Educational Success Task Force (09/19/2012)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS TASK FORCE

Date:	09/19/2012	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:12 PM to 03:58 PM	Bacon	E
		Fields	E*
Place:	HCR 0107	Holbert	X
		Murray	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Hudak	X
	Senator King K.	King K.	X

This Report was prepared by
	Kristen Johnson
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
Bill 1 Bill 2 Bill 3 Bill 4 Bill 5		Not Approved Forwarded, as amended, to Legislative Council Forwarded, as amended, to Legislative Council Forwarded, as amended, to Legislative Council Not Approved

01:13 PM -- Bill 1

All of the materials referenced in this summary and an audio recording of the meeting are available on the Educational Success Task Force website at: http://www.colorado.gov/lcs/EdSuccessTF.

Senator King welcomed the members of the Educational Success Task Force (task force) and the audience to the meeting. The members of the task force introduced themselves and Senator King discussed the process for the day.

Julie Pelegrin, Office of Legislative Legal Services, presented Bill 1 to the task force. Bill 1 concerns measures to ensure that students comply with compulsory school attendance requirements and requires schools to address habitual truancy through a multi-disciplinary plan, limiting the length of detention that a court may impose to enforce compulsory school attendance, allowing students who are under juvenile court jurisdiction to obtain a GED, and specifying minimum requirements for education services provided in juvenile detention facilities.

Representative Fields stated that Colorado needs a contemporary approach to dealing with truancy and that it is no longer appropriate to send a student to juvenile detention for violating school attendance requirements. She stated that currently, there is no limit on the number of days that a young person may be detained in Colorado, due to truancy. She added that there needs to be a process in place to intervene and find out what can be done to improve the overall attendance of the young person.

01:25 PM

Senator Hudak asked why excused absences are being included in the calculation of habitual truancy. Representative Fields responded that even when an absence is excused, the student is still missing school. The task force discussed the bill.

Dr. Judy Skupa, task force co-chair, stated that from a school district perspective, attendance is a big deal. She said that it concerns her to identify a student as habitually truant when the absences may be for a very fulfilling reason such as the students family is visiting another country and exposing the student to different cultures.

Senator King expressed concern about using excused and unexcused absences as the trigger for habitual truancy. He also questioned whether a multi-disciplinary plan is defined in the bill.

Representative Murray expressed concern about legislating another requirement to school districts and suggested that the task force make a recommendation to the school districts that they create a system for intervening when student attendance is an issue. Representative Holbert shared Representative Murray's concerns.

Michelle Pearson, task force member, expressed concern about being able to take her students out of the classroom for enriching experiences. She said that during any given month, a student may end up having four or five excused absences in a month, for classroom related activities.

01:41 PM

Jo O'Brien, Assistant Commissioner of Standards and Assessment, Colorado Department of Education (CDE), stated that CDE does not have an official position on the bill.

The task force discussed the bill.


BILL:	Bill 1
TIME:	01:46:36 PM
MOVED:	Hudak
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to Bill 1 to count only unexcused absences in the determination of a student's habitual truancy. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields
	Holbert
	Murray
	Hudak
	King K.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	Bill 1
TIME:	01:51:53 PM
MOVED:	Hudak
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to Bill 1 to strike "research based" from page 5, line 6 and from page 7, line 14. The motion failed on a roll call vote of 1-4.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields	No
	Holbert	No
	Murray	No
	Hudak	Yes
	King K.	No

YES: 1 NO: 4 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	Bill 1
TIME:	01:56:35 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved that Bill 1, as amended, be forwarded to Legislative Council. The motion failed on a roll call vote of 2-3.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields	Yes
	Holbert	No
	Murray	No
	Hudak	Yes
	King K.	No

Final YES: 2 NO: 3 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL

02:12 PM -- Bill 2

Ms. Pelegrin, Office of Legislative Legal Services, returned to the table to present Bill 2. Bill 2 concerns postsecondary certificate programs that combine basic education course work with skills training, and directs the State Board for Community and Technical Education to implement a pilot program of 20 career and technical education certificate programs that combine remedial education in information and math literacy with career and technical education. Ms. Pelegrin stated that the bill is based on the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program that is run in Washington state.

The following persons testified:

02:20 PM -- Jeff Barratt, Executive Director, Emily Griffith Technical College, stated that he would like to see area vocational schools included in the bill's language. He stated that if a student comes to Emily Griffith and needs adult basic education courses, that the school enrolls the student in certificate courses while the student completes their remedial course work.

02:26 PM -- Frank Waterous, Senior Policy Analyst, Bell Policy Center, testified in support of the bill. Dr. Waterous stated that the Colorado Skills to Compete Coalition is also in support of the bill. He stated that the bill is important because it is based on an education model, I-BEST, that has shown positive results. He discussed the "middle skills gap" that exists in Colorado. He suggested several changes that he would like to see made to the bill.

