The Kansas City, Missouri School District’s Board of Education met Wednesday evening, March 13. From a policy standpoint, the highlights of their agenda were:

• An update on the district’s efforts to regain accreditation under the state’s new Missouri School Improvement Program 5 (MSIP 5) requirements;
• A plan classifying schools as “Green, Yellow, or Red” and explaining improvement interventions based on each building’s classification;
• An update on budgeting for the 2013-2014 academic year projecting decreases in state aid, revenues and expenditures.

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The KC Education Enterprise has a new sister site, KC Education Research Updates, with occasional news from researchers and neuroscientists of interest to educators.

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The Missouri State Board of Education met Tuesday evening, Jan. 22. From a policy standpoint, the highlights of their agenda were:

• Unanimously voted to amend rule 5 CSR 20-400.280 governing required assessments for professional education certification
• Unanimously voted to support legislation that would allow schools to treat policies and planning addressing school safety issues as as closed records under the state sunshine law
• Received a report on bills relating to education under consideration in this year’s state legislative session
• Voted unanimously to adopt rule 5 CSR 20-100.255 governing the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) 5 resource and process standards
• Voted unanimously to amend rule 5 CSR 20-300.120, Missouri State Plan for Part C of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
• Voted unanimously to amend rule 5 CSR 20-300.110, Missouri State Plan for Part B, Regulations Implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

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http://www.123rf.com/photo_359273_humorous-photo-of-a-wild-turkey-carrying-an.html

The Missouri State Board of Education and five local school boards met during the fifth week of November.

Kansas

Kansas City

Highlight:

• Reviewed proposed platform for 2013 session of the state legislature.

Shawnee Mission

Highlights:

• Unanimously voted to approve a report on the district’s annual fiscal audit.
• Considered re-adopting a district policy governing the “School Board Legal Status.”

Missouri

State Board of Education

Highlights:

• Unanimously elected Stan Archie president and Peter Herschend vice president of the board for the coming year. Herschend is from Branson and Stan Archie is from the Kansas City metropolitan area. According to the board web site, “Rev. Stan Archie, Kansas City, was appointed to the State Board in December 2006.  He is senior pastor of the Christian Fellowship Baptist Church.  He serves as board chairman of the Kansas City Leadership Foundation and owner and principal consultant with Successful Edge Consultants.   Archie earned a degree in divinity and organizational leadership at Calvary Bible College and a master’s degree in education at MidAmerica Nazarene University.”
• Received an a report on turnaround efforts for recipients of federal School Improvement Grants. According to the U.S. Department of Education website, districts receiving such grants “demonstrate the greatest need for the funds and the strongest commitment to use the funds to provide adequate resources in order to raise substantially the achievement of students in their lowest-performing schools.”
• Received an annual report on the performance of educator preparation programs in the state.
• Received an update on the efforts to develop an assessment for candidates training for careers in education.
• Unanimously voted to revise rules governing “Basic Educator Competencies Required Prior to Admission to Approved Teacher Education Programs in Missouri.
• Unanimously voted to adopt rules governing “Procedures and Standards for Approval and Accreditation of Professional Education Programs in Missouri.”
•  Unanimously voted to adopt rules governing “Standards for Charter Sponsorship”
• Unanimously voted to amend rules governing “Missouri State Plan for Part B, Regulations Implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).”
• Unanimously voted to adopt rules governing “General Provisions Governing Programs Authorized Under the Early Childhood Development Education and Care.”

Kansas City

Highlight:

• Voted unanimously to approve leasing Moore School to W.E.B. DuBois Learning Center, Inc.

North Kansas City

Highlight:

• Unanimously approved a proposed platform for the 2013 session of the state legislature.

Raymore-Peculiar

Highlights:

• Unanimously voted to accept the annual fiscal audit report.
• Received a report on the district’s compliance with the new Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) 5 scoring guide.
• Heard a report on sequestration and considered the National School Boards Association Sample Resolution for School Boards Regarding Sequestration. 
• Heard a report from Superintendent Jeff Kyle including information on grading policies (such as grading on the curve) that do not accurately reflect student academic effort.

