Legislature(2019 - 2020)BUTROVICH 205
02/14/2019 09:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: Alaska's New School Accountability System and School Designations by Alaska Department of Education and Early Development | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
February 14, 2019
9:00 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Stevens, Chair
Senator Shelley Hughes, Vice Chair
Senator Chris Birch
Senator Mia Costello
Senator Tom Begich
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
- PRESENTATION: ALASKA'S NEW SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM
AND SCHOOL DESIGNATIONS BY ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
Deborah Riddle, Division Operations Manager
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave an overview of Alaska's School
Accountability System.
Brad Billings, Administrator
State System of Support
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave an overview of Alaska's School
Accountability System.
ACTION NARRATIVE
9:00:19 AM
CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the Senate Education Standing
Committee meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Birch, Hughes, Begich, and Chair Stevens.
^Presentation: Alaska's New School Accountability System and
School Designations by Alaska Department of Education and Early
Development
Presentation: Alaska's New School Accountability System and
School Designations by Alaska Department of Education and Early
Development
9:00:43 AM
CHAIR STEVENS announced the presentation of Alaska's New School
Accountability System and School Designations by the Alaska
Department of Education and Early Development.
9:00:53 AM
Deborah Riddle, Division Operations Manager, Department of
Education and Early Development (DEED), Juneau, Alaska, and Brad
Billings, Administrator, State System of Support, DEED, Juneau,
Alaska, introduced themselves.
MS. RIDDLE said every element of the education system works
toward the goal to ensure all students are prepared after high
school. Accountability is just one piece of this system. She
reviewed the timeline for Alaska's plan for the Every Student
Succeeds Act (ESSA) Succeeds Act:
ESSA is a vehicle that will help move us toward our mission
and vision.
• May 2018 - Alaska's plan approval by US Department of
Education
• June 2018 - accountability regulations adopted by
Alaska State Board of Education (4 AAC 06.800 899)
• October 2019 - school designations released
MS. RIDDLE reviewed the statewide stakeholder engagement:
• January 2016 current
o Collected nearly 4,000 stakeholder comments
o Held or participated in over 40 meetings and
conferences
o Met with nearly 1,000 stakeholders
o Formed an advisory committee consisting of over
40 members
• DEED sought public comment on three draft versions.
• Additional public comment was recently sought
regarding an amendment to the approved state plan that
was submitted to U.S. ED on January 15, 2019
9:02:50 AM
SENATOR COSTELLO joined the committee.
MS. RIDDLE shared that the Alaska ESSA plan is posted on the
DEED website. She reviewed the different indicators in the
accountability system:
Accountability Indicators
Grades K-6
• Academic Achievement
o English language arts
o Mathematics
• Academic Growth
• English Learner Progress
• Chronic Absenteeism
• Grade 3 ELA Proficiency
Grades 7-12
• Academic Achievement
o English language arts
o Mathematics
• Academic Growth
• English Learner Progress
• Chronic Absenteeism
• Graduation Rate
o Four year
o Five year
MS. RIDDLE said the academic growth indicator focuses on how
students progress from year to year. Chronic absenteeism looks
at how many days students are in school. Schools get additional
points in the accountability system for third graders who are on
track for English language arts proficiency.
9:05:56 AM
SENATOR BIRCH asked what the measurement for academic growth is.
MS. RIDDLE answered that the PEAKS [Performance Evaluation for
Alaska's Schools] summative assessment is done once a year. ESSA
requires one summative assessment and an accountability system
based on that assessment.
9:06:51 AM
SENATOR HUGHES asked what is done with the data they gather. She
asked if they just make conclusions or, for example, are schools
with chronic absenteeism coached or helped to improve that.
MS. RIDDLE replied that districts can make decisions based on
the index score in the designation report they receive from
DEED. She noted that Mr. Billings would address what the
department can do to help those schools.
SENATOR HUGHES said that teachers have shared with her that some
children are suffering from chronic absenteeism and that Alaska
students spend fewer hours in school compared to other states.
She mentioned how crucial the read-by-nine initiative is. If
they tackled chronic absenteeism, fewer hours in school, and
grade promotion of students who have not achieved what they need
to do academically, along with the emphasis on reading, they
would do wonders for kids.
9:09:08 AM
SENATOR BEGICH asked within which section of the budget her work
falls.
MS. RIDDLE replied Student Learning.
MS. RIDDLE noted that for grades 7-12, the graduation rate for
the four-year cohort is an indicator and those who graduate in
five years also plays a consideration.
