May 2014 State Board Report

May's State Board of Education work session began with a report on legislation, with a resounding sigh of relief that none of the bills the Board opposed saw passage during the session.

Also on the Board's May agenda was a presentation from Donlynn Rice & Tricia Parker-Siemers about the English-Language Arts Standards Revision Timeline. The public input survey will close end of May, and Rice noted that there had been a great amount of publicity about it. After the process is complete, NDE will  be creating new round of student-friendly materials, models, and such based on CTE integration.

Regarding student assessment, Director Valorie Foy stated that NDE's "number one goal is the best testing experience for students across the state." Because July 1 will mark the start of assessment work for next year, she presented to an update because of the Board's need to discuss a contract for future work. Based on problems in the past year, NDE has asked for letter of assurance from Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), and they are also in the process of developing an assessment and accountability advisory committee to report to Commissioner.

Following Foy's presentation, Commissioner Blomstedt presented an architecture of assessment, including the suggestion to move the NeSA server to be co-located on Network Nebraska instead of relying on commodity internet. In order to do this work, a new state level position will need to be created. The Board will be taking action next month on the contract with DRC. President Rachel Wise closed the conversation by stating that the Board "must understand where we are and where we’re going – we don’t want to be having this same discussion next May."

In terms of state accountability, the Board also did not make decisions or recommendations, but instead just received an update on the work of the committee. Valorie Foy explained the range of people represented on the state accountability task force, which has established goals of multiple indicators, improving student achievement across categories, and teacher evaluation. Currently, she noted, the teacher evaluation model does not include using NeSA data.

At Friday's Board Meeting, the Board heard from members of STANCE: Schools Taking Action For Nebraska Children's Education. This group of administrators is working to bridge between small and large districts. The superintendents who presented were well received by board members, and the board want to stay in touch with the group and thanked them for contributing to LB 1103’s visioning process.

The Board voted Friday on accreditation of ESUs, as well as interim program schools. They also sent the repeal of Rule 88 for a public hearing. This rule, from 1996, helped schools wire up to the Internet. It’s no longer necessary!