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Photo Credit: JoLynne Walz Martinez

Seventeen local school boards met last week.

Art Credit: JoLynne Walz Martinez

Kansas

Basehor-Linwood

Highlights:

• Heard a School Resource Officer update
• Heard an enrollment update (School funding is based on enrollment)
• Considered proposed changes to district policies

Blue Valley

Highlights:

• Approved a name for the 143rd Street campus. It will be known as the Blue Valley Hilltop Campus. Acquisition of this $9 million property was the district’s first expenditure of proceeds from the sale of school bond debt approved by voters this year. The campus will be home to the Early Childhood Education Center and will have adaptive facilities for use in early childhood special education programs.

De Soto

Highlights:

• Discussed offering financial incentives to staff members in order to encourage energy savings. Utility bills are one of a district’s largest expenses.
• Heard a report about interviews underway with school principals to determine what capacity each building has for classroom space and what buildings could be better utilized.

Gardner-Edgerton

Highlights:

• Considered district administration’s request to approve bid contracts for building the new middle school. Funds to construct the new school will come from the sale of school bond debt approved by voters this year.

Kansas City

Highlights:

• Routine responsibilities of governance

Lansing

Highlights:

• Heard an update on the $73 million school bond election that the Kansas State Board of Education approved last month. In addition to approving the sale of these bonds, the state board granted approval for the district to exceed its debt limit. If voters approve the bond sales, property taxes in the district will increase.
• Considered approving proposed changes to district policies.

Piper

Highlights:

• Held an afternoon work session to discuss district administration’s proposal to ask voters to approve the sale of $3.8 million in school bond debt. Bonds would be used to add classroom space to make room for growing numbers of students. Projections show district enrollment exceeding building capacity by the 2017-18 school year. If voters approve the bond sale, property taxes in the district will increase.
• Heard a report on district enrollment this fall. School funding from the state is based on enrollment.
• Discussed the transition to Common Core Standards, which are supposed to be more challenging than the academic standards they are replacing.
• Considered approval of proposed district policy changes on topics such as “Drug Free Workplace,” “Computer and Device Use” and “Truancy.”
• Went into executive session to discuss property acquisition. Although school boards — as government entities — are required to conduct most of their business in public, there are some topics they are allowed by law to discuss privately. One of those is the purchase of real estate, in order to prevent sellers from raising prices in anticipation of a sale.

Shawnee Mission

Highlights:

• Considered a proposal to save money for the district by refinancing existing school bond debt.
• Considered revising district policies on topics such as “Staff Hiring” and “Reporting Child Abuse/Child Protection.”

Spring Hill

Highlights:

• Approved paying WaterOne $23,600 to install a water main to connect the new Wolf Creek Elementary, which is currently under construction. Although the board approved this expense, board member Chuck R. Willis abstained and Chris King voted “no.”
• Heard an update on construction at the Wolf Creek site as well as expansion at Prairie Creek Elementary and other district building projects.
• Discussed the cost of establishing a private district police force.
• Announced a public discussion of proposed district boundary changes. The public meeting will take place from 6:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, prior to the regular school board meeting.
• Considered revising district policies related to computer use as well as separate internet policies for students and staff.

Missouri

Belton

Highlights:

• Considered revising district policies.

Excelsior Springs

Highlights:

• Routine responsibilities of governance

Fort Osage

Highlights:

• Considered revising a list of district policies such as “Reporting Child Abuse,” “Concussions/Brain Injury” and “Service Animals in Schools”
• Heard a report on district enrollment. (State funding is based on the number of students enrolled).
• Heard an update on projects funded by school bond debt approved by voters.
• Set a date for the annual property tax levy hearing, which will take place Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 5 p.m.

