Change is in the Air!

December 23, 2015 Leave a comment


Rachel Wise, District 3, Nebraska State Board of Education (December, 2015)

I can’t believe that I am writing about the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) again. However, this time it is good news! The United States Congress passed– through a bipartisan effort with an overwhelming majority in the House and the Senate– the reauthorization of ESEA which has been titled Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). On December 10th, President Obama signed it into law!

Granted, this bipartisan effort should have occurred in 2007, but better late than never. Nebraska schools are finally rid of the previous version of ESEA which was titled No Child Left Behind. For 15 years, states and local school districts were saddled with federal education law that left many schools and states behind! While ESSA may not be perfect, it is a good step for Nebraska schools and school districts. It puts the responsibility and accountability for education back in the hands of states and local school districts and, most importantly, local educators, who are better prepared to know how to improve schools and opportunities for all students.

Key priorities in ESSA that benefit Nebraska include: states remain in control of standards and assessments; states are given flexibility for developing and implementing state accountability systems; and, the lowest-performing schools still receive focused attention and support. The accountability stars finally may be aligned for Nebraska. The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act coincides with Nebraska’s roll out of our new accountability system, Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow (AQuESTT).

At the December 4th State Board of Education meeting, the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) released the accountability classifications of Nebraska schools and school districts. Under the new system, all public schools and districts are classified as Excellent, Great, Good or Needs Improvement. To find out the classification of any school or district in Nebraska or to learn more about AQuESTT, go to: www. AQuESTT.com . In addition, the State Board approved the Commissioner of Education’s recommendation for the identification of three priority schools. The priority schools were identified from a list of schools classified as Needs Improvement, those schools most in need of support to improve. NDE staff did an amazing job analyzing schools finding patterns among schools. They found that schools needing improvement fall into four primary types of schools. These are: schools with mixed poverty levels in small communities widely dispersed statewide; schools in small to mid-size communities with changing demographics; Native American schools; and, urban/metro schools with poverty levels higher than the state’s average. The three priority schools identified were Santee Middle School, Loup County Elementary School and Druid Hill Elementary School in Omaha. During the next few weeks, NDE will work with these three schools to assess their specific needs, develop action plans in partnership with the schools and identify support and intervention teams to work with the priority schools. These teams will help identify specific strategies to address student achievement needs and assist in the development of school specific plans focused on improving student achievement.

As I reflect on accountability and the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act, I am excited to be a part of education in Nebraska. I know that our local school boards, administrators and teachers will work with students, parents and communities to continue to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for Every Student Every Day!! Our new accountability system may not be perfect, but was developed with input from across Nebraska, and it will be improved with continuing input from across the state. It is an honor and a privilege to live in Nebraska and to serve Nebraskans. Nebraska may be nice, but we are also still “the good life,” and we know what is good for education in our state. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

This article represents my personal view, not that of the State Board of Education or my role as president. Feel free to contact me at rachel.wise@nebraska.gov. Search the Nebraska Department of Education website at www.education.ne.gov to learn more about education in our state.

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Broader, Bolder, Better!

July 13, 2015 Leave a comment


Rachel Wise, District 3, Nebraska State Board of Education (June, 2015)

Rachel Wise

Rachel Wise

Two very important topics addressed at the State Board of Education meeting in June were Career Education and Nebraska’s new system of accountability, AQuESTT—Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow. The Nebraska Department of Education introduced the concept of Broader—Bolder—Better to define the work of accountability, but I think the phrase applies to both topics I will write about this month.

The month of June started off with the annual Nebraska Career Education Conference in Kearney. It was an honor and privilege to attend this conference and to learn of the great work of career education teachers in schools across Nebraska. This past year, a Nebraska State Board of Education study committee chaired by John Witzel tackled the topic of career education in Nebraska. The committee’s recommendations were presented to teachers and administrators at the Kearney conference and again to the State Board. The recommendations― described as opportunities in the report― included the need to: address the teacher shortage in career education; maintain and expand the quality and student access to career education programs; infuse career readiness across grade levels and curricular areas; develop meaningful workplace experiences for students as a model for career guidance.

The next steps are to implement the strategies tied to these opportunities across schools in Nebraska. Some examples of the strategies include: defining career readiness for students in Nebraska; developing more opportunities for career-based virtual learning experiences to help students learn about career pathways in Nebraska; develop scholarships or loan forgiveness programs for teachers going into career education fields. If you know young people who are thinking about pursuing a career in education, encourage the fields of Agriculture, Business and Marketing, Family and Consumer Sciences, Health Sciences, Industrial Technology and Engineering or Information Technology. Once these recommendations are implemented, I believe Career Education in Nebraska will be Broader—Bolder—Better!

On to the next topic which is much more difficult to write about. State Board members we have all spent a great deal of time thinking about—accountability. For us, accountability is AQuESTT—Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow.

In March, I wrote about the new system of accountability and the primary indicators that will be used to classify schools. This month, the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) updated the State Board on the process that will be used to classify schools as excellent, great, good or needs improvement. Within the needs improvement classification, the three schools in most need of improvement and subsequently, intervention will be designated as priority schools. NDE staff also shared information and timelines about that identification process. Outcome measures such as growth and improvement on Nebraska State Accountability (NeSA) assessments and high school graduation rates will be used for the first step in the process called “raw classification.” After these outcome measures are calculated, a process called “evidence-based analysis” that looks at other indicators or quality factors such as teacher certification, curriculum or instructional practices will occur. All this information will be used in the “final classification” and in the development of a School Profile that designates a school’s classification level and describes the characteristics that resulted in the school’s classification. This sounds pretty complicated, and in some ways it is!! However, in looking at the plans and processes, I think once schools, communities, parents and students see the School Profiles, they will start to understand why their schools or districts were classified as excellent, great, good or in need of improvement.

The members of the State Board of Education and the Nebraska Department of Education staff are committed to more than just classifying schools and designating three priority schools. We are committed to helping schools improve. AQuESTT is being developed to inform schools on areas of strengths and needs and to help schools with systems of support so they become Broader—Bolder—Better!

This article represents my personal view, not that of the State Board of Education or my role as president. Feel free to contact me at rachel.wise@nebraska.gov. Search the Nebraska Department of Education website at www.education.ne.gov to learn more about education in our state.

 

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