SDE TO RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF FIRST TWO INNOVATION SCHOOL SYSTEMS

Proposals designed to meet student and community needs ranging from agriculture to the arts have landed the Florence and Lawrence County school systems at the head of the state Department of Education’s Innovation Schools program.

At the state Board of Education’s K-12 work session Thursday, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Tommy Bice said the board will be asked in May to grant the two systems Innovation status, freeing them from regulations that otherwise would hamstring creation of the new programs. In exchange, the systems have proposed related accountability measures.

Lawrence County’s plan calls for creating an agriculture-based diploma endorsement that would increase the awareness of and participation in agriculture-related careers, Bice said. Innovation status would allow the schools to add the endorsement to the career technical diploma. In addition, the system would increase the agriculture-related content and activities in grades 2-12, embed credit for the required economics course within agriscience and business and marketing courses, and allow students to receive co-op credit for afterschool agriculture-based work experiences. In exchange, the system has committed to raise its graduation rate from 94.3 percent to 97.3 percent, increase the number of the agriculture/career tech diplomas by 15 percent, and increase its two- and four-year college enrollment by 3 percent.

The Florence plan is a three-pronged approach that creates an interdisciplinary, project-based curriculum in history and English to better prepare students for college and AP courses; a fine arts magnet as a school-within-a-school; and an industry-based graduation recovery program for at-risk students. The system is requesting flexibility to waive the requirement for students in the college readiness curriculum to take the social studies and language arts portions of the graduation exam. For the proposed magnet, Florence is seeking permission to use adjunct instructors for dance and visual arts and substitute creative writing credit for the required fine arts credit for graduation. Finally, for the graduation recovery program, the system hopes to use industry-based work experience and coursework to meet graduation requirements instead of the typical workforce essentials course.

Florence has proposed numerous accountability measures, including increasing its average score on the ACT to a 26, increasing both fine arts enrollment and scholarship recipients and increasing the graduation rate from 81 percent to 90 percent at a rate of 2 percent a year.
Also during Thursday’s work session, state Superintendent Dr. Joe Morton apologized to board members for not keeping them fully apprised of two programs the state funds through the Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools. The programs – Kids College and STAR (Stop, Think, Act, Replay) – were the subject of a newspaper article this week in which some current and former board members said they were unaware the state Department of Education was funding them. Morton told board members the programs are among several funded through a $15 million line item in the state education budget for the governor’s at-risk programs.

CLAS receives an annual grant of $3.9 million for the programs. The association keeps approximately $151,000 of that, or 3.4 percent, to cover administrative costs, which Morton noted was a significantly lower percentage than most grant administrators.
In a presentation to the board, CLAS Executive Director Earl Franks said Kids College is an online academic tutoring program aligned with Alabama’s course of study. Students in almost 200 schools statewide use the software, which alternates sets of problems with brief sports-related video games. The program provides remediation as well as steadily raising the difficulty level as students master the skills, Franks said. On average, 30 percent of the participation takes place outside school hours, he said.

STARS, meanwhile, is an online program that teaches sportsmanship and is required of all students. Because it is specifically required for all Alabama high school athletes, coaches and officials, Ron Ingram of the Alabama High School Athletic Association credited it with a 41 percent drop in the number of ejections from ballgames since 2007 and with a $75,650 decrease in fines levied against schools for ejections and behavior problems.
During its regular meeting Thursday, the state board approved a resolution designating April as the kickoff of “Every Child a Graduate,” Alabama’s new dropout prevention awareness campaign. As part of that, on Friday middle school teachers statewide will show sixth-graders “InsideOut,” a documentary on life inside the state prison system, which is primarily populated by dropouts. On April 28, the state will unveil a new early warning tracking system that will enable schools to receive notifications when students are having problems with attendance, behavior or academics that could put them at greater risk of dropping out.
The board’s next meeting will be May 12.

EDUCATION TRUST FUND UPDATE

As expected, receipts to the Education Trust Fund declined significantly in March compared to the same period last year. This was due primarily to the processing of a large amount of income tax refunds. For the year to date, receipts are essentially level compared to last year, with an increase of less than one percent. While it appears that the current level of receipts will be sufficient to fund the current, prorated budget, significant growth in revenue will be necessary to fund the $5.59 billion 2012 FY budget recently passed by the House. Specifically, a 3.6 percent growth in revenue and specific program reversions and modifications to corporate tax regulations that would generate an additional $88 million would be required to adequately fund next year’s budget.