MS. RIDDLE went over how the indicators are weighted. Growth at
40 percent and achievement at 30 percent are the biggest
indicators for grades K-6. In grades 7 and above, growth is
still 40 percent, achievement is 20 percent, and the graduation
rate is 20 percent.
MS. RIDDLE said in order to get an index score, schools must
have enough students for two indicators:
Overall School Index Value
• Requires at least two indicators.
• One of the two indicators must be one of the
following:
o Academic achievement in ELA or Mathematics,
o Growth in ELA or Mathematics,
o Four-year or five-year graduation rate, or
o English Learner progress
MS. RIDDLE reviewed the 2018 index score distribution. In all,
468 schools received an index score. The highest index score was
98.99, the lowest was 1.19, and the average was 46.2.
CHAIR STEVENS asked who received 98.99.
MS. RIDDLE answered a technical high school with grades 11-12.
It did not have any ninth graders who were assessed and was
rated on graduation rate and chronic absenteeism.
MS. RIDDLE said districts and schools receive designation
reports with their overall index scores. The school designation
report comes with a companion document to help with
interpretation.
SENATOR HUGHES asked what happens when a school receives a score
like 1.19.
MS. RIDDLE responded that Mr. Billings would address that with
Student Supports.
CHAIR STEVENS said it would be nice to know what the top 10
schools are doing, and it's important to know why schools are
failing.
SENATOR BEGICH asked if that level of analysis is going to be
done.
MS. RIDDLE answered that Mr. Billings would speak about the
supports based on school designations.
MR. BILLINGS reviewed the three school designations that are
based on the data and the index score
Three School Designations
1. Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI)
• 5% of Title I schools with lowest index
score (16 schools)
• Graduation rate less than or equal to 2/3
(67 schools)
• Three consecutive years as TSI for same
subgroup (starts 2021)
2. Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) (24
schools)
• Based on equity gap for any of nine
identified subgroups
3. Universal Support
All schools are eligible for a TSI or CSI
designation regardless of size.
Mr. BILLINGS explained that the lowest performing schools
receive the designation of Comprehensive Support and Improvement
(CSI). The graduation rate is a new way to receive a CSI
designation in that past accountability systems have not focused
on graduation rates. Since a school must be a Targeted Support
and Improvement school for three years to become a CSI school,
that designation will start in 2021 because they are just
starting this accountability system.
9:16:38 AM
MR. BILLINGS said the ESSA law requires not only treating the
whole school as a unit but also looking at defined subgroups and
each subgroup is treated as a school:
Subgroups
African American
Alaska Native/American Indian
Asian/Pacific Islander
Caucasian
Hispanic
Two or More Races
Students with Disabilities
English Learners
Economically Disadvantaged
SENATOR BEGICH asked if two or more races means two or more
named races.
MR. BILLINGS answered yes. He explained that each subgroup gets
an index value. For each school, the school has an index and
nine subgroups. Sometimes there are not enough students in a
subgroup to assign a value.
SENATOR BIRCH asked how the graduation rate was determined. He
asked if they started with the freshmen class or only looked at
the senior class.
MR. BILLINGS answered that a graduation cohort is determined for
each school when students enter ninth grade. If students should
exit or move to another school, then they are moved out of the
cohort. Students can move into a cohort. The department tracks
that.
MR. BILLINGS said that for the Targeted Support and Improvement
(TSI) schools, they are looking at the achievement of subgroups
and equity gaps. Schools with low-performing subgroups are
designated TSI.
MR. BILLINGS said the Universal Support includes all schools
that not TSI or CSI.
SENATOR BEGICH said he saw a map in the Anchorage Daily News
using these designations. He asked if it would be fair to say
that the schools in the first two categories are all over the
state, many in rural Alaska.
MR. BILLINGS replied that the CSI five percent are focused in
rural Alaska. The graduation rate category is much more diverse
in geography and school type. Some correspondence schools are
newly on their radar because of that.
MR. BILLINGS said designated schools must complete the following
four steps:
• Local needs assessment
• Consultation of stakeholders
• Improvement plan responding to reasons for
identification and identified needs
• Implementation of Evidence Based Interventions
SENATOR BEGICH said he is concerned about student support and
whether the department can do what it says it is going to do. He
asked who is paying for interventions and how the department
will know about that. He noted the proposed budget has a 19
percent cut to the state system of support and asked how the
department will be able to implement the interventions.
MR. BILLINGS replied that the school improvement team
distributes federal school improvement grants. The department
also has a federal programs team that supports the title
programs, such as Title 1, English learners, and migrant
students. They also have school improvement coaches who are
assigned to CSI 5 schools.
9:24:58 AM
SENATOR BEGICH asked how the coaches are funded.
