Announcement
Educator Identifier Project – Linking Student and Educator Data Stakeholder Meetings – Southern Region
Attn: Superintendents, Principals, Data Contacts, Curriculum Staff, Technical Staff
CDE has completed three Metro stakeholder meetings regarding Phase III of the Educator Identifier project and is now moving to the southern region.
Phase III focuses on linking student achievement data to educator data. As phase III of the project progresses it is critical that CDE reach out to districts to solicit input on the benefits and/or barriers of CDE establishing the student/educator link. Additionally, it's importnat to solicit input on the benefits and/or barriers of CDE implementing statewide standard course codes for districts to map to.
Please join us as we conduct a new evolution of brainstorming. This session will be a working meeting and you will see how your input is being gathered and used for decision making.
CDE will hold two southern meetings in Colorado Springs and Alamosa.
Colorado Springs
* Friday, Oct. 8; 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Alamosa
* Thursday, Oct. 20; 12:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Topics include:
Overview and update of the Educator Identifier Project
Process for gathering input
Your input on the student/educator data link & establishing Statewide Standard Course Codes
Q & A
To sign up for stakeholder meetings, please visit http://www.cde.state.co.us/scripts/EIDProjectLinkingStudentReg10/registration.asp. Again, to ensure we receive the most feedback it is important to keep attendance to no more than 15 participants per meeting.
Click Here for Additional Information
For More Information, Contact:
Lisa Bradley
IMS
Phone: 303-866-4902
Email: bradley_l@cde.state.co.us
PowerSchool Pilot Opportunity
Attn: Superintendent, Technology Directors, PowerSchool Administrators
During the next few weeks Colorado Department of Education will select five districts to participate in a Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) pilot.
These districts will be the first to implement a SIF agent for PowerSchool that automates data uploads to Colorado Transcript Center (CTC), eliminating the need for PDF uploads or PESC data extractions. Each district will receive $3,600 worth of services and support from Pearson during the pilot and will be able to exchange transcript and record data rather than just PDF transcripts. The pilot will help determine the standards and best practices for statewide integration.
The pilot will begin in October, with data mapping taking place between January and March, 2011. Services and support will continue through June 2011. Districts interested in participating need to be current PowerSchool users and will need to devote minimal IT staff time during the SIF agent installation and to confirm data element maps and extracts. The Pearson implementation team will handle all of the mapping and configuration, create and deploy a hosted instance of SIFWorks ZIS, and connect the districts. Pearson will also designate a dedicated technical lead to the districts for the term of the pilot.
If your district is interested in participating, please contact Dennis St. Hilaire at the Colorado Department of Education. Contact information below.
For More Information, Contact:
Dennis St. Hilaire
Information Management Systems
Phone: 303-866-6840
Email: st.hilaire_d@cde.state.co.us
Conference
Colorado PowerSchool Conference
Attn: Districts, Principals, Secretaries, Office Managers, Administrative Assistants, Central Office Staff
The Colorado PowerSchool Conference is scheduled for Friday, November 12, 2010, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and will be held at Battle Mountain High School in Eagle County, 0151 Miller Ranch Road, Edwards, CO 81632. The cost is $125. There are 50 rooms being held at the Comfort Inn Vail/Beaver Creek for $85 dollars (nonrefundable after October 11) each. Please call 800-423-4374 or (970) 949-5511 and mention Colorado League of Charter Schools. The rooms will be held until Oct 11.
In collaboration with multiple districts and schools, the conference will feature multiple breakout sessions in a variety of topics designed for advanced, intermediate and beginner users.
If you are interested in helping plan the event or presenting please contact Tisha Bouwmeester at 303-989-5356 x 106 or TC Travis (970) 630-0272 no later than October 5th.
Click Here for Additional Information
For More Information, Contact:
Tisha Bouwmeester, Director of Performance Management
Colorado League of Charter Schools
Phone: 303.989.5356
Email: tbouwmeester@coloradoleague.org
Federal Programs
Federal Programs Symposium
Attn: Superintendents, Principals, Title I Directors, Human Resource Directors, Technology Directors, and Federal Program Contacts
The Office of Federal Program Administration will hold an Effective Practices Symposium on Friday, October 22, 2010 at the Adams 12 Conference Center 1500 E. 128th Avenue in Thornton.
The symposium is targeted at district and school leaders, but teachers and other staff are welcome to attend.
For more information on the breakout sessions and to register, visit the Federal Programs website at http://www.cde.state.co.us/FedPrograms/. Registration closes on Monday, October 11.
Click Here for Additional Information
For More Information, Contact:
Judith Huddleston
Office of Federal Program Administration
Phone: 720-939-8848
Email: Huddleston_j@cde.state.co.us
Comparability Training Webinars
Attn: Superintendents; Federal Program Contacts; Title I Directors; Human Resource Contacts; Comparability Respondents
The Online Comparability System will open soon!
CDE will host webinar trainings during October. Comparability reporting requires a great deal of collaboration, so everyone is encouraged to attend a webinar.
The October webinar trainings dates are:
October 20th at 10 am
October 22nd at 11 am
October 26th at 1 pm
October 27th at 2 pm
October 28th at 10 am and 1:30 pm
Click Here for Additional Information
For More Information, Contact:
Donna Morganstern
Office of Federal Program Administration
Phone: 303-866-6209
Email: morganstern_d@cde.state.co.us
Important Due Date
Submission of school accreditation categories and requests to reconsider due Oct. 15
Attn: Superintendents and Accountability Contacts
Please note: the following item is an last-minute addendum to today's issue of The Scoop. Regrets for the inconvenience.