02:31 PM

Ms. Pelegrin stated that she believe that the State Board of Education (SBE) can already do what is being called for in the bill, on their own. The task force discussed the bill.


BILL:	Bill 2
TIME:	02:35:10 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to Bill 2 to include area vocational schools as participants in the pilot program. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields
	Holbert
	Murray
	Hudak
	King K.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	Bill 2
TIME:	02:45:29 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to Bill 2 to include local workforce investments boards and the Adult Education and Family Literacy office, at the Colorado Department of Education, as groups to consult with regarding which certificates are most beneficial. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields
	Holbert
	Murray
	Hudak
	King K.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	Bill 2
TIME:	02:47:08 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to Bill 2 to remove the word "remedial" from the bill's title and summary, and replace it with the word "basic." The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields
	Holbert
	Murray
	Hudak
	King K.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION:


BILL:	Bill 2
TIME:	02:49:48 AM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to Bill 2 that courses included as part of the pilot program are designed to assist graduates in re-entering or entering the workforce. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields
	Holbert
	Murray
	Hudak
	King K.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	Bill 2
TIME:	02:58:15 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved that Bill 2, as amended, be forwarded to Legislative Council. The motion passed on a roll call vote of 5-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields	Yes
	Holbert	Yes
	Murray	Yes
	Hudak	Yes
	King K.	Yes

Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:01 PM -- Bill 3

Brita Darling, Office of Legislative Legal Services, presented Bill 3 to the task force. Bill 3 concerns academic acceleration of students in preschool through 12th grade, and requires each school district to adopt a policy concerning academic acceleration for students.

The task force discussed amendments to the bill.


BILL:	Bill 3
TIME:	03:11:17 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to Bill 3 that boards of education may consider the social and emotional needs of students when creating the academic acceleration policy. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields
	Holbert
	Murray
	Hudak
	King K.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	Bill 3
TIME:	03:15:35 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to Bill 3 to include "specialized advanced academic programs" and "independent academic studies" as options under the academic acceleration policy. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields
	Holbert
	Murray
	Hudak
	King K.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	Bill 3
TIME:	03:16:39 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to Bill 3 to strike "dual-enrollment" from page 2, line 14 and substitute "concurrent enrollment." Page 2, lines 15 and 16, strike "early entrance to kindergarten." Page 3, line 7 strike "August 1, 2013" and substitute "July 1, 2014." The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields
	Holbert
	Murray
	Hudak
	King K.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	Bill 3
TIME:	03:18:01 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved that Bill 3, as amended, be forwarded to Legislative Council. The motion passed on a roll call vote of 5-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields	Yes
	Holbert	Yes
	Murray	Yes
	Hudak	Yes
	King K.	Yes

Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:19 PM -- Bill 4

Ms. Darling returned to the table to present Bill 4 to the task force. Bill 4 requires the commissioner of education to assign a unique student identifier for each person enrolled in an adult basic education program, family literacy program, or high school equivalency certificate (GED) program, if the person has not previously been assigned a state-assigned student identifier in Colorado.

The following person testified:

03:23 PM -- Frank Waterous, Senior Policy Analyst, Bell Policy Center, testified in support of the bill. He stated that the bill is important to tracking longitudinal student data across the state.

03:25 PM

Senator Hudak questioned why the family literacy program is involved in this bill. The task force discussed amendments to the bill.


BILL:	Bill 4
TIME:	03:32:02 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved to strike "family literacy programs" from the bill. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields
	Holbert
	Murray
	Hudak
	King K.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	Bill 4
TIME:	03:33:15 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved that Bill 4, as amended, be forwarded to Legislative Council. The motion passed on a roll call vote of 5-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields	Yes
	Holbert	Yes
	Murray	Yes
	Hudak	Yes
	King K.	Yes

Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:35 PM -- Bill 5

Ms. Pelegrin returned to the table to present Bill 5. Bill 5 concerns measures to determine achievement of certain performance indicators for accreditation, and adds two additional ways of measuring achievement of postsecondary and workforce readiness: the percentage of students who complete their individual career and academic plans (ICAPs) prior to graduation; and the percentage of student who attain specified skills, based on measurements developed by CDE that are objective, quantifiable, and comparable across the state.

Senator King stated that he would have liked to see one of the new measurements include how many students are graduating without the need for remediation.


BILL:	Bill 5
TIME:	03:40:17 PM
MOVED:	Hudak
MOTION:	Moved that Bill 5 be forwarded to Legislative Council. The motion failed on a roll call vote of 2-3.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Bacon	Excused
	Fields	Yes
	Holbert	No
	Murray	No
	Hudak	Yes
	King K.	No

Final YES: 2 NO: 3 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL

03:42 PM

Senator King made closing remarks. Representative Holbert thanked Senator King for his service and leadership.

03:48 PM

The task force meeting adjourned.