Independence

Highlights:

• Approved tuition rate for out-of-district students for current school year.
• Considered recommendation from task force for naming new elementary school being constructed with proceeds from sale of school bond debt approved by district voters.
• Heard update on all district projects funded by school bond sales.

Kansas City

Highlights:

• Held property tax rate hearing.
• Considered approving proposal to keep the property tax at last year’s rate
• Considered revising a district policy regulating “Policy Compliance”

North Kansas City

Highlights:

• Heard an update on Missouri’s new district certification program.

Park Hill

Highlights:

• Considered the annual re-adoption of the district’s policy relating to “Board Member Conflict of Interest and Financial Disclosure”
• Heard update on Missouri’s new district certification program

Raytown

Highlights:

• Heard an energy savings report. Utility payments are usually one of the largest expense items for a district.
• Considered spending $21,000 to hire a consultant who would assist the district in writing an application for a Race to the Top (RTTT)  grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Nearly 900 districts are applying for 15-25 grants. Those districts winning this grant-application lottery would receive four-year awards in amounts ranging from $5 million to $40 million. According to Raytown Associate Superintendent Janie Pyle, this latest round of RTTT grants will go to districts demonstrating “how they can personalize education for all students and is aimed squarely at classrooms and the all-important relationship between teachers and students.” The grant writer under consideration is an employee of leading educational textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Applications are due by Tuesday, Oct. 30, and the federal government plans to announce grant recipients in December.

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This just in from the Missouri State Department of Education:

Missouri State Board of Education Supports MSIP 5 Scoring Guide

New guide supports higher standards to increase academic achievement

The State Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday stating its support for the new Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) 5 Scoring Guide.

After more than two years of working with parents, educators, associations, education experts and school district leaders, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education presented its new scoring guide, which outlines its methods of creating each school district’s Annual Performance Report (APR) — the tool used by the state to determine a school district’s accreditation. State Board members discussed the impact of the new scoring guide and the advantages of the new system.

“Missouri is better off today because we required higher standards 20 years ago when MSIP started,” said Board President Peter F. Herschend. “This is the next generation of those higher standards. We’re moving in the right direction.”

MSIP 5, the fifth version of the standards, aims to raise academic achievement for all students in Missouri. MSIP 5 is designed to take Missouri to the top 10 states in education by 2020. The Board adopted the more rigorous standards in December 2011, and schools will be held accountable for the higher standards in MSIP 5.

Schools will have multiple ways of achieving the standards including showing student progress and/or evidence of student growth. Because accreditation is based on multiple years of data, MSIP 5 will be used for accreditation purposes beginning in the 2014-2015 school year. School and district APRs generated during the transition from MSIP 4 to MSIP 5 will be used to inform each school and district of its progress toward meeting or exceeding the state targets.

The Department was more transparent than ever before in explaining how it plans to score schools using multiple measures of data. One of the MSIP policy goals includes: “Empowering all stakeholders to act in a manner appropriate to their roles.” The program provides clear and accurate reporting at the state and local levels as a primary tool to assist administrators in focusing on specific areas for improvement.

MSIP 5 Scoring Guide Presentation

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Charter schools are public schools that operate independently of traditional school districts. The schools are held to performance standards by their sponsor or a governing board. Students at charter schools still take the statewide Missouri Assessment Program test but are not subject to MO School Improvement Program accountability procedures.

Legislators have been attempting to hold charter schools to the same standards as traditional public schools. Charter school performance by state testing standards is as varied as performance of traditional public schools, but the laws regulating charter schools are more relaxed. Charter schools are not required to report their financial status, an issue that recently played a role in the state voting to close six charter schools in St. Louis.

The charter schools would be required to report their financial and performance data to the sponsor of the school, which would be responsible for intervention. Sponsors have the option to intervene immediately or close a school if standards are not met.

