Back to school

Rachel Wise

Rachel Wise, District 3, Nebraska State Board of Education (August, 2013)

Back to School!

School shopping, school supplies, new teachers, new friends, getting to bed early these are the memories of August for students and teachers! This time of year is also a busy time for local school boards and for the State Board of Education.  A packed agenda welcomed the State Board on August 8^th and 9^th.

By the time you read this article, the 2012-2013 Nebraska Statewide Assessments (NeSA) reading, math and science scores will have been released to the public. NeSA is the assessment or testing system developed to measure student progress on Nebraska standards. While these test scores provide valuable information for schools, teachers and parents, it is important to remember these tests are one-time, drop-in measures of student learning that, in my opinion, should not be used alone to judge the performance of our students, teachers or schools. Are they measures that can be of value? Absolutely! However, we must look at multiple factors as they relate to student performance, teacher performance and school success.

In late September, the Nebraska Department of Education will release the State of the Schools Report (SOSR), which will provide a great deal more information about our schools and include the Nebraska Performance and Accountability System (NePAS). NePAS will provide information on how school districts perform in reading, math, writing and science. Information on growth and improvement of districts will be provided for reading and math. This year the SOSR will provide more detailed information because of a change in the way we report performance for small groups of students. While the new rules or “masking” rules are complex, in general the department will display only percentages for student performance and those percentages will be rounded to continue to protect confidential information about individual students. Data for small student groups ― groups with fewer than 10 students ― will continue to be masked but percentages will be displayed when five or more students perform at a specific performance level such as below, meeting or exceeding the standards. This new reporting strategy will be especially useful for smaller schools when graduation rates are reported in November.

Earlier in the year, I provided some background information about Nebraska Standards, the Common Core and an alignment study that was being conducted by the McREL organization. The completed language arts alignment study was a focal point of discussion at the August Board meeting. A math standards alignment study is being finalized. Those results will be shared with the Board next month. The report for the language arts alignment is available on the Nebraska Department of Education’s website and contains some excellent information. In quick summary, there is a high correlation between Nebraska’s language arts academic standards and the Common Core language arts standards. The report showed that 3 percent of the Nebraska language arts standards were more rigorous than the Common Core language arts standards and 3 percent of the Common Core language arts standards were more rigorous than Nebraska language arts standards. I will touch on the alignment study of language arts and math standards in more detail next month. The State Board approved a timeline and process for validating Nebraska academic standards and to ensure our high school seniors are college and career ready when they graduate. This fall, representatives from postsecondary education and Nebraska language arts standards writing teams will begin that process. The review process will include findings from the McREL alignment study and involvepostsecondary education representatives, teachers, administrators and the public

Finally, the State Board is moving forward with its search for a new Commissioner of Education. At the August meeting, the State Board approved a position profile that will serve as the foundation for recruiting and hiring the next Commissioner.

For more information on the release of NeSA scores, the process for ensuring Nebraska standards are college and career ready and the search for a new commissioner, please search the Nebraska Department of Education website at www.education.ne.gov .

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State Fair experiences

Mary Loftis

Going to the Nebraska State Fair always provides some interesting experiences. Now, I’m talking from my own perspective as an extension staff member for over 34 years, plus my personal experiences as a 4-H member.

The State Fair was always been a big thing…even when I was a kid and went with my family. The bad news was we always had to go through ALL the buildings before we ever got to see the midway! Back then my Dad loved the chocolate and nut covered ice cream on a stick so we all got one. All I can remember is losing more chocolate than what I ate as it melted and slid off my ice cream.

When I went to the State Fair as a 4-H member it was even more exciting. Seeing ALL the beautiful exhibits other 4-H members made and trying to find an exhibit of mine somewhere in the huge old 4-H building in Lincoln was amazing. Giving a 4-H demonstration at the State Fair was a special honor, even though the stages were curtained off in part of the big building until they built a special presentations building, but that was LONG after my State Fair exhibitor years!

In college the University of Nebraska Collegiate 4-H Club ran a concession stand (or two) on the first floor of the 4-H Building, basically under the arena seats. As you can imagine, that was a fun experience, but I especially remember a young 4-H member racing into the concession stand needing a carton of milk for her 4-H demonstration. She had forgotten it at home and in her rush she didn’t have any money with her to buy it. I gave her the milk, wished her good luck and she later came back and paid for it. I knew she would!

When the State Fair became part of my JOB, it took on a different, but still exciting look. Packing and taking all those exhibits from the county fair to the state fair was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun as you run into (sometimes literally) extension friends from other counties as we hauled everything into the 4-H Building.

