New CEP Report: Will Oklahoma's NCLB 'Balloon Payment' Come Due?

Like many states, our "100% proficiency" plan was based on the premise that the world would come to its senses. It has not. CEP has a report that explains the problem in detail.

From the press release:

When the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) became law in 2002, states were charged with the controversial goal of bringing all students to “proficiency” within 12 years. This year, halfway to the ambitious 2014 deadline, that challenge is about to become much more difficult for about half of all states, according to a new report from the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy (CEP).

The report finds that while half of all states (25 states and the District of Columbia) have
adopted incremental achievement goals that assume steady progress toward the 100
percent proficient goal, the other half of the states have taken a “backloaded” approach
that will soon mean dramatically higher—and potentially unreachable—achievement
goals.

Twenty-three states have taken the backloaded approach, generally setting lower
expectations for the percentages of students reaching proficiency between 2002 and 2008
in contrast to much steeper expectations later on. The higher goals are now becoming a
reality for states, which in some cases will need to increase the percentage of students
reaching proficiency on state assessments by 10 points or more each year between now
and 2014.

This is not what Oklahoma alternative schools are supposed to be, continued

Tulsa's "boot camp" has been covered in depth by the Tulsa World -- six articles, an editorial, and an editorial cartoon this week. Click the title of this article to go to the World's education news index page.

The Tulsa school board is supposed to address these issues on Monday night. I believe you can watch it from the comfort of your own home, if your home is in Tulsa and you have cable. Look at those local channels you mostly ignore and you should find it...get out the popcorn...you may need it to throw at your television...

This is not what Oklahoma alternative schools are supposed to be

The Tulsa World has an article today on the district's "boot camp" program. This isn't a state-funded alternative school; it can't be, as it doesn't meet the 17 criteria in state law. We wish that TPS would quit referring to it as an alternative school, as that only confuses the public.

Here's the lead paragraph:

The new alternative school that just lost its principal in a resignation agreement with Tulsa Public Schools has been plagued by overcrowding and physical violence, a current employee and two former students say. They say police are routinely called to the school -- including last week when the school district's director of alternative programs was assaulted by a student.

Tulsans don't have to look very far to find examples of really good, true alternative schools: Street School, Union, Jenks, Owasso....just to name a few right there in Tulsa County.

This isn't the first time we've heard horror stories about Tulsa's boot camp. We hope something is done -- the first priority for this school should be safety.

The 2008 link to active legislation is up

It's over on the left side of the page -- you'll see that we replaced the link to the 2007 session bills with a 2008 link.

As always, if you want to check the status of a bill or get a copy of the latest version of a bill, head to http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/WebBillStatus/main.html and use the Basic Search Form link.

If you're not sure which version of a bill is the current one, email us or post here (which sends us an email) and we'll be glad to help you.

HB 3064: Limits on the hours older students may work

Rep. Rebecca Hamilton (D-OKC) has authored a bill that would limit the hours students under the age of 18 may work. Currently, the law only limits the hours that children under the age of 16 may work. They would not be able to work more than 18 hours per week (unless they maintained a 3.5 GPA). They would not be able to work later than 10pm on school nights (even if they attended a night school?)

According to our annual student survey, approximately 40% of the high-school students in Oklahoma's alternative education programs need to work to help support their families.

Should we be concerned that this bill would increase the number of dropouts? Let us know!

Bills, Bills, and More Bills

Today is the deadline for legislators to file bills for the 2008 Session. We have already begun the process of reviewing all the bills filed to see what changes might be in store for Oklahoma schools. We'll compile a list of bills to watch and post a link to it on the sidebar (that's over on the left side of the page, for all you non-bloggers), as we do each year. We find that we can better prepare professional development if we watch these changes as they go through.

If you'd rather watch bills yourself, but don't know how to do it, free training is available from the staff of the Legislative Service Bureau. You can go take the training live, in person, or you can watch it from your desk:

LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION TRAINING CLASS

Training will be offered for how to access legislative information on the internet. The Legislative Service Bureau web site includes bill tracking, copies of the bills, committee reports, daily agendas, meeting notices, calendars, and an array of useful information.

The training classes are open to everyone and last approximately one hour. The training will be in Room 419-C in the capitol on the following dates:

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 9:30 a.m.

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 9:30 a.m.