The bill makes several other changes in the current law regarding charter schools, such as:

• Allowing a charter school to be sponsored anywhere in the state. Charter schools are currently only allowed in St. Louis and Kansas City.
• Allowing charters to be sponsored by any four or two-year university, vocational or technical school or the Missouri Charter Public School Commission, an entity created by the bill.
• Removing the restriction that four-year colleges or universities can only sponsor charters in the county where they are located.
• Mandating that only 35 percent of students in an accredited district containing more than 1500 students can be enrolled in a charter school. There is no restriction on districts under 1500 students.
• Increasing the performance standards required in the school’s charter to include completion of an annual report card, defining a measure for student progress and publication of an annual performance report.

Before the vote, representatives discussed their concerns about the bill. Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, said he was concerned that the bill would eliminate due process for people being denied a charter. The bill removes the judicial review process for denying sponsorship for a charter and allows the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to decide whether a charter will be denied.

“Every other avenue I can think of where the state licenses people, those people have the option of judicial review,” Barnes said.

This concern was combated by Earl Simms, director of communications for the Missouri Charter Public School Association, who said the judicial review process was removed because of the concern about potential lawsuits down the road.

While this bill would not create charter schools, the bill’s sponsor Sen. Bill Stouffer, R-Napton, said it provides another option for rural school districts that are trying to avoid consolidation or districts where there is demand for an alternative form of public education. According to a poll presented by Students First, a student advocacy organization, 69 percent of Missourians supported expanding charter schools outside of St. Louis and Kansas City.

Charter school accountability was mentioned in Gov. Jay Nixon’s State of the State address as one of the major education issues of the current session. Other education policy issues include public school funding and dealing with the unaccredited St. Louis and Kansas City school districts. The bill will now go to the House floor for debate and, if no changes are made, it will go to the governor.

Link to bill:  SB576

Art Credit: KC Education Enterprise | Illustration Credit: 123rf stock image | Logo: Kansas City, Missouri School District

At midnight on Saturday, people throughout the metro area rang in the New Year. But more than 16,000 students in the Kansas City, Missouri district had little reason to celebrate, because they are no longer attending accredited schools.

To earn accreditation, public schools in Missouri must meet standards set by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Just a few weeks ago, the Missouri State Board of Education approved MSIP 5, which is a new, more exacting set of standards.

Because Kansas City, Missouri was unable to meet standards set by MSIP 4 — the earlier, less-exacting requirements — the state Education Commissioner announced last fall the district would lose accreditation on January 1, 2012.

Kansas City, Missouri students who finish their high school coursework will still receive valid diplomas and will be eligible to apply to college. The lack of accreditation will not change that. Actually, lack of accreditation will not change much for students who stay in the district.

Most significantly, what will remain unchanged is the lack of academic success for district students. One factor in this lack of success is related to the schools. Another factor is related to the home. More than 80 percent of students in the district are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, which means they live in disadvantaged households. Such students often do not have family members who are college graduates and who can serve as role models. Also, disadvantaged students often do not have the financial resources to attend college.

College admission officers decide whether to accept students from unaccredited high schools. There is no legal reason why they may not do so. Home-schooled students and those who attend private schools not accredited by the state also are eligible to apply for college admission. In addition to taking high school coursework into consideration, colleges also consider portfolios, recommendations and standardized test scores.

Of course, to attend college, one must have a high school diploma or at least pass a General Education Development (GED) test. Unfortunately, fewer than 60 percent of Kansas City, Missouri students graduated from high school last year. In contrast, the graduation rate for each district suing to prevent the transfer of students from Kansas City, Missouri is 85 percent or greater.

But just because students have graduated doesn’t necessarily mean they will enter college. Missouri officials want to increase the college readiness of high school graduates, so the state tracks those entering public institutions of higher education. Statewide, about 73 percent of students who enter college re-enroll for a sophomore year. However, students who graduate from Kansas City, Missouri public schools seem much more poorly prepared. Only about 200 graduates enter college, and only about 125 continue on for a second year. That’s a re-enrollment rate of only about 64 percent.

