My Teaching Journal: March 2012

March 9, 2012

Hi He Doggers!

You may or may not know…I am working on my Masters in Administration. I am starting my internship (runs from March ‘12 to March ‘13). Deb is acting as my internship supervisor. So, I will be tagging around with her learning the ins-and-outs of being a principal over the next year. I also have a variety of projects that I need to complete. If you have any ideas on projects that will help make He Dog an even better place to be please let me know. I would love to do something that is meaningful for our students and staff.

I started my next class on Saturday. Dr. Medody Schopp (State Ed Secretary) is the professor. She shared some information about the South Dakota Department of Education's decision to freeze NCLB, the new accountability system, and HB 1234 (See below). I thought you would be interested, as this will affect our students and our entire staff.

It is an exciting time to be in education in our state for sure!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Have a wonderful week all!

Danylle

NCLB and New Accountability System

Dr. Schopp said the reason the state decided to apply to freeze the NCLB standards is because this year a large number of schools would have been classified as low performing (in addition to those already classified as low). Schools are making improvements, but not fast enough to comply with NCLB standards. The state applied to the feds to create our own accountability system. So, NCLB will be phased out in South Dakota. The legislature actually repealed it this session (Senate Bill 25).

The South Dakota Department of Education submitted a new standards plan to the Federal Government and are waiting for a response. The complete application is at the DOE site. Here’s the link - http://doe.sd.gov/NCLB/index.asp.

The new accountability system will be point based. Every school will reach to achieve 100 points. Elementary and Middle school have five indicators. High school has different categories. Let me know if you would like to see them. The points are listed in the top row. Only three categories will be mandated through the 12-14 school years. During the 2014-15 all of them will be in affect.

Points 40 (12-14; 25 Points (14-15)	Points 40 (12-14; 25 Points (14-15)	Points 20 (12-14; 20 Points (14-15)	Points 0 (12-14; 20 Points (14-15)	Points 0 (12-14; 10 Points (14-15)
Indicator 1	Indicator 2	Indicator 3	Indicator 4	Indicator 5
Student Achievement --percent proficient or higher in English language arts and math in grades 3-8 on state assessment -- two aggregate sub-groups -- unduplicated count	Academic Growth --Value added (linear regression) model based on student growth – factoring for certain variables	Attendance	Effective Teachers and Principals --Aggregate number of teachers in each of four categories Unsatisfactory, basic, proficient, distinguished	School Climate - Measurement needs to be determined

The D-Step will be phased out as well. A new system is expected for the 2014-15 year, although it has not been created yet.

New State Evaluation Process

The State is requiring all school’s to use the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching Model beginning in the 2014-15 school year. Todd County is a pilot school for the Danielson Framework. We will begin implementing the evaluation process this fall. April’s in-service will cover Charlotte Danielsosn. This affects ALL STAFF. We all will be doing a book study on this process. I’m not sure when that is scheduled, but I do have the books and if you are interested in looking at them please let me know. Deb also has copies.

Dr. Schopp said Gov. Daugaard has been reading the material (referring to her as Charlie Daniels, lol). She said that he is meeting with Danielson in Pierre on Tuesday, March 13. They are going to ask her to consult with the state on implementing her framework.

HB1234

As for HB 1234, I have a handout of this info if you are interested. Dr. Schopp said that the state will be emailing this info to all teachers in the state sometime this week.

This does not go into affect until the 2014015 school year.

Math and Science Incentives

All MS and HS science and math teachers are eligible. All others have to have a math or science endorsement. So, if you have either of those regardless of where you teach you are eligible for the $2,500 bonus.

Reward/Bonus Program

$15 million has be allocated for this program. The governor says he’ll fund it every year. Districts have three options.

· They can opt-out. (The money goes back into the fund and redistributed to schools that are participating.)

· They can create a local teacher reward program that gives bonuses to teachers based on student achievement, teacher leadership, or district’s high-needs teaching areas. Pretty much, the district decides how they want to spend this money, with the condition that it has to go to teachers.

· They can give $5,000 bonuses to the top 20 percent of teachers.

Continuing Contract or tenure

Continuing contracts will be eliminated in 2016, if you have tenure prior to the 2016 date, the state will not take it away.

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The SDEA is putting together a petition to have HB 1234 placed on the ballot this year. I read that Larry Lucas is involved with as well. If I hear of anyone with a petition I will let you all know.

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DNR

March 9, 2012

My Teaching Journal

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Common Core: SHIFT 1: PK-5: Balancing Information/Literature

Sunday, March 11, 2012

NCLB, New Accountability System, Evaluation, and HB 1234