The deadline is October 15th for two key components in the implementation of the Education Accountability Act (SB-163):
1. Submitting school accreditation categories
2. Submitting requests to reconsider district accreditation categories or school plan type assignments.
To provide you with information you may need to meet these important deadlines, CDE sent this memo to superintendents and DACs:
http://www.schoolview.org/documents/Oct15update.pdf
The memo provides an update on adjustments made to SB-163 implementation based on input from the field, as well as clarifies the process to submit requests for reconsideration. We received a number of requests for flexibility to ensure a common sense approach to implementation and, in response, CDE has made a number of adjustments. Specifically, the memo addresses the:
• October 15th deadline for submitting school accreditation forms and requests to reconsider;
• Process for requests to reconsider, including the types of questions and reports considered by CDE;
• Public release of district and school performance frameworks;
• Unified improvement planning process, including flexibility for K-8, 6-12, and K-12 schools; small districts; and Alternative Education Campuses;
• Designation of a single accountability contact for each district; and
• Resources offered by CDE regarding SB-163 implementation, including improvement planning.
District staff managing accountability processes should carefully review the e-mail for a summary of upcoming action items. Following a review, we ask that each district complete this CDE request for accountability information at the following link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/accountabilityrequest
Click Here for Additional Information
For More Information, Contact:
Somoh Supharukchinda
Office of Performance and Policy
Phone: 303-866-6778
Email: Supharukchinda_s@cde.state.co.us
To Do
Broadband Speed Tests for Your Schools
Attn: Superintendents
The Governor's Office of Information Technology is taking a survey of internet speeds available at all 1,793 public schools in the state. Click here http://tinyurl.com/myschoolbroadband
The results may form the basis for future funding of broadband programs for schools in the state.
So far we're at almost 50% response rate. Big thanks to the following "100% Club" for reporting from all of their schools:
1. Adams 14
2. Mesa County 51
3. Denver Public Schools
4. San Luis Valley BOCES
5. San Juan BOCES
Click Here for Additional Information
For More Information, Contact:
Frank Ohrtman
Governor's Office of Information Technology, CBDDP
Phone: 303-910-5968
Email: Frank.Ohrtman@state.co.us
Update
Standards Implementation Update
Attn: Superintendents, Curriculum Directors and Coordinators
Colorado Adopts the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and English/Language Arts
This fall, the department will re‐issue the mathematics and reading, writing, and communicating standards reflecting the August 2, 2010 State Board adoption of the Common Core State Standards. The department is working to ensure that the rigor, critical thinking and decision making skills, personal financial literacy acumen and other expectations that Colorado values are imbedded within these standards.
Content from the Common Core will be the foundation of the Colorado math and reading, writing, and communicating standards. Addition will include content identified by the Colorado subcommittees that are not included in the Common Core and legislative components such as personal financial literacy (HB 1168).
Colorado has determined that using the Colorado standards template for all content areas is important and will continue to do so. This allows the key aspects of the Colorado’s standards to be embedded in all content areas: 21st century skills, post-secondary and workforce readiness, and an aligned preschool through post-secondary system.
This week the department will be issuing a more complete outline of the process. You can find this communication on the CDE website at: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeassess/UAS/StandardsImplementation.html.
Content Specialist Online Office Hours
Online office hours with the CDE content specialists resume this month with a focus on standards implementation. Dates and topics for this semester’s office hours are listed below and are schedule from 3:15 to 4:00. Sessions are recorded for those not able to participate in the live sessions.
Oct. 20: Update on standards implementation
Oct. 28: Common Core update
Nov. 17: Tools and activities to support 21st Century skills and the Colorado Academic Standards
Nov. 30: Intentional design to support standards implementation through mission, vision, and core values.
Dec. 9: Intentional design: Goals, strategies, and next steps for standards implementation
Links to past and upcoming online office hours can be found here:
http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeassess/UAS/Online_Office_Hours.html
For More Information, Contact:
Melissa Colsman
Director of Academic Initiatives
Phone: (303) 866-6737
Email: colsman_m@cde.state.co.us
Urgent
Oct. 15 deadline no longer in effect; AECs will receive default State designation of "Improvement Plan"
Attn: Superintendents, Principals of Alternative Education Campuses
If your district has any schools designated as Alternative Education Campuses, note that for 2010-11, CDE plans to give these schools a default designation of an Improvement Plan, unless the district recommends a lower plan type assignment. This default designation for the year allows for CDE, in collaboration with the Colorado Coalition of AECs and AEC stakeholders, to pursue further research and development on appropriate measures, metrics and cut-points for AECs. This decision was made based on recommendations from the September 30th working session with nearly 50 AEC stakeholders.
As a result, the October 15 deadline for AECs to submit the results of their accountability measures and a plan type assignment is no longer in effect. We strongly encourage you to still submit the data results (without associated ratings or plan types) so that CDE can further the R&D process. Please also submit your AEC's mission and target student population, so that we can determine the appropriate stakeholder groups moving forward and bring AECs with similar missions to the same table. Once we have this information, CDE and CCAEC will follow up with details on how you can engage in the work sessions to refine the measures for 2011-12. Data or information can be submitted to the contact below.
For those of you unable to attend the September 30th session, CDE is working to post a recording of the meeting online in place of a webinar.
Click Here for Additional Information
For More Information, Contact:
Somoh Supharukchinda
Office of Performance and Policy
Phone: 303-866-6778
Email: supharukchinda_s@cde.state.co.us
Colorado Department of Education
201 East Colfax Avenue
Denver, Colorado
80203-1799
Phone: 303-866-6822 or 303-866-2334
Do you know somebody in your school district who needs to read The Scoop each week? Send an e-mail to: CDE_Communications_Office@cde.state.co.us with "Sign Me Up For The Scoop" in the subject line. If you are having trouble signing up, please call the communications office at the telephone numbers above.
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