Success in preparing students for careers and college is one aspect of Missouri’s new MSIP 5 accreditation standards. In addition, schools must demonstrate student academic achievement as well as acceptable attendance and graduation rates. The acronym, by the way, means “Missouri School Improvement Program,” and the number means this is the fifth update since the state legislature mandated school accreditation.

What Happens When a District Becomes Unaccredited (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education): http://tinyurl.com/7fazgca

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One hour ago, Missouri’s education commissioner Chris Nicastro tweeted, “MSIP 5 was just approved by State Board of Education. Thanks to everyone who played a role in setting 21st Century standards for MO kids!”

If you don’t know what that acronym means, then you’re not a public school administrator. It stands for version number five of the Missouri School Improvement Program, which is the set of rules the state education department uses for district accreditation.

According to the State Board of Education, the reason for the change is to move up academically from the middle tier of states. By the year 2020, the board would like to see Missouri schools ranked among the top 10 nationwide. Top 10 by 20 is the name the state Board of Education has given to this effort.

A previous version of MSIP 5 proved controversial, because many educators and other constituents did not think they had adequate opportunity to comment and contribute to the development of the rule. Therefore, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) revised the version they originally offered last spring and re-opened it for comments over the summer and through the fall. Missouri citizens, educators, business people, civic leaders and parents all submitted comments.

Nicastro is in Branson today and tomorrow attending the December meeting of Missouri’s State Board of Education. The board had announced earlier this fall it expected to approve the new accreditation standards during this month’s meeting, and “Consideration of an Order of Rulemaking to Adopt Rule 5 CSR 20-100.105 Relating to Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) 5″ was on their action agenda, so the approval comes as no surprise.

What may be of interest — especially to educators — is the board’s report regarding their responses to public comment, including descriptions of which part of the MSIP 5 rule they agreed to change.

The KC Education Enterprise published information earlier this fall about MSIP 5: http://tinyurl.com/6yk5yty

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Here are some links with more information about MSIP 5:

Previous coverage in the KC Education Enterprise: http://tinyurl.com/6yk5yty

MSIP 5 News: http://www.msip5.com/

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“Teachers are nervous,” Sandi Jacobs said earlier this week. “They’re hearing a lot of things that are scaring them.”

Jacobs, a former educator and current vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, was talking about job performance evaluations. As many who have worked in the field for any length of time will tell you, education trends come and go. One of the latest is a trend toward evaluating teachers based on student achievement. Yesterday, the national council released a report providing an overview of changes states are making in the way they evaluate educators.

As recently as two years ago, few states were taking student achievement into account, Jacobs said, adding that previously the emphasis had been on teacher qualifications. However, over the last 18 months — according to the national council’s report — almost half of states started requiring at least some evidence of teacher effectiveness. Both Kansas and Missouri are following this trend, with new teacher evaluation systems under development in both states.

As the KC Education Enterprise reported last week, two metropolitan-area school districts are participating in a pilot project of the new Kansas Education Evaluation Protocol (KEEP). And Missouri officials are developing a method of sharing standardized test information that they eventually plan to use in evaluating teacher performance.

The authors of the national council’s report caution that most of the teacher evaluation plans they describe are too new to allow anyone to draw firm conclusions about the impact on teacher effectiveness. However, the authors do provide some early observations regarding challenges states — including Kansas and Missouri — may face as they develop these plans.

One of the national council’s observations is that states “can do more to anticipate fears and diminish tensions” among teachers, who “not unlike most of us, are afraid of the unknown.” In Kansas, state education officials are working with local National Education Association (NEA) chapters to train teachers and administrators volunteering to participate in the pilot teacher evaluation program. At the end of the pilot period, these volunteers will have the opportunity to provide feedback to help improve the program and to help train other teachers and administrators. Although KEEP is not without controversy among wary educators, Kansas does at least appear to be trying to involve them in the process, which may help diminish fear and uncertainty.

