In its February 1, 2018 meeting the Utah State Board of Education:
Voted to seek a waiver from the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provision that requires states to count non-tested students as zeros for school accountability purposes.
Voted to seek additional funding to provide teacher training on restorative justice.
Reviewed the state’s first Kindergarten Entry and Exit Profile (KEEP) report showing kindergarten student literacy and numeracy readiness.
The USBE Finance, Law and Licensing, and Standards and Assessment standing committees will meet on Friday, February 2, 2018.
Committee items approved Friday will be heard by the full Board during its March 15, 2018 meeting.
Those who wish to comment on pending administrative rules or rule changes or existing rules are invited to contact us via e-mail at rule.comments@schools.utah.gov.
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) announced today recipients of the 2018 School Improvement Grants. Over $5.3 million will be allocated to six schools and are made available to support student achievement in Title I schools.
“School Improvement funding is critical in supporting high-poverty schools in addressing low student achievement,” said Dr. Jennifer McCormick, Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction. “I am grateful to our awarded recipients as we work together to create academic success for Indiana’s students.”
School Improvement Grants are federally funded and were enacted under No Child Left Behind. Alternate school improvement funding streams will be utilized in the future in accordance with Indiana’s Every Student Succeeds Act. Funds were awarded through a competitive process to eligible schools who demonstrate a strong commitment to raise low student performance.
For more information regarding the 2018 School Improvement Grants, including a list of grantees, please visit: https://www.doe.in.gov/sig.
Washington, DC – The DC State Board of Education (SBOE) will hold its next Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Task Force meeting on Tuesday, February 6, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 1117 at 441 4th Street NW. The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) will provide task force members with an overview of the content proposal for the ESSA school report card. Task force member Josh Boots, Executive Director of EmpowerK12, will present on the 2017 District Equity Reports. After the presentations, task force members will breakout into committee work related to leadership, academic rigor, school resources and funding equity, and school climate.
All task force meetings are open to the public. However, individuals and representatives of organizations are not permitted to speak or participate during task force sessions. District residents may stay involved and provide input throughout this process in a variety of ways. Individuals and representatives of organizations may submit written testimony or information for consideration by the task force by emailing sboe@dc.gov. The task force meeting will be streamed live via Periscope for those community members who are unable to attend in person.
On Wednesday, February 7, 2017, the SBOE will hold it monthly working session. The working session will be held at 5:00 p.m. in Room 1117 at 441 4th Street NW. Representatives from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) will present an Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) report card content proposal. The Office of the Ombudsman for Public Education and the Office of the Student Advocate will provide quarterly reports on their progress helping District families. Additionally, Board members will discuss the final Alvarez & Marsal Report released this week on DC Public Schools (DCPS) graduation and attendance outcomes. Read President William’s statement on the report here.
The public is welcome to attend the working session. However, individuals and representatives of organizations are not permitted to speak or participate during the working session. Individuals and representatives of organizations may submit written testimony for consideration by the SBOE. Written testimony may also be submitted by email at sboe@dc.gov.
The draft agenda for the working session is below. Please note that the agenda may be altered, modified or updated without notice.
I. Call to Order
II. Announcement of a Quorum
III. ESSA School Report Card Content Proposal
IV. Ombudsman Quarterly Report
V. Student Advocate Report
VI. Alvarez & Marsal Final Report Discussion
VII. Committee Updates
VIII.Executive Director’s Report
IX. Adjournment
The DC State Board of Education is an independent agency within DC government that advises the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), which is the District’s state education agency. The Board is comprised of nine elected representatives, each representing their respective wards, with one member representing DC at large, in addition to two student representatives. The Board is comprised of nine elected representatives, each representing their respective wards, and one member representing DC at large, and two student representatives. The Board approves education policies, sets academic standards, and determines teacher qualifications, while OSSE oversees education within the District and manages federal education funding. The SBOE’s role in the achievement of this mission engages families, students, educators, community members, elected officials and business leaders to play a vital role in preparing every child for college and/or career success. More information about the SBOE can be found at sboe.dc.gov.
School districts: Interested in having your local, state, and federal funding follow children, so that kids with greater need have more money attached to them? Now’s your chance.
