December, 2009

Attached is the Draft Race To Top proposal being developed by the Department of Education and a letter of support from MASSP for their plans.

The State of Michigan has received the AP Test Fee Program grant from the United States Department of Education. The purpose of this grant is to increase the number of low income students who take advanced placement tests and International Baccalaureate exams for which college academic credit is awarded. The Elementary and Secondary act defines low income individual as a student who:

• Qualifies for free or reduced lunch.
• Receives assistance under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act.
• Receives medical assistance under the Medicaid program under Title XIX of the Social Security Act.

The State of Michigan will pay $56 per Advanced Placement (AP) Exam for public and private school students qualifying for the College Board test fee reduction.

The 2010 AP Fellows Program has been announced by the College Board. This grant is offered to finance (up to $1000) registration and expenses related to AP Summer Institute training AP teachers for the summer of 2010. Eligible teachers must work in a high school that has more than 50% ethnicity and/or 50% free/reduced-cost lunch eligibility. I’m counting over 120 such high schools in Michigan that would qualify. Deadline is February 15, 2010; visit http://professionals.collegeboard.com/k-12/awards/ap-grants/fellows

Attached is a summary of the the Race To The Top legislation prepared by the staff of MASB. There were a total of five bills in the RTT package.

HB 4787 - Modifies the school age law beginning with this years (09-10) 6th graders (11 years old). These student may not drop out of school until 18. There are exceptions.

Change - A teacher, school counselor, or school employee qualified to act in a counseling role may contact a pupil’s parent or legal guardian to discuss the possibility and potential benefits of a personal curriculum under this subsection for the pupil.

Change - The teacher included in the group developing the personal curriculum shall be a teacher who is currently teaching the pupil, who currently teaches in or whose expertise is in a subject area being modified by the personal curriculum, or who is determined by the principal to have qualifications otherwise relevant to the group.

Change - Will allow modification of the math requirement after the student has completed 1.5 credits in mathematics. Changes from current 2.5.

Certification for school administrators

Sec. 1246. (1) A school district, public school academy, or intermediate school district shall not continue to employ a person as a superintendent, principal, assistant principal, or other person whose primary responsibility is administering instructional programs or as a chief business official unless the person meets 1 or more of the following requirements, as applicable:

Evaluate teachers and administrators based, in part, on student growth
Added to School Code as part of the Race To The Top legislation

Sec. 1249. With the involvement of teachers and school administrators, the board of a school district or intermediate school district or board of directors of a public school academy shall adopt and implement for all teachers and school administrators a rigorous, transparent, and fair performance evaluation system that does all of the following:

(a) Evaluates the teacher’s or school administrator’s job performance at least annually while providing timely and constructive feedback.

(b) Establishes clear approaches to measuring student growth and provides teachers and school administrators with relevant data on student growth.

Merit Pay

Sec. 1250. (1) A school district, public school academy, or intermediate school district shall implement and maintain a method of compensation for its teachers and school administrators that includes job performance and job accomplishments as a significant factor in determining compensation and additional compensation. The assessment of job performance shall incorporate a rigorous, transparent, and fair evaluation system that evaluates a teacher’s or school administrator’s performance at least in part based upon data on student growth as measured by assessments and other objective criteria.

Senate Bill 981 - one of the five bills completed in the late night legislative session before Christmas Break included the MASSP Algebra II language!

Sec. 1278a. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section or section 1278b, beginning with pupils entering grade 8 in 2006, the board of a school district or board of directors of a public school academy shall not award a high school diploma to a pupil unless the pupil meets all of the following:

(a) Has successfully completed all of the following credit requirements of the Michigan merit standard before graduating from high school:

We currently have 88 minutes a day of planning that has been split two thirds personal planning and one third team planning time (about 135 minutes a week). Our building union reps are challenging this time allocation and contending that they should have 345 minutes or personal planning because this is what our elementary teachers get in the contract (the language only applies to elementary teachers, middle and high school teachers teach four periods and have one period of personal plannig). The current proposal would reduce team planning time significantly from 135 minutes to 87 minutes a week).

The Legislature continued its tradition of waiting to the last minute to reach a final compromise. Thursday produced long days of waiting for a deal to be struck between the House, Senate and Governor's office. It took negotiations and wordsmithing through the day on Friday and into the wee hours of Saturday morning, but the Legislature completed its work on the "Race to the Top" reforms with some weekend holiday shopping time left Saturday.

Per today’s earlier correspondence from state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan regarding Race to the Top, attached you will find the draft summary of Michigan’s Race to the Top plan. Some of the proposed activities in the plan are contingent upon legislation.

We also have designed a survey to gather your input and feedback on the plan. The survey, which will be available online until January 6, 2010, can be located at www.surveymonkey.com/s/mirtttdraftplan. Please share this draft summary and survey information with your staff for their input, as well.

Best wishes for a wonderful Holiday season.

I am hearing lots of reports in my ISD about alternative high schools either scaling way back or closing completely, some at mid-year. The reasons given are almost always related to concerns about AYP (low MME scores and grad rates)or to the budget. Is this the case in your part of the state?

Jim - Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the MASSP Board of Directors Mtg. I found it very meaningful, particularly the connecting beyond the meeting with other board members and our day at the Capitol. It was quite a learning experience for me.

Jim - I really enjoyed my two days in Lansing last week. Even with the many things to discuss on our agenda, I felt that we were able to define some important goals and direction for the association. Additionally, our day at the Capitol was truly a great experience and one that I will always remember. Thank you and your staff for making our board meeting such a valuable experience.

Jim - Wow, I really enjoyed last week, great meetings, the capitol experience was cool!

I recently had the opportunity to do a presentation to our school board about the planning and implementation of the EXPLORE test at Kingsford Middle School. I was also able to explain the benefits of the test for our district and the individual student results. The response that Mr. Ballard sent to the MDE regarding EXPLORE for all in Michigan, which is posted on the MASSP website, was an excellent resource for this presentation. There was clear, concise information that was very valuable and easily understood when I highlighted the key points to our school board. Having access to communications like this, is an added value of being an MASSP member and something that will allow us all to be more informed, better principals.

List multiple reasons in order of importance, e.g.
district finances, no time, nothing on the agenda of interest.

With the overall effort enjoying the endorsement of the State Board of Educations, the House ended this week by approving legislation needed by the state to compete for $400 million in federal “Race to the Top” monies. In so doing, the Lower Chamber enhanced the qualification criteria for opening and operating new charter schools while blending the issue into an omnibus bill that set the stage for conference committee consideration actions expected to occur and be completed before the Michigan Legislature recesses for the holidays.

Citing at least $150 million in unanticipated revenue and savings, Governor Granholm this week delayed the implementation of her pro-ration order cutting $127 per pupil from the state’s School Aid payments to local school districts. While suspending her order that was to have taken effect with the December 21st payment, the Governor also warned that a pro-ration reduction would still be likely, albeit hopefully not as large as the one initially announced—but, she said, that would likely wait until after the January Revenue Conference.

Legislation barring drivers from sending or reading a text message while operating their vehicle moved forward in both chambers this week. In the House, members of the Lower Chamber gave their support to House Bills 4370 and 4394 which together prohibits the activity but makes a violation a secondary offense, meaning law enforcement cannot stop a vehicle for texting alone and dictating that a violation carries no points against the offending driver’s license.