|
To view the ABEC newsletter using your web browser, click here. | ||
 Tuesday, June 29, 2010
NOTE: The ABEC newsletter has moved to its summer schedule! The July/August newsletter will be sent the last week of August. ABEC will return to its monthly distribution of its newsletter in September 2010. | ||
|
“It is easy to be complacent about U.S. competitiveness and preeminence in science and technology. But the world is changing rapidly, and our advantages are no longer unique.”
-Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Engineering and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future
Dear Friend of ABEC,
 “Raising Arizona, according to an astute state observer, was the challenge of the 20th century. Sustaining Arizona is now the challenge of the 21st. A crucial part of that task is not just understanding today’s knowledge economy, but mastering it.” Thus begins the report To Learn and Earn: Arizona’s Unfinished Business in Human Capital, commissioned by AMEPAC (Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center) and published in March 2009. This report looked at the issues of education, the economy and employment from the 30,000-foot level and is followed by the report Learn to Earn: A Race to Good Jobs. The second report gives an on-the-ground look at the issues of education and workforce preparation and will be published this August. ABEC members and friends recently got a “sneak peek” of the second report and heard “top line” recommendations from the interviews and research. It’s clear from the report that too many of our students are “aimless.” They move through their high school careers without real direction – and they report that they will go to college, without knowing why or what they want to do. I am hopeful that the new ECAP (Education and Career Action Plan) requirement will help with this aimlessness – and I believe this is an affirmation of the importance of linking together academics and career and technical education. CTE (Career & Technical Education) classes provide kids with a real-life experience in applying their academics and learning workplace skills. Wouldn’t it be great one day, if students could get their Algebra 2 credit as they were learning how to apply algebra in a work setting? This approach, while it may be occurring in isolated cases, ought to be the norm. And if it is more commonplace than I know…good on us!
Be sure to read both AMEPAC reports. They set out recommendations that could be very meaningful for Arizona students and for the Arizona economy. Sincerely,
 A lawsuit was filed on June 15 by statewide education groups, including the Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA), school districts and Arizona voters asking the court to require the legislature to uphold the will of Arizona’s voters by upwardly adjusting the base support level for K-12 public education AND other elements of the revenue control limit for fiscal year 2011. The FY11 budget passed by the legislature did not make an adjustment for inflation to the base support level for public education as required by Prop. 301. Instead, the inflation adjustment was applied only to one extremely small component of the school funding formula - student transportation route miles.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to rule on the real meaning of Prop. 301 and, in doing so, uphold the will of Arizona voters. A ruling in the plaintiffs’ favor would require that the Arizona state legislature amend and correct the fiscal year 2011 budget by applying the same increase currently being applied to student transportation route miles (1.3 percent) to the base support level. The difference in interpretation is financially significant, with an “or” interpretation increase amounting to just $5 million and an “and” interpretation increasing funding to public schools by $61 million.
Adjustment to the base level AND other components is the clear intent of Prop. 301. The intent of the voters, legislative history and the whole meaning of the law make this clear.
RELATED:
- Groups' suit alleges state has failed in funding K-12, The Arizona Republic, 06/18/10.
 It took the regular session and three special sessions to introduce more than 1200 bills, of which 355 were signed. Of those signed into law, below are those that were related to education and of significant interest to ABEC:
SB1286: SCHOOLS; ACHIEVEMENT PROFILES; LETTER GRADES
Changes the classifications used for school achievement profiles by replacing the current school classification system with a letter grade system and specifies the data used for their calculation. HB2281: PROHIBITED COURSES; DISCIPLINE; SCHOOLS
Prohibits a school district or charter school from including courses or classes that either promote the overthrow of the United States government or promote resentment toward a race or class of people. HB2725: EDUCATION; OMNIBUS
Makes various changes to education statutes HB 2731: HIGH SCHOOLS; GRADUATIONS; BOARD EXAMINATIONS
Creates the Grand Canyon Diploma and enables high school students to choose different pathways to education, beginning in the 2012-2013 school year. Various track options to obtain this diploma are specified. It also calls for a private organization to operate and administer the board examination system. HB2732: SCHOOLS; THIRD GRADE RETENTION
Establishes competency requirements for the promotion of pupils from third grade and creates the Task Force on Reading Assessment. HB2733: EDUCATION DEPT; DATA COLLECTION Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to enter into contracts with public or private entities to evaluate the existing system of data collection, compilation, and reporting conducted by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) on or before August 1, 2010.  This past spring, ABEC partnered with Phoenix Elementary School District and Lowell School to introduce 8th grade students to different careers by launching a pilot project focused on career exploration for middle school students.
With ABEC’s coordination, professionals from different career fields went into the classroom and spoke to students about medical careers, biology/zoology and careers with animals, architecture, construction and design, and the culinary arts – and how classes they are currently taking will help them do their jobs in the future. “When cooking, you are constantly measuring. You deal with weights and measures every day. You also deal with chemistry. How certain ingredients interact with each other is important to taste and texture,” said Chef Tim Stutz, one of the guest speakers.
