a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District SBE Work Session 10-3-2001 SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY REPORTS - REVIEW EDUCATOR PREPARATION/LICENSURE TECHNOLOGY REPORT ... GRANTS AND AWARDS TO SCHOOLS INTRODUCTION Jo O'Brien was introduced; she was recently hired to be Assistant Commissioner for Learning and Results. Before this, she was Program Director for the Governor Bill Owens' Fund for Colorado's Future. She has an extensive background in education. She served as the Director of the Kentucky Department of Education's School Improvement Office, playing a central role in implementing the Kentucky Education Reform Act. She also has three years' experience as Vice President of the Chicago Tribune Corporation, with responsibility in their partnership and literacy programs. SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY REPORTS - REVIEW Karen Stroup reported that most districts that had complaints about the correctness of the data on the School Accountability Reports were satisfied after they called CDE. Some of the districts that were reported in the press did not contact CDE. Several phone calls had been made by CDE to districts to confirm data that seemed incorrect. It is CDE's impression that "staff bent over backwards" to confirm the data. Calculations on average teacher salary and class size were particularly troublesome. The timeline was incredibly short to produce the SARs. Stanford proposed that we convene all the stakeholders to put together a clean-up proposal that has everyone's support; otherwise, it could become a "political football." Some of the problem was the quickness with which SB 186 was passed and finalized in the Legislature. There will be efforts in the next Legislative session to fix the problems. We need to discuss the alternative schools and how/whether they are rated. We should look at the improvement grades to avoid issues with them next year, as well as how we define "schools." He commended the Governor's efforts to improve education and said that he still supports ratings of schools. | |
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