CDE Update - Strategic Priorities

The office’s attention is on scheduling inter-rater agreement training with pilot districts in September and October. Once these training are complete, 14-16 regional trainings will be scheduled for districts in Colorado that want to use the state model system. These trainings are tentatively scheduled for January through June 2013.  Stay tuned for the schedule, it will be posted in The Scoop and on the website.

The office is working to get the final “assurances” approved for publication in November.  These assurances will be required of every district that chooses to use their own evaluation model rather than the CDE model system. The assurances allow CDE staff to determine if the model meets expectations in law and in the State Board of Education rules.

The assurances template will need to be completed and sent to CDE by July 2013. 

In June, the Standards and Instructional Support team delivered two interactive sessions at each of the locations for CDE’s Summer Symposia. One session provided a “101” refresher/overview of the unique aspects of the Colorado Standard, while the second explored the supports and continuous improvements necessary for the meaningful translation of standards into instruction. This second, “deeper dive,” session also allowed the team to discuss work on the development of state model curricula and the support offered to districts as they pursue the transformational practices implied by the new Colorado Academic Standards. The materials from these sessions are available here: http://www.cde.state.co.us/summersymposium/index.asp

At the end of May, the Office of Standards and Instructional Support hosted a cross-unit, three-day training and workshop event with Lynn Erickson, author of Concept-Based Teaching and Learning for the Thinking Classroom. The workshops facilitated the drafting of a unique curriculum framework for use with the Colorado Academic Standards. The draft curriculum framework is intended to be a flexible design that can be customized for voluntary use across locally-controlled Colorado districts. The team presented the first draft of the framework at the Summer Symposia for feedback from educators across the state. This feedback process will continue over the summer and into the fall through focus groups to inform the continued development of this latest implementation support tool. Also in the late summer and early fall, a call for participants will be issued to Colorado educators to become involved in the model curricula project.

None at this time.

Science and Social Studies assessment development.

This involves the inclusion of Colorado educators in both test development and the item review process. Expected upcoming development and review activities include: two item development meetings in July; an item review and a bias/sensitivity review meeting in August; cognitive labs in September; technology training in January; system testing in February and field testing in April.  District educators will be recruited for participation in item and bias review meetings in July, in cognitive labs in August, and in field testing in November.  

Assessments for Educator Evaluation.  

Beginning last January, Content Collaboratives, professional learning communities, met to establish student assessments which might be used (voluntary) as part of a body of evidence for educator evaluation which demonstrate student learning over time. The content areas for these measures included Music, Drama, Visual Arts, Dance, Reading/Writing/Communicating and Social Studies. These measures will be trialed for their utility as a body of evidence in evaluation and soon shared.

Reading, Writing, and Mathematics Assessments. 

For assessments in reading, writing and mathematics, S.B.12-172 directed Colorado to join, as a governing member, a multi-state consortium that is developing a common set of assessments. The current multi-state assessment consortia plan is to administer computer-based English language arts and mathematics assessments for the first time in the 2014-2015 school year. This means that the TCAP for reading, writing, and mathematics will be administered for an additional year (spring 2014) while the state explores whether the use of the multi-state assessments will meet our state’s needs. CDE will work with the State Board of Education to select the multi-state assessment consortium, with action expected by the State Board at the August 2012 meeting. 

English Language Proficiency Assessment.

WiDA's ACCESS test trainings will occur in the fall and the test window will remain similar to what has been used historically. As soon as dates have been finalized, they will be shared with the field.  More detailed information regarding the logistics and transition options were shared with your district assessment coordinators.  

Assessments for Educator Evaluation.

Beginning on July 23, five more collaboratives (math, science, physical education, health and wellness, and world languages) will meet and over the course of this fall and early winter, will identify assessments for posting on a statewide resource bank for districts to access and use. 

Online Assessment Readiness Survey. 

As the state begins the transition to computer-based assessments, it is important for districts to participate in the Online Readiness Survey that will initially occur in September and will continue to gather information in the future on an on-going basis. This survey will support the transition to online assessments by providing the state, districts and schools with information about what schools and districts need to successfully implement computer-based assessment and instruction. Districts will be asked to identify a district technology coordinator to support this effort in July of 2012.  More information regarding the role of the district technology coordinator and the survey will be shared with your district assessment coordinator.  

None at this time.

Consolidated Application.

The Consolidated Application is now available for districts and BOCES: http://www.cde.state.co.us/FedPrograms/consapp/index.asp.

Resources for completing the application are available at: http://www.cde.state.co.us/FedPrograms/consapp/trainctr.asp.

The application is due on June 30, so LEAs can obligate funds as of July 1, 2012. Federal Programs is working jointly with other units to assist districts in leveraging federal NCLB funds to address district performance challenges. 

NCLB Flexibility Waiver – Title III.

CDE is awaiting final notification from the U.S. Department of Education on a waiver and amendment to Title III Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs), the accountability measure for Title III funds in support of English learners. When officially approved, AMAOs will align with sub-indicators in the District Performance Frameworks, namely the CELApro Growth Academic Indicator, reading, writing and math Academic Growth for English learners, and the graduation rate for English learners. Detailed information is coming soon.

CELA-pro Growth Data Release.

