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2008 ABEC Annual Meeting & Conference
ACHIEVING "WORLD CLASS": What Will It Take?Orange Tree Golf Resort Scottsdale, Arizona 
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
World-class Schools: Do They Require World-Class Funding? Dr. Jacob Adams, chair of the National Working Group on Funding Student Success, brought a set of recommendations to ABEC for consideration from the report "School Finance Redesign Project." First he says to focus on the right problem to fix - is it a resource inequality problem, an inadequate funding level problem, or a poor use of resources problem? He warns there will be controversies: tradeoffs to be made on where funds are spent; performance incentives; new financial reporting standards; contingencies on jobs, schools and funding; and need for "reform-oriented" collective bargaining. But if we don't think strategically, adopt continuous improvement, and phase in system-wide change, we will not only waste public resources, we will also leave children behind. While much of this is unchartered territory in school finance, with many unanswered questions, he suggests it can be fit to Arizona and elements of redesign can be tested without a full overhaul. Something for us to think about. The report will be released this fall. This release may be an opportunity to revisit the recommendations. World-class Standards: Does Arizona Measure Up? Comparisons reported on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading scores show that at the national level, 27% of students are proficient (at grade level) in reading, compared to 22% of all students in Arizona; 34% of Arizona's white students, and only 11% of low income students. Further, Arizona's graduation rate, while reported by the Arizona Department of Education at 76.8%, is reported by the US Department of Education at 66.8%. Reflecting on the PISA (Programme for International Student Achievement) assessment of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) Governor Bob Wise, President of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia raised concern regarding lagging student performance in scientific and mathematics literacy, as well as problem solving and equity in achievement as compared with 30 developed countries. However, he also brought a set of recommendations for federal action on NCLB to reform secondary schools. The recommendations for federal investment in secondary school improvement included:
World-class Partners: National Leadership and Local Partnerships Dave Gonzales, senior vice president for State Farm Insurance, shared his deep commitment to public education as the only vehicle to a better quality of life. State Farm Insurance demonstrates that commitment to education, also, by the many volunteer programs and projects it supports at the national and local levels. Dave's remarks were followed by a panel of local business partners who described the various partnerships with which their companies were involved and offered advice on how to establish and maintain such relationships. These insights added to ABEC's interest in promoting best practices in business-education partnerships that increase student achievement. World-class Competition: Can The United States Survive? Dr. Bill Schmidt is adamant that rigor in course taking matters. He was concerned that Arizona was backing away from high expectations when he had heard that Arizona students could augment their AIMS scores in order to graduate. Do not back away, he admonishes, and realize that educators, not parents, are the curriculum experts. He also believes that mathematicians should be more involved in setting math content standards. He demonstrated the struggles around math teaching and learning here in the U.S., as compared with other countries by posing several math problems. He showed the mathematics curriculum from top-achieving countries, grades 1-8, and the layout of content, which fell into a narrowing pattern of topics taught and at what level. He then showed the math curriculum of 21 U.S. States. The pattern was much different, showing, in some cases, every topic taught at every grade level, illustrating "a mile wide, an inch deep." Algebra is not only important, WHERE students take Algebra is important and the proliferation of math courses, he said, was amazing, pointing out that in one district, there were 59 different math courses, including one called "end of math." His message affirmed the call to high expectations ABEC makes with the promotion of the Arizona Academic Scholars Initiative. Becoming World-class Performers: Lessons from Performing Schools Good changes are happening nationwide in closing the achievement gap, points out Kati Haycock. The national trends are going in the right direction - but those trends are in elementary school. The achievement picture in Arizona is troubling. Although the state reports that 67% of students meet or exceed standards in Grade 4 overall reading performance, only 25% are proficient or above on NAEP, the Nation's report card. In Grade 8 overall math performance, 62% are reported meeting or exceeding standards, but only 26% are at proficient or above on NAEP. Arizona is among the bottom four states in NAEP Grade 4 Reading, and 9th from the bottom on the "average white scale score." But schools across the country are beating the odds - and here's how:
World Class: Does Arizona Have The Leadership And Commitment? Three key leaders in Arizona responded that there is no question about whether or not we must make transformational change here in our state. We must create the commitment. Bob King went on to say that having the most highly educated population in the world was the central cause of America's economic and military dominance through most of the 20th century. Our dominance, however, is being diminished by other nations who have figured this out, causing them to make significant improvements in their education systems while the U.S. seems indifferent to accelerating competition. His "take aways" from the conference included:
Words mean things, yet we use language in a misleading way: examples -"graduation" We tell people that we have a graduation rate that is above the national average, but we don't tell people that the majority of our graduates cannot do freshman level math or reading at our community colleges; or the term "highly qualified teachers" We tell people that 94.4% of teachers in schools serving low income children are "highly qualified," but if that is so, why are so many low-income children in Arizona performing so poorly on every testing mechanism we use (AIMS, TerraNova, and NAEP), and being out performed by other low-income kids in so many other states? Is it because our teachers aren't as highly qualified as we claim, or are they working in a system that prevents them from being successful? If we are serious about reforming our schools we need to adopt internationally competitive standards and curriculum, we need to attract, train, compensate, and support highly effective teachers, we have to do the same for system and building leaders, and we have to be relentless in our commitment to achieve these changes. Conclusion: The ABEC conference was attended by business and education leaders from across the state. The call to action from every speaker was clear. As one attendee put it during a table discussion, "There must be a system of processes to develop a shared vision of a much more successful educational system that supports what's working and brings the equitable rather than equal funding to meet the needs of each student, their community and the economic/social future needs of our Arizona society and our nation! We know what we are doing as a SYSTEM does not work. What more do we need to move us to action??!!" World Sponsors: 
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