Setting the Policy Story Straight!

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

After a busy October Nebraska State Board of Education meeting, I have narrowed my article for this month to three topics. Two relate to board policy and one involves the vision and direction for the State Board.

In 2010, the Nebraska State Board of Education first adopted a policy for Coordinated School Health and reaffirmed it in 2013. Why is the Coordinated School Health policy important? The premise for this policy is that health children learn better. The policy supports the Coordinated School Health approach, which coordinates services and emphasizes partnerships with the overarching goal of promoting the physical, social and cognitive development of children leading to increased academic success. The policy also states that preventable health risk behaviors formed in childhood persist into adulthood and are frequently interrelated. The policy states: The Nebraska Board of Education believes that the education system, in partnership with families and communities, should work together to address these health risk behaviors which, if unattended, can lead to serious health problems and disabilities that are costly on families and the entire state of Nebraska.

I sometimes think that email and the Internet are like the old telephone game where one person whispers something to another person and the message continues around a group of people until, at the end of the line, you find out if the message was the same when it started.

Recently, a legislative hearing was held to gather information about the risky behaviors of youth. This hearing led some individuals to believe that there would be a push in the Legislature to mandate a sex education curriculum. Yes, this hearing involved a great deal of discussion about teen pregnancies and the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases in some parts of Nebraska. Yes, people testified passionately about the need for youth to receive medically accurate information about sex and sexually transmitted diseases and people testified that the Legislature should not mandate curriculum to address these issues. The Nebraska State Board of Education has not and in my opinion, will not mandate a sex education curriculum. As stated in our policy, the State Board encourages each school and district to develop, adopt and implement a comprehensive plan for coordinated school health.

Onto the next topic. The Nebraska State Board of Education adopted in October its policy on Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow (AQuESTT). Since 1953, the State Board of Education has had the statutory responsibility of being the evaluation body for the state school program. This policy states: The State Board believes that the opportunity to integrate components of accountability, assessment, accreditation, career education and data into a system of school improvement and support is imperative for the good of Nebraska students and for the state to have a vibrant and economically successful future.

The third topic important to the future of education in Nebraska is a step the State Board has taken to start down the pathway of strategic planning. The Board is seeking a vendor to facilitate its strategic planning process. The selected vendor will be expected to facilitate a process that leads to the development of a shared vision for the State Board, the Nebraska Department of Education and the state education system. This process will include setting goals, indicators and measures for the State Board, NDE and the education system as a whole. I believe the strategic plan will benefit not only the State Board and the Nebraska Department of Education but also local school districts, their communities and provide citizens with a clearer understanding of the vision and priorities for education in Nebraska.

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 http://www.education.ne.gov to learn more about education in our state.

Rachel Wise