Senate Bill 1908

This month's Blog focus is Senate Bill 1908. Intern principals Vicki Flournoy and Denise Lawrence have researched and presented information and related documents for our Blog readers. Please take the time to read the Senate Bill 1908 information and post your thoughts.

The 2008 Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 1908 - School Grading on June 30, 2008. This bill requires the State Board of Education to replace the Sunshine State Standards with “Next Generation Sunshine State Standards” by December 31, 2011. Click the following to review the enrolled version of the bill.

THE MISSION OF THIS INITIATIVE

• Higher expectations
• More rigorous curriculum
• Respond to students needs
• Ensure students are prepared for college and or a high-skills high-wage work force

GOALS OF THIS LAW

• Increase the number and percentage of students who graduate from high school "college and career ready"
• Better communicate with 11th grade students and their parents the requirements and opportunities for enrollment in college-credit courses without a need for remediation,
• Provide students, whose test scores in Reading, Writing and/or Mathematics indicate any gaps, an opportunity to attain needed competencies in 12th grade prior to high school graduation.

COMPONENTS OF THE BILL

• School Grading, Alternative School Improvement Rating System, School
• College Readiness
• Assessment
• FCAT Preparation Activities
• Electronic Personal Education Planner (ePep)
• Arts Requirement for High School Graduation
• Standard High School Diploma Designations
• Dual Enrollment
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
• School Advisory Council (SAC) Membership
• Teacher CertificationCorporate Tax Credit (CTC) Scholarship Assessments
• Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE)
• Florida Ready to Work Credential
• Florida Teachers Lead Program
• Cafeteria Sanitation Certificate

Florida has become a member state in the American Diploma Project (ADP) Project http://www.achieve.org/ in order to address the articulation component of the Next Generation High School Initiative.

Goals for ADP

• Align high school standards and assessment with the knowledge and skills required for success after high school
• Require all graduates to take rigorous courses aligned to college- and work- ready standards that prepare them for life after high school
• Streamline the assessment system so that tests students take in high school also serve as placement tests for college and hiring for work
• Hold high schools accountable for graduating students who are ready for college or careers and hold postsecondary institutions accountable for students’ success once enrolled.

IMPACT ON HIGH SCHOOL GRADES
As of the 2009-10 school year, 50% of a school's grade will be based on the existing FCAT scores of students and the other 50% will be based on:

• The school's graduation rate
• Participation and performance of students in Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), dual enrollment, Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE), and achievement industry certification courses/programs
• Post-secondary readiness of students as measured by the SAT, ACT, or CPT
• The school's "at-risk" graduation rate
• Performance of students on statewide standardized end of course assessments, as they become available.
• Growth or decline in the elements above from year to year.

These provisions will be reflected in the Guide to Calculating School Grades technical assistance paper (TAP) for 2009. A copy of the most recent TAP is available via a link at http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/.

GENERAL IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE
The State Board of Education’s approved timeline is available at http://www.fldoe.org/board/meetings/2008_06_17/Next%20Gen%20Stan.pdf.

GENERAL IMPLICATIONS
Ultimately, this legislation is intended to help graduate better prepared students, increase access to postsecondary opportunities, enhance career success, and promote student retention and completion in college.

POST YOUR THOUGHTS
What are the implications of Senate Bill 1908 at your level?

Motivating Staff

On Monday, March 15 the Staff of the Leadership and Non-Instructional Development Department at HRD had the opportunity to hear a number of highly motivational speakers at the Get Motivated! Seminar, in the Bank Atlantic Center. Ms. Sherry A. Rose, Director of Leadership and Non-Instructional Development and her staff highly recommend this low-cost session for leadership teams and/or team leaders. Tickets for this event were available for the nominal fee of $19.00 for an entire office staff. If interested, watch for advertisements announcing future seminars. See some of the highlights from our experience below.

Dr. Robert Schuler, former Sr. Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral:
“Cut the word IMPOSSIBLE from your vocabulary.” “Turn impossibility to possibility: ‘It’s impossible unless . . .’”

Rick Belluzza COO of Microsoft:
“Opportunities occur when situations are in a state of change.”
“Be hard-headed and soft-hearted. Do the right thing in a way best for your people.”

John Walsh, Host of America’s Most Wanted:
“There is power in partnerships.” “One person can make a difference.”

Bob Kittell, Financial Planner Instructor:
“Principles are more important than money.”
“Learn something new. Do something new.”

Rudolph Giuliani, Former Mayor New York City:
“Learn how to use technology.” i.e. iPhone, ebook reader, iPods. Figure out how to adapt it to your life.”

Tamara Lowe, Get Motivated Seminars:
“One’s past does not determine the future.”
“Everybody is wired to be inspired, but are motivated in different ways.”

James Smith, Financial Planner:
“It is up to you to get in the game and make changes.”
“Your words become the prophecy of your future.”

Zig Ziglar, America’s #1 Motivator:
“Encouragement is the fuel on which hope runs.”
“You can get the things money won’t/can’t buy if you have character.”
“You can have everything you want in life if you help others get what they want.”

General Colin Powell, Statesman and Soldier:
“It does not matter where you begin, what matters is where you end up.”
“Essence of good leadership is to build connections of trust.”

FCAT CRUNCH—The Time is Near

FCAT Season offically started February 9 with the FCAT Writes.

If you have had your formal visit from the IRT team –two recommendations probably topped your list of Deliverables—

• spend the first 20 minutes of class on FCAT strategies

• analyze the benchmarks that are most tested from year to year. (http://fcat.fldoe.org/fccontentfocus.asp)

Diane Fettrow provided High School English Department Heads with just that-- Benchmarks, Skills and Number of Items in the Past Two Years in Reading.

