CDE Update - Strategic Priorities

There was a collective cheer just before the holiday break when Colorado was informed it would receive Race to the Top Phase 3 funding. A significant portion of that funding will support the Great Teachers and Leaders (S.B. 191) implementation. Specifically, those funds will help to complete the development of technical aspects of the Great Teachers and Leaders evaluation system (for example, additional rubrics, observation protocols and student growth measures). In addition, we plan to heavily invest in the ability to train and support districts-beyond just our pilots-- in the preparation and implementation of the Great Teachers and Leaders law.

The educator effectiveness unit staff is also working to create a comprehensive pilot roll-out plan to assist our pilots so they know exactly what they will be testing about the Great Teachers and Leaders model system and when. Parallel to this plan, the educator effectiveness unit is developing a toolkit for non-pilot districts to help them plan for the coming implementation deadlines of the Great Teachers and Leaders law. This will include a district "readiness" assessment for districts to determine what they need to do to prepare for the new evaluation system expectations.

We will conduct focus groups about the teacher evaluation rubric in the pilot districts and with other interested partners-such as higher education, the teachers' association and human resources directors. The teacher rubric will be piloted by at least 24 pilot sites during the 2012-13 school year. Once the rules pass the legislature, we will develop a toolkit and guidance for districts regarding what they should be working on right now to prepare for the implementation of the Great Teachers and Leaders law (SB 191) in 2013-14.

The Great Teachers and Leaders rules should be finalized statewide in February.

• CDE is supporting district and school transition to the new standards through the development of tools and resources that are housed within an online Standards Implementation Toolkit. Since its launch in June, it has been accessed more than 60,000 times. Thanks to valuable feedback from educators, it's clear the tools we crafted are valued.
• CDE is entering a 2-year partnership with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), one of the nation's leading education leadership organizations, to support Colorado districts and schools with successful implementation of Colorado's new standards. The partnership will bring national expertise to the state and further propel Colorado as a national leader in educational transformation.
• Recognizing that CAP4K intends for a seamless pre-school through postsecondary education system, CDE is working with the Department of Higher Education on outreach to institutions of higher education regarding Colorado's new standards. We plan to connect with deans of schools of education, education preparation faculty, and faculty of entry level courses to help them understand Colorado's academic standards and how we are transitioning to them.

• CDE is preparing to launch a district standards transition planning tool at the Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE) Winter Leadership Conference in February.
• CDE, in partnership with ASCD, will host a Standards Implementation Summit on Tuesday, March 6. Through the support of the Colorado Legacy Foundation, the summit is timed to coordinate with the Colorado Educator Effectiveness Summit: 191 Into Action scheduled for March 5 to allow educators from across the state to easily participate and benefit from both events.

• There are no upcoming deadlines at this time.

The state legislature's Joint Budget Committee met with the State Board of Education and the Colorado Department of Education in December to discuss state assessment cost options. While the participants have a rich discussion about many facets of the assessment program, no resolution or decisions were made regarding the funding of the options. The Joint Budget Committee will continue to consider its deliberations into the 2012 session which begins in January.

To build upon current levels of educator expertise, the Colorado Department of Education will establish leadership and technical development work groups for each content area. These groups will be known as "content collaboratives" and they will aid in insuring all educators, regardless of content area, have the latest and most effective tools, examples and professional development.

A letter of invitation for Colorado educators who wish to participate in a specific content collaborative may now apply for membership. This year, the primary focus of the work of the Colorado Content Collaboratives will be the development of valid, reliable and fair student measurement tools which indicate student academic growth which can be used to evaluate educator effectiveness. Colorado educators along with state and national experts will establish examples of student growth measures within each content area. These will be piloted in select districts, undergo revision and then be disseminated to all districts. Learn more about this work at: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeassess/index_content.html

Applications for participation in the Colorado Content Collaboratives in Social Studies, Reading, Writing & Communicating, Music, Dance, Drama & Theatre Arts, and Visual Arts can be accessed at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ColoradoContentCollaboratives. Applicants will be notified of selection outcomes by Jan. 13, 2012.