STRENGTHEN YOUR TEAM JUNE 9-12 TRAINING

Summer Conference 2011 is built around the theme Strong Teams, Strong Schools. It features two intensive hands-on workshops. One session provides a Myers-Briggs personality inventory for boards who want to collaborate and communicate better. The second explains how boards can overcome the five dysfunctions that fracture teams. Attendees will find out if theirs is a high performance team, how to rise to the leadership challenge and will hear about the latest hot legal and legislative topics that impact K-12 education. Summer Conference will close with Leadership Under Fire, a presentation by retired Army Lt. Col. Steve Russell, whose unit was an integral part of the hunt for and capture of Saddam Hussein. Now an Oklahoma state senator, Russell will share insights for accomplishing tasks that seem impossible, making tough decisions when the stakes are high and getting your team to take on challenges they know will be difficult. Earn 7.5 AASB School Board Member Academy hours. Refer to you state-mandated local policy on board training.

Hurry! There are just a few discounted hotel rooms left at the Perdido for the June 10-12 Summer Conference, and the June 9-10 Roles and Responsibilities Orientation for new board members and others who wish to retake the core course. The Alabama Council of School Board Attorneys will have its annual summer seminar June 10-11. Early conference registration ends June 3. Though housing reservations may be made through May 25, rooms are going fast. Contact the Perdido at 800/634-8001 and use group code 5075. Register at www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org.

GET A LEGAL UPDATE, IMPROVE YOUR LEADERSHIP AS BOARD PRESIDENT

The June 10-12 Summer Conference features two highlights you won’t want to miss. A session is set aside to discuss topics of interest to board presidents and vice presidents. Feedback and participation are key components of the June 11 Board Presidents Lunch & Roundtable. The lunch begins at 12:30 p.m. Special registration is required, and space is limited.

Another special component of this year’s conference is the FREE Legal Hot Topics bonus session. Attendance is optional, but the June 11 session is board members’ opportunity to hear experienced school board attorney address recent and crucial issues in education law. The event starts at 2:30 p.m. and ends at 4 p.m. Visit www.AlabamaSchoolBoarsd.org for more.

CONGRATS FREE REGISTRATION WINNERS

What do you get when you complete your conference evaluations, which are e-mailed to attendees? Well, possibly what Jimmy Dobbs of Morgan County received – free registration for the October 2011 or March 2012 School Board Member Academy Conferences. Attendees Larry Stewart of Calhoun County and Phyllis Wynn of Birmingham also were randomly chosen for attendance prizes provided by eBOARDsolutions. To learn more about eBOARD, call Lori Sours at 800/226-1856 or e-mail lsours@gsba.com.

DOWNLOAD STUDENTS FIRST TRUTH PACK

School Board Members are asked to contact their legislators in support of SB310/HB465 (tenure reform bills) to put Students First and restore common sense to the process of dismissing and transferring education employees. The bills have been introduced with strong support from education groups and business leaders. Download the Truth Pack at www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org. Get the answers to frequently asked questions, dispel the myths, receive the latest update, get a template for writing a letter to the editor or to legislators, follow the bill and learn more. If your board passes a resolution in favor of SB310/HB465 or if you contact your legislators and get a commitment of support for the Students First Act of 2011, please let us know.

REGISTER OR MARK YOUR CALENDAR
(to register, go to www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org)
April 20
AASB Webinar (1.5 Academy hours)
Charter School Effectiveness: What the Research Says
Note: A pilot charter school bill has been introduced.
May 17
AASB Webinar (1.5 Academy hours)
Preparing the Media & Community for the Release of Student Assessment Data
June 9-10
Academy Core Conference
Roles and Responsibilities Orientation (8 Academy hours)
Perdido Hotel
June 10-12
AASB Summer Conference (7 Academy hours)
Perdido Hotel
July 13-15
NSBA Southern Region Conference
(3 Academy hours, register at www.ncsba.org)
Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC

— Susan Salter and Denise L. Berkhalter,
publicrelations@AlabamaSchoolBoards.org