The training will also be broadcast on the Senate’s website: http://www.oksenate.gov
Select the link for audio and video in Room 419-C.

Questions: 405-521-5687

Tulsa World: Alternative Schools Vital

We're mostly on winter break here (and actually having some snow instead of ice), but we thought we'd point people to this article on alternative education in Oklahoma.

Time Reform Task Force Recommendations

The task force chaired by Dr. Lucy Smith to study all aspects of increasing class time instruction for Oklahoma K-12 students presented its findings to the State Board of Education on 11-29-07. (The link above takes you to the SDE's website - click on View all News Releases, then November 29-Time Reform Task Force Recommends...)

Dr. Smith described how the task force managed its charge. First they asked for an accounting of the range of days that schools in the state are in session, have classroom instruction, etc. From that point, the members of the task force explored many possibilities for ways for Oklahoma to increase actual instruction time. The SBE will have a formal vote on these recommendations at its next meeting, December 18, at the Hodge Building in OKC.

An action by the SBE at its November meeting was directly related to the presentation of this task force's recommendations: The SBE voted unanimously to enact emergency rules for the school year 2008-09 that limit the number of parent-teacher conference days that can be substituted for a day of instruction to one per semester. These rules are awaiting the Governor's signature.

Webcast Update: ACE II Presentation, Mentoring

We have uploaded a new webcast on mentoring programs for students.

On Monday (assuming all the technology works the way it's supposed to), we will upload a presentation from Supt. Rick Martin (Prague). It's a reprise of a presentation that he made to the ACE II Task Force.

Update on ACE II Task Force Work

The ACE II Task Force met at the capitol on 11-28-07 to consider a presentation by Vicki Dimock, PhD, SEDL in Austin, TX.

Dr. Dimock addressed each of the following issues that were set forth in Senate Bill 921 for the group to study and make recommendations:

1. A comparison of PASS with other states' curriculuar standards, primarily states that score highest on NAEP.
2. Alignment of PASS with the NAEP standards.
3. Feasibility of realigning the state performance level standards to NAEP performance level standards.
4. Differences in achievement levels among states based on exclusion rates on NAEP.
5. Feasibility of aligning the cut scores on state-mandated tests to NAEP cut scores.

There was general discussion among task force members as to which of the PASS objectives NAEP covers. Differences between NAEP and the EOIs were also pointed out (e.g., NAEP - uses sampling technology, a sample of students, each of whom takes only one part of the test, which is timed. EOI - all students taking the course required to take assessment, which is untimed.).

The ACE II Task Force will have its final meeting on 12-19-07 to vote on recommendations which are due to the legislature by 12-31-07. Check with Kim Montgomery of the State Senate staff to see if "draft" recommendations are available before that date.

Update: State Funding Formula Task Force

The Oklahoma School Funding Task Force met again yesterday. According the the lead paragraph in the Journal-Record article on the meeting, "A complete overhaul of the common education school funding formula appears unlikely....The consensus among those involved in the discussion seemed to indicate a desire to make minor tweaks to the formula rather than completely move to another system."

Most of the discussion was focused on a 2005 study of the formula by Augenblick, Palaich and Associates, Inc., a private consulting firm.

Clicking the title link will take you to an online article published at the Oklahoma Insider website.

Wes Fryer's podcast on the Alternative Education Student Leadership Conference

If you went to the student conference and want to hear a reprise of some of Monte Selby's presentation, Wes Fryer(Speed of Creativity)posted a podcast. I enjoy just hearing how he had the kids participating.

If you missed the conference, you can listen to a bit of what you missed, and be glad that we think we have booked Monte for next year.

To hear the podcast, click the link and then scan down the page and you'll see the audio player.

Oklahoman: Site matches classrooms with potential donors

Check out this article in today's Oklahoman: What Teachers Need for Class, Site Helps Fund. Here's a snippet from the end of the article:

DonorsChoose.org has $75,000 set aside for use in Oklahoma in the site's Kick Start Challenge. The first 75 public schools that get 10 teachers to post at least one proposal each will each receive $1,000 to fund their proposals, spokeswoman Natalie French said.

The challenge ends Dec. 20. Already about 70 project proposals from Oklahoma teachers are on the site, she said.

Donors who give at least $100 or provide the money needed to finish funding a project will get a feedback packet later, including pictures of students using the equipment or participating in the activity, French said.