UIP Submissions. Districts will submit plans in 2011-12 using the online Tracker System as they did in 2010-11. All districts have already identified a Tracker Contact who will be responsible for submitting their improvement plans to CDE. If you have questions or concerns about submitting school and/or district improvement plans, please contact us at uiphelp@cde.state.co.us.

There are two submission windows: January and April 2012. Plans due to CDE by Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012 include:

Under State Accountability:

• Schools: Turnaround Plans or Priority Improvement Plans
• Districts: Turnaround Plans or Priority Improvement Plans; High Priority or Priority Graduation designation.

Under NCLB Accountability:

• Schools: None (districts review their schools' Title I improvement plans)
• Districts: Title I Program Improvement or Corrective Action; 2141c Identification under Title IIA; Title III Program Improvement (missed AMAOs).

A summary of the submission process is available at:
http://www.cde.state.co.us/Accountability/Downloads/SummaryPlanSubmission.pdf

UIP Resources. CDE has added new UIP resources to the CDE Accountability and Improvement website. The website includes resources specific to the UIP process, including accessing and organizing data, trends/performance challenges, root causes, target setting, and action planning. Updates include an online UIP 101 tutorial and a preview of UIP case stories. The website can be accessed at: http://www.cde.state.co.us/uip/index.asp.

SchoolView. The SchoolView Data Center and Data Lab have been updated to reflect 2010-11 state and federal accountability results. They can be accessed on SchoolView at: http://www.schoolview.org/performance.asp. As districts and schools engage in improvement planning, they may find the Data Center and Data Lab to be helpful in their data analyses. In addition to assessment and performance data, the Data Center now also includes data on school safety and discipline. Additional data on educators, finance, courses and programs will be coming soon.

State Review Panel. At the State Board's Jan. 11-12 meeting, the Department will seek the Board's consent to finalize nominations for the State Review Panel, a group of field educators who will review district and school turnaround plans to advise the Commissioner on needed changes. Panelists will begin training and reviews in January 2012. For more information, contact Somoh Supharukchinda, supharukchinda_s@cde.state.co.us, or go to: http://www.cde.state.co.us/Accountability/Downloads/RequestForStateReviewPanelNominees2011.pdf

Superintendents Advisory Panel for SB-163. In January, the Commissioner will host the second in a series of meetings with a representative group of field experts to consider the current accountability system. The panel's task will be to provide feedback and recommendations to the Commissioner on what changes, if any, should be made to the implementation of SB-163, particularly with regard to the state performance frameworks and unified improvement planning.

Rural Education Council. Commissioner Robert Hammond established the Rural Education Council to oversee, support, conduct research and advocate for the needs, concerns and particular problems of rural education districts. The Council was established to support the work outlined in A Rural Needs Study: Improving CDE Services to Rural School Districts. The study identified numerous opportunities for improving services to rural districts across the state and also pinpointed areas of needed services and resources.

The Council includes one rural superintendent from each of the eight regions in the state and representatives from school boards, teachers, principals and business/community members. Members of the Council are:

• Don Anderson, superintendent, Burlington School District RE-6J
• Janae Ash, fifth-grade teacher, Pagosa Springs Middle School, Archuleta County School District 50 JT
• Randy Black, director of member relations, Colorado Association of School Boards
• Randy Boyer, executive director, San Juan BOCES
• Bruce Caughey, executive director, Colorado Association of School Executives
• Scott Cuckow, superintendent, Crowley County School District RE-1J
• Terry Ebert, superintendent, Ellicott School District 22
• Tina Goar, superintendent, Gilpin County School District RE-1
• Cheryl Gomez, superintendent, Ridgway School District R-2
• Ken Haptonstall, superintendent, Garfield County School District 16
• John Knapp, Department of Agriculture and Board of Directors, Colorado Association of School Boards
• Dale McCall, executive director, Colorado BOCES
• Rick Mondt, superintendent, Briggsdale School District RE-10
• Raylene Olinger, principal, South Routt Elementary, South Routt School District RE-3
• Donna Rohde, school board member, Cheraw School District 31
• Paula Stephenson, executive director, Colorado Rural Schools Caucus
• George Welsh, superintendent, Center Consolidated School District 26JT
• Troy Zabel, superintendent, Bayfield School District

The Council will work closely with Jhon Penn, special advisor on rural needs, and Associate Commissioner Keith Owen who assembled and will oversee the Council.