The U.S. Department of Education is officially opening up the “Weighted Student Funding Pilot” in the Every Student Succeeds Act. The department can allow up to 50 districts to participate initially, and ESSA leaves open the possibility of opening that up to more districts down the line.
So what’s the weighted student funding pilot? Participating districts can combine federal, state, and local dollars into a single funding stream tied to individual students. English-language learners, kids in poverty, students in special education—who cost more to educate—would carry with them more money than other students. Some districts, including Denver, are already using this type of formula with state and local dollars.
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is pretty excited about the pilot.
“This is a great opportunity for local district leaders to put students first,” she said in a statement. “Instead of relying on complex federal rules to allocate funds, local leaders can use this flexibility to match funds—local, State or Federal—to the needs of students.”
Read the full story here: May require an Education Week subscription.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, made a bold statement in a recent essay: By giving students individual help, average students can be turned into exceptional ones.
“If a student is at the 50th percentile in their class and they receive effective one-on-one tutoring, they jump on average to the 98th percentile,” Zuckerberg wrote.
It’s a remarkable claim, one that strains the limits of belief. And for good reason: The results from the 1984 study underlying it have essentially never been seen in modern research on public schools.
Still, the results have become a popular talking point among those promoting the “personalized learning” approach that Zuckerberg’s philanthropy is advancing. One video created by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) features an illustration of a 50 on a graph zooming upward to hit 98. The New Schools Venture Fund, another influential education group that backs personalized learning, cites the same work by Benjamin Bloom.
But a close look at the study raises questions about its relevance to modern education debates and the ability of new buzzed-about programs to achieve remotely similar results.
Washington — U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today announced new flexibility for school districts to create equitable, student-centered funding systems under a pilot program authorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
“This is a great opportunity for local district leaders to put students first,” said Secretary DeVos. “Instead of relying on complex federal rules to allocate funds, local leaders can use this flexibility to match funds—local, State or Federal—to the needs of students.”
The flexibility will allow school districts to combine eligible Federal funds with State and local funds in order to allocate resources to schools based on the number of students and the corresponding level of need. This type of system, often called “student-centered funding” or “weighted student funding”, is widely considered to be a modern, transparent and quantifiable way to allocate resources to the students most in need.
Previously, inflexible rules guiding the allocation and use of Federal funds made it difficult for school districts to create student-centered funding systems using Federal, State and local funds. School districts awarded flexibility will be relieved from Federal funding rules that would otherwise prevent them from implementing a student-centered funding system. ESSA provides for up to fifty school districts to receive the flexibility during the first three years of the program.
School districts that receive the flexibility are expected to design and implement a student-centered funding system that meets all statutory requirements of the pilot program, including the use of weights that allocate substantially more funding to students from low-income families, to English learners and to any other educationally disadvantaged student group identified by the school district.
School districts that receive the flexibility must also provide an assurance that parents, teachers, school leaders and other relevant stakeholders are consulted in the development and implementation of the student-centered funding system.
The application will open on February 7, 2018. For applicants intending to use the flexibility during the 2018-2019 school year, the application is due by March 12, 2018. For applicants intending to use the flexibility during the 2019-2020 school year, the application is due by July 15, 2018.
All local educational agencies (LEAs) are eligible to apply. The Department is authorized to award flexibility to 50 LEAs.
2. How do you apply?
The application will be available for download from the Department of Education website beginning February 7, 2018. Completed applications can be submitted to weightedfundingpilot@ed.gov.
3. What is being awarded?
The program will award flexibility only. It does not include a financial award.
4. When is the application due?
For LEAs that indicate on their application that they plan to use the flexibility during the upcoming 2018-2019 school year, the application is due by March 12, 2018. For LEAs that indicate they plan to use the flexibility during the 2019-2020 school year, the application is due by July 15, 2018.
For LEAs that will not use the flexibility until the 2019-2020 school year, the time between award and use may be used for planning.
5. When will the flexibility be awarded?
The Department intends to award the flexibility on a rolling basis, with those LEAs that apply to use the flexibility during the 2018-2019 school year receiving the earliest award notices.
