May, 2009

Walled Lake Central High School
National Honor Society Appeal Process

1. A student seeking an appeal of the decision to deny admission into the National Honor Society (NHS) shall submit to the principal within five (5) days after receipt of notice of the admission denial a written request stating the reason(s) for reconsideration for admission.
a. Within ten (10) days of receipt of a request for admission reconsideration review by the Review Panel, the principal shall notify the NHS advisor, the student and the Review Panel of the time, date and place of the Review Panel meeting. This meeting shall occur not less than seven (7) or more than fifteen (15) days after receipt of the request for review.

Michigan Algebra II Expectations in Relation to ACHIEVE, Inc. American Diploma Project and The National Assessment of Educational Progress 12th Grade Mathematics Framework

Executive Summary

Jim visits with Don Wotruba, Deputy Director of MI School Board Association about: stimulus monies and how they are being spent, school aid timelines, putting minimum number of school days back in school aid, MASSP's EXPLORE for all, and the Sheltrown/CTE bill. Listen in!

Alternate Download Link
Subscribe Free with iTunes

Lapeer East's Advanced Placement Summer Institute is still taking registrations for its sessions for June 16-19 and June 22-25. This is a powerful professional development opportunity for AP and pre-AP teachers; sessions will be led by College Board consultants and AP Exam readers from around the country. This is the only AP Summer Institute being hosted by a Michigan public high school. Contact Mike Hobolth at 810.667.2418x3116 if you have questions.

See the attached PDF for more information.

Do your students have to take the ACT/MME in order to graduate? If they must take the State assessment, do they have to make an effort to take all sections of the test?

I need to persent this information to my BOE next week. Your responses re very important and very much appreciated!

Thanks, Judy Stefanac, Principal
Anchor Bay High School

By Peter Silveri
Labor Relations Consultant
Michigan Association of School Boards

Want to know what is happening in the federal discussion about national curriculum standards. Here's the best insight you'll find. It's an email to me from Matt Gandal, VP, of Achieve.

Dear ADP State Leader:

As we have previously communicated to ADP Network states, Achieve is working with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and National Governors Association (NGA) on an important effort to create common core standards that can be adopted by states across the country. Over the last several weeks, this initiative has taken on a much more public profile, and leaders in ADP states have reached out to Achieve with a variety of questions about the process and our role in it. This update is designed to answer those questions.

Common Standards Development Process

I am looking for a trimester bell schedule that accommodates 4 lunch periods for a 5 period high school day.

Airport has an alternative high school that students have the option to attend. However, we are finding that several students are so far behind after their sophmore years that it is advantages to them to attend the alternative school. Does any one have a policy similar to this?

May 26, 2009 The New York Times
CONTROLLING INTERESTS
Principals Younger and Freer, but Raise Doubts in the Schools
By ELISSA GOOTMAN and ROBERT GEBELOFF

They are younger than their predecessors, have less experience in the classroom and are, most often, responsible for far fewer students. But their salaries are higher and they have greater freedom over hiring and budgets, handling a host of responsibilities formerly shouldered by their supervisors.

Among the most striking transformations of New York’s public school system since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took charge in 2002 is that of the role of principal, once the province of middle-aged teachers promoted through the ranks, now often filled by young graduates of top colleges.

Hearing rumors that all students will have to stay for the entire school year and the long tradition of seniors leaving a week early is no longer acceptable beginning with the 2009-2010 school year. Any truth to this????

Has any high school implemented a privilege system for students to earn/retain privileges based on academics, attendance, or discipline? I am thinking of a system modeled after Stevenson High School's PLC system (in Lincolnshire, IL). I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for developing the program or any feedback on how it has operated in their buildings.

Education Secretary Says a Focus on Middle and High Schools is “Hugely Important to Us”

Earlier this year, President Obama released a broad outline of his Fiscal Year (FY Y) 2010 budget proposal for the U.S. Department of Education. The three-page document, released on February 26, offered a summary of the president’s educational priorities but contained relatively little in terms of actual dollar figures. On May 7, Obama made it t clear that significant reform around the nation’s middle and high schools will be a big issue in 2009 when he made public his detailed funding proposals, which included new investments in adolescent literacy, a high school graduation initiative, and a focus on turning a around low-performing middle and high schools.

May 14, 2009

This notice is intended exclusively for schools (public and nonpublic) that will administer the MEAP, MI-Access or MEAP-Access assessments in Fall 2009. If you are a nonpublic school and will NOT administer the MEAP, MI-Access or MEAP-Access in Fall 2009, please disregard this notice.

The accompanying documents contain important information regarding pre-identification of students and student counts for the Fall 2009 MEAP, MI-Access, and MEAP-Access assessments:

• Fall 2009 MEAP - Steps for Pre-ID and Student Counts
• MEAP Pre-ID Options
• Response Form for Fall 2009 MEAP Pre-ID Options
• Fall 2009 MI-Access - Steps for Pre-ID and Student Counts
• Fall 2009 MEAP-Access – Steps for Pre-ID and Student Counts

May 19, 2009

In FY 2006 – 2007, the Department issued guidance to pupil accounting contacts at both local and intermediate districts regarding the counting of time when some teachers are proctoring the Michigan Merit Exam (MME) while at the same time other teachers are engaged in professional development towards the 1,098 instructional hour requirement. At that time, we advised that for FY 2006 – 2007, FY 2007 – 2008, and FY 2008 – 2009 districts could count the time towards the 1,098 instructional hour requirement when the only high school pupils in session are the 11th grade pupils and the high school teachers are either proctoring the MME or engaged in qualified professional development.

May 13, 2009

Staff of the Office of Educational Assessment and Accountability (OEAA) have been working on Secondary Credit Assessments for the areas of Chemistry, U.S. History and Geography, and English 10. These assessments are now ready for use by local districts.

By Diane McMillan
Associate Director

I have to admit it--I get pretty defensive when I read and hear about principals being replaced because of the sanctions of NCLB. We at MASSP know that these reports paint a very inaccurate picture of the quality of the principalship in Michigan. We know that some of the finest principals in the nation, who are often working under the extreme economic difficulties that plague Michigan, reside in Michigan. These great principals provide steady, innovative, and effective leadership every day!

On May 8, 2009, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) released updated guidance documents to assist intermediate and local school districts in the implementation of the personal curriculum, as outlined in section 380.1278b of the Revised School Code. The updated guidance includes guidelines, frequently asked questions, parent guides, and supporting documents. These documents can be downloaded and printed for local use at www.michigan.gov/highschool.

In order to transform the processes associated with the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC) Personal Curriculum (PC) into clear, consistent, accurate step-by-step procedures for stakeholders to follow, MDE has partnered with TransACT Communications, Inc., to develop an automated, self-service decision-tree application.

Switching Michigan public school employees from a defined benefit pension plan to a defined contribution retirement system, such as the system all state employees hired after March 31, 1997 participate in, could actually prove to be more expensive to the state and local school districts, at least initially, a paper published by the Senate Fiscal Agency said.

However, switching to such a system could provide greater long-term stability to local schools because they would not be required to pay more to make up a system's unfunded accrued actuarial liability in years pension system investments declined in value. That is because, the paper said, under a defined contribution system (essentially a 401k system) the liability for lower earnings is borne by the employee and not the system.

The MI-LIFE Program has been providing a valuable professional learning opportunity for over 500 school administrators in Michigan. Because of the success of the program based on evaluations and feedback from those who have participated, plans are being made to continue to offer an updated version of the program in the fall of 2009.