MR. BILLINGS answered that the school improvement coaches are
state funded.
SENATOR BEGICH said they had heard for years that the department
is on the edge of not being able to provide support. He asked if
ASD would be able to do these functions under the proposed
budget.
MR. BILLINGS said he was not in a position to answer that, but
they are considering that and thinking of how to distribute the
resources to support as many schools as possible.
SENATOR BEGICH said he wanted the committee to consider that the
presentation may be relevant to today's world, but not to
tomorrow's world because of the budget.
MR. BILLINGS reviewed supports and resources for schools:
• School Improvement process and tool Alaska Effective
Schools Framework
• Partnerships for technical assistance and support
o Alaska Statewide Mentor Project
o Alaska Staff Development Network
o Association of Alaska School Boards
• School Improvement Coaching and capacity building
• School Improvement Grants
• Outreach webinars and one-on-one assistance
SENATOR BEGICH asked where the Statewide Mentor Project and the
Alaska Staff Development Network are located.
MR. BILLINGS answered that the mentor project is at the
University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Alaska Staff Development
Network is a subgroup of the Alaska Council of School
Administrators.
SENATOR BEGICH said he wanted to point that the university is
facing a 44 percent cut.
9:28:18 AM
SENATOR COSTELLO said the budget that was introduced yesterday
was the beginning of a process. She supports education and is
concerned about the cuts that were proposed. She said they
probably hate anecdotal story because they do not fit into the
data analysis, but she wanted to share that she has served for
eight years and visits her schools every fall. She learned of a
middle school teacher with no students for the first hour. If
students didn't show up for school, the principal and the
teacher would drive to the student's house to bring the student
to school. They would try to show kids that they matter, and on
the flip side, sometimes parents of students with chronic
absenteeism only get a letter. She wondered how they could
communicate to parents and students exciting career and
technical education (CTE) options. It pains her that the goal is
not 100 percent graduation. She wondered if they know what
happens when students stop going to school. She recounted a
situation in Fairbanks where a kid just stopped going to high
school and nobody looked into it. She asked if there is a
process to know that they are doing right with families with
kids who stop going to school.
MR. BILLINGS replied that he loves anecdotes because it takes
him back to the classroom and what really matters. The local
needs assessment allows local staff to tackle those issues. CSI
schools in the graduation rate category have been wrestling with
those questions: what are the needs and what will impact that.
Some possibilities are a community liaison who reaches out to
families when a student is absent or a focus on engaging
students more with CTE options.
MS. RIDDLE added that the Alaska Education Challenge focuses on
career and technical education as a method for helping with the
graduation rate. Statistics from the Carl Perkins grant show
that the graduation rate for students who take about two years
of CTE courses is higher. They do have to collect data about
where students end up after high school to report to the federal
government.
CHAIR STEVENS said this is the place for anecdotes. They
appreciate the high-level approach, but they appreciate hearing
from kids, parents, and teachers.
SENATOR HUGHES said that she would expect to see more policies
adopted about offering CTE to students at risk of dropping out.
She asked if there are anecdotal stories about what has happened
with schools who have had coaching and whether they have been
able to raise their scores.
MR. BILLINGS related a story of a coach who worked with a strong
school principal on behavior interventions so that the climate
of the school improved dramatically.
SENATOR HUGHES asked if the school did better on academic
achievement then.
9:36:45 AM
MR. BILLINGS replied there doesn't appear to be a direct link to
assessment improvement, but there is improvement in middle
indicators, such as school climate and attendance.
SENATOR HUGHES asked if it is because it has not been in place
long enough or if they still refining what to do. It is a
problem if there is no improvement with the support.
MR. BILLINGS replied that the way that adult behaviors flow
through to student performance is a complex system. The larger
challenge is staff turnover. A coach and principal work hard to
build capacity in early reading skills, for example, and then
the staff turns over and the capacity doesn't stay in that
school. The nongovernment partners are so important because they
have accepted the fact that they need to provide for annual
training because of staff turnover.
SENATOR HUGHES said that she had hoped to hear that supports
would result in better performance for low-performing schools.
She hoped that the department continued to brainstorm on that.
She looked forward to the day when she hears that intervention
raised student performance.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if the committee could have more information
about the coaches.
MR. BILLINGS answered yes.
MR. BILLINGS said the accountability system was introduced this
year. They are working with a more diverse set of schools, such
as smaller schools and correspondence and alternative schools
that weren't on the radar screen in the past. Designations did
not happen until October this year. They want to be intentional
in how they interact with schools because schools have
initiatives put in place and the accountability system is not
there to displace those initiatives. The focus is more on
outcomes and the needle is moving. In the future, more
indicators could be included.