Also, with help from ABEC, volunteers from APS and State Farm Insurance helped numerous Lowell students prepare for their annual speech competition by working with them individually on the proper techniques for delivering a speech, and thus, improving their communication skills.
Students also started to build their career profiles using the Arizona Department of Education’s Arizona Career Information System (AzCIS). By using AzCIS with middle school students, ABEC hopes that students will explore the different career clusters and better understand their own likes and interests, and how these relate to specific careers. It will also give them a jump start on developing their Education & Career Action Plan (ECAP) which is now required of this year’s high school freshmen.
Parents got involved as well. The 8th grade parents were asked to complete a survey so that ABEC can gather information about how they engage with their children in goal setting and planning for college and careers. The feedback from parents will help both ABEC and the school district plan strategies to better engage parents in the transition of their children from middle to high school and with the career exploration process.
The Arizona Middle School Career Exploration Project is a pilot project that ABEC began this spring. ABEC understands that the earlier students begin exploring career options and engaging their parents in the process, the better they’ll be prepared in developing their ECAPs and the higher expectations in high school. The project is meant to be low cost and low maintenance, and allow for flexibility to the school district.
For more information on the project, please contact Patrick Contrades, ABEC Director of Projects & Committees, at patrick@azbec.org.
ABEC 2010 CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS  ABEC’s annual conference Leadership + Collaboration = Results for every student was well attended and a great success. Evaluations told us attendees most appreciated the keynote speakers and the opportunity to network – and they also offered great suggestions for next year. Our speakers included:Lois Adams-Rogers, now with CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers), was in the Kentucky Department of Education when the Pritchard Committee was formed – a citizen committee mobilized to monitor education policy development. Using Pritchard as an example, she shared lessons learned about how to create and sustain such an organization – which has made a difference in student performance over the years in Kentucky. Her advice included getting the attention of the public, being a symbol of “hope”, setting a clear agenda, engaging people on a personal level, protecting your independence, picking your battles carefully and being persistent. For ABEC, and the work ahead with school finance redesign, as well as other statewide initiatives for reform, this was good guidance. View Presentation>
Tim Waters, CEO of McREL (Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning), talked about high-reliability organizations – those organizations in critical arenas, such as health care or aeronautics, that failure means catastrophe – and how to move educational systems toward such high reliability. He returned at a later point in the day to alert leaders that if organizational goals are changed and updated, then policies and processes within the system must change, too. View Presentation #1> View Presentation #2>
David Garcia, Associate Professor at ASU in Policy, Leadership and Curriculum, took a very interesting look at how data is used for decision and policy making and asked the question, “Is data enough?” The answer is, “no” – data needs research to transform it into useful information. He advised that educators need to extend themselves beyond “what is” to “what could be,” while business must recognize schools as unique institutions, and universities must partner in finding solutions and identifying problems. View Presentation>
Executive Directors from three of our state’s stellar Chambers of Commerce, from Flagstaff, Marana and Yuma, shared how their business organizations work with these unique organizations called schools and school districts to increase relevance between the school room and the world of work as well as prevent dropouts among the most at risk students.
Mark Keen, superintendent from Westfield, Indiana, demonstrated how he, as a sitting superintendent, put together collaborative goal setting, allocation of resources and community partnerships to increase student achievement in his school district. View Presentation>
ABEC appreciates the sponsors of the event, especially: Helios Education Foundation, APS, Cox Communications, First Things First, Intel, Sodexo, and State Farm Insurance. Without their support, the event could not occur. And we’ll see you next year! Based on the recommendations on the evaluations, Conference 2011 will be even better!