Please consult Title I, Part E, Section 1501 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for all applicable statutory requirements for participation in the program.
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has given six more states the thumbs-up on their plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act: Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, and New Hampshire.
These approvals bring the grand total of approved state ESSA plans to 33, plus Puerto Rico’s and the District of Columbia’s. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia submitted plans last spring, and all but one of those states, Colorado, have been approved. Another 34 states turned in plans last fall, and so far, 18 have been approved.
So what do the approved plans look like? Below are some highlights of the state’s draft applications…
Read the full article here: May require an Education Week subscription.
Want to learn more about the Every Student Succeeds Act? Here’s some useful information:
Contact: Martin Ackley, Director of Public and Governmental Affairs 517-241-4395 Agency: Education
LANSING – Thirty-four Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs are sharing $2.85 million in state grants from Governor Rick Snyder’s MiSTEM Advisory Council, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) announced today.
The state Legislature set aside $2.85 million in 2017-18 to distribute grants up to $100,000 for the implementation of STEM programs listed in the STEMworks database. The MiSTEM Advisory Council selected the awardees, whose funding ranges from $24,000 to $100,000, from 134 applications seeking more than $10 million. The applications came from local and intermediate school districts (ISDs), universities, and STEM providers
“STEM education is critically important to a student’s success later in life,” Governor Snyder said. “Thank you to my partners in the state Legislature and the Department of Education for ensuring that more Michigan students will have access to these STEM skills.”
The MiSTEM Advisory Council said in a statement:
“The Council would like to thank the Governor for the leadership and vision to propel STEM education down a new and exciting path. The legislature has stepped up to the challenge and appropriated funds to support this shift in culture, enabling STEM programming around the state to benefit from proven best practices.
“As proud as we may be about this initial success, we are even more encouraged by the widespread potential that will be harnessed and directed toward the further advancement of STEM education for all of the students throughout the state.”
State Superintendent Brian Whiston said the grants’ STEM focus will help Michigan become a Top 10 education state in 10 years – the central goal of the Michigan Department of Education.
The grants align with the Top 10 plan’s goal of implementing high-quality classroom instruction through a child-centered instructional model with a strategy to enable public schools’ students to engage in integrated STEM programming.
In weighing the applications, the MiSTEM Advisory Council considered reviewer ratings, program type, and distribution across the MiSTEM Network Regions.
Two successful applicants, Oakland Schools and West Shore ESD, received multiple awards to provide professional development in regions other than their own. They are using the funding to build on statewide work underway for several years with seed funding from other sources.
Here is the list of 10 ISDs, 10 local districts and three STEM education provider applications selected for funding:
Organization
Region
STEMworks Program
Amount
Lakeview Sch. District (Calhoun)
Region 1 – Southwest Michigan
PLTW
$94,340
Oakland Schools
Region 2 – South Central Michigan
Modeling MS Science – Jackson/Lansing
$100,000
Brighton Area Schools
Region 2 – South Central Michigan
PLTW
$53,007
National Inventors Hall of Fame, Inc.