MR. BILLINGS summarized that the accountability system focuses
on the six indicators, on graduation rate, and equity. The ESSA
plan is not what is driving the department. DEED is guided by
the mission and vision of the State Board of Education, the
Alaska Education Challenge initiatives, and the initiatives of
district, school, and classroom educators.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if they are better off with ESSA than the No
Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
MR. BILLINGS said the accountability system still has some
components of what was used before, but it allows flexibility
with indicators, such as using chronic absenteeism and reading
by third grade. They also have more flexibility with how to
support designated schools than they did with NCLB.
MS. RIDDLE added that with NCLB, the goal was that 100 percent
of kids would be proficient by a certain date. Now they can set
more attainable goals, realistic goals that schools and
districts can reach. ESSA is more than the accountability plan
because it addresses what each of the title programs will do.
CHAIR STEVENS asked for a rough idea of federal funding vs.
state funding.
MS. RIDDLE said about $42 million comes from Title 1 and about
$16 million comes in for the migrant program. She said she was
not sure about the other title programs. The funds are for
supporting, not supplanting, state funds.
9:46:28 AM
SENATOR BEGICH asked if the federal funding is driven by the
state contribution.
MS. RIDDLE answered that it is based on census data and low
income.
SENATOR BEGICH said he wants to see what Senator Hughes was
talking about, that they use the data they are collecting to
improve outcomes. He wants them to priortize and understand the
interconnectivity between the department, university, and school
districts so that when they build the education budget, they do
so in a way that serves schools and the mission of the
department. The committee wants to ensure that education works
for the kids and the parents and the teachers in Alaska. Teacher
retention is an incredibly important. Teacher retention and
turnover is a factor every time they hear one of these
presentations. He would be interested in any ideas they have
about that.
SENATOR BIRCH asked, considering how the committee had just
heard from the Juneau superintendent about how much CTE courses
increase graduation rates, why didn't DEED require a mandatory
welding class, for example. CTE seems to be a vital contributor
to a successful graduation rate. He asked if there were any
consideration of technical education as a required component of
graduation.
MS. RIDDLE answered that some districts do require some tech
education as a local requirement. Forty-three districts receive
federal Carl Perkins funds for CTE. The other 13 that don't are
very small. Most districts offer CTE courses. One of the
projects that is working through the Alaska Education Challenge
is state-approved courses and pathways that could move up into
postsecondary for districts that don't have the capacity. One is
a Microsoft certification. Another goal is to create
opportunities for students to graduate with dual enrollment or
industry certifications.
SENATOR COSTELLO said that she was glad that Ms. Riddle
mentioned that the census will affect federal funding. She has
spoken to [Office of Management and Budget Director] Donna
Arduin about the original $250,000 that was in the budget for
outreach about the importance of the census. The census is a
significant opportunity to grab federal funds, but if Alaskans
are not counted, Alaska could lose federal funds. Ms. Arduin had
said those funds were removed and would be absorbed by the
governor's office. She asked that the department, through the
commissioner, have a conversation with the governor's office
about the importance of educating people about what the census
means. It affects transportation, education--quite a few areas
of the state.
9:52:27 AM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Stevens adjourned the Senate Education Standing Committee
at 9:52.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SEDC_Presentation_DEED_System for School Success_14Feb2019.pdf |
SEDC 2/14/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SEDC Hearing - DEED Presentation - New School Accountability & Rating System - Feb 14, 2019 |
| SEDC_Presentation_SampleSchoolSystemSchSuccess Form_14Feb2019.pdf |
SEDC 2/14/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SEDC Hearing - DEED Presentation - New School Accountability & Rating System - Feb 14, 2019 |
| SEDC_Presentation_ESSA_Plan_Excerpts_14Feb2019.pdf |
SEDC 2/14/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SEDC Hearing - DEED Presentation - New School Accountability & Rating System - Feb 14, 2019 |
| SEDC_AK_Approved_ESSA_Plan_08May2018.pdf |
SEDC 2/14/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SEDC Hearing - DEED Presentation - New School Accountability & Rating System - Feb 14, 2019 |
| SEDC_ESSA_Plan_Amendment_21Dec2018.pdf |
SEDC 2/14/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SEDC Hearing - DEED Presentation - New School Accountability & Rating System - Feb 14, 2019 |
| SEDC_Presentation_SampleSchoolRating_CompanionDocument_14Feb2019.pdf |
SEDC 2/14/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SEDC HEARING - DEED PRESENTATION - NEW SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY & RATING SYSTEM - FEB 14, 2019 |