The PrinciPal Connection, Vol. 6, Issue 22, February 17, 2012

Later this month we will submit our application for a waiver from some requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Under Illinois’ plan, we will still maintain a stringent accountability system for schools and districts, however, our proposal moves away from a one-size-fits-all approach to a differentiated system that rewards districts and schools for making progress. If approved, our NCLB waiver will give schools and districts relief from mandates that are arbitrarily assigned as a result of the number of years of not making Adequate Yearly Progress.

 

We have developed our waiver with significant collaboration and feedback from Illinois citizens. The ISBE led 25 meetings across the state since the fall, with two additional meetings scheduled. Several hundred individuals and multiple stakeholder groups representing parents, teachers, administrators and civil rights organizations provided input and support as we developed our plan.

 

We have posted a draft of the ESEA flexibility waiver on our website for public comment, which you can access here. This is a dialogue that continues to be fluid and our Board will meet Feb. 21 to discuss the waiver before we submit it to the U.S. Department of Education.

Don't miss out on a terrific networking opportunity with colleagues in your Region.

 

Blackhawk Region - Region Awards Breakfast, February 27th, Denny's, Moline

Lake Region - Region Meeting, February 23, Wildberry Cafe, Libertyville

 

Contact your Region Director for final event dates, time and locations as they are subject to change.

 

The IL Assessment Consequences Evaluation (IACE) is conducting an online survey to learn about the consequences of ISAT testing from principals’ and teachers’ perspectives. Information gathered from this study may contribute to the development of a long-range strategic plan for the IL Assessment and Accountability Program. A randomly selected sample of principals and teachers (grades 3-8) are receiving an email with the survey link and are strongly encouraged to participate.  All survey results are confidential. For more details or any questions, please contact Katherine Ryan, principal investigator, at (217) 333-7177 or email IACE@illinois.edu.  Three participants will win a $50 gift card!

To keep you informed this legislative session, the IPA has developed several resources.  Click below to see what is available to keep you in the know.

 

Illinois Education Reform (new presentation available from Brian Schwartz and Alison Mormino)

 

Present at the 2012 Principals Professional Conference

ISBE Updates

On Friday, Feb. 24, 2012, ISBE will send the Pre-ID file to ACT for the purpose of producing PSAE Pre-ID labels. PSAE Pre-ID labels will be printed only for students listed in this file with PSAE as the “Test To Be Taken” and with a Testing School code that represents an established PSAE test site. PSAE Pre-ID labels will be shipped directly to the school identified by the Testing School code in the Pre-ID file. To verify that the Testing School code represents an established PSAE test site for 2012, please click here.

 

Schools that enroll grade 11 students in ISBE’s Student Information System after Feb. 24, 2012, must still test these students, and they will automatically be added to the Pre-ID file. However, no PSAE Pre-ID label will be printed for these students, and their answer documents must be completed manually according to instructions provided in the PSAE administration manuals. 

 

Please write to psae@isbe.net or call (866) 317-6034 if you have any questions about PSAE Pre-ID labels or PSAE test administration.

The Illinois State Board of Education's Division of Innovation and Improvement has planned a series of 60-minute Family Engagement Webinars as part of a statewide family engagement initiative. Each webinar in the 2012 series will feature practitioners from the 2011 Regional Summits. The practitioners will share their experiences in the successful implementation of evidence-based family engagement strategies in their schools or districts. These sessions are open to district staff, school staff, parent facilitators, and parents. Information on the upcoming session is given below and you may use the registration links included to register for the webinar described.

 

Improving High School Family Engagement Through Social and Emotional Learning: This webinar is set for 3:30-4:30 p.m. Feb. 23, 2012. Reserve a seat here. Recent studies have shown that learning improves when schools attend to the social and emotional needs of their students. Parents also need this kind of support and are eager to learn more about how they can connect to and support their kids. New Trier High School’s principal, Dr. Tim Dohrer, will explain how various school structures and initiatives offer support to students, parents, and staff in all four dimensions of schooling: academic, social, emotional, and physical. Their efforts have led to a large school that feels small, high levels of academic excellence, and energetic school community that is engaged and excited. Dohrer has worked in a variety of roles in education for over 20 years. For many of those years, he was an English and journalism teacher, student advisor, coach, club sponsor, and chair of many school-based committees and initiatives.

