Education Department Wants Input On Changing School Evaluation

Parents around the state have an opportunity to weigh in on how their children’s schools are held accountable for what they teach.

The state Education Department is midway through holding 21 community meetings around the state to get input on a waiver for portions of No Child Left Behind.

Education Superintendent Mick Zais plans to submit a waiver to the federal government that would change the way schools are held accountable, instead of using the federal formula,

Under the current federal formula called Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) if a school misses just one of its annual goals, largely determined by standardized testing, it is considered failing. By that measuring stick about 75 percent of South Carolina schools are failing.

“The whole current system of No Child Left Behind is confusing to the public, its misleading to the parents and frankly its demoralizing to the hardworking professionals who are working so hard in out schools every day to help our children,” Zais said.

He spoke Monday in Columbia at Rosewood Elementary School, which rated “excellent” last year according to state education accountability law, but is labeled failing under the federal law because it missed one of its 17 goals.

He said having schools evaluated on what the students actually learn and factoring in teacher and principal evaluations, not just test scores, will give teachers more classroom flexibility to plan around their students’ unique needs, instead of having each teacher give the exact same instruction at the same time, in order to teach to the tests.

“Sometimes that schedule works but sometimes you know, maybe there’s been a pep rally the night before and the students haven’t done their homework and so maybe that standard that they’re teaching is not going to take 15 minutes, maybe its going to take 20. This [waiver] allows the teachers to vary,” Zais said.

He said it’s still important to hold teachers accountable, but that they should be allowed to use their professional judgment for the pacing of their class and not get penalized if there is one “area for improvement” out of 30.

Members of the Education Department staff who will be writing the waiver request will be at all of the community meetings, which run through January 23. Parents and concerned citizens are encouraged read through the waiver draft at http://ed.sc.gov/agency/lpa/ESEAFlexibility.cfm. and bring questions and suggestions.

The department plans to submit the request by February 21, and will get a decision within a couple of months.

The waiver request must include four things:
-Establish career or college standards for all students
-Hold schools accountable for student learning
-Evaluate principles and teachers on how much material students learn
-Identify bureaucratic regulations and policies that hamper administrators

Education department spokesman Jay W. Ragley said that many of the 39 other states applying for the waiver only held public comment sessions for two weeks and then turn a proposal in immediately afterward, but that staff plan to review comments and concerns for a month before updating the waiver draft. The department has already received input from district superintendents, principals and teachers from across the state.

Upstate No Child Left Behind Community Stakeholder Meetings:
All meetings are from 6 to 7:30 pm.

-Monday, January 9: Pickens, Tri-County Technical College (Easley Campus) Multipurpose Room (in the Academic Building)
-Monday, January 9: Anderson, Anderson University (Chapman Multimedia Room in the Thrift Library)
-Tuesday, January 10: Greenwood, Piedmont Technical College (Continuing Education Auditorium/136-B)
-Monday, January 23: Greenville, Greenville Technical College
-Monday, January 23: Spartanburg, USC Upstate Tukey Theater

**There will also be a statewide virtual meeting, streaming online on Wednesday, January 11 at 6 p.m. Questions can be submitted online starting at 5:30 p.m. Submit comments at http://ed.sc.gov/tools/scripts/survey/29651368/default.cfm.