Arizona No. 49 in education spending - The Phoenix Business Journal, 06/28/10 - Arizona spends less per pupil on education than almost any other state, according to a report issued Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Stanford Profs Oppose Arizona Stance on Teachers' Accents – Education Week, 06/23/10 - A long list of professors from Stanford University's school of education have signed a statement condemning the Arizona Department of Education's stance that teachers with strong accents shouldn't be teaching... Report finds KIPP students outscore public school peers – The Washington Post, 06/22/10 - Middle school students in the Knowledge Is Power Program, a charter school network with a major footprint in the District and other cities, significantly outperform their public school peers on reading and math tests... Scottsdale district creating its own teacher-evaluation system – The Arizona Republic, 06/22/10 - The mad dash for federal money that's called "Race to the Top" is prompting big changes in education, and one of the most important is the way teachers will be evaluated... Arizona high-school graduation rate rises, but trails U.S. – The Arizona Republic, 06/21/10 - Arizona's high-school graduation rate has risen more than 8 percentage points over 10 years, but it still trails the national average, according to a new report that examined national education trends. K-12 teachers learn classroom technology in ASU, UA program – StatePress.com, 06/20/10 - YouTube, cell phones and other technologies are already used by students outside the classroom, which is why some ASU and UA officials want to bring interactive technology inside... Scottsdale school board passes final budget after $11 million cut – The Arizona Republic, 06/18/10 - When Scottsdale students return to school Aug. 9, they will start and leave at different times than last year, have more crowded classrooms, pay more money to play sports and see fewer librarians... New Teacher Distribution Methods Hold Promise – Education Week, 06/16/10 - With effective teaching a top policy priority, certain school districts, the federal government, and nonprofit groups are renewing efforts to pilot and study strategies for pairing effective teachers with students in low-performing, high-poverty schools... Colleges not training students for careers that are growing – USA Today, 06/15/10 - The United States economy is in serious danger from a growing mismatch between the skills that will be needed for jobs being created and the educational backgrounds (or lack thereof) of would-be workers... A look at the candidates for Arizona schools chief – The Arizona Republic, 06/13/10 - Parents have a valuable perspective on schools. They often can see ways the state can streamline its education policies, ways schools can communicate better or even ways to make teaching more effective... Arizona sees progress in push for college graduates – The Arizona Republic, 06/10/10 - Is Arizona a dumb state? One indicator that we aren't as smart as we should be is... Schools, parents and Legislature all have work to do, now that Prop. 100 is reality – by Dr. Nicolas Clement, The Arizona Daily Star, May 27, 2010 - I have reached that point in my life where I cannot remember where I parked my car at the mall... Private-school money to get high-court look – The Arizona Daily Star, May 25, 2010 - The nation's high court will decide whether Arizonans can divert tax money they owe the state to help students attend private and parochial schools... Social networking goes to school – Education Week, Digital Directions 06/16/10 - Educators are integrating Facebook, Ning, and other sites into K-12 life despite concerns about privacy and behavior... SPECIAL REPORTS:
Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2007–08 (Fiscal Year 2008) (pdf) - IES, National Center for Education Statistics
Help Wanted: Projections on Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018 – Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce - By 2018, the U.S. will need 22 million new workers with college degrees — but will fall short of that number by at least 3 million postsecondary degrees. Arizona Report (pdf) The Rising Price of Inequality: How inadequate grant aid limits college access and persistence (pdf) - Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, June 2010 - A report to Congress and the Secretary of Education Helping Students Get a Head Start on the "Real World": State Strategies for Early High School Graduation (pdf) – Education Commission of the States, May 2010 - This Policy Brief considers several policy approaches to facilitate (or incentivize) early graduation and provides caveats and essential policy components for these various approaches. Opportunity at the Top: How America’s Best Teachers Could Close the Gaps, Raise the Bar, and Keep Our Nation Great (pdf) – Public Impact - Recommendations for retaining high performing teachers and expanding their reach, including aggressively recruiting more high performers to the teaching profession, tripling dismissals of the least effective teachers, cutting the turnover rate among the top teachers in half, and boosting top performing teachers’ reach. Diplomas Count 2010: Graduation by the Numbers – Education Week - This year's Diplomas Count explores the graduation-rate challenges facing many students and districts and looks at how schools are using data to help students finish high school and earn diplomas. Challenges, Assets, and Innovations: Considerations for Secondary Education in Rural Communities (pdf) – American Youth Policy Forum - This brief summarizes the lessons learned during a February 2010 AYPF study mission that brought federal policy leaders to North Carolina to examine how rural education systems are providing high quality instruction and improving the readiness of young people for life beyond high school. Are We Beginning To See The Light? – Public Agenda Survey - Americans are convinced that math and science skills are crucial for the future, with strong majorities who say there will be more jobs and college opportunities for students with those skills, according to a new Public Agenda survey. Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters: A KIDS COUNT Special Report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation – May 17, 2010 - The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports that 75% of Arizona fourth graders are not proficient in reading. This dismal statistic ranks Arizona 45th out of 50 states and puts our economy and prosperity at high risk. The national rate was also frightening, with 67% of children below proficient. The Condition of Education 2010 – IES, National Center for Education Statistics - “The Condition of Education 2010,” a Congressionally mandated report to the country on education in America today, includes 49 indicators in five major areas – education participation, learner outcomes, student effort and educational progress, the contexts of elementary and secondary education, and the contexts of postsecondary education. Science Achievement and Occupational Career/Technical Education Coursetaking in High School: The Class of 2005 - This Statistics in Brief describes the science achievement of public high school graduates who took concentrated coursework in different occupational areas compared with nonconcentrators, before and after taking into account students' science coursetaking. |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Arizona Business & Education Coalition (ABEC) is a 501(c)3 organization providing a balanced forum for business and education leaders to collaborate and improve K-12 education policy, with linkages to pre-kindergarten and postsecondary education. Guiding principles include: increasing public awareness about the relationship between Arizona’s future workforce and the quality of the K-12 system; actively and effectively influencing education policy; and sharing responsibility for the growth of student achievement in Arizona. For more information, visit www.azbec.org. You are receiving this e-mail because you are a member of ABEC, have signed up to receive our eNewsletter, attended an ABEC or ABEC-related event, or have made direct contact with ABEC.
Copyright 2010. Arizona Business & Education Coalition. All Rights Reserved. |
EDUCATION NEWS:
