Legislature(2017 - 2018)CAPITOL 106
04/10/2017 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| Presentation: Alaska Council of School Administrators | |
| Adjourn |
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
JOINT MEETING
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
April 10, 2017
8:01 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Representative Harriet Drummond, Chair
Representative Justin Parish, Vice Chair
Representative Zach Fansler
Representative Ivy Spohnholz
Representative Jennifer Johnston
Representative Chuck Kopp
Representative David Talerico
Representative Lora Reinbold (alternate)
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Senator Shelley Hughes, Chair
Senator Gary Stevens
Senator Cathy Giessel
Senator John Coghill
Senator Tom Begich
MEMBERS ABSENT
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Representative Geran Tarr
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: ALASKA COUNCIL OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS (ACSA)
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
LISA SKILES PARADY, PhD
Executive Director
Alaska Council of School Administrators
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented the overview of the Alaska
Council of School Administrators.
BOBBI JO ERB, Math Instructor
Alaska Staff Development Network
Alaska Council of School Administrators; Executive Director
Curriculum Instruction
Anchorage School District
Chugiak, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented the overview of the Alaska
Council of School Administrators.
MARY MCMAHON, Principal
Colony Middle School; President
Alaska Council of School Administrators; President
Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals
Palmer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented the overview of the Alaska
Council of School Administrators.
SEAN DUSEK, Superintendent
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District; President
Alaska Superintendents Association
Soldotna, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented the overview of the Alaska
Council of School Administrators.
DEANNA BECK, Principal
Northwood ABC Elementary School; President
Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals
North Pole, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented the overview of the Alaska
Council of School Administrators.
HOLLY HOLMAN, Business Manager
Unalaska City School District; President
Alaska Association of School Business Officials (ALASBO)
Unalaska, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented the overview of the Alaska
Council of School Administrators.
DR. DEENA BISHOP, PhD
Superintendent
Anchorage School District
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented the overview of the Alaska
Council of School Administrators.
KERSTEN JOHNSON-STRUEMPLER, Principal
South Anchorage High School; President
Anchorage Principals Association
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented the overview of the Alaska
Council of School Administrators.
DAVID STEVENS, PhD
Research Manager
Regional Educational Laboratory at Education Northwest
Portland, Oregon
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented the overview of the Alaska
Council of School Administrators.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:01:25 AM
CHAIR SHELLEY HUGHES called the joint meeting of the Senate and
House Education Standing Committees to order at 8:01 a.m.
Present at the call to order from the Senate Education Standing
Committee were Senators Hughes, Giessel, Stevens, and Begich.
Senator Coghill arrived as the meeting was in progress. Present
at the call to order from the House Education Standing Committee
were Representatives Drummond, Parish, Talerico, Kopp, Johnston,
Spohnholz, and Fansler. Representative Reinbold (alternate)
arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^PRESENTATION: Alaska Council of School Administrators
8:02:11 AM
CHAIR HUGHES announced that the only order of business would be
a presentation from the Alaska Council of School Administrators
(ACSA).
8:02:46 AM
LISA SKILES PARADY, PhD, Executive Director, Alaska Council of
School Administrators, directed attention to a PowerPoint
presentation entitled, "ACSA" [undated], and informed the
committees ACSA is the umbrella organization representing the
Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals, the Alaska
Association of Secondary School Principals, the Alaska
Superintendents Association, and the Alaska Association of
School Business Officials. Dr. Parady stated ACSA is a
nonprofit, tax exempt corporation established in 1973 for two
purposes: Organized advocacy working to support students and
families in Alaska, and to provide professional learning (slides
1-2). Professional learning is through the Alaska Staff
Development Network (ASDN) which is a nonprofit administered by
ACSA that has been providing quality professional development
for Alaska educators with face-to-face and distance learning
programs for almost 35 years (slide 3). The focus of ACSA's
presentation will be on professional learning and she said the
network supports approximately 30 percent of the state's
professional staff of educators - mostly in rural Alaska - with
5,000-6,000 classes, and over 60 online and blended courses each
year. Dr. Parady described the network's well-utilized
partnerships with entities such as NEA-Alaska and the University
of Alaska (UA) (slide 4). [ASDN's] partnership with the
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) includes
outreach efforts such as an upcoming statewide meeting in
Anchorage regarding the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state
plan. Today's presentation will highlight the Alaska
Professional Learning Network (AkPLN), which is a virtual
learning effort open to all K-12 educators at no cost (slide 5).