In Missouri, a planned new teacher evaluation system is part of the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP), which is undergoing revision. Last spring, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) drew criticism from a number of professional organizations because of the impression that DESE had announced new accreditation rules without adequately seeking input from teachers, administrators and other education experts. Perhaps the state has learned from that mistake, though, because there is a long list of districts and charter schools — including 13 in the Kansas City metropolitan area alone — volunteering for the pilot program that started this fall.

Many educators have been wary of new teacher evaluation plans such as those under development in Kansas and Missouri and nationwide. In particular, educators have been reluctant to endorse plans using student standardized test results in evaluations of teacher effectiveness. According to the NEA, for example, “Just as a standardized test is not an accurate reflection of what a student knows, it is not an accurate reflection of what a teacher has taught.”

In Kansas, state education officials are working with the ETS — one of the leading producers of standardized tests for students — to develop a standardized method of evaluating teachers. This is the system being tested in this year’s pilot program. In Missouri, state education officials have not yet released a new teacher evaluation plan, which they say is coming next year. However, based on this year’s pilot program, state officials appear to be planning to base teacher evaluations largely on student performance on the standardized Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests.

Despite concerns about possible inappropriate uses of standardized testing, this year NEA members did agree to a new policy stating that student performance should be one measure of educator effectiveness. In place of testing, evidence of learning could be students’ oral and written presentations or teacher reports of how well students met learning goals. Also, the NEA policy states there should be additional measures of teacher effectiveness, such as classroom observations by principals, peer reviews or portfolios.

Despite disagreement about the best way to evaluate educators, just about everyone agrees change is needed. According to the national council’s report, up until a couple of years ago administrators rated the performance of almost all teachers as satisfactory. Such ratings are probably not the result of meaningful assessments, because of the natural variation of human skills and abilities. The NEA agrees, stating in their new policy that “Current systems for assessing, evaluating, and supporting teachers too often fail to improve teacher practice and enhance student growth and learning.”

Education research suggests teacher effectiveness is important to student success. It may be the most important factor schools can control. However, other important school factors are administrative support and collaboration time. Research also suggests that teachers and schools have no control over some of the most important influences on student success, factors such as family income and parenting skills.

The National Council on Teacher Quality, which released this week’s report on the evaluation of educators, is a nonpartisan research organization. Funding for the report came from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Joyce Foundation.

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Recommended reading: A Tale of Two Teacher Evaluations http://tinyurl.com/3jjx4zx

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Missouri education officials are seeking public input to help with a revision of the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP). Currently the state uses the rules of MSIP 4 in school accreditation. When complete, the revised rules will be known as MSIP 5. Art Credit: KC Education Enterprise

Residents of the Kansas City metropolitan area will have the opportunity to observe a meeting next Monday at Staley High School north of the river. Anyone may attend. However, only those with invitations will be allowed to participate.

According to DESE Communications Coordinator Michele Clark, “An example of the principles that the 150 invited participants may consider could be where to place a value on a school district’s ability to drive academic gains among low-performing students in relation to the district’s ability to achieve overall proficiency within its student body.”

After department officials learn what values Missourians think the accreditation process should reflect, DESE plans to devise a way to measure how well districts are incorporating those values in student education.

The state school accreditation process DESE is revising is known as the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP). Currently the state uses the rules of MSIP 4 for school accreditation. When complete, the revised rules will be known as MSIP 5.

Staley High School in the North Kansas City School District will host the Kansas City-area meeting from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at their Special Events Center; 2800 N.E. Shoal Creek Parkway; Kansas City, Mo.

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To read more about the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP): http://kceducationenterprise.org/2011/10/05/missourians-have-28-more-days-to-comment-on-new-school-accreditation-rules/

To read more about a similar effort to revise school accreditation rules in Kansas: http://kceducationenterprise.org/2011/09/14/ks-state-board-of-education-what-do-chocolate-chip-cookies-accreditation-have-in-common/
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Art Credit: 123rf stock image

Critics of standardized assessments — such as the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test — voice concern that test results are not available in a timely manner for teachers to use in helping students learn. Instead, Missouri districts uses the results primarily for bureaucratic purposes, to file their Annual Performance Reports (APR). But that may be about to change.

