Final
CDE School Accountability Reports

COMMITTEE ON JOINT EDUCATION

Votes:
Action Taken:
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07:37 AM -- Call to Order

The committee was called to order by the co-chair, Representative Merrifield.

07:37 AM

Jared Polis, Vice-chairman of the State Board of Education, introduced himself and gave introductory comments. He was joined at the table by Evie Hudak and Randy DeHoff, State Board of Education members, Karen Stroup, Colorado Department of Education, and Dr. William Moloney, Commissioner of Education.


07:40 AM

Mr. Polis described the general issues and recommendations contained in the handout provided to the committee, "School Accountability Reports: A Five-Year Review of Progress (2000 - 2005)" (Attachment A). He outlined nine issues including: flexibility for the State Board of Education, data presentation, communication to parents, academic growth ratings, the John Irwin Award Program, empowering parents, requirements for multiple School Accountability Reports (SARs) for split schools, use of the internet for communication, and re-baselining weighted total scores of performance grades. Mr. Polis noted that the State Board of Education does not believe re-baselining is necessary.


07:45 AM

Mr. DeHoff spoke to the issue of re-baselining. Mr. DeHoff described the SAR design and content recommendations contained in the handout. The recommendations included: changing "Overall Academic Performance" to "Overall Academic Performance on State Assessments"; changing how schools compare "Nearby Schools" to "Schools within a 75-mile Radius"; and including adequate yearly progress (AYP) on the SAR. Mr. Polis spoke to the issue of AYP. Senator Windels asked about including an explanation of AYP on the SAR. Mr. Polis responded.


07:49 AM

Mr. DeHoff continued with his description of SAR design and content recommendations outlining recommendations on: moving ACT information; and limiting the number of questions. Senator Williams asked for clarification. Mr. DeHoff and Mr. Polis responded. Mr. DeHoff continued describing recommendations including simplifying students per teacher ratio. Senator Williams made comments regarding students per teacher ratio. Mr. DeHoff responded. Ms. Stroup commented on SARs and what information is available and on class size data.


07:55 AM

Mr. DeHoff continued describing recommendations and spoke to the recommendation of including information on highly qualified teachers on SARs. Representative King asked for clarification and Mr. DeHoff responded. Rep. King asked a follow-up question. Ms. Hudak responded by outlining sanctions for teachers who are not highly qualified. Representative King asked additional follow-up questions and Mr. Polis responded. Representative Benefield asked about physical education teachers. Ms. Hudak responded. Mr. DeHoff continued with the following recommendation: removing tenure information from the Professional Experience Table. Senator Windels suggested changing "teachers with tenure" to "teachers with more than three years' experience" and changing "teachers without tenure" to "teachers with less than three years' experience."


08:00 AM

Mr. DeHoff continued with the last recommendation regarding school contact information. Ms. Hudak then described SAR design and content recommendations relating to the Safety and School Environment Panel, beginning with recommendation number ten: reworking the safety and discipline chart; changing the title of "Student Attendance and Time Spent in the Classroom" to "Student Attendance and School Calendar"; deleting the "Students per Total Staff" row; and including both dropout and graduation rates for high schools. Mr. Polis mentioned Senator Spence's bill on this topic. Ms. Hudak continued with her description. Representative Merrifield made note of an article in the Colorado Springs newspaper regarding Colorado's graduation rate. Mr. Polis responded to Representative Merrifield's remarks. Senator Jones made remarks to the graduation rate. Mr. Polis responded. Ms. Hudak noted that whether to include students who had received a high school equivalency diploma causes difficulty and noted that by law students may legally drop out at the age of 16. Mr. Polis commented on Ms. Hudak's remarks.


08:07 AM

Ms. Hudak continued describing recommendations including: changing "Students Eligible for Free Lunch" to "Students Eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch" and replacing numbers of students with percentages; and moving the rating key of the academic and improvement ratings. Ms. Hudak noted the State Board of Education does not have flexibility to move items on the SAR. Ms. Hudak continued with the recommendations regarding the Taxpayers' Report Panel: identifying clearly that the panel contains district-level information; changing the fiscal information presented; and adding the district's accreditation status to the SAR. Mr. Polis noted that there is an example of how the recommendations might look in the handout.


08:12 AM

Mr. Polis spoke to the history of legislation affecting the SAR, which is outlined in the handout, and offered to answer questions from the committee. Representative Larson asked how the State Board of Education obtained the information driving their recommendations. Karen Stroup responded, noting that the State Board of Education receives comments, hears from focus groups, and asks for feedback from other groups. Mr. Polis made additional comments to Representative Larson's question. Senator Spence asked about the cost of implementing the recommended changes. Mr. Polis noted that there was a potential money savings in the recommendations. Karen Stroup explained that data collection changes cost a lot of money, but cosmetic and layout changes could be made using existing funding. Senator Windels asked a question and made comments about the Student Performance Panel. Mr. DeHoff responded. Mr. Polis responded to Senator Windels as well. Senator Windels commented on the About Our Staff Panel and the Safety and School Environment Panel. Representative Merrifield asked for clarification and Senator Windels responded. Mr. Polis provided a response.


08:21 AM

Senator Windels continued, commenting about school safety and dropout and attendance rates. Ms. Hudak responded. Mr. Polis gave a further response. Senator Williams remarked that she appreciates hearing from the State Board of Education and made comments about the chart referring to student test scores and school safety. Ms. Hudak responded to Senator Williams' comments about student test scores. Senator Williams made follow-up comments and asked a follow-up question. Ms. Hudak responded.


08:27 AM

Representative King asked about the recommendation regarding clarifying the use of the academic growth rating. Mr. DeHoff responded. Mr. Polis also responded. Representative Todd asked if special education or English Language Acquisition (ELA) students are included in the SAR. Ms. Hudak responded. Mr. Polis provided a further response to Representative Todd's question.


08:32 AM

Mr. Polis continued, noting that the State Board of Education recommends that the SAR be continued. Senator Windels asked if the SAR had been aligned with what is required by the No Child Left Behind Act. Mr. Polis and Ms. Hudak responded and noted that either the Colorado Association of School Executives or the Colorado Association of School Boards has that information. Mr. DeHoff made comments to Senator Windels' questions. Senator Windels made further remarks. Representative King asked what process the State Board of Education would like to use to make the recommended changes. Mr. Polis responded, saying that the State Board of Education would like authority to make the changes. Representative King asked a follow-up question. Representative Merrifield noted there is an SAR bill coming forward. Representative King asked additional follow-up questions. Ms. Hudak responded that the State Board of Education would like authority to adopt changes by rule. Mr. Polis noted the State Board of Education wants direction, but not all the specificity of where things must appear, so that the SAR may be more easily read and changed. Representative Merrifield made further comments on pending SAR legislation.

08:38 AM

The committee adjourned.