Examine the data and have your teachers do the same thing with Science, Math, and the appropriate grade level of your school. The data is available—use it.

Now that you have this information, what do you need to do to assure teachers are using the information to your school’s advantage?

First, make sure teachers have taught all the skills listed on the chart. Next, have them recognize the clusters and skills that have the biggest payoff. Then, teachers should use the released items, the old tests, (http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcatrelease.asp) from the Department of Education for practice.

Teachers should not make this just another assessment. They should use it as a teaching tool to find out what students are missing. . . what they don’t understand. Time is running out!

The Heat Is ON

Henry David Thoreau said, “Write while the heat is in you.” That might be well and good for an aspiring writer, but for teachers preparing their students to take the FCAT Writing—the heat is on them!

Now is the time for you to check and see what your teachers have in place for the last weeks prior to the FCAT Writing test. All English Department Heads received handouts and powerpoints from curriculum to distribute to all English and Language Arts teachers.

The secondary materials included a Homestretch Plan for HS FCAT Writing—10 Days of Activities and Lessons. Check with your department head to find out how teachers at your school plan to implement the materials.

You might want to ask some of the following questions:
• Are students using FCAT Writing Rubric when examining returned FCAT Practice Writing assignments? Do they understand what they are doing wrong?
• Do the students understand that two full elaborations can make a difference in their score? Do they fully understand what elaborations are?
• Have teachers shared papers with scores of 4 and higher with students?
If you feel you need to know more about the FCAT Writing, check out the materials under The Heat Is On to the right of this column.
Remember, high performing leaders provide an effective instructional program and apply best practices to student learning—make one of those best practices a homestretch plan for FCAT Writing.

2010--Time to Come Out Kickin’

With all the DA visits and FCAT approaching, it’s time to Kick It Up A Notch! Make sure you are mentoring and giving feedback.  Where should you start?  Here are a few suggestions:

1.  Are your teachers writing measurable objectives?  Be sure to check objectives in your teachers’ lesson plans.  Remember, objectives need to have a measurable verb.  Make sure teachers are not using terms like: to know, to understand, or to appreciate.   If the teacher’s goal is for students to produce a book report, this is an activity. 

Objectives should be instructions about what teachers want the student to be able to do and what degree the students will be able to demonstrate mastery of the task.  Do objectives reflect high levels of cognition according to Bloom’s Taxonomy?

2. Are Test Specifications being utilized?  Why not print the test specifications for students?   Teachers could use the latest BAT data and print the specs for what most students missed.  Students could read the benchmark, check out how the benchmark will be assessed, see a list of distracters that could be used, and then try to answer a sample question.  Also, your PLCs should be sharing ways to use Test Specifications.

3.  Are word walls student generated? Word Walls take time.  Remind your teachers that great web resources are available for students to use for their words.  Introduce your teachers to the following websites:

• Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary  Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate.

• Shahi is a visual dictionary that combines Wiktionary content with Fickr images.

• Wordle generates “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.

(Links to these websites are listed under Kick It Up A Notch Resources on the right-hand side of this blog entry.)

I hope this will give you a starting place for mentoring and giving feedback for the next month.  If you have any Kick It Up A Notch suggestions for mentoring and giving feedback that you have used at your school, please share.  

DOE Visits and IRT Walkthroughs

Many schools are scheduled for DOE visits while others are still waiting for the first IRT walkthrough. I’ve been receiving feedback from many
of the schools that have had the IRT visits.
The visits focus on the following topics:
• Classroom Environment Conductive to Teaching and Learning
• Materials Support a High Level of Teaching and Learning
• Higher Order Questioning and Thinking is Evident
• Instruction Engages Students
• Small Group, Differentiated Instruction is Utilized
to Address Students’ Instructional Needs
• Reading and Writing Activities are Evident Across the Curriculum
• School and District Leadership and Coaching is Evident

The visits seem to have a common thread. Comments are generally about
•deciding on a process for data chats/progress monitoring discussions with students
•making sure students are exposed to grade level work regardless
of ability level and
•making sure PLCs are scheduled bimonthly and aligned to SIP plan
•developing consensus across the curriculum for a common board
configuration
• having an interactive word wall (student-made).

The photo (on the right) is from a school that uses the following configuration:
-Date
-Benchmark
-Objective
-Agenda
-Essential Question
-Opening Activity
-Closing Activity
-Materials or Homework

Notice that this teacher used blue tape to separate her classroom periods.
I understand that classroom word walls need to be interactive and need to be made by students.
I’d really like to hear feedback from other schools that have had visits.
Please post your experience.

A message from the Director…

The Leadership Department has been given the task of aligning all Principal and Assistant Principal trainings districtwide.

At first, this seemed like an unrealistic task. Due to the effective collaboration between HRD and Area Directors, quality staff development for all Broward County Administrators has been aligned. We have ensured collaboration, consistency and fidelity of implementation across Area Principal and Assistant Principal PLCs. The goal was to develop a process that strengthens the learning of all leaders. This year’s focus is on how to raise achievement of all students, while integrating the understanding and utilization of data to impact student performance across all subgroups to ultimately meet AYP requirements.

Please share how this process is assisting you in meeting your School’s SIP and meeting your subgroup targets? What have you learned from your colleagues that you have been able to take and implement back at your school? What are you doing differently this year to help you meet AYP?