8:08:10 AM
BOBBI JO ERB, Math Instructor, Alaska Staff Development Network,
Alaska Council of School Administrators, and Executive Director,
Curriculum Instruction, Anchorage School District, provided
brief background information and noted her recent work with
rural schools. Ms. Erb began her presentation by stressing
teachers who are working in small, rural, school sites need to
collaborate with other teachers, principals, district personnel,
and educational organizations. She said this need is addressed
by the Ak Professional Learning Network (AkPLN), an online
professional collaboration space and a statewide partnership
between DEED, ACSA, and the TeachingChannel (Tch), that is
funded by ACSA and federal funds at no cost to Alaska educators
(slides 6 and 7). Currently, AkPLN provides resources to over
750 educators across the state; the resources are available only
to Alaska educators and relate only to education in Alaska and
its students. Ms. Erb stated the AkPLN web site provides videos
of effective K-12 teaching practices, in many subject areas,
presented by educators in Alaska and elsewhere. Further, the
web site provides teachers ideas for lessons, instructional
strategies, and opportunities to join groups in order to benefit
from the experiences of other Alaska educators. She restated
the importance of collaboration for teachers who otherwise would
be isolated. Finally, AkPLN allows modern, personalized, and
professional learning that can be accessed online utilizing
existing technological tools (slide 8). Ms. Erb listed some of
the existing groups available to teachers: text structures; in-
depth study of content and instructional strategies; extension
of face-to-face learning; learning with webinars; collaboration
and professional learning for certain districts (slide 9).
8:13:08 AM
MS. ERB directed attention to the "Deep Dives" feature on the
AkPLN web site which provides a series of videos on a specific
topic. Another feature is Learning Pathways, which contains
over 60 videos designed specifically for Alaska educators, and
that contain learning plans mostly related to language arts and
math (slide 10). Returning to the Groups feature of the web
site, she further described four steps of a learning plan:
Welcome; WHY: Gather and Focus; TRY: Watch and Analyze; APPLY:
Receive and provide feedback (slide 11). She related Alaska
teachers have asked for professional learning that is relevant,
hands-on, sustained, collaborative, and job-imbedded, and
explained how successfully AkPLN has responded (slide 12). To
maintain a high level of learning, AkPLN holds the Alaska
Effective Instruction Conference in January which gathers
educators in Anchorage for three days of intensive learning
about best practices for instruction (slide 13). Another way to
extend learning is through the use of webinars, and she
described a webinar series that provides a blended learning
experience by incorporating relevant responses from participants
to guide the webinar content through the AkPLN web site (slide
14). Rural and urban districts and schools are also using AkPLN
as a communication device to share resources, methods of
classroom management, and other information.
8:20:11 AM
MS. ERB turned attention to a graph of AkPLN usage data that
indicated between 9/1/16 and 3/15/17, there were 7,771 visits to
the web site (slide 16). Slide 17 indicated between 9/1/16 and
3/15/17, there were 2,201 video plays, and she said feedback
from educators around the state has been positive as to the
content and format of the web site (slide 18).
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked whether there is a cap on the
number of participants in a Learning Pathway.
MS. ERB said there is no cap, but groups generally pursue a
learning plan together to encourage collaboration.
SENATOR BEGICH returned attention to slide 17, and asked for the
cause of the increase in video play during February [2017].
MS. ERB stated the increase occurred due to the conference in
January and the webinars that were active on the web site.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND questioned whether the web site is
proprietary to educators or if committee members could gain
access.
MS. ERB said committee members would be provided access.
8:24:01 AM
MARY MCMAHON, Principal, Colony Middle School, President, Alaska
Council of School Administrators and President, Alaska
Association of Secondary School Principals, provided brief
background information and noted her long career in education in
Alaska began when she received one of the teacher scholarship
loans that were previously available. She directed attention to
the document entitled, "ACSA 2017 Joint Position Statements,"
and said all of Alaska's leaders in education form a team to
develop the joint position statements and to determine what is
most important to public education in Alaska. The team's
mission statement is: Leadership, unity, and advocacy for
public education. Ms. McMahon pointed out the first joint
position statement is in support of adequate and sustainable
funding. Speaking as the president of AASSP, and personally,
she said [leaders in the educational system] must serve and
support excellence in schools - and in educational leadership at
all levels - due to the importance of education to the future of
the state. She provided a brief anecdote of how a group of 8th
grade students were affected by current events and came to
conclusions about what is necessary to have great leadership in
government. [Document provided in the committee packet
entitled, "Light & Lead the Way"].