Starting this fall, 11 districts and five charter schools in the Kansas City metropolitan area are participating in a Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) pilot program. Periodically throughout the year, they will receive MAP test data to use in assessing what students know and what they still need to learn. In the past, schools received MAP test data once a year, and it was not in a form they could use effectively to guide student growth. Of course, it remains to be seen how releasing one-year-old data in a new format can make much of a difference.

According to DESE’s website, “We recognize that this time lag is not desirable, but it is the best we can do for the pilot. When the growth data become operational (full-scale, statewide implementation), they should be released in a more timely way.”

After working out the bugs, plans are for districts to adopt the new system statewide. The pilot is scheduled to end in the fall of 2012. Information about how well schools use the new information to help students learn will be included in districts’ Annual Performance Reports. Parents and other community members may be more familiar with school Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports or School Report Cards. APR reports contain much of the same information.

Participating districts choose whether to share information gathered during the pilot program. If they do, it is published in their Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) reports.

Here is an example of an MSIP report from a school that is not participating in the pilot program:

And here is an example of an MSIP report from a school participating in the pilot program and publishing the new performance information:

If you don’t understand what “50 Status + Progress + Bonus = Y” means, you’re not alone. That’s why DESE is providing professional development to educators to help them learn how to interpret and use these new reports.

Eventually teachers will receive data on individual students that looks like this:

With training, DESE expects teachers will learn to use reports like this to get the arrows pointing up more often than they’re pointing down.

In addition to helping guide student growth, DESE is planning to eventually expand use of the new system to evaluate teachers and teacher education programs.

Missouri’s education department may need a new program for evaluating teachers, because it has announced its intention to apply for a waiver of the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Among other terms, the U.S. Department of Education has announced that states must adopt teacher evaluation programs based on student growth in order to receive such a waiver. NCLB is the current incarnation of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was due for reauthorization in 2007. Under NCLB, states must close achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students by 2014. That deadline is only three years away, and Missouri — along with most other states — is not anywhere near meeting the goal. Although the goal was well-intentioned, it appears to be unachievable. However, he U.S. Congress has not yet revised or reauthorized the law. Therefore, the Obama administration announced earlier this year that it will grant waivers to states meeting certain conditions.

After that announcement, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, released a proposed reauthorization bill that failed to garner Republican support. Just this week, Harkin and Sen. Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., released a revision of that ESEA reauthorization bill that is gaining bipartisan support. The original version of Harkin’s bill would have required states to design programs evaluating teachers based on student data, similar to the program Missouri plans to develop. The bipartisan version of the bill would leave the decision about how to evaluate teachers up to the states.

Metropolitan area public school districts and charter schools participating in the pilot program are:

• Belton
• Benjamin Banneker Academy
• Center
• Della Lamb Elementary Charter
• Excelsior Springs
• Fort Osage
• Genesis Charter
• Grandview
• Hickman Mills
• Imagine Renaissance Academy of Environmental Science and Math
• Independence
• Kansas City
• Liberty
• North Kansas City
• Park Hill
• Urban Community Leadership Academy

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Art Credit: KC Education Enterprise

Missourians, you have 28 more days to comment on MSIP 5. And if you don’t know what that acronym means, then you’re not a public school administrator. It stands for version number five of the Missouri School Improvement Program, which is the set of rules the state education department uses for district accreditation.

The current MSIP 4 is the set of rules the State Board of Education consulted when they decided to remove accreditation from the Kansas City, Missouri School District last month. MSIP 5 rules are much more rigorous.

According to the State Board of Education, the reason for the change is to move up academically from the middle tier of states. By the year 2020, the board would like to see Missouri schools ranked among the top 10 nationwide. Top 10 by 20 is the name the state Board of Education has given to this effort.