If you remember the huge 4-H Building in Lincoln, a vast majority of the exhibits were carried up two flights of steps to the second floor to be judged and then displayed. Of course the building was not air conditioned and it was always a very HOT August day carrying them in and helping getting them judged. I think we were tougher then, younger…and in better shape, as carrying some of those heavy and awkward items up the stairs was a real challenge.

Today, we are still doing much the same things taking things to the State Fair only since 2010 the Nebraska State Fair is in Grand Island instead of Lincoln.

Carefully packing and recording all the exhibits is quite the process. John Wilson is a packing expert. (Obsessive is another way to describe him!) He can fit more stuff into a vehicle and get it safely to State Fair than anybody I know. However we met our match this year.

Do you remember the beautiful glider porch swing that sat outside the 4-H Building at the county fair? It was selected to go to the state fair. Brent Miller of Lyons refurbished the swing using plastic lumber (not the hollow stuff…the HEAVY stuff!) His family called before bringing the swing down to ask if we thought there would be room for it. I thought there would be and knowing John’s skill at packing figured it would be no problem. WRONG!

Since we were trying to get it into a van it just wouldn’t fit! Well, actually it did fit, but then nothing else would get to go to state! I called the Miller family and told them I had been overly optimistic about fitting it in and they were very understanding…after jokingly suggesting we could put it on top of the van! John, the Master Packer felt he had failed, but I didn’t miss it at all when we unloaded in Grand Island!

The good news about the new 4-H Building in Grand Island is the lack of stairs and it’s air conditioned! The bad news is that there isn’t nearly enough space for the 4-H exhibits as we are still sharing space with State Fair vendors and FFA. The challenge of carrying something the size of a small kitchen cabinet through a tight maze of home environment exhibits trying to find the right entry number sign for it was nearly impossible without falling over or running into other exhibits. CRAZY!

Talk about CRAZY, getting the tags printed for the exhibits this year was a nightmare, but thanks to Sharon Wimer, and the wonderful people at the state fair fixing all the problems, everything got entered. Hopefully it all got judged and recorded too. Hopefully the results will be up on the website very soon!

Make your own State Fair memories this year in Grand Island. The State Fair runs through Labor Day, September 2. Go to the website, http://www.statefair.org or for more detailed 4-H information and results go to:http://4h.unl.edu/nebraskastatefair.

Mary Loftis,

Extension Assistant
UNL Extension – Burt County
111 North 13th Street, Suite 6
Tekamah, NE 68061
Phone: (402) 374-2929

Fax: (402) 374-2930

Internet: mloftis2@unl.edu

Elkhorn Logan Valley Health Department launches website

Contact:

Gina Uhing

Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department

402-529-2233

Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department, as a member of the Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors, has launched a new interactive website that will provide tools for the public, the media, health care providers and policymakers in making solid decisions regarding health.

Created as a joint endeavor by several national agencies, the Network of Care for Public Health and Wellness is designed to provide the most up-to-date health information in one easy-to-use website.  The website includes county level statistics about key health indicators, wellness education, information about health issues and medical care, news, and links to local and national support groups.  It also provides information about state and federal legislative bills on various health topics, allowing the public to easily contact their representatives about issues of concern.

“An individual or organization can, for instance, look up an indicator, such as lung cancer and find out if their county statistics for this disease are better or worse than those in other areas of the state or nation.  If they find there is concern about their county’s incidence of lung cancer, they can then look up risk factors, such as smoking rates and air quality, for their county on the same site.  Having all of the information can help healthcare organizations, policymakers and others to develop priorities and direct resources to effectively impact the top health concerns for their communities”, says Gina Uhing.

Continuing to use lung cancer as an example, individuals who may have the disease can also easily research the latest treatment options, find news releases and articles by trusted experts on the topic, locate a support group, and establish and manage their own online personal health record.

This is just one example of how the Network of Care can be utilized.  Hospitals, now required by the IRS to complete community needs assessments, will find the information valuable to their endeavors.

“The Network of Care will provide us with a ready source – a complete and current site where we can go, and where others in the community can go – to get current statistics and numbers to guide their work,” said Teresa Anderson, President of the Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors. “It will allow us to display local, state and nationally acquired data in an easily understood and immediately accessible manner”.

Kids 4 Christ

Permission slip Kids 4 Christ 7-19-13

Permission slip for Kids 4 Christ

Kids for Christ

Below is the Kids 4 Christ Flyer

brochure-kids-4-christ-7-19-2013.docx