation rates and AFWG members were assigned to come up with the penalty; they selected the least destructive penalty. At this time, we are not sure if the Governor or the State Board will agree.
At the last AFWG meeting the members decided on the following:
As I said in an earlier post, I got the impression that the Governor wanted certain things to come out of this group and I got the same impression from the State Board representative.
I will say it again, why do you put these committees/groups in place and waste their valuable time away from their schools if we are not going to listen to them, they are the experts. I hope the Governor and the State Board will respect the opinion of the experts and keep the final recommendations from the Accountability Framework Working Group as is.
DESS Advisory Committee (stakeholder group) agreed with the AFWG recommendations, it will be interesting to see what happens next, will the recommendations stay the same?
I really appreciate all the discussion going on during the Funding Student Success Committee, I have attended every meeting including the working group meetings. I am very concerned about the timeline that has been assigned to this committee and to the overall commission with regards to developing a total plan. The State Board is receiving an update at their October 15 meeting on the plan, (where are we) including the Funding Student Success plan, the plan is nowhere near done. The Funding Student Success committee has only met three times. I know everyone involved has wonderful intentions and believe in what they are doing, I just do not think there is enough time to get what they want and need done before the final recommendations/plan are due to the State Board.
I attended the AFWG Meeting Number 16 yesterday. There were 10 committee members present and 3 members of the public in attendance. Secretary Godowsky popped in and sat in the meeting for a while and thanked everyone for participating. It was really nice seeing the Secretary of Education at this meeting, this was the second time I have seen the Secretary popping into a meeting.
The next steps: share the recommendations with DESS Advisory Committee (stakeholder group), which happened today, State Board will review and hopefully accept recommendations as presented (State Board representative indicated the board may not accept the recommendations as presented), and then the approved recommendations from the State Board are sent to US DOE.
The members stated again to DOE, what supports are going to be provided to the schools once a school is labeled? We label the schools but there are really no supports in place.
A school can become a Focus, Focus Plus, Priority, Action, Watch, Reward, Recognition, or a Blue Ribbon School.
The group was made up of district and charter administrators, a PTA, a DSEA, and a State Board representative. Most of them really did not like labeling the schools especially with no permanent supports in place. I really appreciated the conversation of the group. The group made it clear over and over that they did not like the system but knew most of it was being driven by the feds.
During the conversation, I got the impression that the Governor wanted certain things to come out of this group and I got the same impression from the State Board representative. Why do you put these committees/groups in place and waste their valuable time away from their schools if we are not going to listen to them, they are the experts. I hope the Governor and the State Board will respect the opinion of the experts and keep the final recommendations from the Accountability Framework Working Group as is. It will be interesting to see what the State Board does at their October 15th meeting.
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