Board Discusses Achievement Gaps, Legislation, Literacy

In addition to the items discussed below, the Board of Education apparently discussed something else. Over at BGI, Dick Innes reports:

...The department changed the way the On-Demand Writing assessment is scored.

The impact is dramatic. Last year, the high schools got an Academic Index score for On-Demand Writing of 55.7913. This year, thanks to the change, the On-Demand writing score skyrocketed up over 16 points to 71.9879.

Sixteen point jumps in a single year period, immediately following a change in scoring method, clearly indicated that the "improvement" may not have been improvement at all. I wonder if there will be a celebration.

(FRANKFORT, Ky.) – At its regular meeting Monday and Tuesday, the Kentucky Board of Education heard presentations, had in-depth discussions and made decisions on a number of items.

The board heard reports from the Christian County, Covington Independent and Jefferson County school districts about school and district support plans related to student achievement.

The board also issued a resolution recognizing the first week of October as the Week of the Classroom Teacher, which is designated as such by the Association for Childhood Education International. The full resolution is included at the end of this news release.

The group heard a presentation on achievement gaps related to students with disabilities; received an update on gifted and talented education; discussed the new superintendent’s evaluation instrument; and discussed items related to the 2009 session of the Kentucky General Assembly.

Other presentations included:
· the Kentucky Adolescent Literacy Plan
· release of data related to the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) and the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act

The board took the following actions:
· presented the Dr. Samuel Robinson Award to Henderson County School psychologist Laura McGrail
· approved the district facility plan for Augusta Independent
· approved district facility plan amendments for Caldwell and Carlisle Counties
· gave final approval to 704 KAR 3:390, Extended School Services
· gave final approval to 703 KAR 5:140, Requirements for school and district report cards
· agreed to recommend the superintendent’s evaluation instrument developed by the Kentucky School Boards Association to local boards of education

The board’s next regular meeting will be November 5 at the Kentucky School for the Deaf in Danville.

SOURCE:KDE press release