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked how the mission statements of ACSA
and its core groups differ.
MS. MCMAHON said the mission statements to provide excellence at
all levels is a common statement, but the organizations have
separate goals and priorities. She referred to the joint
position statements that indicate educators are united in doing
what is best for students, including [public education] business
officials. In further response to Representative Johnston, she
said she would provide a description of each organization's
goals.
8:32:08 AM
SEAN DUSEK, Superintendent, Kenai Peninsula Borough School
District (KBPSD), and President, Alaska Superintendents
Association, said his school district serves almost 9,000
students and he provided a graph of the KPBSD graduation rate
(slide 25). Mr. Dusek expressed pride in the district and its
increasing graduation rate that is due to innovations such as
"Classroom without Walls." Innovations are happening in his and
other districts across the state, but educational leaders remain
committed to making additional improvements. He said a high
school diploma is meaningful and pointed out that the increased
KPBSD graduation rate in fiscal year 2012 (FY 12), coincided
with the first year of full implementation of the current
funding formula. He observed for several years KPBSD was at the
base cost differential - even though the district has schools
with a higher cost of education due to their location - and is
not a road system district, but is a microcosm of the state.
However, KPBSD is an example of success following the years of
appropriate and adequate funding. For example, professional
development has helped move teachers beyond textbooks to online
programs; in fact, professional development is a priority for
teachers, and is an investment in better teaching methods.
Slide 16 was a list of the number of KPBSD students who are
earning industry certifications and he said this program places
students in future highly-paid and high-demand jobs; the program
is offered through the district's partnership with Kenai
Peninsula College. In addition, the Kenai Peninsula Borough
helps fund the Jumpstart program so that students can earn
college credits. He said KPBSD's graduates are ready for
college, and spoke of a future partnership with UA that warrants
state support. Mr. Dusek concluded partnerships between
districts will result in further exciting growth, adding his
strong support for the Alaska Challenge process that will drive
improvement across the state.
8:38:31 AM
SENATOR BEGICH referred to a proposal that would reduce over 5
percent from the base student allocation and asked what the
impact of a 5 percent reduction would be.
MR. DUSEK said the proposed "cut" has been explained as one
nickel from one dollar; however, the cut would create a dollar's
worth of loss to students because a loss of $5 million equals
the loss of 50 teachers. For school districts that are also
funded by boroughs, the reduction is a double cut as boroughs
would also reduce funding. Further, with the loss of 50
teaching positions, teachers and their families would leave
districts. He pledged KPBSD will do its best using technology,
but programs such as the industry certification program would be
jeopardized by the loss of teachers.
CHAIR HUGHES asked whether KPBSD is interested in receiving
support from the state to relieve school districts from the
rising cost of healthcare.
MR. DUSEK said yes, and urged the committees to address this
issue so funds for healthcare are not diverted from classrooms.
8:42:26 AM
DEANNA BECK, Principal, Northwood ABC Elementary School, and
President, Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals
(AAESP), provided brief background information and informed the
committee of the challenges to preparing students in a
competitive and changing world in which the pace of
technological advancement is unprecedented, and discovery of new
information may double every two years. To keep pace with this
advancement, students need skills to prepare them for an unknown
future and to facilitate lifelong learning. She said schools
focus on challenging all students to meet their full potential
by teaching rigor, perseverance, grit, and resiliency. Instead
of memorization, students need to learn how to question, think
deeply, and solve problems. Furthermore, the school community
serves learners with a wide variety of needs; for example,
Anchorage provides choice in its schools ranging from a focus on
back to basics or open optional, immersion options, STEM-based
schools, and resources for home-schooling. Ms. Beck closed,
advising today's schools respond to the needs of students and
families, implement a variety of programs, and enable students
to be lifelong learners, as envisioned in the ACSA joint
position statements.
CHAIR HUGHES asked how testing for a certain character set could
identify and foster students who may become future
entrepreneurs.
MS. BECK said employability skills that are necessary today
include the use of devices - such as computers and calculators -
project-based learning, working collaboratively, problems with
multiple solutions, and how to consider, achieve, and justify
solutions.
