For Your Information

Vol. 20, No. 20
October 24, 2008

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State Board Hears First Choice Committee Recommendations

A statewide grading scale for all schools and end-of-course assessments for all core academic courses were among several committee recommendations discussed at Thursday’s K-12 state Board of Education work session.

Dr. Tommy Bice, deputy state superintendent of education instructional services, announced the recommendations as part of his report on “First Choice: Alabama’s Partnership for 21st Century Skills.”

The plan was born of the board’s decision in May to make the Alabama High School Diploma with Advanced Academic Endorsement the standard diploma for all students, with the option to opt-out and seek other diploma endorsements. Among those are the advanced career technical endorsement, the career technical endorsement and the new credit-based endorsement, which is possible when graduates pass reading, math and another section of the five-section Alabama High School Graduation Exam. The other endorsements require all five sections — including language, science and social studies. There is also a diploma with no endorsement.

First Choice also originally included the requirement that students graduate from high school having completed at least one online course. After committee input, the recommendation is now that high school students have an online experience that equips them with the skills necessary to collaborate, communicate, manage information and otherwise demonstrate proficiency in using emerging technology resources.

“It’s a skill set that businesses and colleges are looking for beyond just what a course could simply provide,” Bice said. “The recommendation is that every student will graduate with an online experience. That could be a course or it could be an online experience through core academic courses that are already in place.”

Implementation recommendations for the online delivery formats include a traditional teacher-led instruction using a virtual environment or a blend of face-to-face instruction and such online experiences as virtual teams and shared assignments.

Two optional components of First Choice are credit advancement and credit recovery. Credit advancement allows students to show that they are proficient above the basic required level in an individual course and then wouldn’t have to take the course. Eligibility for credit advancement would be determined through former teacher recommendations; criterion and norm-referenced test scores that exhibit above grade-level ability; and an agreement signed by the student, parent and high school principal.

Credit recovery is an opportunity for students to learn the skills or content they didn’t initially master to earn the necessary course credit or promotion.

To participate in credit recovery, the student’s final grade would have to fall within 40 to 59 on the 100-point grading scale. Instruction would be led by a teacher; through software use but teacher facilitated; or online but teacher facilitated. The final grade in a credit recovery program couldn’t exceed 70. The school system decides whether to include the original final grade in its calculation of the student’s credit recovery grade or to forgive the original F and may replace it with a C after a student successfully completes the credit recovery program.

Bice said more than 30 school systems are already participating in credit recovery and experiencing positive results. “There is story after story. ... It is amazing. I see the results of credit recovery being a great effort to getting kids to stay in school and graduate,” he said.

The First Choice graduation requirements go into effect next year with the incoming ninth grade. Bice expects few school systems to exercise a waiver to delay implementation for a year, and he added that some systems have already implemented the requirements.

As for the statewide grading scale recommendation, Bice called it “unexpected” and then said the need for it “has become very clear.”

College and university admissions officers can’t simply assume all A’s are equal when it comes to Alabama students’ transcripts. A common grading scale adopted by all school systems could resolve that issue, Bice said. 

“Feedback so far, once you present why this needs to occur, is the majority are in agreement because they see the inequity that can occur for students,” Bice said.

Bice also presented proposals targeting middle school students. The recommendation is for the state’s middle schools to adopt the existing “Middle Schools that Work” framework. The framework includes 10 essential components: An academic core that is aligned with rigorous content and performance standards; a belief that all students matter; high expectations and a system of extra help and time; classroom practices that engage students in their learning; teachers working together; support from parents; qualified teachers; use of data; exploring and using technology; and strong leadership.

The goal is also to increase the number of state-funded middle school teaching positions, build connections through student advisement and to expand the Alabama Reading Initiative’s adolescent literacy program.

Bice also shared the recommendation for end-of-course assessments for all core academic courses and 16 pilot sites outlined in the “next steps” of the First Choice plan.

 Bice said he met with the Alabama Committee for Accountability and Accelerated Student Learning to discuss the amount of time spent testing students. Though it’s not the recommendation of the state Department of Education, some schools spread student assessments out over a two-week period for up to eight days. A plan to replace the SAT with a revamped Alabama Reading and Math Test could ultimately reduce assessment days to three.

Bice said the committee recommended moving away from SAT as a national reference point to using the National Assessment of Educational Progress for that purpose. In addition, the committee recommended making the ARMT a stand alone criterion-referenced test — a process that would take 1 1/2 to two years.

While the new Alabama Reading Math and Science Test is being developed in a way that meets No Child Left Behind requirements, Bice said the committee recommended offering local school systems the option to waive SAT requirements with the exception of reading and math.

Bice said CAASL’s discussion turned to the need to “really start  focusing on more formative assessments as we’re going along throughout the year.

“Rather than just waiting on this one score at the end that’s actually more of an autopsy of what just occurred,” he explained, “we could be making major differences along the way.”

Also on Thursday, the board briefly heard the recommendations of the State Textbook Committee for Adoption of Textbooks for English Language Arts and the Bible as Literature Elective. Committee members Dr. Jeffery Langham, Elmore County superintendent, and Cynthia Brown expressed that the committee had no minority reports or split votes and felt the recommendations would meet the needs of students.

For a second work session, the board continued its discussion Thursday of the tough economic times that could likely lead to a rocky 2009 and proration in 2010. State Superintendent of Education Dr. Joe Morton repeated his thoughts behind requesting $344 million in increases given the fiscal picture. He said the funding is vital to continuing recent successes and recovering budget losses sustained in 2008. The board meets once next month on Nov. 13 and in December, on Dec. 11.

— Denise L. Berkhalter
 

Amendment 1 Offers Short-Term Help

Voters go to the polls Nov. 4 to decide an issue that will have a tremendous impact on our school systems during the 2008-09 school year. Passage of Amendment 1 would provide relief to our schools by repealing the current Education Trust Fund constitutional rainy day fund and recreating it. It would also create a rainy day fund for the General Fund.

Specifically for education, Amendment 1 would create approximately $130 million more in borrowing capacity in 2009 based on a sliding scale and increase the time to repay the debt to six years. Current projections reflect a trust fund shortfall of more than $400 million for the 2008-09 fiscal year. The current rainy day fund would only cover less than half that amount, meaning the state would have to borrow nearly $200 million and still call proration of about 3.5 percent.

Passage of the amendment would allow the state to borrow most of the $400 million shortfall and repay it in terms that would not unduly burden future budgets. With current projections and passage of Amendment 1, proration still could occur but in an amount that would be much more manageable.

It is important to note that passage of the amendment is not a “fix” to the inherent problems with the method of funding our schools. Current projections indicate that the 2010 fiscal year could be very challenging, with a projected $300 million shortfall and no savings account or rainy day fund to absorb the deficit. However, it does provide substantial relief for the 2009 fiscal year while amending the terms of the current borrowing structure to be consistent with the current Education Trust Fund budget.

— Ken Roberts, AASB Chief Operations Officer
  

REGISTER NOW: 
Dec. 4-6 AASB CONVENTION

AASB presents The Art of Leadership: Create a Better Future for ALL Students with motivational speaker Erik Wahl, Congressman Artur Davis, former coach Harvey Alston, and state Superintendent of Education Dr. Joe Morton. Registration is now open at www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org, or contact AASB at 800/562-0601 for more information. You may also reserve your room at The Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham by calling 800/996-3739 (mention group code 1AT30S) or registering online by Nov. 20 at www.wynfrey.com/reservations.php.