Superintendents Separate Wheat from Chaff in SB 1

On behalf of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, Susan Weston outlined a response to Senate Bill 1 over at the Prichard Blog.

In the report Weston outlines the superintendents' agreement and concerns over the piecemeal SB 1 proposals.

So what do they see as WHEAT?

• a substantive redesign of the state assessment system
• one coherent testing and reporting system (state and NCLB)
• shortened time for testing
• an accountability “package” that includes a combination of assessments: norm-referenced
  and criterion-referenced, formative and summative, college readiness,
  program evaluation, and varied testing formats including multiple choice, open
  response, on-demand, writing portfolios at grades 7 and 12, and end-of-course
  tests
• increased student accountability
• narrowed standards, especially in mathematics
• requiring any other component required to comply with No Child Left Behind
• requiring core content assessment to be administered during the final seven days of each
  district’s school year, and to take no more than five days
• requiring all test results to be reported to schools and districts to no more than sixty days
  after testing

But the superintendents would also get rid of the CHAFF in SB 1 and oppose:

• the elimination of open response questions
• the elimination of accountability for writing portfolios at the 7th & 12th grades

KASS advises:

Rather than eliminating the criterion-referenced test, the Department should consider
using a carefully designed NRT that can be converted soundly into a criterion-referenced
test that would measure state standards and use open response along with multiple choice
formats.

KASS members strongly support more student accountability than provided in the current
version of SB1.

They note that changes in math standards identified in SJR 19 are not included in SB 1 and that SB 1 has no plan for changes in standards in the other content areas, including who will conduct the evaluation process and how often.

With the strong probability of significant changes in NCLB under the Obama administration, is action now to make significant changes in KY’s assessment and accountability system wise in regard to future compliance with NCLB?

Controversial Wilson Sears To Lead Superintendents' Group

This from Mark Hebert:

The local school chief who led the charge to make it tougher for private and parochial high school to recruit athletes has been named the new head of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents.

Wilson Sears retired from his job as superintendent of Somerset Independent School District at the end of last school year. He had previously led the Bowling Green and Meade County School districts. But Sears is best known as the spokesman for a huge group of public school administrators who almost got Kentucky's rules on school transfers changed to make it tougher for private and parochial high schools to recruit middle school athletes. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association overwhelmingly approved the change but the proposed "feeder schools" regulation was ultimately rejected by the Kentucky legislature.

As the head of KASS, Sears will be the main lobbyist for Kentucky school chiefs. He may have a tough time convincing catholic legislators like Sen. Tim Shaughnessy because of the divisive fight over the public vs. private school issue...

School Superintendent's Lobbyist has lunch with the C-J

John Cooper shares the good, the bad and the ugly

of being a lobbyist

John Cooper: ...I don't have any advantage over a constituent that makes regular contact with a legislator. Do we have an advantage over people that don't involve themselves in the process? Sure.



Q: Don't legislative outcomes sometimes strike the public as having been determined solely by lobbyists?



Cooper: If the public reaches a critical mass on any issue, it tends over time to happen. They run over us. It's said that the worst day for a lobbyist is the day they actually get their legislation passed, because they might lose a high-paying client. Is there any truth in that?There's an old saying that you work yourself out of a job. But the truth is if you're successful and you pass legislation, other opportunities come along. So you really want to pass those bills...



Cooper: ...If you look to the future, just to fund the operation of state government with 120 counties, which are way too many, but who's going to have the guts to make that move to reduce that administrative overhead? It's such a radical idea in a state like this, but it's radical and practical at the same time. It's the root of a lot of our problems.



We've got school districts that have declining income, and this year that have to do a lot of road miles on buses that have very few kids to pick up and are burning all this diesel fuel. They're going to be laying off teachers to pay for fuel. It's really troubling. I come from one of those little counties. They have a lot of issues. There's a lot ahead of us....

Haselton to become Interim Dean at U of L

With all the hubbub surrounding the University of theVille this week it's good to be reminded of this story (and photo) from Brad Hughes at KSBA last week:

Blake Haselton, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents (KASS), is leaving that post to become interim dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisville.

Haselton, a former Oldham County superintendent, became the KASS exec three years ago following the retirement of former KASS Executive Secretary Roland Haun. While serving as the staff member for the superintendent's association, Haselton has been on the staff of U of L's education school. U of L's current education dean, Dr. Robert Felner, left to become chancellor of the University of Wisconsin system.

"Last Friday I was asked to discuss the position with University of Louisville President Jim Ramsey and he offered me the position of Interim Dean. Needless to say, this was an unexpected development but an exciting opportunity for me," Haselton said in an e-mail to the state's superintendents.

"I also think it is significant that the university would place a practitioner in the role of Interim Dean. Both President Ramsey and Provost Shirley Willihnganz indicated they want to continue to build on those relationships with school systems and I expect to continue to be an active advocate toward that goal," he said.

"My three years with KASS have been a wonderful experience," Haselton said. "We continue to be at a crossroads in elementary and secondary education and I will continue to be committed to achieving the goal of providing an adequate education for all kids. I have advised President Kelley Crain (superintendent of the Fleming County Schools) and the executive committee that I will continue to serve as your executive director during a transition period to a new director and will do anything I can to assist in the transition."

A little bit of light in a world of darkness.

Fayette County Public, Private Share Peace Pipe

This from the H-L:

Fayette Co., LCA unveil agreement to prevent boycott

Mike FieldsLexington Christian Academy will avoid a lot of the fallout from the "schedule reduction plan" proposed by the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents last week. And it appears most of the 50 or so private schools across the state won't be affected much by the boycott.

Long before the KASS unveiled its plan before the Kentucky High School Association's Board of Control last week, LCA had been working with Fayette County public school officials to work out a compromise so they could keep playing each other.

They came to an agreement this week. LCA will self-impose tough restrictions, and Fayette County will do likewise. Any student who transfers to LCA from a Lexington public school after the seventh grade will be ineligible to play athletics for a year. In turn, Fayette County will impose the same rule on students transferring from LCA to any of its schools.

Don Adkins, athletic director of Fayette County schools, said that his boss, superintendent Stu Silberman, informed other superintendents of the agreement, and they didn't have a problem with it. Adkins said it is intended to do "what's best for the kids" and to "develop a good relationship between everybody so we can all sit down and work this out." ...