A previous version of the proposed MSIP 5 rule that was open to public comment last spring proved controversial, so the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) revised it. The revised version is the one that opened last Monday for comments from Missouri citizens, educators, business people, civic leaders and parents.

Statewide, a number of education organizations criticized DESE for not seeking their advice in drafting the first version of MSIP 5. Therefore, during the late spring and summer, DESE asked for more input. Five advisory committees across the state — including one in Kansas City — had an opportunity to review the rule and suggest revisions. Kansas City’s committee included high school students, teachers and administrators from the Blue Springs, Independence, Hickman Mills, Kansas City, Lee’s Summit, North Kansas City and Raytown school districts. Other committee members included business people, college educators, parents and state legislators as well as public school representatives from outside the metropolitan area.

The revised MSIP 5 incorporates some — but not all — of the revisions suggested by its critics. During the state Board of Education’s August meeting, they agreed to revisions such as reducing the number of standardized tests students would be required to take. However, representatives of the Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA) have voiced concerns that this revision did not go far enough. MSTA is concerned not only about the number but also about the content of these tests.  According to Becky Odneal, MSTA consultant and former state education department employee, MSIP 5 appears to require schools to test student understanding of information they have not had the opportunity to learn in class.

“If we are going to assess students on something, we should at least give them the opportunity to learn it before giving them an assessment,” Odneal said in a podcast released by the MSTA.

Also in the podcast, Odneal expressed concern that the additional core courses such as chemistry and physics that would be required by MSIP 5 might reduce or eliminate career education courses for students — including those with disabilities. Many of these students are not necessarily college-bound and need to learn life skills to obtain jobs paying decent wages. Career education, Odneal said, keeps many of these students in high school who might otherwise drop out.

In addition to worries about student retention, Odneal said the MSTA is concerned about job retention for educators who are not certified to teach subjects with tests required by MSIP 5. So many new classes are required that student schedules might not have room for electives. It may be possible to incorporate required subject matter such as algebra into elective classes such as woodworking, she said, but the teachers would not necessarily have the certification to teach that additional content.

Responding to criticism about teachers not supporting the increased academic requirements of MSIP 5, Odneal said, “The education community absolutely wants more rigorous standards, but the issue is that assessments do not equate to rigor. And, in fact, if you have to teach chemistry and physics to all students, it is very possible that the rigor of those courses could actually be watered down to some extent to make sure it can be taught to all of those students.”

The Missouri National Education Association (MNEA) also has voiced concerns about the original version of MSIP 5. In particular, MNEA seemed especially worried about the elimination of “resource and process standards.”

“The resource and process standards state required plan time, class size, music, art and physical education for elementary students, student to counselor and student to librarian ratios, as well as other issues,” according to information available on the MNEA website.

Joining the two teachers’ associations with questions about MSIP 5 is the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA). Posted on their website is a list of concerns. One item on the list is a question about how the state education department expects schools to pay for additional standardized testing when districts are having trouble affording basic services such as transportation. MASA challenged Missouri legislators to make the state among the top ten in education funding if they wish to be among the top ten in academics.

Other education organizations objecting last spring to the original version of the MSIP 5 rule included the Education Roundtable, the Gifted Association of Missouri, the Missouri Association for Career and Technical Education, the Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals, the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals and the Missouri School Counselor Association.

After the conclusion of the 30-day comment period (which started on Monday, Oct. 3, and is required by statute), the State Board of Education plans to approve a version of MSIP 5, probably during their December meeting. The board will meet Thursday, Dec. 1, and Friday, Dec. 2, in Branson, Mo. After approval, districts will have two years to make instructional and administrative changes before being required to meet the new MSIP 5 standards for accreditation renewal.

According to DESE, citizens may submit comments about MSIP 5 online or through the mail. Mail comments to: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Quality Schools, P.O. Box 480, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0480.

For more information, go to http://www.msip5.com/.

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