Region 3 – Wayne County
Camp Invention
$100,000
Wayne RESA
Region 3 – Wayne County
Math Recovery
$62,716
Plymouth-Canton Community Schools
Region 3 – Wayne County
PLTW
$74,339
Detroit Public Schools Community District
Region 3 – Wayne County
A World In Motion® (AWIM)
$97,730
Iridescent
Region 3 – Wayne County
Iridescent
$91,382
Macomb ISD
Region 4 – Macomb County
Math Recovery
$53,737
Oakland Schools
Region 5 – Oakland County
Modeling Biology
$100,000
Oakland Schools
Region 5 – Oakland County
Modeling Chemistry
$100,000
Genesee ISD
Region 6 – Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair Counties
Math Recovery
$98,406
Shiawassee Regional ESD
Region 7 – Capital Area
Math Recovery
$99,120
Otsego Public Schools
Region 8 – West Michigan
MiSTAR
$34,160
Kent ISD
Region 8 – West Michigan
Math Recovery
$45,675
Oakland Schools
Region 8 – West Michigan
Modeling MS Science – Muskegon
$100,000
Mason County Eastern Schools
Region 9 – West Central Michigan
Cereal City Science
$100,000
Midland Public Schools
Region 10 – Central Michigan
MiSTAR
$88,784
Sanilac ISD
Region 11 – Thumb
Cereal City
$100,000
Oakland Schools
Region 12 – North East Michigan
Modeling Biology – Roscommon
$100,000
Public Schools of Petoskey
Region 13 – North West Michigan
Full Option Science System (FOSS)
$60,185
Eastern Upper Peninsula ISD
Region 14 – Eastern UP
Cereal City Science – elementary
$93,488
Eastern Upper Peninsula ISD
Region 14 – Eastern UP
Cereal City Science – middle school
$82,474
Oakland Schools
Region 15 – Central UP
Modeling Physical Science – Marquette
$100,000
L’Anse Area Schools
Region 16 – Western UP
Engineering is Elementary
$28,119
Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium & Keweenaw
Region 16 – Western UP
Math Recovery
$24,285
Great Lakes Fishery Trust
Statewide
Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative
$99,166
Muskegon Area ISD
Statewide
Math Recovery
$99,960
West Shore Educational Service District
Statewide
AP Computer Science/Computer Science Discoveries
$668,927
(6 applications total)
The Legislature created the MiSTEM Advisory Council in 2015. It’s made up of 11 voting members serving at the pleasure of the Governor and four ex-officio legislators appointed from the House of Representatives and Senate.
Advocates for children in foster care had good reason to cheer the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act two years ago. The new law requires schools to break out student achievement data for foster care students so that the public can see how they are doing relative to their peers.
And it calls for students in foster care to be able to stay in their “school of origin” (a term the law did not define) even if it’s no longer their neighborhood school. The state must work with school districts and local child welfare agencies to provide transportation. The transportation was supposed to be in place one year after the passage of ESSA.
TEXAS — TEA drafts corrective action plan for special education AUSTIN – At the direction of Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has drafted an initial corrective action plan regarding the support and delivery of special education services in our state’s public schools. The initial draft addresses all issues identified in a recent federal monitoring report, including the proper identification of special education students and assuring access to appropriate services at the local level.
Commissioner of Education Mike Morath stressed this initial plan is simply a first draft still requiring additional public comment. Before a final plan is submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, TEA will engage in a significant outreach effort over the next two months to hear from special education students, families, educators, advocacy groups, district and school officials, and all others seeking to provide input on the plan.
“This corrective action plan provides the state of Texas the chance to make meaningful, lasting change in how we educate and support children with special needs,” said Commissioner Morath. “We are approaching this planning process with the seriousness that it requires and hope to solicit the kind of collective feedback, support and collaboration that our students deserve as we work to earn back the trust parents place in us for their children. My top priority has and continues to be to improve outcomes for all students in Texas.”
A copy of the draft plan was shared with the Governor’s Office and made publicly available today on the TEA website (https://tea.texas.gov/TexasSPED). Significant actions that are part of the draft plan include:
TEA would create a suite of resources intended to be shared with the parents of children suspected of having a disability to help fully inform them of their rights to a free and appropriate public education, and accompany those resources with a large outreach effort.
TEA would roll out a large scale statewide special education professional development system, including multiple opportunities for follow-up support for all educators (general education, special education, and others).
For students who are found to have needed services and did not receive them, the school system is responsible for providing compensatory services. TEA would identify funds to support effective service delivery.
TEA would further strengthen its staffing and resources devoted to special education, allowing for greater oversight as well as additional on-site support to local school districts.
TEA will be accepting an initial round of public comments on the draft plan through Feb. 18. A website has been established providing a copy of the draft, an overview of TEA’s outreach efforts with various stakeholders, and an email address to provide comment.
Following the initial round of public comments and stakeholder engagement, a revised draft plan will be available on or around March 1. Additional public comment will be accepted through March 31.
Under the current timeline, the final State corrective action plan would be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education on or around April 18 (pending additional conversations and feedback from federal officials).
February 1, 2018
School districts: Interested in having your local, state, and federal funding follow children, so that kids with greater need have more money attached to them? Now’s your chance.
Contact: Press Office, (202) 401-1576, 