8:49:31 AM
HOLLY HOLMAN, Business Manager, Unalaska City School District,
and President, Alaska Association of School Business Officials
(ALASBO), informed the committees the members of ALASBO are
those who work in K-12 school district business offices on
budgets, financial reporting, grant administration, payroll,
purchasing, e-rate, bus contracts, and other financial
operations. For 45 years ALASBO's mission has been to promote
the highest standards in school business practices and its
vision is educating stakeholders in the effective use of
resources for the benefit of Alaska's children by sharing
knowledge and expertise, and providing information, efficiency,
and collaboration. Ms. Holman gave a personal story of the
support she received from ALASBO members 26 years ago. She
pointed out the Unalaska City School District has a nearly 100
percent graduation rate and credited its success with the money
the district directs to classrooms; however, this means
administrative services have a very small staff and benefit from
the network provided by ALASBO. [ALASBO] members appreciate the
priority given to education funding and have advocated for a
fiscal plan in the state for ten years; such a plan would mean
school districts would operate most efficiently. In addition,
ALASBO members collaborate with ACSA in their joint position
statements and its top priority positions on funding for
education and a revenue-enhanced fiscal plan. She explained
ALASBO builds relationships with policymakers in order to
provide information on school funding issues and to answer
questions on school funding proposals. Ms. Holman described
work done in regard to the upcoming 2017 ALASBO annual
conference, and on training programs such as the School Business
Academy, the ALASBO Improvement Model, and mentoring School
Business Academy attendees.
8:56:03 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked whether ALASBO has considered
grouping all its school district membership in a bid for
healthcare.
MS. HOLMAN said yes, and reported healthcare represents 20-25
percent of the Unalaska City School District budget; however,
her district is already in a self-insured pool, and ALASBO will
continue to consider alternatives to address the healthcare cost
crisis.
REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER asked what happens when predictable
funding is not available.
MS. HOLMAN related the Unalaska City School District must delay
hiring teachers for critical and specialized vacant positions
due to the uncertainty of funding. Further, renewals of
contracts, planning student travel, fuel budgeting, and many
other situations are negatively affected.
9:00:23 AM
DR. DEENA BISHOP, PhD, Superintendent, Anchorage School
District, provided a PowerPoint presentation entitled, "Data
Dashboard Anchorage School District," [undated] and said the
Anchorage School District (ASD) sought to change and be more
accountable to the state, its residents, and its students, and
thus created a data dashboard. Previously, ASD collected data
on student learning, climate connectiveness, and other types of
data that "has just been numbers"; however, she said data is
information that must become wisdom that can be used to redirect
[educational] resources. The data dashboard is not specific to
individual students and classrooms, but is a portal of
information on the ASD web site to which the public and
stakeholders have access that shows the value of the state's
investment in education and in students. She provided a series
of computer screen prints [slides 33-37] which illustrated the
type of data that can be accessed, such as attendance - the data
can be very specific as to school sites and by gender, race, or
ethnicity - overall academic status for reading levels in
elementary schools, and students with at least one "F" mark,
which can lead to non-graduation from high school. Slide 36
showed percent on-track students, and she restated data can be
available by school or location. Further, measures of academic
performance (MAP) data reveals students' growth by school. Dr.
Bishop concluded the data dashboard provides a means to answer
the What, So What, and Now What questions about schools and how
to improve them; schools are successful only when students find
success after high school [slide 38].
9:08:19 AM
SENATOR BEGICH questioned the impact of the proposed $22 million
cut to ASD's budget on the district's ability to continue to
show improvement, and to provide alternative programs to
students.
DR. BISHOP advised ASD is a large organization with over 6,000
employees who have an impact of $750 million on the Anchorage
economy. The governor's budget provided flat funding for
Anchorage, based on adjusted average daily membership (ADM), and
with that budget ASD would gain a slight increase in revenue;
however, with increases in the cost of living, the district
would have a $15 million shortfall. The previous reduction to
ASD was balanced by $5 million from other sources and a loss of
100 positions. Dr. Bishop observed an additional reduction of
$22 million would be significant, not only to education but to
the economy of the state.
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked what the impact of the proposed cuts
would be on class sizes and graduation rates.