A New Majority: Low Income Students in the South's Public Schools

An important report has been released by the Southern Education Foundation. Click the title link to go to the full report (it's in PDF format). Here is the press release:

The Southern Education Foundation (SEF) has released a research report on the growth of low income children in the South’s public schools. The report finds that public schools in the region have enrolled a majority of low income students in each of the last three years (2004-2006) and today the South is the only region in the nation where low income students are 50 percent or more of public school enrollment.

The report also provides some historical background on the presence of low income students in Southern states; reviews trends during the last 50 years; documents patterns of growth in the South and other non-South regions and states during the last two decades; and identifies the primary factors and implications behind the trends.

News You Didn't Expect To See: Chambers of Commerce Oppose Tax Cuts This Year?

From the Oklahoma House of Representatives press office:

OKLAHOMA CITY - Officials with the Oklahoma City and Tulsa Chambers of
Commerce recently announced their opposition to expanding state tax
cuts, state Reps. Ed Cannaday (D-Porum) and Mike Brown (D-Fort Gibson)
noted today.

"It is encouraging to see business leaders acknowledge something
that many of us in the Legislature have been proclaiming for some time,"
Cannaday said. "It has been shown that a state cannot expand its
economic base and provide the needed labor force and infrastructure
while instituting reckless tax-cutting programs."

The chambers announced their position during a House Economic
Development and Financial Services Committee interim study on the issue
of restructuring the Oklahoma Opportunity Fund. The Oklahoma Supreme
Court's recently ruled that the fund's Review Board was unconstitutional
because it violated the separation of powers portion of the Oklahoma
Constitution.

As part of the review of the Opportunity Fund, lawmakers focused
on funding for projects that provide "a significant economic benefit to
the state." The goal of the Opportunity Fund was to have state money
that can be made immediately available to entice businesses to locate in
Oklahoma.

"When officials were asked about the potential conflict between
the Legislature's continued focus on cutting state taxes and expanding
this business incentive program, the presidents of the Oklahoma City and
Tulsa Chambers of Commerce both stated unequivocally that having low
state taxes is not an incentive that spurs a state's economic growth,"
Cannaday said. "Roy Williams said that 'cheapest is not best.' I hope my
colleagues will take note."

Teachers: Your chance to provide input on teacher pay

The Oklahoma House of Representatives is conducting an interim study on teacher pay, especially "pay for performance." As a part of this interim study, the House has posted an online teacher survey. If you're an Oklahoma teacher, this is your chance. Click here to take the survey.

Watch Out for 6th Graders

From The Care and Feeding of Teenagers blog at the Muskogee Phoenix:

I recently attended the Model Schools Conference in Washington, D.C. The major players in educational research were there, stressing their mantra for today's public schools: RIGOR, RELEVANCE, RELATIONSHIPS. Any teacher worth his/her salt knows that mantra instinctively.

What was new information, however, was something I just touched on in July: failure in school begins to manifest itself in the 6th grade. Sixth grade - who knew?

Prior understanding of potential drop outs said that the ninth grade is when failure begins to set in, after a person is in high school. The 9th grade has always been looked upon as a transitional year. Grades are usually low for freshmen and many a senior has rued their lack of serious approach to school when they find out it takes making 6 straight A's to get a C average out of the 6 straight F's they made in the 9th grade.

It has also been a strongly held assumption that attendance began to lag during the freshman year. This is the year most people attempt to skip school, cut class, run from the truancy officer, and call in sick for themselves.

But current research shows that a person's potential risk for failure at school actually begins in the 6th grade. This is the key transitional year from elementary school to middle school or junior high. Four key indicators of potential danger are:

>Attendance problems
>Behavior problems
>Math failure
>English failure

These are problems that do not normally self-correct. In other words, it takes some strong intervention from the school and on the home front to fix a potentially dangerous problem.

If you don't view this as a problem, statistics show you are wrong. For people trying to work their way up the social ladder, entry into the middle class nowadays is easiest through access to post-secondary education (not just college, but training and vocational programs, too). By not taking the above problems seriously as a parent, you are running the risk of limiting your child's personal and financial success.

