KC Education Enterprise
NCLB
Kansas State Board of Education Holds January Meeting
The Kansas State Board of Education held their monthly meeting in Topeka last week. In addition to routine items on their agenda (such as consideration of requests for teacher licensure waivers), the board had a full two-day schedule. Two items on the agenda were significant from an education policy standpoint. First, board members heard a … Continue reading
MO Citizens Can Comment on No Child Left Behind Flexibility Request
Missouri citizens with an interest in the No Child Left Behind Act have until January 5 to comment on a draft flexibility waiver request. Most agree with the intent of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which is to narrow achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged public school students. However, the goal of 100 … Continue reading
Basehor-Linwood School District Enters the Matrix
Basehor-Linwood was one of the first school districts to enter the Matrix. This week the superintendent and one of his principals shared their experiences at the Kansas State Department of Education’s (KSDE) annual conference in Wichita. To enter the Matrix, they didn’t have to plug themselves into a computer network the way Neo did in … Continue reading
Here’s a Radical Idea: Use Standardized Tests to Guide Student Growth, Not Just Grade Schools
Critics of standardized assessments — such as the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test — voice concern that test results are not available in a timely manner for teachers to use in helping students learn. Instead, Missouri districts uses the results primarily for bureaucratic purposes, to file their Annual Performance Reports (APR). But that may be … Continue reading
Two Local Districts Helping Kansas Test New Way to Evaluate Educators
Two metropolitan area school districts are pilot sites this year for a new educator evaluation program the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) is developing. Administrators in the Spring Hill School District will be piloting the district and building leader evaluation programs, and some educators in the Kansas City, Kansas School District will be piloting … Continue reading
KCK Wants to Measure Success a Different Way
According to the federal government’s No Child Left Behind act, the Kansas City Kansas Public Schools have not made adequate yearly progress (AYP) for the past eight years. Yet, over the past 16 years they have improved their reading scores from 11 to 68 percent and their math scores from 3 to 67 percent. Many … Continue reading
AYP Appears to Measure Affluence Not Academics
No Missouri district in the Kansas City metropolitan area made adequate yearly progress (AYP) last year, according to the federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act. Last week, Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released preliminary AYP scores for the 2010-2011 school year. Schools may appeal to have data corrected, and the department plans … Continue reading