DR. BISHOP estimated a cut of $22 million would result in a loss
of 200 fulltime employees; currently, ASD has a 21:1
student/teacher ratio in kindergarten, and a 29:1 ratio in grade
12. However, the ratios are not a cap, but a mean ratio applied
throughout a school. With a $22 million reduction, class sizes
would increase astronomically; in fact, at this time 5th and 6th
grade classes are at 30-32 kids - which is about what the
classrooms can hold - and the proposed cut would add 1-5 more
students to each classroom.
9:13:59 AM
CHAIR HUGHES asked if teacher aides are counted as
administrative employees.
DR. BISHOP explained teacher aides and tutors are included in
the chart of accounts as a cost of instruction because they work
with students in the classroom. In further response to Chair
Hughes regarding aspects of virtual education, she said ASD is
currently exploring creative instruction, such as virtual
instruction and blended learning, in partnership with other
school districts. Students are great consumers of technology
and also have the ability to produce and design technology,
which has led to partnerships with other districts. She
stressed that coding classes are important to future
entrepreneurs and problem-solvers. Although innovation is not
mandated, ASD needs to offer the latest courses to students.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked whether using municipal shared
services would affect the local education tax cap.
DR. BISHOP related ASD shared services with the city related to
risk management, some plowing services, and some maintenance;
she stated the city and ASD saved $3 million by their joint
efforts. Furthermore, ways to save on student transportation
are being sought.
9:19:55 AM
KERSTEN JOHNSON-STRUEMPLER, Principal, South Anchorage High
School and President, Anchorage Principals Association, returned
attention to an earlier question about how the aforementioned
organizations work together, and advised APA, and the other
state organizations under the ACSA umbrella, all have voting
members working to develop the joint positions statements in
order to have a unified voice in public education matters in the
state. She said the scope of the work done by a principal is
challenging, rewarding, and complex, especially when compounded
by budgetary issues. A principal views his/her school through
the following lenses each day:
· Instructional: how to provide rigorous curriculum
· Safety/Facility: is the school building safe
· School Climate: are students happy and healthy
· Staffing/Evaluation: hire highly-qualified staff and
properly evaluate staff
· Resources: utilize existing resources and meet high
standards
· Other aspects: employability, career and technical
training, business partnerships, student nutrition,
technology, athletics, and a variety of mental health
issues
· Innovation: continuing
MS. JOHNSON-STRUEMPLER, expanding on looking through the lens of
innovation, gave examples of highly successful courses offered
at her school, one of which is an unmanned aerial course that is
the first of its kind, and that will be modeled by the Federal
Aviation Administration to high schools throughout the nation.
Other examples of innovative practices are: South Anchorage
High School and Eagle River High School students are in support
of volunteerism; Service High School students are competing at
the national level in the healthcare field; at South High School
students are successfully supporting literacy and business
activities; Service High School students are supporting
inclusive activities.
DR. SKILES PARADY concluded the presentation, directing
attention to slides 40 and 41, which related to turnover rates
at teacher, principal, and superintendent levels.
9:28:27 AM
DAVID STEVENS, PhD, Research Manager, Regional Educational
Laboratory at Education Northwest, recalled Regional Educational
Laboratory (REL) Northwest's prior presentation to the
committees in February [2017] and referred to data provided by
the Alaska State Policy Research Alliance (ASPRA). In February,
the report stated district turnover rates for teachers,
principals, and superintendents in Alaska. Although the
percentage of teachers and principals new to a district is
relatively stable over time, superintendent turnover rates are
higher, and vary dramatically from year to year. For example,
the superintendent turnover rate ranged from 4 percent in 2013,
to 43 percent in 2015, and to 24 percent in 2017. In addition,
72 percent of districts had a change in superintendents at least
once; elsewhere in the nation superintendents stay at a position
on the average of 3-4 years (slide 40). Dr. Stevens advised
principal and superintendent turnover has a substantial impact
on schools and districts because the longer a superintendent
stays in one district - beginning at two years - positive
effects are seen, including improvements in student achievement
and a greater likelihood for the success of new initiatives.
For a principal to positively influence student achievement,
he/she must remain at a school for several years, which also
reduces teacher turnover. He concluded that the best outcomes
are found in schools and districts with stable leadership (slide
41).
9:33:39 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committees, the joint
meeting of the House Education Standing Committee and the Senate
Education Standing Committee was adjourned at 9:33 a.m.
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