 

How to Get Families Engaged in an Early Childhood Setting: This webinar is set for 3:30-4:30 p.m.

March 2, 2012: Reserve a webinar seat here. You plan a great event – you even ordered pizza, but only five families showed up. What went wrong?  

Through this webinar, participants will: 

• Reflect on what they believe about family engagement and how this will impact what types of activities are planned for families.  

• Discuss ways to increase your level of family engagement from 25 percent to over 80 percent of families participating as well as increase the number of parent volunteer hours at your school.  

• Discuss providing targeted intervention strategies families may complete at home that include a “DVD” teaching module.

• Review implementation techniques that target hard to reach families and get all families involved.

 

Parent Involvement in High Poverty Schools:  This webinar is set for 3:30-4:30 p.m. March 22, 2012. Reserve your webinar seat here. Dr. Sandra Lewis will discuss how she has been able to change the culture and climate of the school and community from one that was infiltrated with gangs and low achievement to one that has received many awards for its outstanding school climate, innovative programs, and academic achievement. As a member of the same community for over 40 years, and now principal at Harold Washington Elementary for the past 22 years, she has become an icon in the community. Lewis has formed partnerships all over the city to bring quality programs and projects to her students and families and has been highlighted on radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and other media. She will share how she attends to the social and emotional needs of students and their parents/families, and the unique and effective approaches she’s implemented to raise student achievement.

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Kline on Thursday formally introduced his two bills to reauthorize ESEA that address accountability and teacher quality: The Student Success Act (HR 3989) and The Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act (HR 3990). He spoke about these bills at a briefing that morning hosted by the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, and a video of the briefing can be accessed here. NASSP sent a joint letter with NAESP to Congressional offices outlining areas we favor in these two bills and areas that cause serious concern: Click here. NASSP and NAESP are most concerned about the diminished role of professional development in the bills’ language, when instructional leaders already struggle to obtain that funding under Title II in current regulations.

From A U.S. Department of Education email newsletter: “Thirty-six states and Washington, D.C., 18,000 teachers, and 1.7 million students participated in the first-ever Digital Learning Day on February 1, which aimed to demonstrate how technology is improving teaching and learning across the nation.  The day kicked-off with web sessions focused on leadership and innovation, instruction, and professional learning and teacher effectiveness before attendees viewed a national town hall webcast featuring Secretary Duncan, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski, and video conferences with teachers and students from exemplary schools across the nation.  “We have to do everything we can to foster education and to help us move from print to digital as fast as we can,” the Secretary said, noting that while technology has transformed business and government around the world, it has only slightly changed the way most U.S. schools operate.  “We have to move from being a laggard to being a leader.”  Next month, the Department and the FCC will convene a meeting with policymakers and stakeholders to develop real action plans.  Click here for more information.  (Note: During the town hall, a collaborative of business and education leaders presented the “Digital Textbook Playbook”, a guide to help K-12 teachers and administrators leverage broadband technology and develop rich digital learning experiences.)”

Based on interviews with state officials in the six Southeast Region states, this study describes state processes for adopting the Common Core State Standards (a common set of expectations across states for what students are expected to know in English language arts and math) and plans for implementing the common standards and aligning state assessment systems to them. Access the report and summary here. 

 

The Mark Twain Museum in cooperation with the Missouri Humanities Council is offering Mark Twain Teacher Workshops in July. The week-long workshops will focus on using Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in the classroom. Details follow:

 

 What: Teacher Workshops on Teaching Mark Twain in the Classroom

 Where: Mark Twain Museum, Hannibal, Missouri

 When: Weeks of July 16-20 and July 23-27, 2012.

 Audience: Aimed for teachers grades 3 through High School.

 Format: Mix of classroom work and field trips to area Mark Twain sites.

 Cost: Registration is $125 for the session, includes materials, admission fees, lunch and dinner.

 Credits: College credits available (extra charge $320 / 4 credit hours) through Quincy University.

 Lodging: Inexpensive rooms available at Hannibal-LaGrange University.

 

Information and Registration forms: Contact Henry Sweets at henry.sweets@marktwainmuseum.org or 573-221-9010 extension 405 and full information and weekly schedules will be sent.