The great thing is, when addressed in the 6th grade, there is plenty of time to turn the problem around. Parents are tempted to say, "Oh, it's just a phase and it will run its course." Maybe it will, but maybe it won't. Sixth grade year is no time for parents to go on auto-pilot waiting for little Johnny to grow up. It's time we started watching out for 6th graders to make sure we set them up with the best possible foundation for success.

2007 NAEP Results

The 2007 reports from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading and Mathematics tests have been released. To see Oklahoma's results, head to the Oklahoma State Profile. Here is the press release from the Oklahoma State Department of Education:

Oklahoma one of only 14 states to make gains in mathematics
Garrett: results in math, reading being analyzed for ongoing instructional efforts

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Superintendent Sandy Garrett said there is valuable information in the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the results currently are being reviewed by state curriculum directors to help ongoing improvement efforts in math and reading instruction. Stronger performance in mathematics is particularly notable.

NAEP is administered every other year to a sample of students from each state for Grade 4 and 8 reading and math. The sample from each state is not the same in terms of demographics but rather is supposed to be a statistical reflection of the student demographics for each particular state. Results are reported as scale scores ranging from 0 to 500.

In 2007, a sample of approximately 2,800 Oklahoma students took portions of each of the four NAEP exams. The sample was comprised of 40 percent minority students (20 percent were American Indian, 10 percent were Black, 8 percent were Hispanic and 2 percent were Asian) and approximately 52 percent of the sample qualified for free and/or reduced lunch, a federal poverty indicator. Oklahoma students who participated in NAEP did so sometime between late January 2007 and March 2007.

Garrett said that Oklahoma’s 2007 NAEP results, as compared to the previous series of tests in 2005, include the state being 1 of only 14 states to make gains at both Grade 4 and 8 mathematics, gains at Grade 4 reading, and the state remaining statistically unchanged in Grade 8 reading but statistically at the national average.

“NAEP is unlike any other assessment in which Oklahoma participates,” Garrett said. “It is a challenging exam that requires essay and short-answer responses. NAEP results can be helpful in pinpointing areas for additional instructional focus.”

State and local curriculum directors will be using NAEP results and sample questions in their professional development efforts with Oklahoma teachers. Garrett said she is urging lawmakers to invest more in Oklahoma’s state tests of reading and mathematics because they are currently multiple-choice only. The types of questions on the state tests should be expanded, Garrett said, to be more “NAEP-like” and include open-ended questions requiring essay and short-answer responses. Such questions are more expensive to develop and score on a statewide level.

Garrett also said she and her staff would be following the suggestion of the U.S. Department of Education to focus analysis of NAEP performance from 2003 to 2007 because the time span:
- Helps gauge the impact of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law enacted in 2002;
- Includes comparison data for all 50 states as 2003 was the first year every state participated in NAEP; and
- Includes a more scientific sampling of Oklahoma students.

“Like the nation, we have had dramatic student demographic changes and soon should be a minority-majority state in terms of our student population,” Garrett said. “The percentage of our students taking the test who are white has fallen while the percentage of American Indian, Hispanic and low-income test-takers has climbed. It’s helpful for us to look specifically at recent years to see if we’ve been responding effectively to greater and changing demands in the classroom.”

It is important to note that NAEP results for each state include only public school students while NAEP national results reported by the National Center for Education Statistics today include both public and private school results.

Key NAEP findings for Oklahoma on the 2007 mathematics assessment include:

• Oklahoma is one of only 14 states to make gains at both Grades 4 and 8 from 2005 to 2007.

• Oklahoma is one of only 23 states to make gains at Grade 4 and one of only 26 states to make gains at Grade 8 from 2005 to 2007.

• In 2007, Oklahoma came close to reaching the national average scale score in both Grade 4 and Grade 8.

• Oklahoma American-Indian students (1 out of every 5 Oklahoma students) are out-performing their peers nationally in 2007. In Grade 4, they scored a 234, compared to 229 for their national peers. Moreover, while 28 percent of American

• Indian students scored Below Basic nationally, 20 percent of American Indian students in Oklahoma did. For Grade 8, American Indian students scored a 269, compared to the 265 their national peers scored.

• There was no statistical difference between Oklahoma and the nation in Black and Hispanic performance at Grade 4 and no difference at Grade 8 in Black performance in the 2007 results.

• Oklahoma students who qualified for free and reduced lunch in Grade 4 outperformed (230) students nationally living in poverty (227) and there was no statistical difference between the nation (265) and Oklahoma (264) at Grade 8.

• In Oklahoma, the percentage of students who performed as “at or above Basic” was not statistically different from that for the nation’s public schools in Grade 4 and came close to being considered statistically the same in Grade 8 (66 percent for Oklahoma, compared to 70 percent nationally).

• Oklahoma has made steady gains in Grade 4 and 8 math since 2003, the year after NCLB took affect.

Key NAEP findings for Oklahoma on the 2007 reading assessment include:

• Oklahoma students have made gains at Grade 4 since 2003, but the scaled score at Grade 8 for Oklahoma, as well as that for the nation, has been statistically level. Moreover, there is no statistical difference between Oklahoma’s scale score for Grade 8 and the nation’s score in reading.
• With the exception of Hispanics, all subgroups in Oklahoma at Grade 4 and Grade 8 either made gains or performed statistically the same in reading from 2003 to 2007. At Grade 4, white students increased their score from 220 to 223; Blacks climbed to 204 from 195; American Indian students rose to 213 from 206, but Hispanics fell to 198 from 200.
• At Grade 8, there was no statistical difference in White, Black and American Indian student performance, but Hispanic students decreased their score to 241 from 250 in 2003.
• The percentage of Oklahoma students at or above Basic has risen from 60 percent in 2003 to 65 percent in 2007; however, there has been no statistical change in Oklahoma and across the nation in the percentage of students at Grade 8 scoring at or above Basic.
• Oklahoma students’ scale score of 217 at Grade 4 came close to being the same statistically as that of the nation’s (220) in 2007.

Download additional graphics regarding Oklahoma's performance on the 2007 NAEP (pdf)

Download Frequently Asked Questions regarding NAEP (Word)

Time Reform Task Force Members

State Supt. Sandy Garrett has formed a Time Reform Task Force to "...research more efficient management of the school day, as well as adding at least one hour to the school day and at least five days to the school year. Current state law requires public schools to instruct students a minimum of six hours for 175 days."

The Broad Foundation (Los Angeles) has offered support and resources to the task force.

The Time Reform Task Force will be chaired by Dr. Lucy Smith, a member of the Oklahoma Education Hall of Fame and former superintendent from McAlester. Its other members are:

Don Parker, Bank of Oklahoma's chief information officer and executive vice president from Tulsa	Helen Parker, Norman High School PTA president (no relation to Don Parker)
Monica Barbour, parent of a special needs child from Tulsa	Dr. James Branscum, Metro Technology Center superintendent
Brooke Bisel, University of Central Oklahoma student	Dr. Alan Ingram, Oklahoma City Public Schools' executive director of federal programs
Dr. Matthew Livingood, Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education member	Judith Ann Barber, education consultant from Grove
Dr. Patricia Hardre, University of Oklahoma faculty member	Dr. Joe Siano, Norman Public Schools superintendent
Lisa Horn, El Reno Public Schools' director of special services	Gene Hunt, retired minister from Oklahoma City
Danny Rennels, Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association executive director	Bobby Russell, Pauls Valley Public Schools superintendent
Teresa Bryant, Cordell teacher representing the Association of Professional Oklahoma Educators	Lyndol Fry, retired educator from Hugo
Glenda Cobb, Duncan Public Schools assistant superintendent	Bruce Demuth, chief of staff for the state Department of Career & Technology Education
Dr. Silvya Kirk, Midwest City-Del City Public Schools' high school principal	Dr. Ken Lease, Oklahoma School of Science & Mathematics' vice president of academic services
David Pennington, Ponca City Public Schools superintendent	John Privett, Tahlequah resident and former education reform advocate in Texas
Terri Silver with the Oklahoma State School Boards Association	Connie Sloan, 2006 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year finalist from Canadian
Kathryn Turner, Fletcher Public Schools superintendent	Stan Bryant, Oklahoma City teacher representing the Oklahoma Education Association (no relation to Teresa Bryant)
Cathy Williams, Vinita Public Schools elementary principal	Bill Bentley, Dibble Public Schools superintendent
Ed Allen, president of the Oklahoma chapter of the American Federation of Teachers

Tulsa World: Two Stories on Alternative Education

Today's Tulsa World has more articles on alternative education; both articles focus on middle-grade programs. Click here for the articles on:

Tulsa Franklin Academy
Middle-level options in Tulsa County schools