At its first meeting in December, the group discussed best hopes and purpose of the Council and a concept paper for funding the work of the Council in the development of a rural education service delivery model. Subsequent quarterly meetings will be held around the state in rural locations so hosts can highlight the unique needs of their communities.

ESEA Waiver. ESEA Waiver. To align Colorado's systems of accountability, CDE is taking advantage of Secretary of Education Duncan's offer to waive certain provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind law (NCLB). CDE submitted its proposal on November 15. In December, CDE received feedback regarding its proposal from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and peer reviewers. CDE will provide another round of additional information to the USDE in early January and anticipates a decision regarding its proposal in late January or February. Colorado's proposal, as well as those of the 10 other states that submitted in November, can be accessed at: http://www.ed.gov/esea/flexibility.

• Jan. 17: Deadline for districts to submit district and school UIPs to CDE for: Districts on Priority Improvement or Turnaround; Districts on Dropout/Reengagement designation; Districts identified for improvement through ESEA Title I, IIA and/or III; Schools on Priority Improvement or Turnaround via Tracker System.
• February 2012: This committee will wind up its work in time for any adjustments to be implemented in the next accountability cycle (autumn 2012).
• March 30: Deadline for districts to submit revised district UIPs to CDE for plans submitted in January via Tracker System.
• April 15: Deadline for districts to submit/re-submit all district and school UIPs to CDE via Tracker System.
• Summer 2012: CDE publishes final district and school UIPs on SchoolView.

The Schools of Choice Unit will have a new director leading this important work starting in late-January. Our new director is Gretchen Morgan and she comes to us most recently as the head of the educational program at Venture Prep, a Denver Expeditionary Learning charter school for middle and high school students. Gretchen has a diverse background in education as a teacher, principal, and school designer. We are very excited for her to join our team here at CDE. Her first day will be Jan. 23.

The Schools of Choice Unit is expanding its work with charter school authorizers in the coming year to build capacity and improve authorizing practices. This is an extension of work CDE started in 2011 as part of the H.B.-1412 Commission that was charged with developing quality standards to guide authorizer approval, renewal and oversight of charter schools and state board decisions on charter appeals. The State Board of Education will vote on rules for these quality standards at its January 2012 meeting.

In addition to voting on the rules stemming from the H.B.-1412 recommendations, the State Board will also vote on revised rules for online learning at its January 2012 board meeting. The online rules reflect changes made in statute (H.B. 11-1277) to better align accountability and reporting requirements for online schools with that of all public schools in the state.

The state will work with the U.S. Department of Education in January to finalize the grant budget. Budget negotiations and a final signed application must be completed before funds can be accessed and disbursed. Also in January and into February, the state will work with districts to secure their participation in the grant. All districts are eligible to participate in the grant. Participation will be based on a Memoranda of Understanding and defined scopes of work that relate to the key areas of the application (standards implementation, educator effectiveness and STEM). A district that previously committed to participate under Colorado's Phase 2 application may elect not to participate in Phase 3 and a district that previously did not commit to participate in the state's Phase 2 application may choose to participate in Phase 3.

Districts will receive detailed communication about participation in the grant, along with the Memoranda of Understanding and scope of work, in mid- to late-January. Districts will have until late February to finalize participation in the grant.

• Week of Jan. 23 - Anticipated week that participation letters will be sent to districts with Memoranda of Understanding and scope of work
• Week of Feb. 27- Anticipated deadline week for districts to notify state of participation
• March - Anticipated month that grant administration will begin