CELApro student-level growth data, which provide a measure of the relative growth an individual student made toward English proficiency, are now available for download from CEDAR. The available flat files contain 2012 student growth percentiles, adequate growth percentiles, and stepping stone flags. Starting this fall, the CELApro median growth percentiles and adequate growth percentiles will be a part of the school and district performance frameworks.  Access additional resources for downloading and analyzing this data at: http://www.cde.state.co.us/assessment/CELA-DataAndResults.asp. 

Unified Improvement Planning Templates Now Posted.

The 2012-13 district and school UIP templates and addenda forms have been finalized and are now posted on the “Templates” page of the UIP website. There are minimal changes to the templates based upon feedback from the field, the ESEA waiver and CDE’s review of improvement plans. Note that Improvement plans are designed to incorporate planning efforts for at least two school years, and be revised at least annually. The 2012-13 UIP should therefore incorporate the plans for the current 2012-13 school year, as well as future plans for the 2013-14 school year. The UIP Handbook and Quality Criteria are available in draft form under the training link. Visit the UIP website at:  http://www.cde.state.co.us/uip/index.asp.

Accountability for Alternative Education Campuses.

The window for districts to apply for or renew schools as Alternative Education Campuses closes on July 2. The Department is reviewing submitted application/renewal forms, as well as submitted measures, metrics and cut-points. CDE will follow up with districts as needed and make recommendations to the State Board, who will approve the AEC designations at their August meeting. For more information, visit: http://www.cde.state.co.us/Accountability/StateAccountabilityAECs.asp.

District and School Performance Frameworks.

The Department has drafted the 2012 District and School Performance Framework (DPF/SPF) report templates. The 2012 DPFs and SPFs will include the addition of two new measures: (1) growth in English language proficiency (CELApro) and (2) disaggregated graduation rates. Districts will have an opportunity to see the simulated results (2011 DPF data using the 2012 modifications) this summer. The actual DPF and SPF results with 2012 data will be released on August 15 via CEDAR. Preview the report templates and read a summary of the changes at: http://www.cde.state.co.us/Accountability/PerformanceFrameworks.asp.

Unified Improvement Planning: Fall Training Schedule.

This fall, the Department will host several regional UIP training sessions to support districts through the stages of the improvement planning process. The sessions will allow districts to receive training in data analysis, action planning, progress monitoring, and to engage in facilitated peer reviews. Visit the “Training” page of the UIP website for training dates, locations, and session descriptions: http://www.cde.state.co.us/uip/UIP_TrainingAndSupport_Register.asp.

• August 15: Release of preliminary 2012 District and School Performance Framework reports to districts.
• September: Release of preliminary pre-populated 2012 Unified Improvement Plans (Section I) to districts.

• The Schools of Choice team attended the 12th Annual National Charter Schools Conference in Minneapolis, MN at the end of June where they celebrated the 20th anniversary of the first charter school in the U.S. It was also a proud time for Colorado charters as Jim Griffin, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, was honored for his pioneering efforts toward growing and developing charter schools in Colorado and inducted into the National Charter Schools Hall of Fame.
• CDE has joined the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s “CO9to25” youth system building effort to develop a statewide plan to increase education and training options for youth and young adults 17 to 25 years old.  The work group held planning sessions at the end of May that will help as they begin to build the community action plan for this work.  
• Fifteen new grantees were approved to receive $2,761,708 of Expelled and At-Risk Student Services funds in fiscal year 2013. They will join 39 continuation grants making a total of 54 grantees in the 2012-2013 school year.
• Five new grantees were approved to receive $457,895 of state School Counselor Corps dollars in fiscal year 2013, for a total of 27 grantees for the 2012-2013 school year.

• CDE and the Colorado Legacy Foundation have begun implementing the strategies outlined in the Expanded Learning Opportunities vision and strategic plan. A kick-off in late August will include information and support for districts and schools interested in applying to be proof points for this exciting work. This kick-off will also focus on how to support districts interested in the Race to the Top strategy on personalized learning recently released by the U.S. Department of Education. For more information, contact Gretchen Morgan at morgan_g@cde.state.co.us.
• As part of the Colorado Coalition for Healthy Schools’ efforts and the Coalition's Data Workgroup, CDE and the Colorado Legacy Foundation are applying for a five year grant from Kaiser Permanente to develop a data collection system related to school health policies and practices. The application will be submitted on July 15. 
• CDE is in the process of completing a study with the Evergreen Education Group on Blended Learning Opportunities and Challenges for Rural Colorado. Findings from that study will be presented at the Rural Education Council pre-conference meeting at the CASE conference on July 24.

None at this time.

Standard Course codes were approved in March for statewide implementation and to date, 14 districts have mapped their 2011-12 course codes and two districts have mapped their 2012-13 course codes.

CDE has identified seven pilot districts to assist in the submission of the data and to date, three districts have participated.

CDE is also partnering with the Battelle for Kids in implementing a pilot of their Roster Verification tool in October 2012.

Over the summer CDE will perform data analysis on the TSDL data to further refine business rules in preparation for the September 2013 TSDL data collection. Standard Course Codes training will be provided to further assist districts in mapping of their courses to the state standard courses.

CDE and the Battelle for Kids will work on identifying pilot districts and begin the training and implementation of the Roster Verification Tool.

• July 2012 – Provide additional training on the Standard Course Codes system

• June 2012 – September 2012 – Analyze TSDL data and refine business rules

• October 2012 – Pilot Roster Verification System